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The Palace of Dreams

As far as Rosie Oaks and her friends know, the Earth is gone—swallowed by the Nothing King just after the heroes escaped to a faraway planet to regroup and seek help. Now Rosie, her friends Germ and Aria, her ghost friend Ebb, her mother, and her long-lost brother are relying on the leftover members of the League of Witch-Hunters, Wanda and Clara, to help them find a way out of this mess. But when they land at a hotel on the planet Glimmer 5, they discover that Rufus—the one man who may have the tools to defeat the Nothing King—is missing. Then, a messenger from the Nothing King arrives with unexpected news: Earth still exists, but only because the Nothing King hasn’t yet destroyed the Museum of Imagined Things, home of humanity’s dreams and healed souls. Once he does, Earth will fall with it. 

Rosie is a brave and intelligent protagonist who devises a daring way to find Rufus—by traveling through objects that are bigger on the inside. She discovers him hiding inside a memory, where he’s been concealing the Museum of Imagined Things from the Nothing King. He entrusts it to Rosie, and through the Museum’s power, she begins recruiting old friends and new allies while ferreting out a traitor in their midst. She rallies everyone on Glimmer 5 to join the fight, and on their journey back to Earth, they make a crucial stop in Limbo—a purgatory for ghosts—where they find even more reinforcements. 

Along the way, Rosie grapples with shocking surprises, strange betrayals, and the challenges that come with growing up. She learns to embrace who she is and all the oddities that come with being a thirteen-year-old witch hunter, all while battling the greatest and most terrifying supernatural entity their world has ever known. 

The Palace of Dreams brings the Thirteen Witches trilogy to a suspenseful climax, incorporating even more fantasy and science fiction elements—perhaps too many. While the language remains accessible, the abundance of fantastical elements and genre-hopping can feel excessive and over-complicate what could be a tighter story. That said, the book has real strengths. Rosie’s character development is nicely and believably constructed, building to a neat and satisfying conclusion. The supernatural elements, while plentiful, are thoroughly explained, and the characters feel realistic enough for kids to look up to. Most importantly, Rosie herself is a strong, opinionated, and compassionate hero that any reader would enthusiastically root for. 

Readers who enjoy magical space-travel, mysterious haunted hotels, and ragtag groups of heroes will love the fun banter, creative plot twists, and complex magic of The Palace of Dreams. The book is filled with supernatural creatures—from wicked, hive-minded crows to super-powered witch-hunters to ghosts—building toward a detailed and imaginative confrontation with the Nothing King, the last witch. 

Beyond the fantastical elements, Rosie demonstrates to young readers how to navigate the complexities of growing up while facing both internal struggles and external challenges. She’s a loyal friend with plenty of healthy relationships, embodying all the good qualities of a young hero. Ultimately, this is a highly original story with creative elements that come together to deliver a beautiful message: the only true way to defeat your demons is to trust yourself and your instincts, accepting yourself for who you are. Readers who want to get lost in another witchy fantasy should also read Curse of the Night Witch and The Okay Witch. 

Sexual Content  

  • Over the course of their journey, Rosie realizes that she has feelings for her ghost friend, Ebb. The tension culminates when Ebb confronts Rosie about her weird behavior around him, and she confesses her feelings. They kiss. Rosie thinks, “For now, he lets go of my hand, and brushes a piece of hair out of my face like he’s being brave. And I don’t turn away, because I’m being brave too. And when we kiss—since we’re made of the same magical stuff that’s brought us this far in the first place—I feel it.” 

Violence  

  • Rosie discovers her aunt Jade’s betrayal from the account of a ghost named Bo. Bo tells her that her aunt requested the Time Witch kill her father. Bo tells Rosie, “I’ll never forget what she said after that. She said she wanted the Time Witch to take away the very next person her sister had come to love after her. The Time Witch said she already knew who that would be. She said she knew of a sailor. She said she’d make it look like a sinking so that no one would ever suspect the truth—or their bargain.”
  • As Rosie and her friends confront the Nothing King, they’re attacked by a swarm of crows. Rosie’s new pet bird, Flit, “becomes a cat and devours [a crow].” They escape the swarm, and no one is badly injured. 
  • When the Nothing King kidnaps Rosie’s brother Wolf, Rosie’s new friend Rufus confronts the Nothing King. But “the Nothing King’s arm shoots like a vine toward him, and hits Rufus’s skull with bone-cracking force. Rufus falls with a sickening thud to the floor.” Rufus dies.  
  • In another confrontation with the Nothing King, his pet crows eat most of Rosie’s ghost allies. “As they surround the ghosts, the crows dive in from all sides, pecking, devouring, smothering. And soon the ghosts are lost and buried in the sheer number of the birds, and we can’t see them or their crackling light at all. . . The ghosts are gone. Swallowed. Just like that.” 
  • When Rosie finds Wolf and tries to save him from the Nothing King, Wolf has his own tricks up his sleeve. Using a magical net that he created, he traps the Nothing King. “Wolf is on the Nothing King’s back, his jagged weapon wrapped around the witch’s neck. He is flapping his crow-wing cloak and trying to drag the Nothing King backward [into a black hole]. He’s failing. The Nothing King is fighting him off, trying to shape-shift and pushing him away.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • This series follows Rosie and her friends as they defeat witches to save the world. Naturally, this means that there are a fair number of supernatural elements. The Nothing King controls crows and creates black holes. Additionally, ghosts aid Rosie and her friends in fighting the Nothing King.  
  • There is space and time travel, as well as cloud shepherds and the Brightweaver, who collect dreams and mend souls. They serve the Moon Goddess, who is more of a magical figure than a religious one.  
  • Rosie, along with the other witch hunters, has special abilities that allow them to fight witches. For example, Rosie’s witch-hunting ability is the power to bring her stories to life. She often manifests a bird as her pet and friend that helps her fight witches. On the new planet, Rosie wakes one morning to find a new bird, since her old one passed away. The bird is “standing on the foot of the bed, blinking at [Rosie] with [the bird’s] head tilted to one side (either groggily or dizzily, [Rosie] can’t tell). . .  glowing, translucent, magical.” 
  • The book opens following the conclusion of the previous installment, when the Nothing King was freed, and Rosie and her friends escape by traveling to a different planet. Rosie thinks to herself about “the war against the witches on the beach. The blanket made of nothing left behind. The black hole opening above the Earth. [Rosie and her friends] gaze at each other, in shock. Is it all gone? The sea? Our town? Countries? The world?” 
  • After escaping Earth, Rosie’s new witch hunter friend Wanda explains, “The Nothing King’s been imprisoned in his own black hole, locked up there by the Moon Goddess for millennia, but now these twin black holes have been connected across the universe like a tunnel, so the Nothing King could come through it and drag Earth in. . . and obliterate it. If that hasn’t happened yet, I imagine it soon will.” 
  • Confused and disoriented, the heroes explore their new planet, and they stumble upon a hotel staffed by ghosts. “Wanda taps her wooden leg and is lifting her finger to ring the bell again, when suddenly we hear a tut, tut, tut down one of the halls. It takes another moment, but eventually a shining ghost materializes through the wall behind the desk and comes to float his elbows just beside the bell. He has a goatee and round eyeglasses, over which he gazes at us in distaste. He busies his hands with his wrinkled bow tie.” 
  • While trying to find the missing owner, Wanda and Rosie find a pair of socks in his old room, and Wanda suggests he might be hiding in them. She explains that, “Size and space and time and place don’t mean what you used to think. And neither do the boundaries between them.” She and Rosie decide that they need to go inside the sock to find him, but they fail to find him. 
  • One of the hotel’s services is a shuttle to Limbo. Rosie’s ghost friend, Ebb, tells Rosie that Limbo is a haven for ghosts, but with a downside. Ebb says, “Well, once a ghost enters Limbo, they can never leave. Which means never moving Beyond.” 
  • The hotel also has a magical vending machine that gives any guest whatever they want. When Rosie “find[s] one old penny at the bottom of a hole in [her] pocket, [one of the ghostly hotel staff] shrugs. ‘That’ll get you something, just nothing glamorous. Push the green button and it’ll show you your options.’” Rosie describes the machine: “Several rows of prizes turn in circles before my eyes, dotted with flashing lights like a casino. Everything is in miniature: bags of Doritos the size of my thumbnail, but also cars, thimbles, what looks to be a Jacuzzi, a tiny roller coaster, a castle. . .” 
  • When Rosie and Wanda go inside the magic sock to find the hotel’s owner, they find themselves trapped in a memory in an old train station. A tornado attacks them, and they have to leave the sock. Rosie thinks, “A crashing, ripping sound surrounds me. Something flies across my vision and strikes my chest, and I scream, crumpling to the ground, trying to grasp what’s happening. Wanda appears a moment later, and she too is knocked off her feet and onto her back. We’re being battered—by wind, I realize. So strong that it pins us where we lie.” No one is harmed. 
  • Eventually, Rosie has an idea of where to find the hotel owner. When she finds him, he reveals that he’s in hiding to keep a secret from the Nothing King. Before the Nothing King escaped, the Brightweaver gave the hotel owner, Rufus, the Museum of Imagined Things. “He nods and opens the lid. A glow comes from within, illuminating our faces as we peer into its depths. Within the hollow of the basket, mist swirls, sparkling and flashing, like lightning in a cloud. I look up at Rufus, squinting in confusion. ‘It’s the Museum of Imagined Things,’ he says, as if I should recognize it. ‘It’s a palace filled with all of the world’s dreams.’” Rosie “remember[s] the Museum of Imagined Things from that one and only time [she] visited the Brightweaver, a towering building made of clouds that reached so far into the sky, [she] couldn’t see the top of it.” The Brightweaver reshaped it into a basket before the Nothing King came, so it’s a smaller item to transport.  
  • The book describes what the Earth is like under the Nothing King. “It’s been twenty-five days since the moon disappeared. In the moon’s absence, night animals roam daylit highways, winds rage through streets once untouched by storms, tornadoes rip up ancient woods. In waterfront towns and cities, the ocean is eating the shores, and people retreat inward. At first, they don’t see the invisible creatures that travel alongside them, iridescent hummingbirds and chameleons and peacocks. . . the familiars of eleven dead witches, returning gifts that once were stolen.” 
  • As Rosie ventures inside the Museum of Imagined Things, she meets an old ghost friend, Homer. He explains how he and other ghosts got to the Museum. “Well, what ye’re seeing when that happens is a doorway, a thin place in the invisible fabric where real and unreal meet. By stepping into a certain painting, or a certain story, ye can reach the place its maker imagined.” He pauses. “Well, that is, if yer a ghost. Given what ghosts are made of, we’re the only ones that can. Of course, all those places are stored here, in this museum.” 
  • Inside the Museum, there is a room full of mind maps, or maps of people’s minds. Rosie finds her long-lost aunt’s mind map and describes it, “most of it is too clustered, tangled, and minuscule to make out. But I do see that one particular place is dim and gray, with an etching of two little girls. The branching paths around them are scribbled out, as if something there is better left forgotten. Near one of the scribbles is a drawing of a crow.” 
  • While in the Room of Mind Maps, Rosie meets a cloud shepherd. “A cloud shepherd is peering around at me from behind a shelf about fifteen feet away, holding his misty finger to his misty lips. He’s an elderly-looking blob of white fluff, pointed at the top like a dollop of whipped cream. He floats out from behind the shelf.” 
  • When the Nothing King finds Rosie and her friends on their new planet, he launches an attack. Rosie describes him as a “man in a crow-feather cape that looks like it contains pure emptiness, a feather hood over a shadow where a face should be. He stands still for a moment, his blank face steady as it’s turned up toward us. And then he disintegrates into the ground and vanishes again.” 
  • As they leave the new planet, running from the Nothing King, Germ hands Rosie her teddy bear. “After a moment, to please Germ, [Rosie] give[s] it a hug. When [she] do[es], it begins to glow. And the glow wraps all around [Rosie], making [her] go warm and soft. And [she] feel[s], suddenly, okay.” Germ’s witch-hunting ability is making others feel brave and safe.  
  • In need of reinforcements, Rosie and her friends go to Limbo to recruit ghosts. When they get there, Homer meets them. “[Homer] winks at [Rosie], then takes a deep breath to concentrate. He raises his hands and, using the technique he’s clearly just learned from Ebb, uses them to push the mist back. . . and back. . . and back. As the clouds curl away from the dock, [Rosie sees] that Limbo’s not a lonely place at all, and [her] heart soars. Thousands of ghosts are gathered before [Rosie and her friends], hovering in a crowd and waiting.” 
  • To save the world from the Nothing King, Rosie must become one with her witch-hunting power. Rosie “open[s] up [her] palms, and [her magical pet bird] slips inside [her] skin, lighting up [her] arms as [the bird] travels to [Rosie’s] heart. The boundaries between [them] fall, no line where [Rosie] end[s] and [her bird] begins. [Rosie] glow[s] with the strength of her [pet bird], and [the bird] stretches with the strength of [Rosie]. [Rosie] spread[s] [her] arms, and they are wings, not attached to a cape like Wolf’s but a part of [her]. [Rosie] stretch[es] [her] feet, and they are claws.” 
  • To thank them for saving the world, the Moon Goddess appears in front of Rosie and Germ. “[The Moon Goddess’s] standing on [Rosie’s] lawn, as silver as the moon itself. [Rosie] open[s] [her] mouth and close[s] it again, too stunned to talk. The goddess keeps her distance, her face smooth and silver and expressionless, though not unkind. Her eyes are somehow soft and sharp at the same time, as if she sees everything at once, as if she has bigger things to think about than [Rosie and her friends]. As if the whole world, maybe the whole universe, is in her eyes all the time.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Kate Schuyler

Cork & Fuzz: Spring Cleaning

Spring has arrived, and for Cork the muskrat, that means one thing: cleaning! Cork and Fuzz: Spring Cleaning tells the story of two best friends with very different attitudes towards tidiness. While Cork is eager to organize and prepare for the new season, Fuzz the possum would rather stay in his nook and nap. Through their disagreement, young readers learn about compromise, communication, and the value of friendship.  

Written in third person, readers get to see both characters’ perspectives as they work to clean Cork’s yard. Cork is organized and motivated, immediately laying out a plan to pick up twigs and branches in his yard. In contrast, Fuzz is easily distracted, finding more joy in searching for stones and taking restful breaks. Their opposing personalities create tension, especially when Cork becomes frustrated and begins ordering Fuzz around. When Fuzz responds, “You are not the boss of me,” readers see how quickly small disagreements can grow into hurt feelings. This conflict helps children recognize the importance of expressing emotions and listening to others.   

As the story progresses, both characters reflect on their behavior. Cork realizes that he was being too bossy. He brings Fuzz a bag of potato chips as a peace offering and says, “I apologize for being bossy.” Fuzz accepts this apology, and the two friends share the snack together in Fuzz’s den, made from the very twigs Cork wants to clean up. This resolution reinforces themes of accountability and forgiveness, showing young readers how friendships can grow stronger after honest conversations.  

Cork and Fuzz: Spring Cleaning is designed for emerging readers. An introductory page addressed to parents and educators explains that the story supports children who are beginning to read multisyllable and compound words. It also helps young readers identify important story elements such as setting, characters, problems, and solutions. Divided into four short chapters, each page contains simple sentences that range from three to fourteen lines, making the book accessible to children transitioning from picture books to early chapter books.   

Colorful illustrations appear on every page, bringing Cork and Fuzz’s woodland environment to life. Readers can see Cork carefully raking leaves with a stick-made tool while Fuzz yawns and sleeps in his twig den. These visuals support readers’ comprehension and convey the characters’ emotions, helping young readers connect with the story.   

Cork and Fuzz: Spring Cleaning is a charming and engaging read for early readers. Through relatable characters and lessons about cooperation, the story encourages children to communicate openly, take responsibility for their actions, and value their friendships. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Madeline Hettrick 

The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb

During the reign of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun ruled and died tragically young. In order to send him on his way into the afterlife, his tomb was filled with every treasure he would need after death. And then it was lost to time, buried in the sands of the Valley of Kings. His tomb was said to be cursed. 

Centuries later, as Egyptomania gripped Europe, two Brits—a rich earl with a habit for gambling and a disreputable, determined archaeologist—worked for years to rediscover and open Tutankhamun’s tomb. But once it was uncovered, would ancient powers take their revenge for disturbing and even looting the pharaoh’s resting place? What else could explain the mysterious illnesses, accidents, and deaths that began once it was found? 

When most people think about Egypt, they think about the pyramids, and the mummies hidden within them. However, very few consider how the political and social context of the 1900s enabled wealthy British aristocrats to plunder Egypt’s treasures. Among the wealthy who were allowed to excavate in the Valley of Kings was Lord Carnarvon, who had no experience in archaeology and lacked the knowledge to dig scientifically. To help him find treasure, Lord Carnarvon hired archaeologist Howard Carter, who meticulously recorded every aspect of his excavations. Many of the photographs taken of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber are included in the book, allowing readers to experience the excitement of discovering the boy king’s treasures.  

The Curse of the Mummy conveys the British lack of respect for Egyptian people and culture. For example, Howard Carter understood the importance of each precious item that was placed on King Tutankhamun’s body. However, Howard Carter and Dr. Douglas Derry “pawed through the mummy’s thirteen layers of wrapping,” plundering every item of value. To make matters worse, “the team could not remove all the jewelry. So they cut off its arms in order to slide off the bracelets. They cut the torso in half, too, and sawed off the head, before using a chisel and hammer to gouge out each body piece.” After reading about King Tutankhamun’s treatment, readers can understand why some believed in the mummy’s curse. 

Even though The Curse of the Mummy is packed with information, the text is broken into manageable pieces. To help readers visualize the events, the book includes large pictures from Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, as well as photographs and artwork that appear every two to nine pages. In addition, at the end of each chapter is a short segment about some of the deaths and misfortunes that were attributed to the mummy’s curse. For example, Lord Carnarvon’s personal secretary, Richard Bethell, was at the opening of Tutankhamun’s burial and was found dead seven years later. The cause of death was unknown. “Police were baffled, but those who believed in the curse weren’t. They knew the cause of death.” However, at the end of the book, Fleming debunks the curse by explaining the lack of scientific evidence to support the notion that the curse is real. Fleming explains, “Science and logic have shown there is no such thing as the mummy’s curse. It is nothing but a knot of rumors and superstitions.” 

As part of the True Stories in Focus Series, The Curse of the Mummy is specifically written for a middle school and high school audience, utilizing rigorous research to provide accurate and compelling content for young readers. The True Stories in Focus Series emphasizes sharing true stories and focusing on real individuals and their authentic experiences. These books aim to help young people understand the world, develop critical thinking skills, and connect historical events to the present. 

Anyone interested in ancient Egypt should read The Curse of the Mummy. Fleming includes fascinating facts and photographs that allow readers to step into King Tutankhamun’s tomb and see its grandeur. While Fleming doesn’t demonize the British, readers will be exposed to the harsh realities of the time period, a time when Britain looked down upon anyone who wasn’t an aristocrat, including the Egyptians and archaeologist Howard Carter. While The Curse of the Mummy takes a deep dive into the archaeological excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, there is very little information about the boy king himself. 

However, readers can learn more about King Tutankhamun by watching National Geographic’s documentary “King Tut’s Treasures: Hidden Secrets Rediscovered.” Readers interested in learning more about Egyptian culture should also read The Curse of King Tut’s Mummy by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and See-Through Mummies by John Malam. Readers who want to explore ancient Egypt through fiction should grab a copy of The Boy Who Could Draw by Scott Peters or the TombQuest Series by Michael Northrop. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Sections explain the myths behind the curse of King Tutankhamun. During excavation, Lord Carnarvon, a wealthy British aristocrat, found a mummified cat. Afterwards, “One of his servants had been stung by a scorpion. . . Delirious from the insect’s poison, he claimed a large gray cat was chasing him.”  
  • Some thought London’s British Museum was under a mummy’s curse. The cursed item was “the coffin lid of a priestess of Amen-Ra. According to newspaper accounts, anyone who gazed upon the object felt its unseen force.”  
  • Five treasure hunters bought the coffin lid, and Arthur F. Wheeler took ownership of it. Three days after getting the coffin lid, one of the treasure hunters, Thomas Douglas Murray, had an accident. “His gun exploded for no reason, blowing off his left hand.”  
  • Arthur F. Wheeler received a “telegram telling him that two of his servants had unexpectedly died.” Wheeler gave the coffin lid to his fiancée. “She soon came down with a mysterious ailment. Then her mother suddenly died, and her pets went insane.” More suspicious events followed the coffin, which are explained over three pages. 
  • Lord Carnarvon’s guests believed that “The cat was angry for being disturbed.” This idea was reinforced when the cat’s coffin had fallen open, and the cat’s bandages, “had been ripped open around the neck as if the spirit of the dead feline had burst out of them.” 
  • Howard Carter was put in charge of caring for the monuments of Upper Egypt. One evening, “a group of drunken French tourists forced their way into a site after attacking the Egyptian guards. Carter told the guards to fight back. The result was a rowdy brawl that left men on both sides with black eyes and bloody noses.”  
  • To maintain control over the Egyptians, the British did not permit protests. “In one instance, after a handful of Egyptian villagers pelted a group of British soldiers with rocks, authorities rushed in. They arrested fifty-two of the villagers. . . Four rock throwing villagers got the death penalty, two went to jail for life, and the remaining received forty lashes with the whip.” 
  • After World War I, the Egyptians sought to expel the British. The Egyptians organized protests and strikes. “At first, the British had responded with their usual harshness—suppressing demonstrations and killing hundreds of protestors.”  
  • A terrorist shot the British commander of the Egyptian Army. The British used this as an excuse to “seize control of the country. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Some believe priests would put poison in the tombs. “Maybe they’d drench the mummy’s bandages in cyanide made from peach pits, or laced tomb objects with scorpion venom.” Despite the speculation, “archaeologists have found little or no evidence of poison placed in tombs.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • According to some, Tutankhamun’s mummy was cursed when the “high priest carried out mysterious rituals. As specified by The Book of the Dead, they had summoned protective demons and placed charms in the tomb’s walls. They had recited spells and prayers.” 
  • Some people said that “the curse was carved above the tomb’s entrance and read: Death will Slay with its wings / Whoever disrupts the peace of the pharaoh.”  
  • Others said the curse was written on the sarcophagus: “O anyone who enters this tomb, / who will make evil against this tomb: May the crocodile be against him on water, / and the snake against him on land.” 
  • Others said the curse was written on a magic brick. The curse read: “It is I who drives back robbers from the tomb with flames of the desert. / I am the protector of Tutankhamun’s grave, / and I will kill all those who cross this threshold.” 
  • Many deaths were blamed on the mummy’s curse. The book has a large number of events that could be attributed to the curse. Therefore, not all of the deaths are listed below. The first person to die of the curse was Lord Carnarvon. A mosquito bite led to an infection that killed Lord Carnarvon. Towards the end, “delirious, he muttered over and over, ‘A bird is scratching my face. A bird is scratching my face.’” Some believe Lord Carnarvon’s death was caused by the curse of the mummy. 
  • The curse of the mummy struck George Jay Gould, a wealthy American, who toured King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Almost immediately afterward, he fell sick with a fever and a cough. “As the dying man struggled for breath, he claimed to be surrounded by the ‘spirits of the pharaohs,’ and that Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife, ‘drew the last breath out of him.’” 
  • A wealthy man named Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey visited the tomb and joked about the curse. “Just months after his visit, on July 11, 1923, his wife of six months shot him in their London hotel room. . . Hours later he died.” 
  • Howard Carter brought a pet bird to Egypt. Some believed the bird brought Carter luck. However, when Carter opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb for the first time, a servant “brought news of a tragedy. A cobra had slipped into Carter’s house” and ate the bird.  
  • Lord Carnarvon was receiving advice from a psychic. “Carnarvon was getting advice from beyond the grave. Or so he believed.” Lord Carnarvon believed the psychic was passing on “ghostly communications.”  
  • Cheiro, a psychic, told reporters that the night King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened, “a shadowy form was taking shape. Slowly, it materialized into the ghost of a beautiful woman.” Cheiro believed it was the ghost of an Egyptian princess, who wanted Cheiro to warn Lord Carnarvon “not to remove any relics from the cursed tomb. If he did, he would suffer from a swift and terrible sickness that would kill him.” The scene is described over two pages. 

Spiritual Content  

  • The Egyptians believed in many Gods, which are mentioned in the book. For example, a collector had a statue of “Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess who tore men to pieces at the request of the sun.”  
  • The Egyptians believed the resting place of mummies was “crucial. Egyptians believed a tomb was an important symbol of continuity, of eternity, of a ruler passing from the living world to that of the gods. For this reason, it was important that a king’s body not be disturbed after it had been laid to rest.” 
  • Before Tutankhamun became king, the Egyptians believed “the gods had turned their backs on the land. . . But Tutankhamun had stepped forward to rebuild the temples and sanctuaries. He’d offered nourishing foods to the deities.” The Egyptians praised Tutankhamun for “restoring the traditional religion of the land. . .” 
  • During mummification, the heart was left in the body because “it was believed the heart was the ‘seat of the mind,’ and that the god Osiris would judge it against a ma’at feather, the symbol of truth and rightness.” 
  • One of the death rituals performed was the Opening of the Mouth. “Using what the Egyptians believed was a magical adze, [a high-ranking official] touched the mummy’s face mask. This, it was believed, allowed the dead king to breathe, walk, and talk in the afterlife.” 
  • During the early 1990s, Spiritualism was practiced all over Europe and the United States. Lord Carnarvon had “been hiring clairvoyants and holding séances at his estate. He also employed palmists to read his palm, and fortune-tellers to glean his future from the depths of their crystal balls.” 
  • During one of Lord Carnarvon’s séances, the psychic medium’s “face convulsed. Her eyes rolled back and she turned white as a corpse. Her lips worked spastically. . . then, in a guttural voice not her own, she spoke.” The psychic spoke in Coptic, “a type of language descended from the ancient Egyptians.” 
  • Howard Carter unwrapped King Tutankhamun’s mummy. “A pair of golden hands, sewn to the wrappings, held a crook and flail. And across its chest lay a large golden bird, its wings spread wide as if in flight. The ancient Egyptians believed that at death the spirit flew free, but that it returned to the body when it was ready to enjoy eternal life. . . [The body] needed to be perfectly preserved so the spirit would recognize it when it returned to the tomb.” 
  • A wishing cup found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb was inscribed with a prayer: “May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness.” 

Journey of the Pale Bear

The polar bear is a royal bear, a gift from the King of Norway to the King of England. The first time Arthur encounters the bear, she terrifies him. Yet, strangely, she doesn’t harm him—though she has attacked anyone else who comes near. So, Arthur finds himself taking care of a polar bear on a ship to England. 

Tasked with feeding and cleaning up after the bear, Arthur’s fears slowly lessen as he begins to feel a connection to this bear, who, like him, has been cut off from her family. But the journey holds many dangers, and Arthur knows his own freedom—perhaps even his life—depends on keeping the bear from harm. When pirates attack, Arthur must make a choice—does he do everything he can to save himself, or does he help the bear to find freedom? 

Told from Arthur’s point of view, Journey of the Pale Bear takes readers on an exciting adventure that forces Arthur to decide what is most important in life. When Arthur runs away from home, he plans to travel to Wales, where he will be given his father’s land. However, with no food or money, Arthur steals from a sailor. This action leads to Arthur meeting the doctor, who notices the boy’s special connection with the bear. While on a ship heading towards England, Arthur must contend with the sailor’s cruel behavior as well as his own fears and insecurities. 

Even though the primary story focuses on Arthur’s relationship with the bear, many readers will still relate to the boy’s problems. Arthur misses his dead father, deals with bullying from multiple people, and hopes for a better future. Throughout the story, readers will come to love the bear and admire Arthur’s devotion. With every hardship, Arthur learns more about friendship, found family, and sacrifice, while showing the importance of following your heart. 

Journey of the Pale Bear features many tense, exciting scenes interspersed with Arthur’s thoughts, which allows readers to understand his emotions and reasoning. However, Arthur’s inner thoughts and lengthy descriptions sometimes slow the pacing. Additionally, some readers may be confused by the book’s advanced vocabulary, such as scrim, converged, rouse, and potentate. Nevertheless, the story does an excellent job of showing what life was like in the 1200s and knowing that it is based on true events makes it even more interesting. 

Throughout his journey, Arthur meets several interesting people, including sailors, the doctor, and the English King. However, none of the supporting characters are well-developed. At the beginning of the story, the doctor promises to care for Arthur throughout the journey. Even though the doctor is an important character who shows how essential the father-son relationship is, he doesn’t appear enough for readers to get a picture of his relationship with Arthur. When the doctor offers to care for Arthur, teach him a trade, and give the boy stability, the moment lacks emotional impact. Likewise, when one of the sailors apologizes for mistreating Arthur, the reasons for his apology are unclear, leaving the reader confused. 

Journey of the Pale Bear will appeal to strong readers who love animals and adventure. Arthur is a likable character who is admirable because of his dedication to the bear. This coming-of-age story illustrates how everyone—Arthur, the bear, and the King of England—can never be truly free. However, the heartwarming conclusion highlights that friendship and love create the moments that make life wonderful. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • After stealing food from a sailor named Hauk, Arthur runs off. Hauk and his friend follow Arthur. Hauk grabs the boy and Arthur “kick[s] Hauk’s shin—twice—but then he belly-punched me, and I doubled over from the pain.” 
  • After stealing food, Arthur wonders what will happen. Would a constabulary “put me in the stocks? Blind me in one eye? Draw and quarter me?”  
  • A man takes Arthur to a tavern where “the drink had had its effect, for now there was singing, there was dancing, there was stomping. . .” Two men were fighting, “biting, poking at eyes, grabbing for hair and ears.” 
  • When a sailor named Hauk calls Arthur “Dung Boy,” Arthur “put down my head like a bull and plowed into Hauk’s belly. . . he staggered backward. I laid about him with fist and foot, and felt a satisfying thump as one fist landed squarely on his ribs and then another. . . I fell upon him again, kicking and swinging, but now his hand was on my face.” Another sailor breaks up the fight, but not before “a river of blood was gushing down my chin.” Arthur’s eye is swollen shut, he has cuts on his lip and cheeks, and bruised ribs. 
  • Pirates attack the ship that Arthur is on. One of the pirates captures Arthur and demands to see the king’s treasure, not knowing that it is a bear.  “A flash of steel—and then the bear was upon him. The man spat out a curse; then his body rose into the air and seemed to hang there in the thinning fog before it plummeted to the boards and bounced with a sickening thud.” Two men try to stop the bear, “but then a slash of the bear’s great claws had both of them on their backs and one of them spurting blood.” Someone shoots the bear with arrows.  
  • After pirates attack, Arthur sees a “body still and broken-looking, lying in a pool of blood. Not far from him lay two other bodies; I saw bloody claw marks where one man’s tunic had been torn.” It is unclear how many people die.  
  • After calling Arthur “Dung Boy,” Hauk pushes Arthur into him. “I was on top of him, raising my fist to cuff him hard. He cried out and covered his head with his arms. I checked my punch and flung myself at Hauk, tackling him about the knees.” Hauk grabs a knife, but another sailor breaks up the fight. 
  • A group of villagers shoots arrows at the bear. One of the arrows hits Arthur’s ear. “I touched a finger to my wounded ear. It came away wet. . . A hand’s length to the left, and I would have been dead.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Several times, Arthur goes to a tavern where men are drinking.  
  • When the bear is injured, the doctor puts sleeping herbs in fish.  

Language  

  • A captain of a ship calls Arthur a “rapscallion,” a “little scoundrel,” a “little weasel,” and a “useless boy.” 
  • A sailor calls Arthur a “clumsy oaf.” 
  • Because Arthur has to clean the bear’s cage, two of the sailors call him “Dung Boy.” 
  • Sailors load the bear onto a ship, but they are not careful. The doctor says, “Fools. She’s a living creature, not a tun of ale.” 
  • The captain calls the bear a “blasted beast.”  
  • After being given to the king, the bear refuses to eat. Arthur tells the bear, “Don’t be a dunderhead—eat!”  

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • After going days without eating, Arthur steals food from a tavern. He runs off “praying that the sailors behind me would be too lazy or too drunk to follow.” 
  • After agreeing to take the bear to England, the captain says, “God only knows what that creature will do in heavy seas. God only knows if the boy will be able to soothe it then.” 
  • After pirates attack, Arthur sees a sailor lying on the ground and wonders if he’s dead. “I could feel him breathing beneath me, praise be to God.” 
  • Before presenting the bear to the king, Arthur has to change his clothes in front of “God and everyone.”  
  • A man tells Arthur to tell “God’s truth,” meaning not to lie. 

Ready to Wear

Zoey Webber is a creative, inventive, and fearless middle schooler whose world shifts when she receives a summer letter announcing that her school will no longer require uniforms. What begins as an exciting shopping trip with her best friends to find back-to-school outfits quickly turns frustrating when Zoey cannot find anything that truly matches her style. Encouraged by her friends, she decides to learn how to sew her own clothes, designing imaginative outfits and sharing them on her blog. Before long, her blog takes off. Soon, Zoey is given the chance to design and sew a dress for her school’s fashion show fundraiser. But just as the opportunity feels within reach, the unthinkable happens, and everything falls apart. Can Zoey rise above the setback and turn disappointment into opportunity? 

Ready to Wear is the first in a series featuring the young protagonist, Zoey, a true DIY fashionista navigating school life, friendships, creative expression, and the early days of social media. “What if I were a designer someday?” she often daydreams. Written twelve years ago, the story reflects a time when blogging was central, before platforms like Instagram reshaped how teens share creativity online. The tools may have changed, but the core themes of creativity, ambition, and finding your voice are timeless. 

Ready to Wear unfolds with a steady, engaging narrative that introduces a rich network of positive role models in Zoey’s life, including the lasting influence of her mother, who passed away when Zoey was young. A talented seamstress and artistic spirit, her mother’s creativity lives on through the clothing she left behind, which continues to inspire Zoey. Alongside this quiet legacy, Zoey is supported by Aunt Lulu and her immediate family, her two best friends, and her best friend’s mom, Mrs. Mackey. She is encouraged by the new school principal, Ms. Austen, and a knowledgeable mentor at the fabric store who helps her as she learns the basics of sewing. Together, these relationships underscore how essential a supportive network is for teens as they explore identity, take creative risks, and grow into who they are becoming.  

“Standing out from the crowd was kind of scary,” Zoey admits to herself after her first handmade outfit is met with a less-than-warm reaction from other teens on the first day of school. Instead of letting the criticism discourage her, Zoey chooses the high road, using the moment as motivation rather than defeat. The story explores the well-known mean girl trope, a familiar experience for many young readers. One classmate, whose behavior is especially unkind, resurfaces later in the story, prompting Zoey to consider empathy, restraint, and what it means to choose her own path.   

Ready to Wear provides chapter-opening illustrations that offer a visual impression of what Zoey’s sketches might look like, without directly depicting her sketchbook or blog. Zoey uses her blog as a kind of diary, sharing candid reflections with her followers about the ups and downs of creative expression. As she learns to trust her instincts, she realizes, “The only thing worse than an unfinished look was a look that was overdone.” It’s a feeling many creative teens will recognize, since it’s easy to push an idea too far when you care about making it perfect. Zoey’s blog becomes a place where she shares projects and ideas, turning followers into an encouraging fan community. In a line that neatly captures the heart of the moment, she says, “The point is, we finally have the chance to wear whatever we want. After years of dressing alike, we can finally be ourselves.” 

In the final chapters, Zoey has just two weeks to design an original dress for her school’s fashion show fundraiser. Readers follow her creative process as she finds inspiration, commits to an idea, and gets to work. When something goes wrong, she is briefly overwhelmed by tears and frustration, but Zoey does not give up. A surprising act of kindness helps turn the moment around. Guided by her dad’s saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemon meringue pie,” Zoey shows how the steady support of those around her has shaped her optimism and confidence. Still, she finds herself reflecting on what happened, considering how to respond with integrity while remaining uncertain about the right choice. 

As the story progresses, sewing-specific vocabulary is intentionally introduced, including terms such as “seam guide,” “feed dog,” and “seam ripper.” The text also incorporates fabric terminology like “notions” and “dress form,” along with charming examples from fashion such as “muumuu” and “epaulette.” These specialized terms are supported through clear textual context, allowing readers to build understanding and reinforce new vocabulary without disrupting comprehension. 

As the first book in a series, Sew Zoey: Ready to Wear offers all the ingredients of a captivating read and leaves readers excited to continue the journey. The book concludes on a cliffhanger, pulling readers toward the next story and offering a creative setting where teens can explore identity, take risks, and discover who they are becoming. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Maureen Lowe 

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia

He was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia: the wealthiest monarch in the world, who ruled over 130 million people and one-sixth of the earth’s land surface, yet turned a blind eye to the abject poverty of his subjects.

She was Empress Alexandra: stern, reclusive, and painfully shy, a deeply religious woman obsessed with the corrupt mystic Rasputin.

Their daughters were the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie, and Anastasia: completely isolated and immature girls who wore identical white dresses and often signed joint letters as OTMA, the initials of their first names.

Their only son was Tsarevich Alexei: youngest of the Romanovs, heir to the throne, a hemophiliac whose debilitating illness was kept secret from the rest of the world.

Candace Fleming deftly maneuvers between the plight of Russia’s poor masses and the extravagant lives of the Romanovs, from their opulent upbringings to the crumbling of their massive empire, and finally to their tragic murders. Using captivating photos and compelling first-person accounts throughout, The Family Romanov is history at its most absorbing. 

The book begins by focusing on Nicholas II’s childhood and the influence of his father, Tsar Alexander III. Unfortunately, Alexander was embarrassed by Nicholas’s small stature and gentle demeanor. The tsar refused to allow Nicholas to participate in government business because he considered him “a bit of a girlie” and “a dunce.” 

Not only was Nicholas unprepared to be tsar, but he also alienated many who were unhappy with Nicholas’s choice of wife—a shy woman whom the Russian people viewed with distrust and who initially failed to produce a male heir. To make matters worse, on the day Nicholas was crowned as the new tsar in May 1896, an accident occurred that killed an estimated fourteen hundred people. This tragedy was interpreted as a bad omen, and many peasants predicted that Nicholas’s reign “would be beset with troubles from God.” Initially, readers will sympathize with Nicholas, who appears overwhelmed by circumstances beyond his control. However, this sympathy quickly fades as Nicholas makes increasingly unwise and cruel decisions.  

Interspersed throughout the book are first-person accounts from Russia’s poor that paint a vivid picture of human suffering. Peasants faced starvation and were forced to send their children to work in factories for long hours and inadequate pay. The poor lived in constant fear of becoming attached to their children because of the high mortality rate. These descriptions give readers a stark understanding of the vast divide between Russia’s wealthy nobility and its impoverished peasants. When comparing these two worlds, it becomes clear why the Russian Revolution was inevitable.  

When the poor began protesting for better working conditions, Tsar Nicholas showed no compassion. Instead, he blamed the workers for the problems and told his troops they were “obligated to fire” on protesters. Nicholas’s only concern was silencing dissent rather than addressing legitimate grievances. 

Instead of helping people, Nicholas took away people’s rights. “If Russians so much as grumbled about the government, they could be arrested and exiled to far-off frozen Siberia without recourse. To keep the peace and protect order, the tsar censored the press, banned books, limited public speech, and refused people the right to assemble for political reasons.”  

Nicholas’s attempts to quell unrest proved ineffective because he refused to acknowledge the underlying problems, which only fueled further discontent. The working class refused to remain silent. Despite book bans in Russia, workers continued reading authors like Jules Verne and James Fenimore Cooper. These books allowed them to “envision a better life” and taught them critical thinking skills. “These literate workers were now able to picture a government more responsive to their needs.” 

By the end of World War I, Tsar Nicholas and his government had completely lost the people’s trust and were overthrown. Even under house arrest, the Romanov family continued to live in luxury. They still had “footmen in elaborate ornate livery [who] still bowed and served meals; expensive wines from the imperial cellar still appeared on the table; maids still came to help [Empress Alexandra] change into lace gowns and lengths of pearls.” While readers may be horrified by the Romanovs’s eventual murders, the book clearly illustrates the causes that led to the family’s downfall. 

The Family Romanov transforms complicated history into an engaging account divided into four parts. The text is broken into manageable sections with headlines announcing each topic, making it less overwhelming for readers. Short, firsthand accounts from the working class and peasants reveal the horrendous suffering they endured. The book also includes 28 pages of photographs featuring the Romanov family and key figures in their lives, as well as images of wounded soldiers, injured protesters, and Rasputin’s “battered corpse.” 

While many may believe their government—whether democratic or monarchical—will never fail, no government is invincible, making The Family Romanov essential reading. The book not only helps readers understand Russian history but also highlights the failures of Tsar Nicholas that ultimately led to his downfall. The Family Romanov is well-researched and provides a comprehensive examination of the past that helps readers fully understand why Imperial Russia collapsed. Discover more about Russia by reading these exciting books: Swimming with Spies by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger, Stalin by Sean McCollum, and Spy Runner by Eugene Yelchin. 

Sexual Content  

  • The holy man, Gregory Rasputin, was accused of molesting “numerous women—maids, noble women, even nuns. And according to one member of Rasputin’s family, the report contained obscene photographs.” Tsar Nicholas did not believe the rumors. 

Violence  

  • Since the book covers both World War I, the Russian Revolution, the civil war, and the tsars’ violence, not every instance of violence is documented below. 
  • In 1881, a man “hurled a bomb at the imperial carriage. Miraculously, [Tsar Alexander] went uninjured, but many in his retinue were not as lucky.”  
  • When Tsar Alexander stepped out of the carriage to help people, a second bomb was thrown. “This one landed between his feet. An explosion of fire and shrapnel tore away Alexander’s left leg, ripped open his abdomen, and mangled his face.” He was taken to the palace, where he died. 
  • A peasant boy was afraid of his father, who often got drunk. “He would drink to the point where he was seriously ill, and there were even occasions when he was close to death. . .” While drunk, the boy’s father “fell upon my unfortunate mother. . . [I] prevented him from beating her. This. . . usually ended up with Father beating me up as well.”  
  • When the new tsar, Nicholas, was to be sworn in, hundreds of thousands of peasants attended. “Panic broke out. . . The crowd pushed forward, eager to grab their share [of food and gifts]. Some wooden planks that had been placed over several deep ditches gave way. Men, women, and children tripped and fell. Unable to rise in the mass of pushing, shoving bodies, they were trampled, crushed, suffocated.” Approximately 1,400 people died. Later, the tsar wrote a letter to his mother detailing his plans to “crush the rebellion by sheer force. . . and that would mean rivers of blood. 
  • The working class and the peasants suffered from terrible working conditions and a lack of food. They protested, hoping that Nicholas would intervene. Instead, soldiers fired on the crowd. “Bullets shredded the flags, and icons, and portraits of Nicholas. Bodies fell to the snow-covered ground. . . When the shooting stopped, between 150 and 200 men, women, and children lay dead. Between 450 and 800 were wounded.” This event is known as Bloody Sunday. 
  • On the day the October Manifesto was proclaimed, the Russian government promised reforms, including the right to peacefully demonstrate. Additionally, many political prisoners were released from prison. Moscow workers marched in the streets. A mob of supporters of the tsar, called the Black Hundred, attacked the Moscow workers and newly freed prisoners. “The mob pulled out knives and brass knuckles. Within minutes, the workers’ triumph turned to terror as they were slashed and beaten. . . When the attack was over, one of the prisoners lay dead, and dozens more were injured.”  
  • The Black Hundred continued to attack people, and the most vicious attacks were perpetrated against the Jews. “Russian subjects, provoked by the Black Hundred, rose up against their Jewish neighbors, burning homes, looting shops and synagogues, and murdering innocent men, women, and children. . . government officials looked the other way.” 
  • On Easter Sunday, a leaflet “printed under the supervision of Nicholas’s minister of the interior and paid for with the tsar’s money” was given to people. The leaflet said, “Let us massacre these. . . monsters.” Monsters referred to Jews in this letter. The Christian attack lasted three days. “When peace was finally restored, fifty-seven Jews (including two babies and a twelve-year-old) lay dead, and five hundred more were wounded.” Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed. When told of the deaths, Tsar Nicholas said, “Good. The Jews need to be taught a lesson.” 
  • One Jewish person wrote about the Easter Sunday riots. One group of people, including “the glazier Grienschpoun” hid in an outhouse. “The rioters rushed for the shed. . . A neighbor . . . was the first to stab the glazier in the neck. . . they finished him off with sticks and clubs.”  
  • To get away from the mob, three Jews named Chiaia, Macklin and Berlatsky climbed onto a roof. “Finally all three were tripped over the edge of the roof. Chiaia fell on a pole of feathers . . . escaped with her life. The wounded Macklin and Berlatsky lay writhing with broken limbs on the pavement, where the cowardly crowd finished them off with crowbars.” The event is described over three pages. 
  • The tsar’s police arrested the leader of the Soviets, who was against the autocracy. Russian peasants and workers protested by barricading their section of town. Nicholas deployed a fighting unit. “The tsar’s troops were ruthless. Bringing up artillery, they bombarded the workers’ section until the whole district was nothing but smoldering rubble. . . Their orders were to shoot anyone who had not already fled. Men, women, and children were systematically mowed down. . . More than a thousand people had been killed, and thousands more were injured.”  
  • World War I started when a terrorist “calmly stepped out in front of Archduke Ferdinand’s car during the prince’s ceremonial visit to the city of Sarajevo. . . fired twice. The archduke’s wife, Sophie, instantly crumbled, and blood gushed from the archduke’s neck.” Both died. 
  • During World War I, Alexandra and her two oldest daughters became nurses so they could help wounded soldiers. One person wrote, “I have seen the empress of Russia assisting in the most difficult operations, taking from the hands of busy surgeons amputated legs and arms, removing bloody and vermin-ridden field dressings, enduring all the sights and smells and agonies of the most dreadful of all places, a military hospital in the midst of a war.” 
  • Rasputin had become so powerful that some believed he was the puppet master, making decisions for Nicholas and Alexandra. Three nobles—Yusupov, Purishkevich, and Pavolvich—decided to assassinate him. Yusupov shot Rasputin in the back. They thought Rasputin was dead, but he wasn’t. 
  • Rasputin staggered “to his feet, his mouth foaming, [he] lunged at his would-be murderer. His long, bony fingers dug like steel claws into the prince’s shoulders. Terror-stricken, Yusupov struggled to break free from the death grip.” Yusupov fled. 
  • Rasputin attempted to flee. Purishkevich said, “I fired [at Rasputin]. . . I missed. I fired again. Again I missed. . . I fired a third time. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. . . I fired a fourth time and hit him in the head.” The three nobles cut a hole in the ice and put Rasputin’s body in a river. The book contains a picture of Rasputin’s dead body.  
  • A group of men took the Romanov family and their servants into a basement. The family thought they were going into the basement for their safety. They were lined up in two rows. Chief executioner of Emperor Nicholas II, Yakov Yurovsky, “jerked the Colt pistol from his pocket. . . He shot the tsar. Nicholas crumpled to the floor just as the other men raised their guns and fired. Alexandra died as she tried to cross herself.” 
  • The Romanov children had hidden so many jewels in their clothing that they were essentially bulletproof. “Incredibly, bullets aimed directly at both the girls’ and Alexei’s chest merely bounced off and jumped about the room like hail.” 
  • Alexei couldn’t run. His chair tipped over. “He moaned and clutched his father’s arm. Minutes later, Yurovsky shot him in the head.” 
  • The girls tried to escape. “Crawling through the thick cloud of gun smoke that now filled the room, [the girls] searched frantically for a way out. Only their outlines could be seen, and the men began firing randomly at anything that moved. . . Olga and Tatiana, arms around each other, huddled in a corner. Bullets soon took their lives.” 
  • Marie and Anastasia “pressed themselves together. Both girls screamed for their mother. The murderers moved forward. They slashed at the ‘Little Par’ with bayonets before silencing them both with gunshots.” The bodies were hidden in the Koptyaki Forest.

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • During many of the royal parties, alcohol such as champagne, cognac, and wine was served. 
  • Occasionally, the book describes men as being drunk. For example, many of the poor became drunkards. Many of the poor would go to “the neighborhood tavern, they tried to drown their misery by squandering precious kopecks on cheap vodka and watered-down beer.” 
  • While in the military, Nicholas “focused on what he enjoyed most — laughing and partying with his fellow officers.” Once, he got so “stewed” that “the Officers carried [him] out.”  
  • While pregnant, Empress Alexandra drank “bitter herbal concoctions,” “prayed,” and “even bathed in the moonlight” in the hopes that this would allow her to have a son. However, she delivered another daughter. 
  • According to Rasputin’s security detail, the holy man did not always act holy. “Rasputin took part in a drinking party with some [college] students. . . A musician struck up, and there was singing, and Rasputin danced with a maid-servant.” Rasputin was often seen “dead drunk.” 
  • To kill Rasputin, his assassins “plied [him] with wine that they thought was laced with cyanide.” Later, the assassins learned that the wine was not poisoned.  
  • When the Romanov family was exiled, they packed “vials of holy water; boxes of smelling salts; laxatives, morphine, and even a year’s supply of bath oil and cologne.” 

Language  

  • The tsar Nicholas derisively called Jews “the Yids” and encouraged people to attack them. Nicholas said, “[They] must be put in their place.” 
  • When Nicholas realizes that he will be executed, he says, “Lord, oh, my God! Oh, my God!”

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • For the Romanov family, religion was a daily part of their lives and appeared often. Because of this, not every reference is below.  
  • The poor did not feel guilty about stealing food from the wealthy people’s forest. They believed, “God grew the forest for everyone.” 
  • The Romanovs believed that “God had given them this power, had chosen them to rule the Russian people. As God’s representative on earth, they maintained, the tsar should be left to run the country according to his own ideas of duty and right.”  
  • The tsar had two restrictions. “He had to abide by the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church. . . and he had to follow the laws of succession.” 
  • After her mother died, Empress Alexandra became “obsessed with God and the afterlife.” 
  • After a peasant boy’s mother died, he was distressed because he fell asleep before he could read the Psalter forty times. “According to popular belief . . . you have to read the entire Psalter forty times over to [send a soul to Heaven.]” 
  • To marry Nicholas, Empress Alexandra had to convert from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy, a branch of Christianity. “To toss [being Lutheran] aside would, she believed, be an insult to God.” Finally, after much prayer, Empress Alexandra decided, “She wouldn’t really be changing faiths, she reasoned. She would merely be changing the way she expressed that faith.” 
  • Alexei, Nicholas’s son, had Hemophilia. “Nicholas believed Alexei’s illness was God’s will, and so he accepted it passively. ‘My own fate, and that of my family are in the hands of Almighty God,’ he said.”  
  • Empress Alexandra collected icons. “Believing, as the Church taught, that God and the saints helped and healed people through these icons, she surrounded herself with them, then spent hours each day on her knees in prayer. She also began putting her faith in so-called holy men—hermits, soothsayers, wandering monks, and faith healers. They were, she believed, a direct link to God.” 
  • Empress Alexandra thought that the Russian Orthodox Church “believed in seers, holy men, martyrs, and living saints as well as visions, miracles, and speaking in tongues. . . It had [been] taught that God often blessed ordinary men with the divine ability to heal bodies and souls, in addition to the ability to act as spiritual guides to the rich and powerful.” 
  • Even though Empress Alexandra believed a daughter was a “miracle of God,” she prayed “before icons, begging God for the miracle of a son.” 
  • Empress Alexandra was introduced to “Dr.” Philippe by relatives who “dabbled in the occult, the two were notorious for the midnight seances. . . both women believed in a host of psychic phenomena—ghosts, astrology, even magic.” It was believed that “Dr.” Philippe could “heal the sick by chanting, predict the future by praying and make himself invisible just by donning a magic hat.” 
  • “Dr.” Philippe told Empress Alexandra that she would have a son if she “Prayed to Seraphim of Sarov.” Three months later, Alexandra was pregnant. “She was convinced it was because of ‘Dr.’ Philippe. He had interceded with the Almighty on her behalf, and God blessed her. This event cemented her belief in mysticism.” 
  • Nicholas believed “God’s will must always be accepted without complaint. After all, everything that happened in life was God’s will, so it was pointless to question the meaning of events.” 
  • However, Alexei’s illness made Alexandra question God. “But after she’d waited so long and prayed so hard, why had God allowed this terrible thing to happen?” She believed that Alexei’s illness was because of her “unworthiness.” To become holier, “She began to pray longer and harder, spending hours on her knees in the palace chapel. . . She covered the walls of the nursery, and even baby Alexei’s crib, with hundreds of icons and religious images.” 
  • When the working class and the poor began to rebel, the tsar believed that he was not the problem. Instead, “It was the fact that people had turned against the autocracy and their holy tsar. ‘We have sinned. . . and God is punishing us,’ he said. Therefore, strikes were not a sign that the country needed democratic reform. Rather, they were God’s way of telling the country it needed an even stricter autocracy.” 
  • Because a peasant’s life was so hard, when an infant died, a common saying was, “Thank goodness the Lord thought better of it!” 
  • Gregory Rasputin was a peasant farmer who “claimed to see a vision from God.” He left his family and went to a monastery in Greece. When he returned, “he declared himself to be what Russians called a starets—a holy man.” Some believed he was a healer and a prophet. Empress Alexandra put her faith in Rasputin and often followed his advice. 
  • After the prime minister was assassinated. Alexandra believed this proved that “Those who offend [Rasputin] may no longer count on divine protection.” 
  • During the three hundredth anniversary of Romanov rule, the royal family threw a jubilee. During the ceremony, they saw two doves circling overhead. Nicholas and Alexandra believed this was a religious sign. Nicholas said it was “a symbol that the blessings of God, after three centuries, continue to rest on the Romanov[s].” 
  • Orthodox Church outside of Russia “largely ignored [Tsar Nicholas’s] anti-Semitism, poor leadership, and brutal suppression of his subjects.” The church wanted to declare the family “martyred saints.” The Orthodox Church outside of Russia did not agree. Three pages discuss the conflict. 

American Dog: Brave

Dylan’s life is changing. Ever since middle school started, his friend Jaxon hasn’t been the friend Dylan thought he was. With his dad overseas and his mother working, Dylan doesn’t know who to turn to. After a particularly bad hurricane, Dylan stumbles upon a stray dog, starved and scared, and decides to take him home. Dylan names the dog Brave and begs his mom to keep him. Dylan’s mom proposes a plan: either Dylan takes Brave to the pound or spends his after-school hours training him. If Brave isn’t trained in a few days, he’ll go to the pound. Brave suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and any kind of loud sound sends him into a destructive panic, so Dylan has his work cut out for him. 

Dylan finds himself asking Grace Garcia, a fellow classmate and a rancher’s kid, for help. Growing up on a ranch, Grace has plenty of experience with animals, especially with training dogs. However, Dylan and Jaxon weren’t nice to Grace in the past. The only way she will help Dylan is if he works on her family’s ranch and experiences what it’s like to put in hard work—a far cry from making fun of her and her family as he’s done in the past. Along the way, Dylan learns how much better things can be when he’s honest and has supportive friends who accept him for who he is. Brave has a very long way to go in his recovery, but Dylan and Grace are determined to keep him in a loving home. Dylan is convinced that the storm brought Brave to him for a reason. 

Dylan is a sweet protagonist who’s trying to find his way in the world. He’s young and naïve, but over the course of the story, he finds the strength to stand up to bullies and refuses to give up when all seems lost. His development is well-executed, and he is a protagonist readers can root for. They can especially root for Brave’s recovery and Dylan and Brave’s budding relationship. The story itself is a little two-dimensional. For example, Jaxon’s character development feels thin and hasty instead of careful and thorough. Jaxon is a textbook bully, with obvious issues of his own, but the second Brave and Dylan show him kindness when they don’t have to, he learns the error of ways, which is quite unrealistic. His redemption arc is virtually non-existent.  

While the ending is sweet, the story’s conflict is resolved too quickly and simply for what it is. It doesn’t feel like the characters go through enough to properly reach the ending they receive. Putting this aside, the story is entertaining and will inspire younger readers. In addition, Dylan is a good role model for kids trying to figure out how to cope with change. The setting is well-described and evokes the Wild West. The language is simple and explains Brave’s PTSD in a way that is easy for younger readers to understand. The book might make readers feel brave as it encourages them to care for animals when they’re in need.  

Readers who enjoy loyal animals and inspiring moments of bravery will love the heartwarming recovery of Brave, the true friendship between Grace and Dylan, and the fun Texas setting. This book demonstrates the power of quiet, loyal support that animals provide for human mental health. Dylan is an inspiring character who grows when challenged, learning his own moral principles and the importance of discipline and responsibility as he matures. Brave helps Dylan find his way and Dylan helps Brave heal. Overall, this is a good story with a beautiful message: the best friends are always there when you need them, especially when you take care of them in return. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • There is some bullying. Dylan’s friend Jaxon is the main culprit, and Dylan is often either the victim or a bystander. For example, after his first adventure with Jaxon, Dylan describes Jaxon’s behavior: “With his new status, Jaxon had been pushing boundaries lately, as Dylan’s mom would call it—asking Dylan to stay out late, skipping his homework, and thinking up elaborate pranks. Dylan liked having fun, and Jaxon always acted like whatever he had in mind was going to be the most fun thing ever. And if Dylan or one of the other guys hesitated, Jaxon was quick to tease them in front of everyone else.” 
  • When Jaxon pressures Dylan to throw water balloons at cars as an after-school activity, the pair cause a car to veer off the road and Brave to run off. “Then it all happened at once. The pickup truck screeched to a sudden stop, its nose pulling hard to the right. Brave flinched at the sound and backed away from the railing, barking like mad, then shot off the bridge and down the street. And Dylan saw the driver of the truck rolling down the window so he could find the source of the object that had just hit his car.” The driver isn’t injured, and Brave is soon found. 
  • While out looking for Brave during a storm, Jaxon finds himself in danger. He slips and falls into a flash flood. Brave rescues him, mostly unharmed. “All of a sudden, Brave broke through the surface, paddling and kicking hard and pulling Jaxon by the sleeve. Jaxon took a huge gulp of air and flailed his hands around until he got ahold of the log bridge. He pulled himself up onto it as Brave scrambled up next to him, his claws scratching at the wood.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Phrases like “you suck” and “darn it” appear frequently. 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Kate Schuyler 

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

It is January 1947, the Year of the Boar in China. As the Wong family prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year, they receive a letter in the mail. Sixth Cousin, a young girl, realizes it is from her father, who has been living in the United States for some time. The contents of the letter make her mother smile, her grandmother cry, and her grandfather angry. She learns that this is because her father had decided to stay in America permanently, and she and her mother would be joining him. Sixth Cousin adopts the American name Shirley Temple after the famous actress, and soon she and her mother embark on a ten-thousand-mile sea journey to New York City, where her father is waiting at their apartment in Brooklyn. 

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, author Bette Bao Lord tells a wholesome, feel-good story about a girl who learns to balance her Chinese heritage with her new American life. The story is informed by Lord’s own experiences as a Chinese immigrant in the late 1940s, making the book feel authentic. It is divided into twelve chapters, one for each month of the Year of the Boar—a format that effectively shows the progression of Shirley’s adjustment to a new language, school, and culture.  

Although Shirley is extremely excited to explore her new home, adjusting to life in a new country proves challenging. She starts a new school in the middle of the year, not knowing English, and must navigate her way home through the busy, often hectic streets of New York. These challenges make her victories—improving her English, making new friends, and succeeding at school—all the more satisfying to read about as Shirley becomes more acquainted with life in America. 

One of the most compelling aspects of the story is Shirley’s growing fascination with baseball and her admiration for her hero, Jackie Robinson. What began as a game of stickball with her classmates soon developed into a passion for America’s pastime. Shirley becomes a huge fan of her hometown team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and its star player, Jackie Robinson. Shirley feels inspired not only by Robinson’s triumphs on the baseball diamond but also by his triumphs breaking the color barrier as the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. Shirley often listens to the games on the radio with her classmates—celebrating every win, lamenting every loss, and finding baseball to be an effective way to bond with her new friends over a common interest. 

 As Lord writes, “Suddenly, Shirley understood why her father brought her ten thousand miles to live among strangers. Here, she did not have to wait for gray hair to be considered wise. Here, she could speak up, question even the conduct of the President. Here, Shirley Temple Wong was somebody. She felt as if she had the power of ten tigers, as if she had grown as tall as the Statue of Liberty.” 

Sexual Content 

  • None 

Violence 

  • One day at school, Shirley accidentally ran into her classmate Mabel, causing them both to fall. Mabel is described as “the tallest and strongest and scariest girl in all of the fifth grade.” After a verbal confrontation full of profanities, Mabel “drew back her fist and punched Shirley square in the eye.” Then she punched Shirley a second time. The incident left Shirley with two black eyes.  

Language 

  • After colliding with Shirley, Mabel screamed: “Who the **** do you think you are? You ********”” She would also say, “You ********. Why don’t you **********?” Shirley would curse back at Mabel in Chinese, though the exact language she used isn’t stated. The expletives are censored with stars in the quoted text.  

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None 

Supernatural Content 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • Throughout the book, Shirley refers to the Chinese Goddess Kwan Yim. For instance, “Then, muttering thanks to the Goddess Kwan Yim, she flung her weary self into the armchair to seek solace in the uninterrupted enjoyment of the last inning.” 

by Nicholas Paragano 

Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

Imagine growing up in a grand Parisian home that also functions as a tapestry repair workshop along the banks of the Seine River in the 1940s. Cloth Lullaby follows Louise as her life gradually unfolds, offering insight into how a world-renowned artist takes shape. Through quiet, observant moments, readers watch a young girl grow up and eventually leave her childhood home to attend college in Paris. 

The story of Louise Bourgeois demonstrates a rare level of sophistication for a children’s book through its use of literary devices such as allegory, along with the selective inclusion of a few French terms. At its core, the narrative honors the bond between mother and child, showing how loss reshapes a life and leads to a creative path of expression. 

A central thread in the story is Louise’s mother. Readers can picture her repairing fabric on a summer afternoon and sense the care she brings to Louise’s life. As the text notes, “She loved to work in the warm sun, her needle rising and falling beside the lilting river.” When Louise turns twelve, her mother begins teaching her the family trade. Through lessons in form and color, readers glimpse the start of Louise’s lifelong artistic path and her understanding that textiles can communicate meaning: “Some bore elaborate patterns, others told stories.” 

Cloth Lullaby unfolds with a steady, flowing narrative structure, yet attentive readers begin to notice underlying discontent. Louise’s father is largely absent from her life. When the text notes that “he was always leaving, which made Louise so mad, she threw herself into the river,” the phrasing is striking and unsettling. Within the context of a picture book, this moment reads as hyperbole, yet it signals deeper emotional unrest. 

Difficult themes such as neglect and loss are handled gently, though adult readers may notice subtle cracks in what appears to be an ideal childhood. For young readers, the story returns to comforting moments, such as Louise pitching a tent with her siblings and falling asleep to “the rhythmic rock and murmur of river water.” The “big house on the river” serves not only as a home but also as a source of creativity and sustenance, as the tapestry studio, surrounded by gardens, “provided flowers and fruit, a lullaby and a livelihood.” 

“Louise’s mother was her best friend.” This single line foreshadows the devastation Louise experiences after her mother’s death. While studying mathematics in college, grief redirects her path. Heartbroken, “she abandoned mathematics and turned to painting, applying the lessons she’d learned so far to art.” In this moment, the artistic life of Louise Bourgeois begins to take shape, leading eventually to her monumental, emotionally charged sculptures. 

Through allegory, the spider becomes a symbolic stand-in for Louise’s mother and a lasting source of inspiration. As the text explains, “Her mother was not unlike a spider, a repairer of broken things.” Bourgeois’s best-known works, her towering spider sculptures, some reaching thirty feet tall, can appear frightening at first glance but become deeply meaningful when viewed through this lens. As the text describes, “she missed her mother so much she sculpted giant spiders made of bronze, steel, and marble.” She named them Maman, meaning mother. 

Alongside these monumental works, Louise also created smaller-scale art. “She sewed. She stitched. She reworked. She wove.” She stuffed stockings to form cloth sculptures and figures, sewed colorful spirals and circular webs, and made cloth drawings and books, continuing the tactile traditions she learned at her mother’s side. 

As the story unfolds over time, select French words appear, such as araignée (spider) and rentrayage (to reweave through a hole in fabric). The text also introduces weaving terms of the trade, including warp and weft, with the warp referring to the fixed vertical strands on a loom and the weft to the horizontal threads that interlace with them. These specialized terms are made accessible through clear context and accompanying illustrations that visually reinforce their meaning.  

In conclusion, Cloth Lullaby is best experienced like a work of art, inviting readers to engage with its abstract, symbolic, and interpretive qualities rather than a strictly linear narrative. The last three pages of the Author’s notes add valuable context to Louise Bourgeois’s life, describing the recognition she began to receive. Her career culminated in a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art at age seventy-one. Bourgeois remains one of the most renowned modern artists of her generation, and Cloth Lullaby offers young readers a meaningful introduction to art as a way of understanding personal history, loss, and creativity. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None   

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Maureen Lowe 

What Were the Twin Towers?

For much of the late 20th century, the Twin Towers stood as powerful symbols of New York City and the United States. Rising above the Manhattan skyline, the towers represented economic strength, innovation, and global connection. However, their story is also tied to a tragic day in American history. What Were the Twin Towers? explores both the construction of these iconic buildings and the lasting impact of their destruction on September 11, 2001.  

The book explains how the idea for the World Trade Center emerged in the 1960s. At the time, New York City leaders wanted to reestablish the city as a center of global trade and business. Minoru Yamasaki was chosen to design the towers, and his involvement led to the blueprints for two buildings, each 110 stories tall. The chapter “Up They Go” takes readers into the chaos of the construction, from collapsing cranes to the addition of 43,600 windows. Readers interested in construction will enjoy learning about the process of assembling what were, at the time, the tallest towers in the world and how they symbolized ambition and progress.   

Throughout the book, readers are introduced to the people who worked in, visited, and admired the Twin Towers. For example, in 1974, a tightrope walker secretly rigged a wire cable between the two towers. At 1,350 feet high, he walked from one side of the tightrope to the other as crowds watched from the ground. The author also highlights that the building was not only for office spaces but also a popular tourist destination, with observation decks and restaurants offering sweeping views of New York City. These details will help readers understand how deeply the towers were woven into everyday life and why they were so meaningful to a variety of people.  

The book has twelve chapters that carefully build towards the events of September 11, 2001. When addressing the attacks, the author presents the information in a factual, yet sensitive manner that is appropriate for young readers. Chapter 9 explains how hijacked planes struck the towers, leading to their collapse and the loss of thousands of lives. “After the second plane hit the South Tower, it became clear that this was an attack. That’s when first responders—rescue teams—began arriving. They rushed into the buildings to save trapped workers and give first aid.” Rather than focusing on graphic details, the book emphasizes bravery, resilience, and the ways people helped one another during and after the tragedy.  

In addition to discussing the attacks, What Were the Twin Towers? also explores the aftermath. Readers learn about how New York City and the nation mourned, rebuilt, and honored those who were lost. The book explains the creation of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, helping readers understand how the memory of the Twin Towers is preserved. This focus on remembrance allows young readers to grasp the importance of honoring history, even when it is painful.  

Like other books in the What Was? series, this book includes black-and-white illustrations and photographs that support the text. Images of the Twin Towers during construction, photographs of the skyline, and pictures from memorial sites help readers visualize the buildings and their significance. These visuals are especially helpful for children who benefit from seeing historical events alongside reading about them.   

Overall, What Were the Twin Towers? provides a thoughtful and accessible introduction to an important moment in modern history. By balancing architectural history, personal impact, and respectful discussion of tragedy, the book helps young readers understand both what the Twin Towers were and why they continue to matter today.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • On September 11, four planes were hijacked. “Everyone in all four planes was killed, including the nineteen men who had hijacked the flights and carried out the attacks.” In total, 2,977 people died on September 11, 2001. 
  • In 1993, a small group of people planned to destroy the North Tower by driving a van packed with 1,200 pounds of explosives into the parking garage. “The van exploded. It blew a hole through five underground levels of the building and killed six people.” 
  • Al Qaeda is a terrorist group that “was founded in the late 1980s by Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.” Bin Laden approved the plan to hijack jets and fly them into the towers, and members of Al Qaeda were trained to take over the crew and control passengers.    

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Madeline Hettrick 

Pocket Bear

Thimble-born from tip to toe, Pocket Bear remembers every moment of his becoming: the glimmering needle, the silken thread, the tender hands as each careful stitch brought him closer to himself. Born during the throes of WWI, he was designed to fit into the pocket of a soldier’s jacket, eyes sewn a bit higher than normal so that he always gazed upward. That way, glancing at his pocket, a soldier would see an endearing token of love from someone back home, and, hopefully, a good luck charm.

Now, over a century later, Pocket serves as unofficial mayor of Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured, where stuffed toy animals are refurbished and given a fresh opportunity to be loved. He and his best feline friend Zephyrina, known far and wide as “The Cat Burglar,” have seen it all, and then some. 

Told from Zephyrina’s point of view, Pocket Bear tells readers a sweet, gentle story about the hardship of war and the importance of bravery. When she was a kitten, Zephyrina didn’t have a home or a family to help care for her. This makes her slightly cynical and standoffish toward her human family, Elizaveta and Dasha. However, Zephyrina is completely loyal to her best friend, Pocket. Throughout the book, the cat looks to Pocket for guidance, who wisely says, “Sometimes, the most precious things in life are right under our noses.” With the bear’s help, Zephyrina transforms from a lonely, self-serving cat into a strong, capable leader and a loving pet who comforts Dasha. 

The beginning of the story focuses on Zephyrina, Pocket, and the other stuffed animals living in the Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured. At first, readers may assume that these stuffed animals are just a random collection brought together by chance. This could not be further from the truth. Elizaveta, Dasha, Pocket, and another stuffed animal named Berwon have all been impacted by war. In a twist of irony, Pocket’s soldier served in the “war to end all wars,” World War I. In the story’s conclusion, Pocket reveals that his soldier had died in the war. 

Dasha’s story unfolds slowly, ultimately revealing that she and her mother, Elizaveta, left Ukraine after a bomb injured Dasha and her father died. Dasha’s story unfolds through Zephyrina’s eyes, which softens the effects of the war. Additionally, Dasha doesn’t like to talk about the war because, “Unless you’ve been through it yourself, you can’t really understand.” In the end, the book doesn’t describe what happened during the war; it focuses on the war’s aftereffects, allowing readers to understand that war doesn’t just affect soldiers—it also affects innocent children like Dasha. 

Pocket Bear conveys an important theme: Bravery comes in many forms. For instance, Dasha considers Pocket a hero because, “He has been through a lot. But he is still kind.” However, Pocket is not the only hero. Zephyrina shows courage when she saves Berwon from being auctioned off. Additionally, the bears and Zephyrina show the importance of loyalty, kindness, and friendship. One of the most heartwarming parts of the story is when the cat helps Pocket stay with Berwon, even though Zephyrina must say goodbye to Pocket forever. 

Black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout the book. These drawings help readers understand not only what the stuffed animals look like, but also Pocket’s tiny size compared to them. Readers will adore the illustrations, but the beginning of the story drags, and younger readers may struggle with the difficult vocabulary, such as disemboweled, tenant, arctophiles, and decipher. Many of the words cannot be easily deciphered from context clues; however, some are explained in the text. For example, when Zephyrina reflects on Dasha, she thinks, “People say cats are inscrutable. But I’ve learned some people are equally hard to read.” 

In the author’s note, Applegate discusses the importance of recycling stuffed animals and other toys. “About 80% of stuffed animals and other toys worldwide are eventually thrown away, making up 6 percent of plastics in landfills across the globe.” Applegate also lists organizations that would provide a home for “gently-loved” stuffed toys. After reading the unforgettable story, readers will gain a new perspective on toys and those who have suffered the effects of war. The book will also empower readers: even if you feel like a “small speck,” with others’ help, you can make a difference in someone’s life, and that is heroic. If you know a child who has been affected by war, reading The Day War Came and Survival Tails: World War II may help them process their emotions. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • When Zephyrina finds a stuffed bear, she carries it home by using her teeth. On the way home, a dog named Goofus gives chase. “Goofus loped over, all spittle and stink. Goofus and Zephyrina play tug-of-war with the bear. Zephyrina was not in the mood for a game of tug-of-war, particularly with a dog who enjoyed eating his own poop.” The bear isn’t hurt because “everyone knows toys can’t feel pain.” 
  • To get Goofus to leave, Zephyrina “slashed him across the nose with a claw. . . It wasn’t a dramatic swipe. . . But it was enough to get my message across.” Goofus leaves. 
  • When a family takes in Zephyrina, she’s thankful. “To show my gratitude, I brought them deliveries of mice and rats, grasshoppers and salamanders, baby birds and newborn opossums. Still alive, ideally with just enough squirm to keep them interesting.” 
  • Zephyrina thinks about the stuffed toys she’s found. “Most of the stuffed toys I’d known had been through a lot of . . . stuff. . . They’d been slobbered on and tossed aside and buried in toy boxes. They’d had their eyes yanked out and their tails chewed off and their stuffing spread around the family room like little snowballs. They’d been left alone in playgrounds while squirrels chittered at them and raccoons gnawed on them and dogs peed on them.” 
  • Zephyrina lives in a house with a child named Dasha. Pocket tells the story of her injury. “Dasha’s leg had been badly injured when a bomb hit her house.”

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • Heck is used twice. 
  • When reflecting on Pocket, Zephyrina thinks, “He was my teacher. My coach. The guy who (gently) reminded me when I was being a jerk.” 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Mount Rushmore Face That Couldn’t See

The History Club, which includes Sam, Cat, Egg, and Gum, takes a field trip to Mount Rushmore. When they arrive, a group of Lakota kids who are protesters are in the parking lot. Instead of being curious about the issue, Gum says, “People will protest anything.” The trip gets more complicated when their tour guide doesn’t arrive. Cat and her friends find him tied up in his bed, and the mystery deepens. 

The kids visit the Sculpture Center. While there, a voice booms, “Get out!” Some believe it’s the voice of a Lakota spirit, while others believe it’s the voice of one of the dead presidents. Cat and her friends investigate to find out who wants to scare visitors away from Mount Rushmore. 

The mystery is told from Cat’s point of view. However, all four kids work together to solve the mystery. Since the story is short, there is very little character development, and the characters have no distinct personalities and are portrayed stereotypically. For example, Anton is portrayed as a typical bully, and there is no logical reason for him to be on the field trip. When Anton is being rude, Ms. Juniper says, “You are on this trip because your grade in history was beyond terrible. One more mean word out of you, my friend, and you’ll spend the rest of your life in the sixth grade.” The lack of character development makes it difficult for readers to connect with the characters or relate to their conflicts.  

At first, Sam accuses the caretaker of trying to scare people away from Mount Rushmore. However, there is little evidence to support this. Sam explains her reasoning, “He’s a grump. You saw how he looked at us, and how he talked to us. He doesn’t like kids. He wants us out of here.” Later, they discover that the park ranger’s daughter, Ruthie, is the culprit. Ruthie explains that she tied up her father because she was hoping he would get fired and they could move back home. Some readers may question the evidence, wondering how Ruthie could tie up her father without waking him up. Additionally, readers will question how Ruthie could have hidden speakers throughout the woods and in the Sculpture Center. In the end, the mystery is solved, but the lack of evidence and the unrealistic culprit led to an unsatisfying reveal.  

While the story includes Native Americans, they are not developed as people. Instead, they are protestors whose only purpose is to be suspects in the mysteries. The park ranger says, “This heritage village is the newest exhibit at Mount Rushmore. It was set up to show how the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota nations lived before the United States began its growth to the west.” Despite this information, the exhibit is never shown, nor is there any historical information about the indigenous people. While one of the illustrations shows teepees, they are used only as hiding places for a suspect. Additionally, the park ranger says, “My family is from Mexico. That means we have a lot of Native American blood in our veins.” Overall, the book misses an opportunity to showcase Native Americans’ vibrant culture or explain how Western Expansion affected them.   

The Mount Rushmore Face That Couldn’t See begins by using a graphic to introduce the narrator, Cat, and ends with a glossary, a report on Mount Rushmore, and questions to consider. The story contains very little information about Mount Rushmore or the Lakota people. However, the report gives a short explanation of the conflict. Unfortunately, the book uses stereotypical characters and clues that don’t quite fit the puzzle. Overall, The Mount Rushmore Face That Couldn’t See’s simple plot, recurring characters, and full-color illustrations make the story accessible to younger readers who aren’t ready for more advanced plots. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • When Cat and her friends find Anton hiding in the woods, Cat “slapped him on the arm. It didn’t hurt him. I just couldn’t help myself.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Two boys who are considered bullies are referred to as thugs and goons. 
  • One of the kids calls the bully a “dummy.” 
  • Anton calls Cat and her friends “dorks.” 
  • One of the kids calls the caretaker a “grump.” 
  • Anton refers to his teacher, Ms. Juniper, as “Ms. Jupiter.” 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • When the kids hear a voice warning them to leave, a protester says, “This ghost was a Lakota spirit. You have to listen to the spirit’s warning and leave this Lakota land at once.” 

A Kite for Moon

What would it be like if the moon was your friend? Find out as you walk alongside a little boy who journeys through life to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. And then blast off with your little one as you zoom to the moon together! 

A Kite for Moon begins when a little boy flying his kite notices a sad Moon. He sends up kites to her, writing notes promising he will come see her someday. This promise propels him through years of studying, learning, and training to become an astronaut until he finally goes up, up, up in a big rocket ship with a fiery tail. 

Inspired by astronaut Neil Armstrong, A Kite for Moon follows an unnamed boy’s friendship with the moon. Through the years, the moon watches the “very small boy” study algebra and geometry. The boy also learns how to “ride a bicycle, drive a car, fly a plane, and a rocket.” As the boy grows, he never forgets his promise to the moon. Several illustrations show him surrounded by books and his telescope, reminding readers that achieving dreams takes dedication and hard work. 

Illustrator Matt Phelan created beautiful illustrations that often cover an entire two-page spread. The simple illustrations show the vastness of the sea and sky, hinting at the seeming impossibility of the boy’s dream to visit the moon. Reflecting the ocean and moon’s blue hues, the muted colors give the book a dream-like quality that will captivate readers. Although it’s a picture book, adults will need to read it to young children because of its complex sentences and vocabulary. For example, as the moon watches the boy grow, it “waxed and waned.” 

A Kite for Moon is an inspiring book to read to a child, inviting readers to imagine their own dreams taking flight. The story also makes a wonderful gift for anyone transitioning through life, reminding them that dedication can lead to extraordinary achievements. The book includes a beautiful presentation page, making it ideal for gift-giving. Young readers who are fascinated by the moon should also read Mousetronaut, Rocket Says Look Up, and Moon’s First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Christopher Columbus and the Americas

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. Or did he? Look at all the facts and discover the fiction through primary sources, infographics, and leveled text. Readers will learn the full story about Christopher Columbus’s famous voyage. 

Columbus sought a faster route to Asia because Europeans “liked the exotic spices and were willing to pay a lot for them.” King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded his journey as “an opportunity to gain wealth.” When Columbus reached land, he didn’t realize he had missed Asia entirely. His search for gold and other riches proved fruitless. 

Christopher Columbus and the Americas dispels many myths surrounding the famous explorer. Contrary to popular belief, people in Columbus’s time knew the Earth was round, and he wasn’t the first sailor to reach the Americas. In fact, there is little to celebrate about Columbus, given his cruel treatment of Indigenous people. “For the Taino living in the Caribbean, Columbus’s explorations would have a devastating effect.” His men killed many Taino, while countless others died from disease. Survivors faced enslavement. “The Spaniards committed many acts of horrific violence against the Taino. Columbus did nothing to stop it.” 

Public perception of Christopher Columbus has begun to shift. “Through the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists and historians, people are remembering the darker side of his story,” including his brutal behavior and broken promises. Despite four expeditions, Columbus “was disappointed with his failures” and “left behind a trail of broken promises and crimes against Indigenous peoples.” 

Visually appealing with large black-and-white illustrations, colorful section titles, and concise paragraphs, the book includes fact boxes, a glossary, and a timeline that enhance the reading experience and help readers trace Columbus’s voyages. 

This historically accurate account reveals important truths about Columbus’s treatment of native populations that may surprise many readers. Rather than accepting traditional celebrations of the explorer, Christopher Columbus and the Americas encourages critical thinking about whether his legacy deserves honor. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Columbus kidnapped “some Taino people and displayed them before the royal court.” 
  • When Columbus left Hispaniola, he left men behind. “While he was away, the Spaniards he had left behind had become violent toward the Taino. . . The fort was burned to the ground, and all 39 of Columbus’s men had died.” Columbus killed many Taino “to try to stop any resistance to his rule.” An illustration depicts Columbus’s men with swords and the village in flames. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • One reason King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded Columbus’s journey was because “they wanted to spread the Catholic religion.” 

Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About America’s Westward Expansion

1805: Explorer William Clark reaches the Pacific Ocean and pens the badly spelled line “Ocian in view! O! the joy!” (Hey, he was an explorer, not a spelling bee champion!) 

1836: Mexican general Santa Anna surrounds the Alamo, trapping 180 Texans inside and prompting Texan William Travis to declare, “I shall never surrender or retreat.” 

1846: A band of travelers, including the soon-to-be notorious Donner family, becomes trapped in the Sierra Nevada, forcing them to decide whether it is better to eat each other or starve to death in the snow. 

1861: Two railroad companies, one starting in the West and one in the East, start a race to lay the most track and create a transcontinental railroad. 

Get the feeling the world’s changing quickly? Welcome to the thrilling, tragic, and downright wild adventure of America’s westward expansion. 

Which Way to the Wild West? covers Western Expansion in 11 chapters and is jam-packed with information that will leave some readers’ heads spinning, even though each chapter is broken into smaller sections with clear titles like “Santa Anna Does It Again.” The book covers a vast cast of historical figures, including future presidents, religious leaders, and commoners. While all this information will thrill history buffs, other readers won’t have enough stamina to keep track of the rapid change of topics. 

Many books that discuss the founding of America gloss over the violence that permeated throughout early America. Which Way to the Wild West? isn’t shy about showing how immigrants’ greed for land and gold shaped the country and negatively affected minorities and Indigenous people. For Indigenous people, the gold rush was “like an invasion.” The miners drove away the deer and game that they relied on for food. “They chopped down forests and polluted salmon streams. When some Native Americans tried to join the search for gold, they were violently driven away from good mining spots.” To make matters worse, “newcomers brought new diseases that devastated the native villages.”  

Many readers will be shocked at the Americans’ cruelty when it comes to the Native Americans. To force the Plains Indians off their land, the U.S. government supported buffalo hunters because “once there were no more buffalo to hunt, Plains Indians would no longer be able to roam freely across the plains. Unable to live their traditional way of life, they’d be forced to settle down on reservations.” When this plan did not work, the U.S. military slaughtered Indigenous women and children. In the end, many Native American leaders—Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Joseph—could not win against the U.S. military, and their way of life ended. To learn more about the Native Americans’ struggle to keep their land, read Native American Heroes: Osceola, Tecumseh, & Cochise. 

The founding of America was only made possible because of violence, greed, and broken promises. Which Way to the Wild West? discusses the events in a matter-of-fact tone that often uses humor. Despite this, many of the quotes from primary sources show the gravity of the situation. For example, soldiers killed many of the Lakota people who were unarmed. One soldier said, “It was a thing to melt the heart of a man, if it was of stone.” 

Western Expansion ended when all of the Indigenous people were forced onto reservations, the cowboys retired, and the land was divided and fenced “into farms, and ranches and towns.” By the end of the book, readers will have a better understanding of how Western Expansion shaped the country in both positive and negative ways. Readers who want to learn more about American history can also read the fiction books Will’s Race for Home, In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse and Alamo All Stars. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • The book contains many deaths due to animals, accidental shootings, and murder. The deaths that are not described in detail have been omitted from the list below. 
  • James Beckworth, a mountain man, was attacked by a grizzly. “The bear smacked Smith around like a doll, smashing several of his ribs. Then it took Smith’s head in its teeth and shook him back and forth. . . The scalp had been ripped from Smith’s skull. One ear was hanging on by a twisted strip of skin.” Someone sewed the ear back on, and “Smith’s ear stayed on.” 
  • During the Alamo, the Texans surrendered. “Santa Anna’s soldiers killed all 183 Texas soldiers—stabbing many of them with bayonets after they had surrendered. . .” The Mexican soldiers defeated another town. “Mexican soldiers marched the prisoners to an open field, shot and bayonetted all of them, and set the bodies on fire.”  
  • After the Alamo, the Texans attacked the Mexicans and surprised them. After the attack, “It took Houston’s officers a while to get the Texans to stop killing Mexican soldiers. When it was all over, nearly six hundred Mexicans were dead compared with only nine Texans.” 
  • While the Donner party was in the desert, two of the men fought. “A man named John Snyder attacked James Reed with a whip. Reed stabbed Snyder, killing him.” Reed was kicked out of the group but survived.  
  • The Donner Party took a cutoff and was snowed in at Donner Lake. “Fifteen of the strongest members of the party” went for help but got lost. “Someone brought up the question on everyone’s mind: Should they kill and eat one member of the group in order to save the others?” They didn’t kill anyone, but when one of them died, “They cut the flesh from the bodies, roasted it, and ate it.” Only seven of them made it out of the mountain alive. 
  • Marcus and Narcissa Witmore were missionaries. When the Cayuse Indians began to die of disease, they killed Marcus. Then, the Cayuse men attacked other settlers. “Then a bullet came through the window, piercing Mrs. Witmore’s shoulder. . . Clasping her hands to the wound, she shrieked with pain and then fell to the floor.” The orphans whom the Witmores were caring for had to hide in the attic. Thirteen people died. Later, “The Cayuse men were tried for murder, found guilty, and hanged.” 
  • A Mexican miner named Joaquin Murrieta was accused of stealing horses and mules. When the Americans confronted him, they “pulled Murrieta off the horse, tied him up, and dragged him to his brother’s cabin. They wrapped a rope around his brother’s neck and hanged him from a tree. Then they tied Murrieta to the same tree and whipped him while his brother’s body swung back and forth from the branch above.” 
  • Murrieta survived and went on a killing spree, killing the men who had attacked him. “The governor of California offered a five-thousand-dollar reward for his capture.” A group of men “cut off Joaquin’s head, put it in a jar of brandy, brought it back to town, and charged people a dollar to see it.” No one was really sure if it was actually Joaquin’s head in the jar. 
  • Wilson was carrying mail for the pony express when Indians attacked him. Wilson was shot in the head with an arrow. “His friends tried to pull out the arrow, but the pointed stone stuck fast in his skull.” Wilson’s friend thought he would die, so they left him under a tree. When they returned, “Wilson lay unconscious for the next eighteen days” but he survived.   
  • As more settlers moved into the Indians’ land, tension mounted. “A group of Indian warriors killed a family of four in Colorado. Furious settlers brought the bodies into Denver and put them on display.” John Chivington, an army officer, led seven hundred soldiers to a Cheyenne camp that was primarily composed of women and children. Chivington told his men: “Kill and scalp all, big and little.”  
  • Chivington and his men attacked at night. “The Cheyenne fighters were nearly surrounded by American soldiers and were slowly driven out of their camp.” Some U.S. soldiers were “killing women and children, cutting off their scalps, and slicing up their bodies.” The death toll was over one thousand. Despite conducting a “dastardly massacre,” Chivington was not punished. 
  • Crazy Horse and his warriors wanted to attack a fort, so they waited for soldiers to come out to collect firewood. “Crazy Horse retreated to the top of a hill, trying to tempt Fetterman [a soldier] into attacking him. . . Fetterman led his men on a charge up the hill—and right into Crazy Horse’s trap. . . In less than thirty minutes of brutal combat, Fetterman and all his men were killed. About two hundred Indian fighters were killed or wounded as well.”  
  • The railroad companies hired Chinese men to do dangerous work that often ended in death. For example, men set off dynamite to dig through the mountain. “Chinese bodies flew from the cave as if shot from a cannon. Blood and flesh were mixed in a horrible mess.” Ten men died in that explosion.  
  • Two girls killed their stepmother “by pouring melted lead into her ears.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • A man was called “Big Drunk” because he was tall and often drunk. 
  • During a battle between the Mexicans and Americans, some of the soldiers seized someone’s brandy and “downed it in quick gulps.” 
  • During the California gold rush, “the price for a glass of whiskey was one pinch of gold dust.” 
  • When a man became ill, he was given brandy. 
  • Railroad inspectors were given whiskey. One inspector got really drunk, and when the inspector woke up, “he gave his official approval to the tracks.” When the tracks were completed, “there was a great abundance of champagne.” 

Language  

  • An adult uses “Great God” as an exclamation. 
  • A miner told his wife, “I am willing to stand [the hard work of mining] to make enough to get us a home, and so I can be independent of some of the darned [censored] that felt themselves above me because I was poor.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • The first women to travel to Oregon were two missionary wives. Their goal was to teach Christianity to the natives. 
  • Some settlers believed in manifest destiny and that all the land should be theirs. “Some were convinced that God wanted it that way—that it was God’s plan to have the American style of democracy spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.” 
  • When the two railroads were connected, a gold spike was set in place. The spike had an inscription: “May God continue the unity of our country as the railroads unite the two great oceans of the world.” 
  • The Nez Perce believed that “We came from the earth, and our bodies must go back to the earth, our mother.” They also believed the Great Spirit made the world.  

Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild

Seeds of Hope presents a diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild’s life in 1849. After losing his wife and money during their steamship journey from New York, Susanna’s father succumbs to gold fever and abandons his plan to establish a medical practice in Oregon. Instead, he takes his two daughters to a mining camp, where they face danger from untrustworthy men and wild animals. 

Susanna and her sister Clara are devastated by their father’s decision, but after losing their mother, they want to stay close to him. The sisters are often left alone as their father searches for a more productive claim. Though afraid, they spend their time transforming their cabin into a home. Susanna’s diary chronicles both her fears and her grief over her mother’s death. 

Despite difficult circumstances, the Fairchilds find friendship within the camp. The girls occasionally visit Rosita and her family, who are from Peru. This friendship allows the book to illuminate the era’s discrimination. When people from other countries began arriving in California, Americans complained “that the foreigners are taking up space and if allowed to step on Californian soil, they will be trespassing. Since the gold belongs to the United States, they will be thieves, plundering what is not theirs.” Greed drove some miners to steal from, beat, and sometimes kill minorities. These harsh realities may be upsetting to some readers. 

Few women lived in California during the Gold Rush, which gives Seeds of Hope a unique perspective and highlights the daily dangers they faced. Death from accidents, gunfights, and murder occurred frequently. Despite this violence, Susanna and Clara show kindness to others. When a family friend steals from the Fairchilds, this saddens them, but it also demonstrates that “true character often isn’t revealed until a person is faced with temptation.” 

Seeds of Hope reveals the bleak reality for many individuals who hoped to improve their circumstances through sudden wealth. This creates a depressing tone, especially as Susanna’s father becomes increasingly obsessed with gold and neglects his daughters. Despite the dangers, he leaves the girls alone for long stretches while he searches for gold. Eventually, he realizes that wealth cannot bring happiness. He abandons mining, returns to practicing medicine, and decides to move to Oregon as originally planned. 

Although Seeds of Hope features fictional characters, it depicts significant events in American history and helps readers imagine the daily lives of young girls during the Gold Rush. While Susanna is a likable protagonist, she frequently writes about mundane tasks such as food preparation, laundry, and household chores. Even though Seeds of Hope is not full of action and adventure, Susanna’s diary allows readers to peek into the past and see how gold fever affected one family. True to history, the story highlights the difficulty and sometimes deadly nature of searching for gold. The story’s slow pacing and depressing atmosphere make Seeds of Hope best suited for readers already interested in the Gold Rush. Despite these limitations, the book conveys a meaningful message: when given a choice, always prioritize family and friendship over money. Readers seeking more information about this era should consult the non-fiction book Sutter’s Mill and the California Gold Rush. 

Sexual Content  

  • One of the minor characters is a lady who works at a dance hall. “Her dress was satin, her cheeks and lips were painted red. Papa wouldn’t look at her, and he told us to never go near that place.” 
  • Clara stops wearing a corset because “she didn’t like so many men staring at her womanly figure.” 
  • While on a ship, Susanna tripped and “fell against Sam. But before I could gather myself, he enfolded me in his arms and bent down to kiss me. . . I burst out laughing. I don’t know why.” Later, Sam and Susanna get married. 

Violence  

  • While sailing to California, Susanna’s mother died when “a wave broke over the bow, sending such a flood of water on deck that we were all swept off our feet. . . She threw up her arms in surprise, and passed us swiftly in green water. . . she was swept away.” 
  • Clara mentions several gunfights but doesn’t describe them all.  
  • Boys were kicking a baby donkey. When Susanna and Clara see them, Susanna picks up “some stones and threw them at the boys’ feet, not to hurt, but to let them know we meant business. Clara peeled a thin branch from a tree and began whipping their legs.” The boys ran away. 
  • Susanna mentions that “three men were killed last week when the mine they were digging caved in on top of them.” 
  • In a mine, there was an explosion. “Three boys were killed right away, but Sam was rescued from underneath some rocks.” Sam’s leg and ribs are broken. “Because the broken bone is exposed to the air, Sam is in so much pain he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness.” 
  • Sam’s leg has to be amputated. “Clara and I prayed with the boy and gave him a good swig of laudanum.” Susanna, Clara, and another man hold Sam down. Later, “Papa’s clean shirt was spattered with blood. So were the bed and floor. . . The friend dug a hole beyond the cabin to bury the damaged leg.” Sam recovers. 
  • Foreigners were often beaten and robbed. “Chinese especially.” Rosita, one of Susanna’s friends who is from Peru, had all of her cooking things stolen. Rosita describes how two Chinese men were robbed and a “Yankee cut their hair off. To shame those poor boys.” 
  • Susanna’s father is a doctor. In the past, he “cut off a man’s broken foot that had turned black with gangrene.” 
  • There are several murders in the gold camps. A storekeeper says, “A young blacksmith had been murdered last night behind one of the saloons.” Later, a dance-hall lady finds the body of a man who “was shot. He bled all over the stairs.” 
  • There is a shoot-out at a Saloon that “landed four men in the hoosegow and four full of bullet holes. Their bodies were displayed on Main Street. . . Their faces were purple and bloated. Flies swarmed over the wounds.”  
  • Susanna and her sister are in the river when a man floats by them. “He was on his back with dead staring eyes.” He has a knife in his chest. 
  • Men ran off “foreigners” who were panning for gold. “When some of them put up a fight, vigilantes found a tree and hanged five of them! Then they jumped their claims and stole their gold.”  
  • A bear attacks two sleeping men. One dies. “The other lost his right ear and right eye and most of his scalp. Papa was able to stitch up his cheek where the bear had clawed him.” The dead man’s “face was completely gone and one shoulder had been eaten.” 
  • Two kids are playing with a gun when they “accidentally shot off three fingers of [a miner’s] left hand.” 
  • After a palm reader’s prediction, a young man is hanged for murder, even though there was no proof. Afterwards, the dance hall lady is so upset that she confesses, saying, “I am guilty of one death, not three. He was a thief, a man without integrity.” She apologizes for not admitting the deed earlier. “Suddenly, the thick rope was put around her neck, like a brown collar that came up to her chin. . . [Papa said] the woman died instantly.” 
  • After the dance hall lady dies, Papa explains how he had to treat cuts on her hands. “Someone had stolen her money, then tried to stab her. When she held up her hands to stop the blows, the knife made deep wounds.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Susanna’s father smokes a pipe. 
  • When Sam is injured, his friends give him whiskey for the pain. He is also given laudanum, which is “opium mixed with alcohol.”  
  • The town is setting up a fight between a bear and a bull. Susanna and Clara cannot watch because Papa “did not want us to be around men guzzling whiskey or eating the spoils of a bear fight.”  

Language  

  • “My god” is used as an exclamation twice.
  • The Peruvians working on a ship are often referred to as “Tar Heads.”   
  • Someone says a murderer is a “no-good Mexican.” 

Supernatural 

  • When three murders take place, “the palm reader studied tea leaves to help the vigilantes catch the killer of those men. She said he would be a foreigner who lives alone.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • Susanna and her sister pray before they go to sleep. 
  • When someone needs medical help, Susanna and her sister go to find their father. “We are praying that God will guide us to him.” 
  • When Susanna and Clara find gold, they do not file a claim, and others take it. “Papa said that some injustices we must leave up to God to make right.” 
  • After a friend named Jesse Blue steals Papa’s money, Susanna thinks, “I know anything is possible with God, but I don’t know if Jesse Blue cares.” Later, Susanna writes to Jesse Blue’s wife, telling her about his thieving ways. “I pray that his heart will change. . .” 
  • Susanna wonders why “thieves and vigilantes run free,” but her mother died. “When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God about all this.” 
  • Susanna and her sister boil a fish for dinner. Afterwards, they find gold in their cooking pot. Papa “thanked God for providing the fish with gold in its belly.” He prays, “Lord, please grant us enough money so we won’t have to steal to eat, but not so much that we’ll forget you. Thank you, amen.” 
  • While the house is empty, a man steals the family’s money. Afterward, Papa keeps his gun by the cabin’s door. “He said he will trust God to deal with the thief, but he must still be ready to protect us from him.” 

What is the Constitution?

In 1783, thirteen American colonies officially became states in an independent nation after winning the Revolutionary War against Great Britain. However, this newfound freedom brought unexpected challenges. The states struggled to unite, with many citizens identifying more strongly with their individual state than with the United States as a whole. What is the Constitution? explores how the United States addressed these challenges and created a document that would unify the nation. 

In the summer of 1787, fifty-five elected men from twelve states met in Philadelphia with the goal of revising the Articles of Confederation—the United States’ first constitution. These men faced weighty questions: “Who decided if the United States would go to war again? What powers should be given to the head of government?” With the nation’s future in their hands, they wrote a new, more effective constitution. 

Demuth introduces readers to the framers of the Constitution, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and George Washington. While Washington and Franklin are described as bringing a sense of “calm and dignity,” Madison is portrayed as being “no bigger than a half piece of soap. Yet his intellect impressed all who knew him.” Young readers may recognize these historical figures and enjoy hearing more about their different personalities and contributions. 

The book is organized into nine chapters, each delving into different aspects of the Constitution’s creation. Chapter three, for instance, discusses the rules the delegates established to ensure a respectful and productive debate. One important rule required secrecy, allowing delegates to speak freely without fear of public backlash. Another rule allowed delegates to change their minds after voting, encouraging open discussion and repeated debate. This chapter not only explains how the Constitution was formed but also teaches readers the value of discussion and compromise—skills that remain relevant today.  

In addition to the main chapters, the book includes two supplementary sections titled “Photographs” and “Timelines.” The “Photographs” section features portraits of key figures, paintings of the Constitutional Convention, and images related to the era, helping visual learners imagine what the experience may have been like. The timeline begins in 1787, when delegates arrived in Philadelphia, and extends into the 1870s, highlighting key amendments such as the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote. This section provides readers with a clear and accessible overview of the Constitution’s lasting impact. 

What is the Constitution? is an engaging and informative book for young readers interested in American history and government. By combining clear explanations, historical storytelling, and helpful visuals, Demuth presents a complex topic in an accessible and meaningful way. Understanding the Constitution is essential for everyone because it remains the foundation of American democracy and protects our fundamental rights. This document governs how our government operates, defines the relationship between citizens and their leaders, and establishes the principles of freedom and justice that shape daily life. By learning about the Constitution’s creation and purpose, readers gain the knowledge needed to participate as informed citizens who understand their rights and responsibilities. This book makes that vital learning both enjoyable and achievable for young minds. To more fully understand this time period, read Forgotten Founders: Black Patriots, Women Soldiers, and Other Thinkers and Heroes Who Shaped Early America. You can also explore Sneak Peek’s reviews on other books about the American Revolution, George Washington, and other aspects of early American history.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Madeline Hettrick 

I Am George Washington

George Washington is known as the first president of the United States, but he had to overcome many challenges to reach that position. His father died while he was very young, and his cold and distant mother raised him. As a teenager, he finally moved in with his older half-brother, Lawrence. What followed was an idyllic upper-class childhood at Mount Vernon, a tobacco farm, where George lived with Lawrence and his wife. George faced his challenges—working hard on the farm and struggling in school—but the real trouble didn’t start until Lawrence died of illness. After losing his half-brother, George enlisted in the army. 

During George’s time in the army, he experienced his greatest failures as he led his men into defeat after defeat. Though a natural leader, George didn’t believe in himself. He lost many battles during the French and Indian War, which deepened his self-doubt. Haunted by the violence and tragedy of the war they had just won, he took time off to marry and live at Mount Vernon with his new wife and her children. However, when England began taxing the colonies unfairly, George was once again called into action—first in the First and Second Continental Congresses, then as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.  

During the Revolutionary War, George ultimately led the army to victory, but along the way, he suffered numerous defeats and lost many men. George was respected because he had led the Continental Army, was a virtuous man, and was eternally loyal to his country. After the war ended and the United States declared independence, George was named the first president. Even while serving as president, he questioned whether he was the right man for the job and had to be persuaded to accept a second term. 

George served as president for eight years and died shortly after stepping down. Now he is remembered for leading the country in the right direction. Washington helped unite the young country and did his best to prevent division. He was an instrumental part of setting up the government so no one man could have all the power, and so the people always had a voice. He persevered through challenges and failures, never letting them stop him from doing what he believed was right. He was a good leader because he cared about the people. Readers will learn that making sacrifices is necessary for leaders and that doing the right thing is always worth it, even when you don’t believe in yourself. 

This biography is divided into five short chapters with black-and-white illustrations on almost every page. Highlighted vocabulary words are defined in a glossary at the back. Other features include twenty fun facts, a timeline, a map, and illustrations of the important people in George’s story. There is also a section on places to visit and references to how he laid the groundwork for our current government. Through clear writing, engaging illustrations, and supplemental information, young readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of George Washington—not just as a founding father, but as a flawed human being who grew through adversity and whose legacy of principled leadership continues to shape our nation today. Readers who want to learn more about George Washington and the Revolutionary War should also read George Washington’s Spies, Night of Soldiers and Spies, and George Washington’s Socks. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • Many men died in battle during the French and Indian War. “A hundred soldiers on the side of the British died. Washington had no choice but to agree to a humiliating surrender.” 
  • Later in the French and Indian War, British troops were ambushed by the French and Indian troops. “More than nine hundred men were killed. . . George was unharmed even though his coat was shot four times, his hat was shot once. . . and two horses were killed while he was riding.” This battle cemented George as a war hero, even though he lost. The British later won the war.  
  • George Washington owned slaves, and the book describes slavery: “They were treated like property, no better than horses or plows, and sometimes even worse. Slaves were beaten and humiliated to a point where they were afraid to rebel.” 
  • During the Revolutionary War, many men died. In the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, “two hundred and fifty-nine soldiers died trying to defend New York.” Many other men died from starvation, illness, or the cold. “Many of their frostbitten feet had to be amputated.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Abigail Clark 

Rebellion 1776

In the spring of 1776, thirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper wakes to the sound of cannons. It’s the Siege of Boston, the Patriots’ massive drive to push the Loyalists out that turns the city into a chaotic war zone. Elsbeth’s father—her only living relative—has gone missing, leaving her alone and adrift in a broken town while desperately seeking employment to avoid the orphanage.

Just when things couldn’t feel worse, the smallpox epidemic sweeps across Boston. Now, Bostonians must fight for their lives against an invisible enemy in addition to the visible one. While a treatment is being frantically fine-tuned, thousands of people rush in from the countryside begging for inoculation. At the same time, others refuse protection, for the treatment is crude at best and at times more dangerous than the disease itself.

Elsbeth, who had smallpox as a small child and is now immune, finds work taking care of a large, wealthy family with discord of their own as they await a turn at inoculation. But as the epidemic and the revolution rage on, will she find her father? 

Rebellion 1776 gives readers a unique perspective on how the revolution affected ordinary people’s lives. Readers will sympathize with many characters, especially those thrust into difficult situations through no fault of their own. Since the book is told from Elsbeth’s point of view, it reveals how perilous her life is as a parentless, penniless girl. Though smart and strong, Elsbeth’s fear drives her to dishonesty and manipulation. She knows that without employment, she will lose both food and shelter—with no one to turn to for help. 

The story thrusts readers into revolutionary Boston, showing what life was like for women, children, and servants. After the Patriots surround Boston, Elsbeth believes her life will return to normal. However, her father disappears, and her master leaves the city. To survive, Elsbeth agrees to work for the Pike family, where she milks cows, scrubs floors, cares for children, and performs endless chores before collapsing into bed each night. Elsbeth’s mundane existence is reflected in the book’s slow pace, leaving both her and the reader anticipating what crisis will strike next. 

Since the book centers on both Elsbeth and the Pike family, a large cast of characters appears, many only briefly. This prevents readers from connecting with most supporting characters. However, the Pikes’ ward, Hannah, befriends Elsbeth, and their friendship provides perspective on women’s treatment during the period. Mrs. Pike and her long-term servant similarly highlight how women lacked control over their lives. Despite these constraints, Elsbeth and Hannah dream of making their own choices, a desire readers will empathize with. 

Smallpox drives much of the story, and Elsbeth often reflects on losing her mother and siblings to the disease. When the Pike family is inoculated, Elsbeth cares for them during their recovery. Hannah, believing she had survived smallpox as a child, discovers she was misinformed and contracts the disease. The progression of her illness and subsequent death may be traumatic for some readers. 

Rebellion 1776 will captivate readers who enjoy historical fiction or want to learn more about the American Revolution. The story’s slow pace and large cast make it best suited for strong readers already interested in the period. Elsbeth’s story shows how smallpox destroys families but ends hopefully—Elsbeth reunites with her father and receives the opportunity to fulfill her dream of becoming a seamstress. 

Sexual Content  

  • Elsbeth’s closest friend Shubel joins the military. Before he leaves, the two say goodbye. “I looked deep into the turnip’s eyes, and he looked into mine. . . and by the time we blinked, we’d become close in such a dazzling manner that I swear sparks were shooting from our fingertips.” Later, the two get married. 

Violence  

  • Elsbeth hides under a table when the Patriot cannons begin bombarding Boston. 
  • The Boston Massacre is mentioned. “British soldiers had fired into a crowd of ordinary folks, killing some and wounding more.” 
  • Elsbeth receives a letter from her father. It reads: “I was attacked by a group of sailors who kidnapped me—pressed me into service for the King. . . I fought hard—broken arm still healing. . . My knee is better.” He later returns to Boston. 
  • Elsbeth is milking a cow when a scoundrel named Billy Rawdon shows up and threatens her with a knife. He grabs her, and when she tries to get free, Billy “painfully pressed the blade against my neck, cutting me. I shuddered in pain and stilled myself. . . A drop of blood trickled down my neck from the cut.” Billy soon leaves.  
  • Thomas, one of the Pikes’ children, runs away and joins Captain Hunter, who was a privateer trying to capture a ship. The man was “shot in the heart, Captain Hunter died shortly before the Defiance sank to the bottom of the sea.” Thomas survives and makes it home. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • An older gentleman drinks from a flask of wine. 
  • Mr. Pike takes “powder from the megrim” for headaches and “drinks decoction for his sour stomach.” 
  • Elsbeth goes to Sign of the Wolf tavern to meet a man who claims to know her father. The inn smells like sour ale. 
  • When the Pike family has smallpox, Elsbeth goes to the apothecary, who gives her “bark from a willow tree, Peruvian bark, yellow moss from an ash tree, juniper berries, nutmeg, and a vial of castoreum oil.” 
  • Hannah, a young girl who is living with the Pikes, gets smallpox. The doctor gives her laudanum for her pain. Afterwards, Elsbeth puts red silk around Hannah because “the color red helped fight the pox.” 

Language  

  • Often, the characters call each other names and refer to others in a mean way. Because of the frequency and number, the list is incomplete.  
  • A girl calls her brother “a warty-faced whale” and “a slimy weasel.” 
  • Elsbeth works for an older gentleman who often calls her names, such as “a blockhead kitchen maid,” “sniveling featherbrain,” “idle dolt,” and “a pockmarked, slothful wench best suited for farmwork.” 
  • When Elsbeth goes to see her father at work, another worker calls her a “rebel brat.” 
  • Elsbeth thinks her father is a “dunderhead.” 
  • A man calls someone a “blasted devil.” 
  • Elsbeth often calls others names such as “muttonhead,” “nincompoop,” “foggy-brained numbskull,” and “a snake-bellied son-of-the-devil.” 
  • Pissed is used twice. 
  • Creative explanations are often used, and not all are included. These include “tarnal maggots and lice,” “blast and tarnation,” “drat,” and many, many more.  
  • A young woman refers to her guardian as “Captain Fizzlefart, but not to his face.”

Supernatural 

  • A woman mentions that when it thunders during a snowstorm, it’s a good omen.

Spiritual Content  

  • When Mr. Pike’s family arrives, he says, “Praise God’s mercy.” 
  • Hannah believes “owls take messages to the dead. . . When Grandmamma hears one, she always opens a window and whispers a few words for the owl to take to the ghost of my grandfather.” Later, she dies, and Elsbeth sees two owls and whispers a message for them to take Hannah.” 
  • When one of Mr. Pike’s children runs off, Elsbeth “prayed only for his safety.” 
  • When the Pike family heard about the smallpox inoculations, they “went to church for a special prayer service.” 
  • Mrs. Pike doesn’t want to have her children vaccinated against smallpox. She asks, “What about faith? Smallpox is God’s will, so we ought not tamper with it.” His daughter argues, saying that Mr. Pike takes other medication for headaches and a “sour stomach.” In the end, the Pike family is inoculated against smallpox. 
  • Part of the Declaration of Independence is read. “. . . and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitled them. . . all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. . .”
  • After reading the Declaration of Independence, a man says, “God save our American States!” 
  • Elsbeth writes a letter that ends with “I pray to our Lord to preserve you, body & spirit.” 
  • Hannah gets smallpox. As Elsbeth cares for her, she prays, “Please don’t let her die, please give her strength, please take away the pain.”

Rescue on the Oregon Trail

Meet Ranger! He’s a time-traveling golden retriever who has a nose for trouble. . . and he always saves the day! 

Ranger has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but he can’t officially pass the test because he’s always getting distracted by squirrels during exercises. One day, he finds a mysterious first aid kit in the garden and is transported to the year 1850, where he meets a young boy named Sam Abbott. Sam’s family is migrating west on the Oregon Trail and, soon after Ranger arrives, he helps the boy save his little sister. Ranger thinks his job is done, but the Oregon Trail can be dangerous, and the Abbotts need Ranger’s help more than they realize! 

When Ranger is transported to a different time, he is understandably confused, but this doesn’t stop him from using his search and rescue training to help the Abbott family find their missing child, Amelia. Unsure of how to get back home, Ranger follows the Abbott family on their journey, where they face many dangers, including a buffalo stampede, raging rivers, and deadly illnesses. Through it all, Ranger saves the day. Along the way, he stays devoted to keeping Amelia from wandering off, and he learns to love Sam. However, Ranger misses his forever family, and he’s constantly looking for a way to return home. 

Readers will instantly fall in love with Ranger, who is dedicated to helping others while still acting very much like a typical dog who likes to chase squirrels and eat bacon. During his travels, he learns about the difficulties and dangers of the Oregon Trail. However, Ranger can’t solve every problem. One couple dies, leaving their daughter, Sarah, an orphan. Sarah’s story thread ends on a hopeful note as she reunites with her uncle, who provides her with a home. The wagon train’s difficulties add suspense and keep the story moving at a quick pace while weaving in accurate facts about the Oregon Trail. 

Rescue on the Oregon Trail is printed in a format that will appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Each chapter begins with an attention-grabbing title, and the text is printed in a large font. Each chapter has one full-page black-and-white illustration that helps readers visualize the journey. The illustrations also include information about the time period by showing how people dressed, what life on a wagon train was like, and the dangers posed by animals such as buffalo and rattlesnakes.

Rescue on the Oregon Trail is the first book in the Ranger in Time Series, and it sets up the plot structure for the other books in the series. Despite this, the books do not have to be read in order because Ranger visits a different time period in each book. 

The book will appeal to a wide variety of readers because it’s told from Ranger’s point of view, which gives it a unique perspective. The history of the Oregon Trail is presented in an interesting story that revolves around a young boy and his family. While it’s clear that the hardships they faced could be deadly, the descriptions are not graphic, and Ranger almost always finds a way to help. Rescue on the Oregon Trail is the perfect book to start readers on an adventure through time. 

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Two men get in a fight. “One shoved the other so hard he flew backward into one of the horses. It neighed and reared up. . . The man who had fallen got up and ran at the other man. . .” The men’s fighting caused a yoke of oxen to stampede. No one is injured. 
  • While traveling, a herd of buffalo stampeded. The men shoot at the animals. “Pa fired his rifle again and again. Finally, one of the buffalo stumbled and sank to the ground.” The herd changes course. “Ranger followed Sam up to the collapsed buffalo. Its legs were crumpled underneath its great body. Its fur was matted with dust and blood.” 
  • Sam’s father butchers the buffalo. “Pa slit the buffalo’s hide from its throat all the way to its tail. Sam had to turn away.” 
  • While fording a river, Sam’s father falls into the water. Ranger jumps into the river. “Ranger caught the scent of death, too, rising up from the water. There were bodies down there. But Pa was still alive.” Sam’s father is rescued. 
  • When Sam is sick, the doctor checks on him daily. “He cut Sam’s arm so the bad blood could drain out.” Sam recovers. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • After two men fight, an adult says, “They got gold fever, and it’s turned them into a pack of fools.” 
  • When Ranger starts barking, someone asks him, “What in heaven’s name is the matter, Dog?” 
  • Sam’s mother uses “Oh Lord” as an exclamation once. 

Supernatural 

  • Ranger finds a first aid kit. The metal box began to vibrate. “The box felt warm at Ranger’s throat. Bright light spilled from cracks in the old metal and seemed to swallow up the whole yard. . . The light spread and grew. There was a blinding flash, and Ranger felt as if he were being squeezed through a hole in the sky.” He is transported to the Oregon Trail. 
  • Ranger knows it’s time to return home when he hears “a high-pitched humming. . . The metal box was humming so loud it seemed to be shaking the whole earth.” Then, Ranger is transported back to his time.  

Spiritual Content  

  • One family is traveling to Salt Lake because “there was a much bigger community of Mormon families” there. 
  • When Sam’s mother is worried, she hums a hymn from church. Sam thinks, “With such a long list of bad things that could happen out on the trail, she was humming a lot these days.” Sam’s mother does this often throughout the book. 
  • Before crossing a river, “Sam could hear her [his mother] whispering prayers.” 
  • When buffalo stampede, Sam’s mother prays, “Oh, Lord, keep us safe.” 
  • While eating buffalo steak, Sam’s mother says, “This is a little bit of heaven.” 
  • A man and his wife die, leaving their daughter alone. The daughter “watched as they laid her mother and father down in the prairie, said some prayers, and shoveled all the dirt back in.” 
  • When Sam is sick, the doctor says, “All we can do is pray.” 

The Stowaway: A Tale of California Pirates

The year is 1818, and the coastal village of Monterey, California, is a peaceful home for 11-year-old Carlito and his family. . . until pirate ships appear on the horizon. Carlito and his friends are excited at first. They can’t wait to see what real pirates look like. But once the ships drop anchor, they attack. And on one terrible night, Carlito witnesses a murder—his father’s. When Carlito climbs onto the pirate ship in search of revenge, the ship sets sail, and he becomes a stowaway. Can Carlito bring his father’s murderer to justice? Or will he suffer the same horrendous fate? 

The stakes are high in this action-packed adventure when Carlito inadvertently becomes a stowaway on Captain Bouchard’s ship. The book opens with historical information about the Argentine privateer known for his cruelty, which immediately raises the suspense by forewarning readers that Carlito’s death could come at any moment. Being trapped on a ship with a cruel captain and manipulative pirates creates an atmosphere of fear and highlights the perils everyone on board faces. 

Despite Captain Bouchard’s cruelty, Carlito finds solace when the ship’s navigator, Montague, shows him kindness and protects him from the other pirates’ abuse. Montague isn’t the only person trapped by circumstances—Billy, another young boy forced into labor, befriends Carlito, and the two bond over their similar situations. Unlike Carlito, however, Billy’s father is still alive but imprisoned in a cage in the ship’s hull. Despite his harsh circumstances, the enslaved man remains kind. When Carlito has an opportunity to escape, he chooses to stay because he doesn’t want to endanger Billy or his father. Despite his fear and difficulties, Carlito demonstrates bravery by prioritizing others’ needs over his own. 

The Stowaway chronicles the events of Captain Bouchard’s Raid of 1818, offering an engaging story that will entertain anyone who loves pirate adventures while also teaching California history and showing the destruction Captain Bouchard left in his wake. The book focuses on a young protagonist with whom readers will easily connect. At one point, Carlito is given an opportunity to let Parvo, a cruel pirate, die, but sets aside his hatred and refrains from taking revenge. As Carlito says, “This pirate needs to be brought to justice for his terrible crimes. That is something Governor Sola can do.” Ultimately, Carlito learns the dangers of making rash decisions and the importance of relying on others for guidance. Readers who want to get lost in another pirate adventure should also read The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates Series and The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • The book begins with a note about the story’s historical pirate, Hippolyte de Bouchard, who tracked down mutineers on Kaua’i, Hawaii. “[One mutineer] was dragged from the jungle to the beach, blindfolded, then shot by four marines. . . Other mutineers were found on the island of Maui and flogged until their backs split open.” 
  • After leaving Hawaii, Bouchard went to California and attacked the port of Monterey. During the attack, one of the pirate ships was hit. “Carlito peeked over the tower ledge to see flames on the ship’s deck, a mast snapped in two, and spars torn through the rigging.” The ship does not sink.  
  • As the townsmen were retreating, an officer “raised a musket and fired. One of the fishermen threw his arms in the air, then fell to the sand. Another shot hit a man in the shoulder, but he kept running.” The man was on the wet sand, “Blood staining the water’s edge. When Carlito focused on the man’s face, the open eyes that no longer held life, he gave an anguished cry.” The dead man was Carlito’s father. Two other people had been killed during the pirates’ attack. 
  • After the attack, Carlito sees “a screaming soldier about to have both hands amputated. The floor was sticky with blood.” Five pirates were killed during the fight. 
  • When Bouchard found a stowaway aboard his ship, the stowaway’s “lips [were] sewn shut, then he was dangled over the side until the sharks found him. . .” 
  • Billy, a boy forced to work on a pirate ship, was disfigured by a pirate. “The eye socket was empty and red. The knife that had cut Billy’s face and throat had also taken out the eye.” Billy obeys the pirates because his father is being held captive in a cage. 
  • A pirate is upset that two boys don’t have his boat ready. “He shoved one of the older boys into the water and kicked sand into the other’s face.”  
  • A pirate grabs Carlito and another boy, Little Edward, to punish them for not following orders. “He grabbed the boys by the arms and dragged them across the deck. As the boys struggled, he lashed their wrists to an overhead ratline and pulled out a whip that had been soaked in a bucket of salt water. . . [Carlito] could hear Little Edward crying.” A woman stops the pirate before he can hurt them further. 
  • One of the pirates, Red Cap, “was too drunk to know he was being rolled out the window. Down he went like a stone. His arms and legs flew up in a splash.” The man sank to his death. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • A captain smokes a pipe.  
  • After a meal, Carlito’s mother and aunt “lit their cigars.” 
  • After the pirates attacked the port of Monterey, “there was drunken laughter as the thieves ransacked each home and shop.”  
  • A pirate who was taunting Carlito “reeked of rum.” 
  • The cook sends a jug of rum to a prisoner.  
  • After attacking another town, “pirates began stumbling down the path. Some were so drunk their mates dragged them by their hair along the rocky beach.” The men had raided “the fiery home-brew whiskey” hidden in a bodega. As punishment, “twenty men were strung up, stripped to the waist, then bloodied with twelve lashes each.” 
  • After Captain Bouchard maroons Carlito and others on an island, Carlito imagines Captain Bouchard and Captain Corney “raising their goblets of wine in a victory toast.” 
  • The epilogue explains how Captain Corney and his men had a “shore party” and accidentally ate a poisonous root. Twelve men “suffered agonizing deaths.” 
  • After retiring from piracy, Bouchard “treated his slaves with such cruelty, however, they staged a revolt in 1837 and killed him.” 

Language  

  • Bouchard often calls Carlito and others names, such as “stupid pig farmer,” “vermin,” and “worms.” 
  • A woman calls a pirate a “piece of bait” and “scum.” 
  • A pirate calls Carlito and the other boys “scum. Pig farmers.” 
  • The ship’s navigator, Montague, has scars on her face. A pirate says, “Everyone knows women are bad luck at sea, especially those with the face of a dog and a big. . .” Montague throws the pirate into the ocean. 

 Supernatural 

  • Women are thought to be bad luck at sea. 

Spiritual Content  

  • In a letter warning the governor to surrender, Bouchard writes, “May God keep you many years.” 
  • Carlito disobeys his father and sneaks back into the mission. “Papa put his arm around his son and nodded toward the altar where a carving of Jesus looked down at them. He began to pray. ‘The Lord is my shepherd. . .’” Carlito and his family were baptized Catholics and are Spanish citizens. 
  • Bouchard yells at the ship’s navigator, Montague. She replies, “When the Spaniards’ guns killed seven of your buffoons, you blamed me. Now God chooses to send no wind, and you blame me again.” 
  • Captain Bouchard maroons Carlito and others on an island. Carlito and another boy find a canoe and prepare to go for help. A man prays, “Dear Lord, watch over these brave boys. We ask for Your mercy on all of us. Amen.” 
  • Carlito and the other boy’s canoe gets caught in a current. Carlito’s uncle finds them and says, “Thank God your boat floated into the channel or we would not have found you in time.” 

Sutter’s Mill and the California Gold Rush

In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. Word quickly spread, and the California Gold Rush was on! Thousands of people went to California in hopes of finding gold and striking it rich. But did that really happen? What was the real impact of so many miners rushing to the state? Discover what’s real and what’s fiction about the California Gold Rush through infographics, primary sources, and leveled text. 

Sutter’s Mill and the California Gold Rush doesn’t glorify the Gold Rush but instead examines its harmful effects, including discrimination against Indigenous people and the Chinese. For example, before the Gold Rush, about 160,000 Indigenous people and 700 to 1,000 non-Indigenous people were living in California. By the end of 1849, about 90,000 non-Indigenous people had arrived from across the U.S. and around the world. This influx led to widespread discrimination against both Indigenous people and the Chinese due to the newcomers’ greed for gold. 

This greed harmed not only people but also the land when companies began using hydraulic mining that “could bring down an entire hillside in minutes.” This practice changed the landscape forever and caused “riverbeds and lakes [to become] clogged” with debris, leading to flooding that destroyed homes and killed cattle and wildlife. Today, visitors can see the permanent damage at Coloma, California, where the land was altered forever. 

The book is visually appealing with large black-and-white pictures on each page and colorful section titles. The engaging text is broken into short paragraphs, making it easy to read. The book features fact boxes, a glossary, and an exploration of Gold Rush mythology that distinguishes facts from fiction. While these elements combine to create an enjoyable reading experience, the book’s title is misleading since Sutter’s Mill is mentioned only twice. 

Sutter’s Mill and the California Gold Rush is essential reading for anyone seeking to learn about California’s history, as it explains how the Gold Rush forever changed the state. Unlike other books, it doesn’t romanticize the Gold Rush as a time of universal opportunity. As the book notes, “Many view [the Gold Rush] as a time of great adventure when fortunes were made. But the truth of the Gold Rush is far less shiny.” Exploring these darker aspects gives readers crucial insight into the state’s complex history. Curious readers can learn more about a significant period that shaped America by reading the nonfiction book The Dust Bowl by Michelle Jabès Corpora. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • The Gold Rush had a devastating effect on Indigenous people. “The people coming from the eastern U.S. pushed Indigenous people off their land. Many were killed in the process. . . White miners began to view them as competition. Hostility toward Indigenous people grew, and they began to be attacked and killed.” An illustration shows a white miner pushing Indigenous people off their land. 
  • Like the Indigenous people, the Chinese people were also harshly treated. “White miners attacked Chinese miners to drive them away from their claims.” A picture depicts miners beating an immigrant with sticks.  
  • As the gold supply shrank, immigrants were pushed out of the area. “Immigrants were often hurt and treated unfairly. . . Many American miners believed that California gold should belong only to whites. They began using threats and violence to drive foreign miners out of the land they had claimed for mining. In 1849, armed groups of white miners attacked several Chilean mining camps.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None

Canon Fodder

The Runaways may have been a superhero team once, but they haven’t been one in a long time. Now, they feel as though they have their lives together, even if they’re not using their powers to fulfill their supposed responsibilities. Karolina has discovered her passion for saving people along with her girlfriend and fellow Runaway, Nico. She wants to use her powers to make the world better, especially when they meet Doc Justice.

Doc Justice is a big deal in Los Angeles. He single-handedly built the J-Team from the ground up, and although most of the old team members are deceased, he has never stopped fighting crime. He is an inspiration to the Runaways, especially Victor, who grew up hearing stories about the great Doc Justice. So, when Karolina and Nico bring news that Doc Justice has invited the Runaways to live with him, they cannot refuse a chance to meet their idol.

The Runaways move into Doc Justice’s mansion, and soon, he’s recruiting them for a new J-Team, complete with the old costumes and monikers. Soon enough, all of Los Angeles is in love with their new superhero team. Excited to finally use their powers for greater things and to have stable leadership, the Runaways go along with it — except for Gert.

Gert doesn’t have special powers, but she has never felt excluded. She is left at home again and again with Doc Justice’s assistant, Matthew. Feeling useless, Gert asks Matthew to train her in the art of mission control. Along the way, she learns about the old J-Team and their deaths. As it turns out, Doc Justice isn’t the good guy the Runaways think he is, and it was no accident that his past teams have fallen apart. Despite not possessing superpowers, Gert is determined to stop Doc Justice and save her friends.

Canon Fodder focuses more on Gert than previous issues did, and she proves to be inspiring, fantastically stubborn, and genuinely kind. She is the only member of the Runaways without superpowers, but she proves to be invaluable because she’s the only one who figures out Doc Justice’s secrets. Additionally, she does so while sincerely doubting herself and her role on the team, which is relatable for teenagers. Even after defeating Doc Justice, she still feels off-kilter, and while she’s more confident in her abilities, she doesn’t see herself as worth anything to her team.

Overall, Canon Fodder has a more somber tone than the other books in the series, as it explores heavier themes such as betrayal, deception, murder, and self-doubt. There’s more death and violence in this issue than in the others. Doc Justice’s deceased teammates and the manipulation of the Runaways add depth to the story, making the characters more complex and interesting.

The fifth volume of The Runaways is divided into six parts, each of which builds the overall narrative and allows the reader to gain insight into each character. As with all comics, this one can be confusing at times, with numerous references to the broader Marvel universe. This means that readers unfamiliar with Marvel may be a little discombobulated while reading. However, this doesn’t detract from the story, which has an easily comprehensible plot and simple language.

Canon Fodder is filled with beautiful illustrations that highlight the characters’ best features and fantastical, magical battles. The panels alternate between close-ups and wide shots, designed to capture the scene and the characters’ expressions perfectly. Although events that occur simultaneously are depicted, they can occasionally be confusing when determining where to look based on the page layout. However, this doesn’t distract from the detailed artwork on each page.

Readers who enjoy superhero teams, vicious villains, and found families will love the fierce action, creatively designed costumes, and brave curiosity in the fifth volume of The Runaways. This graphic novel emphasizes themes of loyalty and hope, while also serving as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ambition. Doc Justice is a twisted villain who challenges the Runaways perfectly, forcing them to grow up and learn how to trust one another. Overall, this is a beautiful story with a brutal message: trust needs to be hard-earned and is not easily given, especially when you’re learning how to be an adult.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While Nico and Karolina are patrolling for crime, they are attacked by bad guys. A new superhero, Doc Justice, shows up and saves the two Runaways. He punches and chokes the three bad guys. The two that he punches have blood flying from their mouths. The three are just unconscious by the end of the fight.
  • As the Runaways begin fighting crime alongside Doc Justice, a montage of the Runaways is shown, lifting cars, firing lasers at unseen villains, and punching bad guys. There is no blood, and it is implied that no one dies.
  • After saving Los Angeles a few times, Doc Justice decides to train Nico in physical combat, since she struggles to control her staff. There are a few panels with Nico and Doc sparring. There is no blood, and no one is injured.
  • When Gib is incorporated into the team they’re building, he wears a costume, and there is a panel with supposed bad guys shooting guns at him. The bullets bounce off him, and no one is hurt.
  • While battling Doc’s old teammate, Doc Justice shows the team his true selfish colors. He sends Karolina off to her death. When Gert notices, she sends Old Lace, their pet dinosaur, after him. Doc Justice rips apart a solar panel and attacks Old Lace with it when she’s protecting Karolina. Old Lace flies backwards, with blood dripping from her mouth. Old Lace heals eventually.
  • In response to Doc’s actions, Victor blasts him with electricity. Doc falls backwards, and Old Lace jumps up and grabs Doc with her teeth. There is no blood, but Old Lace drags him into darkness, and it’s implied that he dies.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The Runaways are a teenage group of superheroes, so, naturally, many of them possess magic or supernatural abilities. Nico, the Runaways’ magician, casts spells to solve their problems. When Nico and Karolina are trying to return to the Runaways’ hideout, they encounter a construction crew working on the mountain blocking their way. Nico calls Chase and says, “You’re pretty free and easy with the magic when you’re not the one casting spells.”
  • Nico summons the Staff of One, and golden rays of magic shine from her body and from the staff as she casts the spell “End of Shift!” that gets rid of the construction crew.
  • Karolina, the Runaways’ resident alien, can fly and shoot rainbow colored energy from her palms that act like lasers or lightning. When Nico and Karolina return from patrolling the streets for crime, Karolina confesses that “there [had] been some flying. Yes.” She is depicted as flying and rainbow-colored on many pages.
  • Molly, the youngest Runaway, has super strength and is invincible. She is often depicted performing a superhero landing (landing from high heights without a scratch) and punching through walls.
  • Gib, the newest addition to the Runaways, needs souls to sustain him. There is a series of three panels where Old Lace, the Runaways’ pet dinosaur, gives Gib a dead cat. The only way we know the cat is dead is because it’s limp – there is no blood or gore. Pink rays of light and sparkles flow from the cat to Gib, nourishing him.
  • When the Runaways fail at incorporating Gert into their team, Chase apologizes to Gert. Chase feels sorry because Gert’s old psychic link to Old Lace shifted to him. Gert says, “Look, I’m the one who shifted Old Lace’s bond to you before I died. It was the right thing to do in the moment.” The psychic bond enables Old Lace to form a connection with both Gert and Chase, protecting them when they’re in trouble.
  • With Doc Justice, the team goes after an environmental activist and an old member of Doc’s team. She can control lightning and blasts it at Karolina. The lightning bolts are blue and flying around her when she does so.
  • After the Runaways’ battle with Doc Justice, he lies on the floor, passed out. Gib approaches him, and the same pink light and sparkles surround him, drawing Doc’s soul to him and feeding Gib.

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Kate Schuyler

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery

Most people know that Benedict Arnold was America’s first, most notorious traitor. Few know that he was also one of its greatest Revolutionary War heroes. 

Steve Sheinkin’s accessible biography, The Notorious Benedict Arnold, introduces young readers to the real Arnold: reckless, heroic, and driven. Packed with first-person accounts, astonishing American Revolution battle scenes, and surprising twists, this is a gripping and true adventure tale from history. 

The Notorious Benedict Arnold begins with Arnold’s childhood, showing how his father’s downfall led Arnold to desperately seek the attention and approval of others throughout his life. As an adult, Arnold was a wealthy merchant who understood that when the British began taxing Americans, he had to fight this injustice. However, his motivations went beyond patriotism: “Yes, he believed in the cause of American independence, but there was much more to it. War would be a heaven-sent chance to wipe out the marks against him, to soar up and over everyone who’d ever dared to judge him.” 

Arnold refused to wait for others to take action and hatched a plan to attack the fort in Quebec, Canada. Traveling through untamed land was excruciatingly difficult, and Arnold’s men almost starved to death. Despite these harsh conditions, Arnold and his men successfully took the fort. On the battlefield, Arnold’s reckless fearlessness helped him win battles, though many disliked him, refused to take orders from him, and spread false rumors about him. When Arnold returned home, however, “people who recently considered themselves too good to associate with him were now coming over uninvited, just to ask how he was, congratulate him, and wish him well.” 

Rather than portraying Arnold as simply a heinous traitor who almost handed George Washington over to the British, the book weaves a compelling story showing how Arnold’s intelligence, bravery, and recklessness allowed him to win one of the most decisive battles in the American Revolution. Readers come to understand not only Arnold’s motivations but also the political workings of the time and how they affected his military career. Many readers will ultimately feel compassion for Arnold, whose craving for recognition and approval brought about his downfall. 

The Saratoga battlefield monument perfectly symbolizes Arnold’s complicated legacy in American history. It features “a small stone sculpture of a lower left leg. No person, just a tall boot. A plaque reads: In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot. . . winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution.’ Nowhere does the monument mention the name Benedict Arnold.” This anonymous tribute captures the tragedy of a man who was simultaneously one of America’s greatest heroes and most infamous traitors. 

Although The Notorious Benedict Arnold is non-fiction, it reads like an exciting adventure that is hard to put down. Even though everyone knows how Arnold’s story ends, learning the facts about his military history and interactions with other important historical figures proves enlightening. Readers gain new understanding of the political leaders of the time and discover why Arnold ultimately turned against the Americans. 

The Notorious Benedict Arnold will appeal to readers who love fast-paced adventures featuring exciting battles, political maneuvering, and the quest for freedom. While everyone remembers Benedict Arnold’s treachery, this book reminds us that he was also one of America’s greatest military heroes—a complex legacy that continues to fascinate readers today. 

Sexual Content  

  • One American general, “spent his nights. . . singing and drinking and amusing himself in the company of the wife of a commissary, who was his mistress and, like him, loved champagne.” 
  • A song popular among the British soldiers had these lyrics: “Sir William, he snug as a flea, / Lay all this time a-snoring; / Nor dreamed of harm as he lay warm / In bed with Mrs. Loring.” 

Violence  

  • The book includes frequent violence, which shows Benedict Arnold’s fierce temper as well as the Americans’ struggle with the British and the Revolutionary War. Not every instance of violence is included below.  
  • The book begins with a description of a hanging. “The prisoner would have to climb onto a wagon with the rope looped around his throat. Horses would jerk the wagon forward, and he would tumble off the back. The force of his falling weight should be enough to snap a man’s neck.” 
  • As a teen, Benedict was embarrassed and angry that his father had lost the family’s wealth. During a celebration, “Benedict got his hands on a purchase of gunpowder, dumped the powder down the barrel of a small cannon on the town green, followed it up with a lit match, and leaped backward. He yelled ‘Huzza!’ as the cannon spit fire past his face.” 
  • A French gentleman was interested in Benedict’s sister Hannah. Benedict warned the man to stay away. When Benedict came home and saw the man in his house, Benedict and his friend devised a plan. “While the friend walked toward the door, Arnold loaded and cocked a pistol and crouched in the shrubs beneath the window. The friend opened the door. . . Thinking it was Hannah’s overprotective brother, the Frenchman leaped from the couch, tripped to the window, lifted the glass, jumped out, and sprinted down the street. Arnold took a shot toward the bouncing figure, purposely aiming just a little high.” The Frenchman never returned. 
  • One of Benedict’s sailors, Boles, planned on informing the authorities that Benedict was not paying British taxes. Benedict told Boles to leave town. When Boles was found in a tavern, a group of sailors “dragged Boles outside and across the street to the whipping post, where, in Arnold’s words, Boles received nearly forty lashes with a small cord.” Then Arnold’s crew carried Boles to the edge of town and dumped him on the muddy road. 
  • Daniel Morgan was “a leader of a group of volunteers from the woods of Virginia. . . Morgan annoyed a British officer, who responded by slapping Morgan with the flat side of his sword. Morgan turned and decked the officer, for which he was sentenced to receive 500 lashes. Morgan stood, teeth clenched, while they slashed his back into strips of pulpy flesh.” Morgan healed but was badly scarred. 
  • The Americans invaded a British fort in Canada. When American artillery fired, “explosions blew off arms and legs, shells ripped open the buildings, sending brick and glass spinning through the crowded space.” The British surrendered. 
  • The Americans attack a fort in Quebec. A group of soldiers was going through a barricade, when a cannon exploded, “shooting flames and a swarm of grapeshot. . . Montgomery [the commander] was struck in both thighs, his cheek, his head, and was dead before he hit the snow. Eight other soldiers were killed by the blast.” 
  • During the attack, Arnold “felt something rip through the flesh below his knee. . . Arnold fell, got up, stumbled to the wall and leaned, unable to put any weight on the leg. Blood flowered in his boot and gurgled out into the snow.” Arnold survived his wounds. 
  • During one battle, many Americans were injured. “John Lamb was shot in the cheek. He pulled out a handkerchief, tied up the hole in his face, and went on firing. Archibald Steele had two fingers blown off his hand. . .” The Americans were forced to surrender.  
  • During a battle between the British and the Americans, Dyer, an American soldier, accidentally killed himself when he “rammed a new gunpowder cartridge into a muzzle, the other men heard an explosion, and saw Dyer blown overboard. His body bobbed in the water, the sponging rod blown clear through his chest. A few feet away floated his hands.” 
  • Later during the same battle, “cannonballs crashed into ships on both sides, sending limbs flying, leaving dead and unconscious men lying in spreading puddles of blood.”  
  • After the battle, the Americans set their ships on fire and they exploded, “killing a badly wounded officer who’d been left behind in the chaos. The men watched his broken body tumble high into the air and crash down in the lake.” 
  • During an extended battle, about 600 British and 300 American soldiers were killed. “Wounded men lay all over the battlefield, calling out for help, crying for a drink of water. . . British burial parties quickly dug pits and dumped in the dead, leaving arms, legs, and even heads above ground. Wolves feasted that night on the dead and dying.” 
  • British General Grey led an attack on Philadelphia that came to be known as the Paoli Massacre. People “could hear the sounds of steel blades plunging through flesh, and the cries of dying men. . . Grey’s men went on thrusting and slicing, even after the Americans tried to surrender.” 
  • Andre, a British officer, was accused of spying and hanged. “Andre grabbed [the noose] and placed the loop around his own neck, drew tight the knot. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and tied it over his eyes. . . His body swung gently at the end of the rope. ‘In a few minutes,’ said one soldier, ‘he hung entirely still.’” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • After two of his children died and his business collapsed, Benedict’s father turned to alcohol. Captain Arnold had “always enjoyed his rum,” but after the tragedy, he started drinking more frequently and heavily. 
  • Captain Arnold’s drinking became a constant problem. “Night after humiliating night, the younger Arnold was sent out to search the waterfront taverns for his father. He often had to literally drag the goading, puking, crying man through the streets to their home.” 
  • Arnold became an apprentice and learned how to make “various cold cures and an aphrodisiac called ‘Francis’ Female Elixir.” 
  • Benedict goes to a tavern. “He could hear men inside shouting in drunken voices. . . He could smell the sour stink of booze-soaked floors. Arnold hated the smell, and he had a reason to hate it.” 
  • British prisoners of war were given a meal and “pitchers of rum.” 
  • While Arnold was in Philadelphia on military business, he filled his mansion with “expensive food and wine.” During this time, Arnold was spending time with an unmarried woman. He sent this woman’s father “a few nice bottles of wine.” 
  • To convince two brothers to row to a British ship and bring Andre, a British officer, back, the brothers were given “big cups of rum.” 
  • After taking over a fort, the Green Mountain Boys, a group of American rebels, “found ninety gallons of rum in the supply room and decided to drink it all.” 

Language  

  • Damn is used infrequently. For example, a man tells Benedict, “You are a damned Yankee, destitute of good manners or those of a gentleman.” 
  • While taking over a fort, an American tells a Red Coat, “Come out of there! Come out, you damned old rat!” 
  • “Good God” and “by God” are both used as an exclamation once.  
  • Goddamn is used twice. For example, after a battle, a soldier said, “Goddamn you!” 
  • A British prisoner called the locals “perfidious dastards” and “a greasy committee of worsted-stocking knaves.” 
  • After a battle that the Americans won, a general said, “If Old England is not by this lesson taught humility, then she is an obstinate old slut, bent upon her ruin.” 

Supernatural 

  • None  

Spiritual Content  

  • While Benedict was in boarding school, he received a letter from his mother informing him that the family was sick with yellow fever. She wrote, “What God is about to do with us I know not. We have a very uncertain stay in this world.” Two of Benedict’s sisters died. 
  • Arnold and a group of men demand to be given the colony’s supply of gunpowder. When a man refuses to give it to the group, Benedict yells, “None but Almighty God shall prevent my marching!” 
  • While taking over a garrison, the British are told to surrender “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” 
  • When Arnold showed up on the battlefield, he told the soldiers, “God bless you. . . If the day is long enough, we’ll have them all in hell before night.” 
  • When two American soldiers arrested a British officer, he said, “God bless my soul.” 
  • When Benedict Arnold’s plot to have the British attack West Point failed, some believed it was the “hand of God.”  
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