Things don’t always go your way. Sometimes you lose your balloon or your ice cream melts. What can you do when things don’t go right? This book helps you figure out how to look on the bright side of things and turn challenges into opportunities.
Buck Anderson is a spelunker. He used to go caving with his friend, David, but now David has moved away. Caving is the one way that Buck escapes from his worries. He stutters and the kids at school make fun of him for it. He’s bullied a lot. This coming-of-age adventure will inspire and encourage young readers.
This book tells the story of Kalayaan, a young Philippine eagle and his experiences in the forest of Tambala. Throughout Kalayaan’s journey, we learn about conservation and the impact that people can have on animals and the environment. Kalayaan’s story reminds us that we are all neighbors in the world and that caring for our neighbors and our home is important. This is a great pick for young readers who want to learn more about eagles and the environment.
I really enjoyed reading this book! It was very a very fun and exiting read, keeping you on your toes! The characters were very very interesting to get to know and never got boring. Also a great book from a series to continue the fun adventure!
Ghost Hawk is about a native American boy named Little hawk returning to his village after a 3 month ceremony were boys survive in the woods alone and come back a man after three months, when he returns to his village he finds that most of every one is dead, except his grandmother named Suncatcher. Suncatcher tells Little Hawk that the white mans plague came in and killed most of the village. Then leaping Turtle returns, a friend of Little Hawk. So Little hawk, Suncatcher, and Leaping Turtle go out to find the other survivors. After the reunion Little Hawk meets John, a white 10 year settler from England, these two become friends but when John's father gets stuck under a fallen tree, Little Hawk tries to help but the English soldiers mistake it for an attack. Read the book to find out was happens next.
I had to read this book as an all school read and notice how I said had. I don't want to be rude but this book was hard to read, not because reading level, but simply because of how overall boring it was. Many of my classmates have agreed with me that this book isn't the best. You had to get half way through the book to get to the plot, if you could make it that far. The idea of the book was good, just some choices in writing it could have been better. Not much imagery and overall not worth your time.
After hearing nothing but praise for R.J. Palacio’s book, Wonder, I had to get my hands on a copy. It is now one of my favorite young adult novels that I have read. Wonder is about a young boy named Auggie who has a craniofacial condition which affects the way he looks. The story follows Auggie who, after homeschooling all his life, starts attending a private middle school.
Not only is the story as a whole beautiful, but R.J. Palacio’s writing skills are incredible. The book doesn’t really have “chapters” per se but it does have different parts that are written from the perspectives of different characters. This is what really makes the book stand out. It is so nice to be able to read the different characters’ thoughts and feelings about some of the same situations. This made Wonder truly great.
Another amazing aspect of Wonder was the message the book conveys. The main character Auggie struggles throughout the book because he looks different from everyone around him. The story presents topics such as bullying and living with differences. It is not only helpful for other kids who may also have a craniofacial condition to relate with Auggie, but it encourages readers to always be kind. Since the book is aimed for more middle-school aged readers it is all the more important since middle-school is rough for almost everyone. Readers young and old should read this story as a reminder to never be prejudice and always be kind.
Reviewer Grade: 12
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of fun and laughter we had with this book. I expected it to be lame, but it was a fun read-aloud. It's an interactive book where you end up sounding like you're an undersea explorer, holding you breath as you dive in, and participating in silly shenanigans. We had a great time with it.
Stanley is a whiz at comics trivia. Comics provide him with comfort when life becomes overwhelming and lately that's been all of the time! The principal at Peavey Middle School is obsessed with school safety and preparedness and this stresses Stanley out. He's able to escape from the school drills by spending them in a "safe room" where he creates a safety superhero, John Lockdown.
Stanley's best friend, Joon, wants to win VIP passes to Comic Fest by entering a Trivia Quest treasure hunt. While they begin as partners, Joon soon ditches him. Stanley decides to enter anyway to prove he can tackle his worries. As he faces the overwhelming and challenging day, he thinks, "What would John Lockdown do?"
Ruby has a huge imagination. She can do anything she puts her mind to and hates to be told what to do. She struggles when the instructions aren't clear. Join Ruby on her adventure as she completes a challenge that her dad leaves when he's away and put your imagination to work. Hello Ruby:
Adventures in Coding is half storybook, half activity book. It teaches the basic concepts like breaking problems into smaller ones, thinking outside the box, and finding patterns that are useful in coding through storytelling and activities.
In this interactive book, Ellie the Elephant is taking a bath.
She’s having a great time until other animals come to join in the fun.
Help her out as she tries to get the bath to herself again.
Michelle Robinson has created a step by step guide to help you wash a woolly mammoth. There are some tricky parts to beware of such as the fact that woolly mammoths have terribly tickly tummies. The illustrations are wonderful and help you imagine the perils of washing a mammoth. Great fun for young readers!
Night Owl loves staying up late. As he says goodbye to the daytime, he realizes that he can’t see Mommy Owl. He listens closely and hears different things, but not Mommy Owl. Finally, he hears the nicest sound of all – Mommy Owl. Using onomatopoeia and simple pictures, this delightful picture book encourages language and listening skills.
Digby is the new sheepdog and he's having trouble getting the sheep to do what he asks. He tries different ways until his farmyard friends teach him the value of one little word - please. It's a great reminder of the power of please (and thank you).
Each of us is living in a human body, but just how well do we understand how it works. The body is complicated and there are so many so-called facts about it. This book examines the fact or fiction behind some of the craziest myths. For example:
Are toilet seats really cleaner than computer keyboards?
Is it possible to be scared to death?
Are 1/4 of your bones really in your feet?
So while many of these facts may not be useful, they are interesting and, at times, revolting. You may learn something new about the human body.
Out of the putrid slime of a Florida swamp emerges a tale that is oozing with a sense of place. The reader feels as though a thin line of sweat is trickling down the side of his face while he bakes beneath a relentless Florida sun. As one reads, one can nearly feel the smoke blinding the eyes and burning the nostrils next to a blazing cane field, while cool mud squishes between the toes. Before too long, the reader finds that this obscure, out of the way place, a place he never gave any thought to, a place no one would ever think to visit…is a place he begins to love.
Any skilled author intuitively knows that the setting of a well-told story is so intimately woven into the legend itself, that to rip the tale out of its setting would unravel the very threads of the narrative itself. Can you imagine what would be left of To Kill a Mockingbird if it was removed from a 1930’s Alabama small town? Imagine the Tale of Two Cities not taking place in England and Paris during the French Revolution? Similarly, this glorious story is its place and the place is the story.
But the brilliance of a master storyteller is not only to nurture a sense of place, but to use this backdrop as the means to develop universal themes that speak to the deepest yearnings of all people in all places. This book adeptly portrays true fatherhood as not being a matter of mere biology, but of heart loyalties. One’s affections are moved to esteem the courage of a mother who saves her son from a cycle of violence. But most importantly, the book reminds the reader of the timeless need, in all corners of the earth, no matter how remote, how obscure, how removed—the universal need for a hero.
The true hero faces the danger head on, with no thought of his own skin, purely out of love and loyalty to the helpless who need him. He can arise from an unlikely place, from a checkered past, from outside the “in crowd.” This is the message the world will always long to hear; the message of Beowulf.
Mother Paula's, a beloved international pancake franchise, is looking to build its 469th restaurant in Coconut Cove, Florida. However, the site on which this restaurant is to be built is home to several families of burrowing owls, an endangered species. However, the owls are hardly ever visible so no one knows about them. That is except for Roy Eberhart and a mysterious boy known only as Mullet Fingers. It's up to these two middle schoolers to save the owls. However, they struggle with school bullies, fences, guard dogs, cops, and Mullet Fingers' parents who think that he is in military school in Alabama. This book really is a hoot and I recommend it for all middle school and early high school readers.
Mickey Cray is a professional animal wrangler in the Florida Everglades. He has rented out his animals to countless television shows and movies. However, he knows that he is in trouble when Derek Badger, a "survivalist" on a reality TV show, wants to rent some of his animals and to hire Mickey Cray to be his bodyguard for wild Florida animals in the Everglades. This book is packed with wild animal encounters, including gators, snakes, and bats. In addition, Chomp includes escaping from a crazed gunman and tons of humor. I highly recommend this book for all middle school and early high school readers.
The Coral Queen, a very profitable casino boat, is dumping all of its sewage into the ocean. The only problem is that Dusty Muleman, the owner of the Coral Queen, is getting away with the illegal dumping since there is no evidence. Noah's Dad is concerned with the environment and always likes to do the right thing. However, he sometimes gets carried away. Therefore, Noah's Dad decides to sink the Coral Queen, but gets caught in the process and sent to jail. Now it is up to Noah to clear his dad's name and bust Dusty Muleman.
This book is hilarious and has a great moral. There are unexpected twists and turns throughout the entire book. I highly recommend this book to all middle and early high school aged readers.
Willow Chance is a twelve year old genius whose main interests are gardening and medical conditions. At the beginning of the book, Willow is driving home with her school counselor, Dell Duke, when she spots police officers waiting around in her driveway. Willow immediately knows something is wrong. She soon discovers from the officers that both of her parents, Jimmy and Roberta Chance, were killed in a deadly car accident which leaves Willow heartbroken and confused. Who would take her and how long would it take to find a permanent home? This book is very well written and really shows the impact of this tragedy on Willow's life as well as showing how she gradually started to move on and continue her everyday life including starting to refresh her old hobbies and make friends at her new school. I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with the loss of a loved one, for someone who is trying to discover who they are, or for someone that's afraid to show their REAL self. Really... everyone could relate this book to a part of their life.
