Student Saturday: Pax by Sara Pennypacker

 

Genre: Middle Grade, Adventure

Student Reviewer: Nikita K

Foxes are adorable creatures that are mainly wild, but a lucky few in the world are able to own them as exotic pets. Foxes are exotic because of their natural attachment to the wild, making them hard to grow close to. However, if they become close with their human owners, foxes, with their unique intelligence, will remain loyal and become natural best friends. 

Sara Pennypacker’s “Pax” highlights the rarity of foxes and their loyalty to humans, by displaying a boy named Peter, who lived alone with his father and fox for years, until his father had to leave for the army to take part in an oncoming war in the area he lived in. Since his mother was gone and his grandfather did not want any pets, Peter had to release Pax to the wild, a place where his fox had not been exposed to for years since he was a kit and rescued after losing his own skulk. With them growing up together, they achieved a loyalty and bond to each other that many normal friends and pets don’t typically share. With that being obvious, Peter felt he had an obligation to go out into the wild, with zero experience and a broken leg, to look for his fox and reunite with him.

 

After rereading “Pax” for the third time, this book still manages to hold a spot in my top 5 favorite books of all time. This beautifully written story by Pennypacker does a wonderful job at making the reader feel as if they were right next to Peter and Pax in their journey and help you feel what they feel in the moment. This book comes highly recommended from me to readers from middle school and up who are looking for an adventurous and heartwarming book that is highly realistic and reflects problems in modern day society. 

Ten Bedtime Stories by Emily Hartmann

 

Sweet Dreams by Emily Hartmann

In this picture book the author takes us through the nightly rituals of loving animal parents putting their children to bed. We start with an elephant, giraffe and lion. We are taken on the nightly rituals of ten animals in all. The story is written in little rhymes. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Sitting beside your young one reading this bedtime story will relax them and prepare them to go to sleep.

 

Dad Loves Me

In an age where most books are about mommy and baby it is refreshing to see the other side. Within the beautiful illustrations we see different animal fathers doing different things with their young one. Whether is gliding through the night sky, flying a kite or sitting in a corner nibbling cheese, the author has created a beautiful bedtime story especially for fathers to read with their youngest.

Goodnight Kisses

Another cute bedtime story for children. Mother animals snuggle and cuddle their little ones as they prepare for a peaceful night of sleep. Great illustrations to put the youngest child at peace.

 

Mother’s Love

A quiet book to read at bedtime. This book shows the love a mother has for her child as they go about frolicking away the day.

I Love You My little Cub

Dolphins, lions, kangaroo and penguins are just a few of the animals we meet both parent and child. A comforting book to read at bedtime to show how much any child is loved.

Farm Animals

Nice bedtime story that shows how much fun and love the animals have for their children on the farm.

 

The Little Blue Monster

Everyone wants a friend, even a little blue monster. The little blue monster loves to read, paint and have picnics,  but he realizes it would be a lot more fun if he had a friend to share the good times with.

Nighty Night!

Snuggles and love are evident through the pictures in this cute bedtime story. Each animal lets their young one know how much they are loved.

Snuggle Time

A cute bedtime story that shows the importance of being grateful for everything we have.

 

Goodnight Farm Friends

A simple nighttime story to read to your youngest one as you snuggle them into bed. The illustrations of farm animals are wonderful.

Skimmer & Finn: There Are No Pancakes on This Planet by Christopher Francis

 

Genre:  Graphic Novel, Children

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I make my students set reading goals every year. I expect them to read from 11 different genres. I agree to do the same.  The one I struggle with is graphic novels. I grew up reading comic books and such so you would think this wouldn't be an issue. The problem is with the content. So often the book is full of wonderful pictures but lacking in words and plot.  When you read this graphic novel you will find it has it all.  I am looking forward to the next one in this series. 

Skimmer is a robot traveling with his human Finn. Earth had been destroyed 1000 years before and people were put in pods and sent out to other planets to survive. Finn wakes up from his pod and meets Finn who tries to explain things to him.  I laughed so hard because he was told Earth was destroyed and he went through a list of his possessions to see if they were gone. It sounds like any typical kid they are self-centered.  They do find another survivor and that is when things begin to happen.  Will Finn learn or cause more trouble?  This is a must read book and one I look forward to getting for my grandsons.

Two Great Easter Stories

 

LambsPress has a very nice Easter Coloring book. This simple book tells the Christian story behind the Celebration of Easter.  It is told in simple scenes from the story. At the end of the book there are alphabet pages that correspond with scenes in the story.  Very simple way to teach your children about Easter.

Faithful Pages Press has written a wonderful Easter story for ages 3-5.  It has hand drawn illustrations created by Aaron J. Masters. The combination of the simple, yet colorful illustrations along with a retelling of the reason we Christians celebrate Easter is told to hold the interest of young and old. I like reading and reviewing multiple books about the same topic.  In this way if the first one isn't for your or your child then maybe the second or third one will be. I definitely recommend this book to families.

Student Saturday: Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

 

Genre:  Middle Grade, Adventure, Novel in Verse

Student Reviewer:  Anna H.

 “Diamond Willow” by Helen Frost is a beautiful book with many different perspectives from a variety of characters. Diamond Willow (Willow) is a twelve-year-old girl from Alaska who lives in a cabin with her mother, Father, and Zanna, her little sister. Willow and her dad train dogs to pull them on the sled and teach them the way around the forest. Willow’s father was on a dog sled the day willow was born and found a diamond willow stick which is where she got her name from. Roxy is their best sled dog who leads in most of their rides and knows her way around the entire area. Willow feels as though her parents view her as a little kid and no one sees who she really is, but there is more to Willow than others see. Shes not much of a social butterfly and only has one friend, not including Roxy, named Kaylie. Kaylie is too focused on her crush, Richard, anyway which makes Willow seem like she really is alone. Willow's grandma and grandpa adore her and only live only about twelve miles down one of the sledding trails. Willow had been begging her parents to let her drive the dog sled by herself to her grandparents for forever, but they always thought she was too young. One day both of her parents agree that she may venture alone to her grandparents. Her and her father set up the sled with Roxy as the lead dog and she was on her way. Her ancestors watch over her in the form of animals to ensure that the trip goes smoothly. Sadly, on her way home, Willow and the dogs were going too fast to see a fallen tree and crashed. Willow got stabbed in the leg with a stick and poor Roxy had her gorgeous sparkling eyes jabbed with branches. Willow rushed over to Roxy and stopped the bleeding that gushed from her eyes and began her way home not sure what would happen. Willow told her parents, and they were furious, but they held themselves together well. Turns out that Roxy had been blinded and now their best sled dog could never see again. As willow eavesdropped on her parents, she heard that they were going to put down the dog. She couldn't let this happen so the next day she loaded the sled and took Kaylie with her to her grandparents' house. She put Roxy safely in the sled and left without her parents knowing. They happened to take a wrong turn and got lost in the woods where they decided to camp in a small shelter. They were found by Richard who brought Kaylie home, but Willow proceeded on to her grandparents' house. When she arrived, her entire family had a heart-to-heart conversation about Roxy and events from the past. They told Willow that she had a twin sister whos name was supposed to be Diamond but when she perished four days after being born Willow took both names. Where they had gotten lost on the trail is where Diamond's ashes had been laid. It would be crazy to think that is just a coincidence, wouldn't it?

   “Diamond Willow” is a book of many secrets and plot twists. You never know what will happen next, but in the end, it turns out to be a very heartwarming story. I loved the way Helen Frost incorporated a diamond shape when writing about Willows thoughts and feelings and adding messages that relate to the paragraph. This book reminds me of what it feels like to be getting older while your parents seem to think you are still five. I recommend this novel to anybody between the ages of 10-14 since they will be able to relate to the main character well. 

Student Saturday: Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

Genre: Middle Grade, Adventure 

Student Reviewer:  Clayron R.

There is no stopping a little boy who loves his grandfather. Stone Fox is about a 10 year old boy named Willy who is faced with adult challenges on a small potato farm in Wyoming. One day Little Willy woke up to be amazed that grandfather was still asleep. He and his dog named Searchlight went to Doc Smith's house to get some help. Once she had checked Grandfather out she said that he was as healthy as can be, and his grandfather just didn't t want to live anymore. Little Willy started to do everything he could to get Grandfather to feel better including doing the potato harvest, paying the bill at the general store and even getting all of the winter supplies, but Grandfather still wasn't better. To make matters worse,Mr. Clifford Snyder, a state of Wyoming tax collector, came to collect 10 years of back taxes. Little Willy had never heard of taxes and didn't believe the man because he knew Grandfather had always paid everything on time. There was a big problem if the taxes weren't paid. They would lose the farm. To solve the problem, Willy and Searchlight entered a race. The prize was the exact amount of money they needed to save the farm - $500. Searchlight and Willy were up against some of the best. Some things I really liked about this book was that Willy had to deal with real life problems. A connection I had with this book was little Willy and I share the same love for dogs. Did Willy win the race? Did he save his grandfather's farm? Read the book to find out! 

Student Saturday: The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

 

Genre:  Middle Grade, Fantasy, Traditional

Student Reviewer: Mykyta K.

Egyptian Mythology and religion is a one of the many mysteries of our time, and one of the most interesting as well. Many fantasize about it, and many others make a career out of it by unraveling those very mysteries.

I am one of those people who enjoy fantasizing about it and imagining how it was back then, which is exactly why I enjoyed the idea of Rick Riordan’s book, “The Serpent’s Shadow”. Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors, and I particularly enjoyed his Greek Mythology works. “The Serpent’s Shadow” is one of his comics about Egyptian mythology that starred a family called the Kanes. The Kane Family is composed of a brother and a sister, a father whose job consists of judging the dead, and an uncle who works for the gods. However, the mother isn’t talked about much. This family was in charge of doing the work for the gods in the mortal world, using the Egyptian gods' powers. They led a group of magicians who also attempted to live alongside the gods while wielding magic, but had to protect dear things to the gods from their enemies who were against their ideas.

    

This world painted by Rick Riordan takes place in Egypt, along with some cities in modern day America. Personally, I enjoyed the idea of this, but in my opinion, the book overall didn't really appeal to me. I say this because I consider myself to enjoy more advanced books, and occasionally light reads, but “The Serpent's Shadow” was in a way, not very serious and quite “cringey”. I would however, recommend this book to younger audiences in elementary school, as it's a nice way for younger people and minds to begin learning about mythology and history.

Maddie’s Ghost by Carol Saller

Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery
Source: I won a copy from the author through LibraryThing. The opinions expressed here are my own.

When Lainie Stanton receives a call from a TV reporter inviting her to be interviewed as Ohio’s first millennium baby she is flattered. Her Uncs and father are not as thrilled. They see this as possible issue, especially if the reporter’s intentions are not true. Their worst fears come true.  During the  taping of the interview Lainie is faced with pictures of her great-grandmother’s hanging.  Seventy-five years before her great-grandmother was tried and convicted of murder.  Lainie blindsided by this reporter claims she has proof of her grandmother’s innocent. Now she has only a few weeks to make her lie a truth. 

I loved the complexity of this book. The flipping back and forth between historical documents and present time kept me reading. This is definitely a book I will read again in the future. It was just that good.  Definitely need a copy for my classroom shelves.

Little Boy Lost by Urcelia Teixeira

 

Genre: Adult, Christian, Suspense

Source: This was a free download to introduce the author's work

This novella will keep you on the edge of your seat.  All Michael Tanner wants is to see his son Archie. The problem is his ex-wife has not shown up for the second week in a row.  Living in this small town brings another problem for Michael. As the person in charge of safety at the fish manufacturing plant, he is blamed for an explosion that took the lives of several hundred people, including his wife's father and brother. Injured in the explosion with no memory of it his wife leaves him.  Now it seems she has left town with their son.  He goes to her house, even though there is a restraining order against him and discovers she has moved.  He knows he can't trust anyone in this town so he goes to the next town over. The sheriff believes him even when he is told that Michael has some major mental issues.  But how deep and sister will things get?

This was a great book that was not overly religious. We have characters that demonstrate their faith  through prayer. We have a believable main character that comes across as genuine and believable. Then we have Sheriff Hutchinson who give you that vibe that there is more to him than meets the eye and you'd better watch out for him.  The tension was perfect for this novella. Can't wait to get into the restt of her books.

Student Saturday: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery

Student Reviewer:  Levi M.

I read a book called the Westing Game, it is a murder mystery. The main character is an old man named Mr. Westing who passed away in his spooky old mansion. Mr. Westing was a wealthy man. In his will he names 16 people, all 16 of the people are split up into teams of 2. The goal for the people is to find Mr. Westings murderer and collect the inheritance. Each team is given one clue to help them figure out who the murderer is. In the beginning the partners on the teams did not like each other and did not want to work with each other. All the people were snowed inside their hotel for a few days. With nothing to do and nowhere to go they decided to work with their partners to try to solve the murder. Do you think the partners worked together to find the murderer and get the inheritance?
I would recommend this book to people who like murder mystery books, it has lots of twists and turns. I really enjoyed the book.