Five Books For All Ages

Angel and Granny: The Broken Winged Butterfly by Doreen Linda Funk

Genre: Children's Picture Book

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

This is a beautiful story about change. Angel is a young girl who is meeting her grandmother for the first time. Angel wasn’t sure about spending time with her grandmother. Her grandmother was a bug scientist, and Angel didn’t like bugs. A special delivery to granny’s house changed all of that. With Granny’s help with her science fair project, Angel learns all about painted lady butterflies.  In the process she frees her thinking about bugs, much like a butterfly frees itself from its chrysalis. It is wonderful to watch things change and grow. Often children don’t see that they, like butterflies must change and grow. Beautiful pictures and so much to learn. I really enjoyed this book. I learned so much more about the process of metamorphosis.

Silly Socks by Sandra Novello

Genre: children's Picture Books

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

Help a young girl find her silly socks in this book. They are never where they should be. She finds them on her lampshade and in her toy box, but not where they should be.

Clive the Clever Crow – Sandra Novello

Genre: children's Picture Books

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

Clive is a very clever crow. He eats what is left out for him. In each page of the book you need to find where Clive is hiding. Look closely because he is a very clever crow.

The Nectar of Friendship - Gramps Doodlebug

Genre: children's Picture Books

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

Cindy was preparing some nectar to take to her friend Susie. Susie hurt her wing in the wind. As Cindy flies through an orchard she meets a moth who needs her help.  He tells her that a friend is trapped in a web.  Will Cindy help the moth free her friend or will she travel on to Susie’s house? I loved the theme of paying it forward in this book.

Hissy Fitz by Patrick Jennings

Genre: Upper Elementary/Middle Grade, Adventure

Source:  I won a copy form Kids Buzz. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Hissy Fitz is a house cat. He has several humans he lives with. He loves to cuddle with Georgie, but she won’t stop talking. Abe talks to Hissy through a sock puppet. Then there is the terror of the house, Zeb.  He is Abe’s twin. He is hyper to the point of being aggressive. Hissy Fitz can’t seem to get any sleep. He roams the town paying visits to his friends. He is becoming exhausted. Will he ever get the rest he needs? This was a cute book by the author of “Guinea Dog”. I know my students are going to love this one.

Retaliation by Yasmin Shiraz

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
Violence runs rampant on the streets of Washington, DC, and on one seemingly quiet day, the Odom family finds its world destroyed when seventeen-year-old Tashera is brutally attacked by a group of high school girls. 
Retaliation exposes the corrupting existence of violence in our communities and the retaliatory measures families go through to protect themselves and their children.

My Thoughts:
This could have been ripped right out of the headlines of today's newspaper.  Tashera is a seventeen year old high school girl who is attacked while on her way home.  She is jumped by three girls she goes to school with.  She doesn't know why.  Her mother is very angry. The streets have already claimed one child. Her son Kahlil was paralyzed while running with a gang. Her oldest son has gotten out and become a lawyer. The problem is that the violence doesn't stop here.  They each find a way to retaliate for what was done to Tashera.  This is a problem in a lot of inner city areas.  The circle of violence just keeps going around and around.  However, as realistic as this book is, it leaves you with a feeling that there is always hope. The author has even included conflict resolution tips at the end of the book.  This would be an excellent book to be read aloud in the classroom.   I have been lucky in my life and career to not have experienced this situation.  However, last year I had a student who wrote a poem in which he expressed his biggest fear is dying in a drive-by shooting. This is something that happens often in his neighborhood.  If this book can be used to give even one student hope then it is most definitely worth the read.  It is a book I highly recommend.

Skeletal by Katherine Hayton

Genre: Young Adult, New Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:
Three months before she died Daina Harrow faced a bully at school.
Six weeks before she died Daina Harrow suffered an assault in the park.
One week before she died Daina Harrow stole a secret people had killed to hide.

That was ten years ago. Ten long years.

Now, her bones have been found on a building site. A coroner's inquest has been reopened. A parade of witnesses is about to start.
And Daina's here. Watching every day as her mother cries in the courtroom. Watching every day as her friends, and her enemies, and her killers lie about her on the stand.
Watching, and making sure that no matter what the coroner hears, you know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

My Thoughts:
This was a great book.  Because we watch what is happening and go back to learn more about Daina's past we get the whole story.  It is creepy and sad at the same time knowing Daina is listening to the  people lie. Those who mistreated her, or ignored and neglected her are there telling their story.  Daina wants to make sure the reader knows the truth.  I felt so sad that it took so long to learn what had happened to her.  
I felt sorry for the life she had lived.  I loved the ending and the twists that I had not expected.  I would most definitely read more by this author.  I will probably re-read this again and again.