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Chamelia and the New Kid in Class
by Ethan Long
Ethan Long has written another entertaining story with his delightful aqua colored chameleons as the main characters. Chamelia, the dancing star of her class, notices on the first day back to school that she has competition. Cooper, the new chameleon in class, is gaining all the attention as he sketches his classmates’ portraits and is the winning champion of the soccer game. All of their classmates want to be Cooper’s best friend and Chamelia is getting sick and tired of this. She hatches out a plan to distract Cooper’s attention as he shares for show and tell, causing him to forget what he wanted to say. Soon the whole class is laughing at him making Chamelia feel terrible. She learns her lesson and becomes his best friend realizing that sharing the limelight is just fine with her. Making friends the first week of school is so very important and this title and its adorable chameleons with their huge eyes and curly tails help teach the lesson that to have a friend you must be a friend. Recommended for ages 4 to 6.
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development |
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How will I Get to School This Year?
by Jerry Pallotta
The dark curly-haired girl dressed all in purple with stripped leggings to match is sitting on her bicycle checking out her school getting a new coat of paint. On her mind is how she must ride the yellow school bus to get to school. Daydreaming on this last day of summer vacation, her imagination begins to take her on a journey as she sees herself riding a gigantic mosquito to school scaring all of the kids as they scatter in different directions. She dons chaps and a cowboy hat for her next adventurous ride on a huge pig as children on the bus are smiling in amusement as she passes them by. Flying high and fast on the wings of an eagle transports her to school quickly and holding on tight as can be to a hairy gorilla as it swings from tree to tree gets her to the front door just in time. Her adventurous rides include colorful butterflies, fish, grizzlies and even a gargantuan tarantula with its many legs covering the whole school! The end of the story has her waiting in line to board the bus with her green backpack and pink polka-dotted lunchbox as she realizes it is much more fun to ride and talk with her friends even if it is on the yellow school bus. A fun read especially for the first time bus riders and just in time for the beginning of the school year. Recommended for ages 5 to 8.
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development |
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Ouch!
by Joe Rhatigan
"Ouch that hurts!" "No, it really, really hurts!" These are just two of the descriptions used for the six smileys, well, ouch faces the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale use to help children describe how they are feeling. These bright and bold illustrations along with an introduction to the body's warriors (epidermis, red blood cells, platelets) and the body's foes (germs, bacteria, viruses) give the reader explanatory background information before delving into the different pain scenarios presented. Colorful illustrations including cartoon-like figures and photographs of children and their bumps and bruises as well as a red and bumpy rash and an x-ray picture of the broken bone itself make this an appealing medical title for any child to explore. Determining what is going on with your body and how it will heal when you break out in hives, have a sprain or break a bone is intriguing and Rhatigan addresses each one through the informative sections of: 1) first response, 2) what your doctor does, 3) what your body does, and 4) what you can do to prevent it. Engaging material is incorporated throughout including a bruise chart with pictures beginning with the first day on, the differences between bees and wasps along with their stinging habits and curious information like drinking a glass of water full of millipedes was the cure for a stomachache in the seventeenth century in England! Ouch! is an inviting title to be read as a whole or used for reference when researching a particular ailment. Great for the child interested in a medical field or for whatever ails them. Recommended for ages 9 to 12.
—Jeanne Martin, M.Ed., Collection Development |
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Bullying Under Attack: True Stories Written by Teen Victims, Bullies & Bystanders
edited by Stephanie Meyer, John Meyer, Emily Sperber and Heather Alexander
There is a wide audience for Bullying Under Attack: obviously teenagers would want access to this book in their public and school libraries and bookstores; but this is also a worthy resource for parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and anyone who works with youth. Teens who have been bullied, bullied others, or witnessed bullying contribute stories and poems reflecting emotions so varied, they can't all be listed: fear, loneliness, guilt, resentment, humiliation, hopelessness, determination – those are just a start. Bullying has always existed and will continue; in fact, it finds new permutations. Social media is the latest bullying tool; who knows what new forms of torture the future will bring? The front materials (foreword, preface, etc.) will be of interest mainly to teachers and guidance counselors; teens will likely skip those portions and head straight to the stories. Since most of the narratives are only a few pages long, this is a book that can be picked up and read for just a few minutes here and there. And with the emotions contained inside, that may be as long as some can bear it. End materials include a wealth of bullying resources and more information about the contributors. Note to librarians and catalogers: the Library of Congress Dewey of FIC is curious; the front materials indicate that these are real stories from real teens. I shared the galley with a colleague and we both agree this is nonfiction. I recommend placement in the 302 section for young adults ages 12 to 17.
—Becky Walton, MLIS, Collection Development
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Will & Whit
by Laura Lee Gulledge
In Will & Whit, Eisner Award-Nominee Laura Lee Gulledge chronicles Wilhelmina “Will” Huckstep’s journey to her acceptance of her parents’ accidental death. Her fascination with the historic past distracts her from confronting her own past, but when her hometown suffers a long-term blackout, she finds herself plunged into a world of shadows and darkness that first frighten but then comfort her as she emerges into the literal and figurative light. This wonderfully illustrated black and white graphic novel is highly recommended for ages 12-17.
—Jenny McCluskey, MSIS, Collection Development
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These Broken Stars
by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
***dreamy sigh*** Kaufman and Spooner's debut collaboration is a stunning, gorgeously imagined romance with epic sweep, brimming with lush detail of setting and intricate character study. It's the kind of read to savor, but the survivalist plotting still rushes the reader to keep turning pages. Our two protagonists meet in the salon of a luxury spacecraft--a very unlikely duo--Lilac is the richest girl in the galaxy, heir to her father's vast terraforming and colonization empire, and Tarver is a young, highly decorated war hero from a backwater planet. Lilac effectively kills any sparks between them for reasons only hinted at; when the ship experiences tremendous difficulties, pulled out of its "faster than light" drive, Lilac and Tarver find themselves (admittedly conveniently) in the same escape pod. Discovering themselves alone and stranded on a nearby terraformed and seemingly empty planet, the two must learn to rely on and trust each other to survive. The only good thing about getting to the end of this tale is realizing Lilac's and Tarver's story doesn't end here; it is the start of a trilogy! Suggest this unabashedly romantic space opera to fans of Revis' Across the Universe and Ryan's Glow; highly recommended for ages 13 to 17.
—Jill M. Barton, MLIS, Collection Development
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Season of the Witch Hardcover and Library Binding
by Mariah Fredericks
Summer is over, but the torture is just beginning for sophomore Toni. Because she had a fling with queen bee Chloe's boyfriend over the break, she is being bullied by Chloe and her two besties who text threats to her and start rumors that she's a slut. Toni's only friend is Ella, who has her own issues to deal with, including mysterious tension with cousin Cassandra. When Cassandra witnesses a vicious physical assault Chloe and company unleash on Toni, she offers to solve the problem. Sounds perfect, right? Only, it involves black magic. They cast a silence spell on Chloe's boyfriend, and he is speechless for a week. They cast a spell on Chloe involving the words "falling dead," and she dies within hours. Toni realizes this is way out of hand and something is not quite right with Cassandra, who shows no emotion over any of the tragedies, even the earlier death of her autistic brother. Sure he was hard to deal with, but Cassandra would never hurt him. Would she? Finally, when Ella descends into bed-ridden depression and won't speak of Cassandra, Toni knows she has to reverse this chain of events. Readers will enjoy the many levels of this tale of the power of dark magic (bullying, guilt, and sadness) and white magic (friendship, love, and forgiveness). Recommended for ages 14 to 17.
—Becky Walton, MLIS, Collection Development
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