Reading Level: Elementary

Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas

Twelve-year-old Addison longs for adventure, but his aunt and uncle, both respected curators at the New York Museum of Archaeology, always leave Addison home when they travel the world to find hidden treasures. When Addison’s aunt and uncle discover an ancient Incan key that leads to treasure, they are kidnaped by the evil Russian Professor Ragar.

Addison convinces his sister, Molly, and two of his friends to set off to South America on a mission to rescue his aunt and uncle. Once they arrive, they find adventure, danger, and booby-traps. Can Addison and his team find the treasure, outsmart Professor Ragar, and save his family?

This fast-paced adventure takes readers on an epic journey through South America. Addison, who is eccentric and optimistic, leads his friends into one dangerous situation after another. Although the group is often in danger and narrowly escapes death several times, the events are often humorous. Even though the group is young, they are able to figure out ancient clues, outsmart Professor Ragar, and escape mercenaries.

Full of mystery, suspense, and evil villains, adventure seekers will keep turning the pages of Addison and the Treasure of the Incas. Young readers will learn about the conquest of Pizarro as they follow the exciting travels of Addison. However, the story is not always historically accurate, and the path the kids take is geography inaccurate. Despite these inaccuracies, the story will pique middle graders’ interest in the Ancient Incan Society and increase their love of reading.

The publisher recommends this book for children as young as eight. Although younger children may enjoy the story, the length of the book and the complexity of the writing would make Addison and the Treasure of the Incas difficult for beginning and struggling readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • During the time of the Incas, Pizarro kidnapped Atahualpa. Atahualpa’s, “brother’s army attacked Pizarro before the ransom could be delivered. . . Pizarro burned Atahualpa alive at the stake.”
  • Professor Ragar and his mercenaries kidnap Uncle Nigel and his wife. “Immense men in dark suits crowded the room. They held Uncle Nigel pinned down, his face pressed against his desk.”
  • During the kidnapping, the mercenaries also try to seize Uncle Nigel’s niece and nephew. There is a chase. The two kids are cornered so they put an electrical cord into water. The mercenary “kicked his foot and the giant floodlight crashed into the water. Electricity jolted through the reflecting pool with a thunderous zap. Bodyguards collapsed like felled oaks, hitting the water in a sizzling, giggling mess.” The men are not seriously hurt, and the kids are able to escape.
  • Addison talks about the Spanish Inquisition, when non-Catholics were killed “often by burning them at the stake, like King Atahualpa. People would say they were Catholic to avoid being killed. So the Inquisition would torture them to find out who was telling the truth.”
  • The kids go into an ossuary and discover ancient trip wires. Eddie falls “into a vat of skulls, the mummy on top of him. . . The skull bin tilted, pulling an ancient trip wire, releasing a boulder. The falling stone yanked a rope through a pulley, sending a massive scythe blade whipping through the air.” While trying to get up, “Raj sprinted and Eddie followed, their feet dancing across the pile of bones. A massive blade sprung from the ground, splitting every bone in its path.” The boys are not injured.
  • When Professor Ragar and his men find the kids in the ossuary, there is a chase. One of the kids pulls a trip wire and a “steel scythe rocketed toward the surprised guard. Terrified, he leapt…striking his head on the rocky ground. The man lay crumpled in a heap of clattering foot bones.” Another man “slipped on a femur, and crashed down the mountain of bones. . . Boulders tumbled from the ceiling, pelting the guard on the head. The man sank to his knees, stunned senseless.”
  • When Professor Ragar tries to catch Addison, one of his men, “slashed with his knife. Addison crab-walked backwards on his hands, the knife barely missing his throat.” When Addison is caught, “Ragar wound up his open palm and slapped Addison across the face. Addison’s cheek stung, and his head rang for a few seconds.”
  • Zubov, one of Professor Ragar’s men, threatens to cut off Addison’s fingers. “Zubov began squeezing Addison’s windpipe. . . Zubov pressed his knife to Addison’s cheek.” One of Addison’s friends helps him.
  • While in the Amazon jungle, Molly is attacked by a giant spotted anaconda that “dropped onto Molly. The ten-foot constrictor wrapped its muscled body around her legs, then waist, and worked its way up her chest.” Someone pokes the anaconda with a flaming brand. “It hissed viciously, tightening its grip on Molly, and wrapped a coil around her throat.” The snake eventually releases Molly.
  • The kids are chased by tribesmen who shoot poison-tipped spears and darts at them.
  • Don Guzmán is rumored to kill people by putting them in a freezer.
  • Don Guzmán locks the kids in a room. In order to escape, Raj “took a running start and swung his plank hard into a man’s stomach. It connected with a satisfying smack, like a Jell-O mold chucked from a high window and meeting the pavement.” The group runs through a wedding where “Guadalupe lay pinned to the dining room table, Zubov’s hand clutching her throat. . . Zubov brushed the hair back from Guadalupe’s neck and ran the blade along the fold of her ear.” The kids are able to escape.
  • The kids, Ragar, and Zubov have a conflict during the wedding of Don Guzmán’s daughter. Zubov “gripped his stiletto and stabbed at Addison. Addison leapt back, but too late—the knife struck him square in the chest. He fell to the ground, stunned. . . “ Rager stops Zubov from killing Addison, because he doesn’t want to upset Don Guzmán. During their escape, Molly landed “a well-placed kick right in the guard’s stomach.”
  • As the kids are fleeing, they steal a limousine, but they are followed. Eddie smashes the limousine into a jeep and they are able to pull ahead. Eddie “plowed directly through a supermarket. The limousine smashed through the front window and into the cereal aisle. It crashed through frozen foods and baked goods before blasting out the rear wall of the store, onto a new street.”
  • When one of Ranger’s men try to enter a treasure vault, he triggers a booby trap and is impaled by “spikes like a shish kabob.” A second man “plummeted into the river a hundred feet below with a terrified splash. . . The man’s screams echoed until the trapdoor slid shut.”
  • Zubov tries to kill Molly by throwing knives at her. Molly, “wound up and kicked Zubov as hard as she could. This time, she aimed a few feet higher than his shin. . . Zubov turned purple and crumpled to his knees, winching.”
  • Ragar ties the kids up with rope, intending to burn them alive. “The flames snapped and jumped, devouring the kindling. Addison felt the growing heat inching closer to his toes . . . the raging flames touched Addison. The cuffs of his pants ignited, the blaze racing up his legs.” The group is able to escape.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Addison sees a “weather-beaten man sipping a bottle of foul-smelling liquid from a brown paper bag.” The man offers Addison the bottle, but Addison declines saying, “Arnold Palmers are as strong as I go.”
  • While in South America, Addison and the others see “local women with gold hoops in their noses who drank corn wine from gourds . . .” Later, the kids see women “drinking white rum.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • While in South America, Addison sees women selling voodoo dolls.

Spiritual Content

  • The kids see a mural painted with angels and “dozens of Incan gods. Some gods were male and some female. Some were part jaguar, llama, or snake.”
  • The Incas considered King Atahualpa a god. “The Incan emperor was considered the child of the sun. Inti, the sun god, the most powerful Incan god.”

Bob

Five years ago, Livy told Bob to hide in a closet. Since then, he’s built a Lego pirate ship sixty-three times. He’s played chess with a Lego pirate monkey. He began reading the dictionary. And he’s wondered why Livy hasn’t come back.

It’s been five years since Livy visited her grandmother in Australia. Once she’s back, she knows she’s forgotten something very important. She’s forgotten all about Bob.

Bob, a short greenish creature, hasn’t forgotten about Livy, but he has forgotten who he is and where he came from. Five years ago, Livy promised to help him find his home. Now that Livy is back, they work to solve the mystery of where Bob belongs.

Each chapter switches between Livy’s point of view and Bob’s point of view. Hearing the different perspectives of each character adds interest and allows the reader to peek into each character’s world. Younger readers will relate to Livy, who is afraid to stay the night at her friends’ houses and struggles between growing up and remaining a child. Bob adds an interesting perspective showing how Livy has changed since they parted five years ago. In the end, Bob realizes that “Livy’s not just Old Livy or New Livy, she’s every age she’s ever been, and sometimes they get jumbled but they are all there.”

The simple writing style and beautiful pictures will engage even the most reluctant readers. Bob has spent much of his time reading the dictionary and uses his knowledge to explain the meaning of words in a fun way that is completely integrated into the story, so readers will learn new words without feeling like they are sitting through a vocabulary lesson. The story contains short paragraphs, lists, and dialogue that break up the test and keep younger readers interested.

The mystery of where Bob came from and what he is adds interest. The friendship between Bob and Livy will touch reader’s hearts. Bob and Livy are well developed; however, the other characters lack personality and added little to the plot. The ending is a surprise and wraps everything up nicely. Not only does Bob show the value of friendship, but he also realizes that “All the things I choose to put in my head are what make me, me. I plan to choose wisely.”

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Livy carries a black pawn from a chess set to help her remember Bob. When she doesn’t have the pawn. She forgets Bob.
  • Bob is a well dweller. They live in between wells and are responsible for bringing the rain. Well dwellers are “tied to the earth and the sky . . .”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School

Waldo and Sassy spend their days taking naps and keeping the house safe from squirrels. When their boy Stewart comes home from school smelling like “boredom and anxiety,” the dogs decide to save Stewart. Waldo and Sassy stand on top of each other, dress in a trench coat, and enroll as a new student. Everyone at school thinks that Salty is a new student—everyone except Stewart. The two dogs help Stewart in an unexpected way.

Two Dogs in a Trench Coat uses silly, slapstick humor to engage readers. The dogs are obsessed with squirrels, meat, and helping Stewart. Some of the dogs’ conversations are random and repetitious. The dogs’ fascination with squirrels and the dogs’ myths about squirrels allows the reader to look at the world from a dog’s point of view. In the end, the dogs’ fascination with squirrels helps Stewart achieve success on his big project and allows the dogs to put their exceptional knowledge to use. The unexpected conclusion will bring out the giggles in readers.

Black and white illustrations appear on every page, which helps bring the dog’s actions to life. The character’s facial expressions are hilarious. The typography will help keep readers engaged. When the dogs speak, the font is larger and bolded. Food words, which are scattered throughout the book, are also bolded. Two Dogs in a Trench Coat would be a fun book to read out loud, especially if the reader used different voices. The change in the font is the perfect opportunity to have a younger reader take a turn reading.

One of the characters is surprisingly different than expected. Stewart thinks Bax hates him and is a bully, but in the end, Bax helps save Stewart from failing his big project. Bax realizes that his teasing comments were misinterpreted by Stewart and says, “And sorry about making fun of you. That’s just how they do it where I’m from. We let people know we like them by making fun of them. I forget sometimes that some people think that’s rude.”

Some readers may get bogged down by the length of the book—at 186 pages, the story slowly comes to a conclusion. Some portions of the story don’t add to the plot, such as a subplot about Mrs. Twohey’s teaching. She thinks that Salty is a spy from another school who is trying to discover her excellent teaching methods. If a reader has graduated to more mature books or likes to focus on facts, this book will not appeal to them. However, for readers who love ridiculous slap-stick humor, Two Dogs in a Trench Coat will make them smile.

Sexual Content
• None

Violence
• None

Drugs and Alcohol
• None

Language
• When Salty smelled everything during a smell experiment, Mrs. Twohey said, “You have one heck of a sniffer!”
• When loud barks interrupt class, Mrs. Twohey said, “I’m going to close these windows so those darn dogs aren’t so disruptive.”

Supernatural
• None

Spiritual Content
• None

Wizard for Hire

When Ozzy was six years old, men took his parents. Since then, he’s lived alone. When Ozzy finds Clark, a robotic talking raven, the two venture into town. All Ozzy wants is to find his parents, but he’s not sure how a fourteen-year-old boy can discover the secrets to his parents’ disappearance.

Then Ozzy sees an advertisement: wizard for hire. Ozzy isn’t sure if wizards are real, but he’s read enough about Harry Potter that he has hope that wizards do exist. When Labyrinth “Rin” appears in his bathrobe and high-top tennis shoes, Ozzy has his doubts. Can Rin cast any magic spells and help him find his parents?

Wizard for Hire will cast a spell over readers, making it hard to put the book down. From the very first page, the story begins with an engaging mystery and a unique character that is easy to love. After living alone for so long, Ozzy struggles with how to talk to others, which is a dilemma many readers will relate to. The surprising appearance of a magical raven brings humor and heart into the story. Clark gives Ozzy encouragement, advice, and a reason to leave his small cabin. Clark’s crushes on metal objects add a fun element to the story.

Once Rin enters the story, Ozzy (and the reader) are both left questioning Rin’s wizardly abilities. Rin could be using magic or modern technology to help Ozzy, but the reader is left guessing about Rin’s magical ability. Rin casts a spell to make Ozzy invisible, which only works because the man is blind. Even though Rin may or may not be a wizard, he embarks on a quest to find Ozzy’s parents. As Rin and Ozzy investigate to find Ozzy’s missing parents, they must avoid the police who are looking for Ozzy, which adds suspense to the story. One additional bonus is Rin’s occasional words of wisdom. For example, when Ozzy is worried about his future, Rin tells him, “Too many of you humans are scared by ghosts that haven’t yet formed.”

Humor, heart, and Harry Potter references make Wizard for Hire a must-read. This coming-of-age story shows the importance of being unique and true to yourself. Although the ending isn’t a happy-every-after, Ozzy does find the answers to his questions. Although there is very little violence, some sensitive readers may be upset by the idea that Ozzy’s uncle was responsible for his parents’ deaths and, in the end, desires to kill Ozzy for greed and personal gain.

Sexual Content

  • Clark, a metal bird, is attracted to metal objects. “Clark sort of gets funny crushes on anything bird-related—or made of metal.” Once he tells Ozzie that “your fork isn’t unattractive. Maybe you could bring it home.” Later in the story, Clark has a crush on a dumpster.

Violence

  • Men came and took Ozzy’s parents. “One of the men put a rag over Emmitt’s mouth. Another did the same to Mia. Ozzy’s parents thrashed and kicked, but their mouths were covered and they were no match for the hulking men who had them bound.” Ozzy hides from the men, who leave him, thinking he will die.
  • A man breaks into Ozzy’s home. Later, Ozzy discovers who the robber was and Clark follows him. “Something hit Ed in the back of the head, causing a good deal of pain and making his sunglasses fly off of his head. Ed swore. . . Something slammed into the right side of his face. Ed spun around twice before regaining his footing. . . Something slammed into and stung his lower back. It took everything he could do to keep the bike under control.” The man crashes the bike, but “he scrambled up screaming and swearing.”
  • There is a car chase. Trying to lose the men who were chasing them, Rin goes into a graveyard. “The SUV followed suit. They were considerably bigger than the white car and kept hitting gravestones on their right side. . .” The SUV crashes.
  • Ozzy finds out that his uncle took his parents “and brought them to a bunker in New Mexico, leaving Ozzy for dead.” When Ozzy’s parents wouldn’t tell his uncle the formula, his uncle ended “his parents’ lives.”
  • During another car chase, Clark “shot through the window” of the SUV. “The bird bounced around inside the vehicle like a possessed pinball. He knocked the driver’s glasses askew and broke a tooth of the large goon with the mean eyes.” The SUV “flipped onto its side and went skidding across the freeway.”
  • The bad guy, with a gun, confronts Ozzy. Clark saves his friend when he “slammed into the right side of Charles’s head. The evil half-uncle swore and waved his gun at the dark sky. . . Clark swooped in again and hit him from the left. Charles spun and shot into the air, hitting the bird and dropping him like a rock down onto the deck.”
  • Ozzy tackles Charles and “the gun flew from his hand and Charles’s head slammed against the railing. Ozzy began to punch him as if he were the root of all his sorrow ever. And since he was, Rin let it go for a few moments before he pulled the boy off.”
  • Charles grabs Rin’s wizard wand and “raised his fist, intending to thrust the wand into Ozzy’s chest, but at that moment, the dark sky opened up and a terrific bolt of lightning snaked down and made contact with the wand. . .” Charles is dead and “Ozzy saw, “his lifeless body smoldering.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When the wizard first discovers that Ozzy lives deep in the words, he tells Ozzy, “Listen, if your family is out here doing something illegal, like making moonshine or fireworks, I want no part of it.”

Language

  • The bad guy yells, “The formula your parents came up with could have changed the world. No more idiots letting their free will ruin things for others.”

Supernatural

  • Ozzy’s dad makes a metal bird named Clark that is alive.
  • Rin said he went to Quarfelt, which is another dimension, where wizards live.
  • Ozzy’s parents thought they “discovered a formula that could help people have better control over their own free will. The formula had the potential to cure apathy and misunderstandings.” They tested the formulas on unsuspecting people. One man, under the influence of the formula, enters a polar bear enclosure and walks towards the bears. “Timsby stood up in the water and began to walk toward the bears. Before he could get to them, four zookeepers entered the enclosure from the door.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Callie

Mia and Michal Battelli want a pet. Michael thinks a dog would be perfect. Mia wants a cuddly cat. But their parents aren’t sure their small apartment is a good fit for a pet. When Mia discovers a tiny calico who is injured, she convinces her mom to take care of the kitten named Callie. Mia wants to keep the kitten for herself, but the cute calico keeps running away. Is Mia’s home the right home for Callie?

Kitty Corner Callie is an easy-to-read high-interest book for beginning readers. The story has an easy-to-follow plot, a loving family, and is sprinkled with cat facts. As Mia’s family takes care of Callie, Mia discovers that no matter how cuddly Callie is, or how much Mia wants to keep her, the Battelli’s house just isn’t the right fit. In the end, Mia finds the home that is right for Callie, even though that means saying goodbye. Kitty Corner Callie will engage younger readers and leave them with a positive message about doing what is best for a pet.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Wizard’s War

When Evan and Cleo jump into a book, they find themselves thrust into a quest to save the kingdom. In order to save the kingdom, they will have to fight elves, trolls, and the mighty Golden Dragon. Danger comes from many places, and the two are not sure who they can trust. Only magic will end the war, but will it help them find the right key and return home?

This fast-paced fantasy contains many fantastical creatures that will enthrall younger readers. Danger lurks around every corner, which keeps the suspense high throughout the entire story. When Evan and Cleo meet the manticores, there are several fun riddles that readers can try to solve. Because of some overlapping plot points, The Wizard’s War should be read after the first two books of the series.

Throughout the story, Evan and Cloe show their bravery, brains, and devotion to each other. Working together to defeat evil is the main theme of the story. King Ledipus’s words reinforce this theme when he says, “Today we start a new chapter in the world, one where all creatures—humans, elves, manticores, dwarves, dragons, and even trolls—live in harmony. We will work together to build a future where all can find happiness.”

The story contains a lot of dialogue and short descriptions that help keep the story interesting. A full-page illustration appears in every chapter. The story contains magic wands and magic spells, which are clearly fantasy and not part of the real world. The Wizard’s War will be a hit with readers looking to take a trip into another world. The ending contains a cliffhanger that will leave readers reaching for the next book of the series—The Titanic Treasure.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Elves throw a net on Evan, Cleo, and Vixa. “They struggled but it was no use. Even Vixa’s blade couldn’t cut the net.” The elves take the captives to the queen. “The elves tied up Evan, Cleo, and Vixa and led them to a platform made of logs.” The queen orders the elves to let them go.
  • A group of trolls uses a catapult to fling “a fiery lump” at Evan, Cleo, and Vixa. “The fireball roared past them.”
  • Cleo and Evan try to escape the trolls by riding on a railroad cart. The trolls follow them in their own cart. “One of the trolls leaped into their cart and bared his yellow teeth. He growled and swung his club with the force of a sledgehammer.” Cleo slows the cart and s out of the cart. “Evan curled his legs under the troll’s chest and kicked up. The troll lifted into the air just as the cart shot under a low bridge. His head smacked into a beam and he flew out of the cart.”
  • When another troll attacks, Cleo “kicked the troll in the face. The creature swung his club. It whizzed past Cleo’s head and smashed the hand brake to splinters.” Cleo causes the troll’s cart to flip and “the troll flew forward and smacked into the tunnel wall.”
  • Someone jumped onto a troll’s back and “yanked on the troll’s ears. . .”
  • A dragon attacks Evan and Cleo. “Another flame spewed from the dragon’s throat. . . Evan rolled away and crept behind a statue of an ancient king.” During the attack, the dragon’s “tail whipped around and hit Cleo.” The battle takes place over a chapter.
  • During the final battle, dwarves, manticores, and others fight to defeat the evil villain. The manticore and dragon fight. “The manticores clawed and bit and let their spikes fly. The dragon swung her tail like a club.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The library under the school has a magic portal that takes people into books. When a person travels into a book, they become a character in the book.
  • When Evan and Cloe become characters in a book, Evan is a wizard and Cloe is a moon elf.
  • An evil character controls the king and his daughter through a headband that uses “dark magic.”
  • One of the characters is a manticore, which is a “lion with bat wings, and the end of its tail was covered in sharp spikes.”
  • Tannis wants Vixa to find the Dragon’s Orb because it “has the power to control dragons.”
  • Cloe poured a “silvery liquid onto Daruis’s wing. The leathery skin began to mend. She took the rest of the potion and poured it into Darius’s mouth . . . The manticore seemed to swell with strength.”
  • When Evan uses a spell, “orange light fired out and hit the troll in the face. Daisies sprouted from the troll’s head, and his nose started blinking like a holiday light.”
  • During the story, several of the characters smash a crystal that opens a magical doorway.
  • Evan uses the “Monstrous Transformation spell,” which makes him become large.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

80 Days or Die

Jules Verne’s left behind an unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasure. When Max and his cousin, Alex, follow the clues and end up rich, they think all of their problems are solved. But when Max’s friend becomes gravely ill and Max’s mother’s illness returns, Max and his cousin take a deeper look into Verne’s history.

They discover that Verne miraculously recovered from a near-fatal gunshot wound. The Lost Treasure hints that Verne discovered magical healing elements that allowed him to recover from his wounds. Using clues from Around the World in 80 days, Max and Alex set out on a daring adventure to learn more of Verne’s secrets and heal Max’s mom and friend.

80 Days or Die begins with fun riddles that readers will enjoy trying to figure out. When Max and Alex head out on their journey, they meet several new people who they bring on their trip. Although Max seems fascinated by facts, he doesn’t take the time to do any research on the people who travel with him. Can these new friends be trusted? The question adds to the suspense, but the blind faith in random strangers doesn’t ring true.

Like the first installment of the Max Tilt series, 80 Days or Die jumps from location to location in a rush against time. Younger readers will enjoy seeing a fascinating underground cavern, strange wolf people, the icy Antarctica and a glimpse of the desert. Several times throughout the story, Max and Alex just happen to run into the perfect person to assist them. Although the additional characters were needed to advance the plot, their appearance and willingness to help is unrealistic.

Lerangis writes a solid adventure, sprinkled with surprises and interesting landscapes. However, having a cast of untrustworthy supporting characters made the story less fun. After all of the hardships Max and Alex endured in Fire the Depths, their trusting nature seemed misplaced. Max and Alex’s blind trust in other people will bother some readers, especially when one of the characters they trust ruins a perfectly happy ending.

Sexual Content

  • When looking for someone, Max and his friend “stopped at a booth where a couple in matching black leather jackets were in the middle of a long kiss.”

Violence

  • When Max takes an object, the natives threw a rock at a man in the group. “With a soft thud, the rock hit the back of Sergei’s head, and he dropped to the ground. The wolf people were surrounding him now. . . With a leap, he decked one of the wolf people with a solid martial-arts kick to the jaw. . . The wolf people backed away.” During the fight, a kid is pushed into a hole, where her arm is injured.
  • Max and another man race toward a house. They jump on yaks, but when Max pulls ahead, Nigel grabs him. Max “hit the ground hard, the pain shot up his spine . . . The pain came in waves.” Later, someone causes a yak to collide into Nigel and the man falls, and “he moaned, writhing in agony.”
  • A woman holds a gun on Max and is friends. There is a struggle for the gun, and the woman falls into a crevice. Max also falls into the crevice. “He was panting. Sweating. Achy.” His friends save him and help the woman.
  • Two people are arguing when a man with a gun approaches. Max jumps at the man, “With a cry, they both fell to the ground. The gun flew out of the man’s hand and slid off.” After a short scuffle, the man “Lifted Max off the ground. Mag struggled against the man’s grip, but his fists were like stone.” Someone helps Max by hitting the man on the head, and the attacker “fell to the ground, limp.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • In a moment of excitement, a character says, “Good God, what is it?”
  • Someone says, “I’ll be darned.”
  • One of the characters asks Max if “Plan B stands for ‘boneheaded’?”
  • “Oh dear Lord” is used as an exclamation once.

Supernatural

  • Wolf people watch over coils. The coils “fell from the sky one day, like holy rain. They do things—make people sick, punish for bad hunting season . . . the usual local superstitions.” The coils changed the people, making them look like wolf people. The people believe the coils are sacred and “they must protect holy coils from intruders.”

Spiritual Content

  • Max, who likes facts, said, “God is in the factoids.”

 

Fire the Depths

Thirteen-year-old Max Tilt’s life changes in a moment. When his mother becomes ill, his cousin Alex comes to care for him. When Max discovers his parents are in danger of losing their home, Alex and Max want to find a way to help. They head to the attic to find items to sell and discover Max’s great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished manuscript The Lost Treasures. What begins as a quest for artic items becomes a treasure hunt as Alex and Max learn that everything Jules Verne wrote in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was true.

As Alex and Max begin their journey, a strange skunk-haired man named Spencer Niemand appears. He’s determined to steal The Lost Treasures’ manuscript and claim the treasure as his own. However, he needs the kids’ help. Can Max and Alex outwit the devious man who is willing to use violence to gain the treasure?

There is a lot to like in Max Tilt: Fire the Depths. Right from the start, the story is fast-paced and interesting. Although the story is a bit far-fetched, especially the part where his parents leave knowing the electricity will be turned off and the house repossessed, these events explain why Max and Alex are willing to go on a dangerous treasure hunt in order to help.

As the two cousins begin their journey, they don’t realize the danger that follows. As the two follow Jules Verne’s path, they use clues he left behind, but they are soon trapped in a submarine with a villain. As they struggle against an evil villain, they dive to a city beneath the ocean, explore an ice cave in Greenland, and fight a giant squid. This page-turner keeps readers engaged using suspense, adventure, and a bit of humor.

The interplay between Alex and Max helps readers engage in the story. Throughout the story, the two cousins build a friendship and learn to rely on each other in dire situations. Each shows their bravery in different ways. Alex is unique in that he has synesthesia (where one sense substitutes for another) and the effects of synesthesia are shown in a simple, unique way.

Although this adventurous story is written for the ages of eight and up, the story is more appropriate for middle school students because of the violence and the truly evil villain. Although the violence is not described in graphic detail, the villain kills others in order to satisfy his greed. The action-packed plot takes Max and Alex on a submarine ride to an epic adventure that will engage students and teach that, “Sometimes you can’t be ready to do the things you really need to do. You just do them. And that makes you ready.”

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When a man grabs Niemand’s wrist, Niemand, “drew a knife from his pocket, and slammed it downward. As the man yanked his hand back, the blade sank into the tabletop.”
  • In order to eliminate witnesses, Niemand locks people into a warehouse and then sets off explosives. Niemand tells the event from his point of view, “on four, he heard sudden shouting and frantic footsteps inside the building. They finally realized. Good. Let them know there was no escape . . . On seven, the warehouse exploded.”
  • Niemand throws hot coffee in someone’s face. The man, “was squirming in pain on the worship floor.”
  • When bullies steal Max’s lunch, he uses a drone to get his lunch back. The drone hovers over the bullies’ heads and Max hits the release button. “The apple conked Dugan in the head. As he screamed and jumped aside, Max guided Vulturon downward, where Claw #3 grabbed onto his lunch bag.”
  • When a bad man tries to grab Alex, she hits him. The man, “recoiled with a howl of pain. But his reflexes were quick enough to wrap one beefy hand around Max’s throat.” Someone grabs the man’s foot and he lost his balance, “falling to the floor. His head smacked against the solid-steel edge of the Tilts’ coffee table.”
  • A man shoots at Alex and Max, but someone stops him before anyone is hurt.
  • In a letter, Verne writes about how Captain No One destroys an underwater civilization. “With a flash of fire, the carapace was breached. A hole shattered the thick material, jagged and mean as a lightning bolt. An explosion turned the sea to red.” Captain No One looted the city, and when two crew members tried to steal, they “were shot for their greed.”
  • A man falls from an icy ledge, “and then came the scream—deep, raw, animal-like—as Basile fell off the ledge and into the teeming white mass below.” Later, he is discovered alive.
  • Niemand ties Alex and Max to a snowmobile. “He circled it around each of them individually. He tied it down to various places on the snowmobile . . . Niemand flipped the lever to Drive. And he walked away.” The kids then fall into the frozen ocean, but they do not die. When the squid grabs Alex, Basile “swung the ax at the appendage that held Alex . . . The blade split it in two, the top part skirting upward in a violent spray of milky liquid.” The squid finally retreats.
  • A giant squid attacks the submarine and is able to get inside. Basile, Alex, and Max fight the squid in a battle that lasts eight pages.
  • When Niemand tries to capture Alex and Max, Max fights back. “As André approached, Max thrust himself off with his hands and kicked upwards, landing a solid hit on André’s chin. The scraggle-haired man fell backwards, arms flailing.” André grabs Alex and tosses her “like a bale of hay. Max saw her body fly over a thick copse and smack against a tree trunk. He heard her head thump and saw her limp body drop down to the forest floor.”
  • Niemand tells Alex to dig his own grave, but before he can get the work done, Alex hits Niemand on the head with a shovel. The kids are able to get away.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Crap!” is used once.
  • Max tells someone that they are about to feel like “asses.”
  • Someone yells at a bad driver, “Watch where you’re going, idiot!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • While hiking, a character thinks “if God had meant for humans to live among hills, he would have made them goats.”
  • After defeating the squid, Alex said, “Thank God it’s over.”

Mac Undercover

Mac Barnett is just an ordinary kid growing up in the 1980s. Then the phone rings. It’s the Queen of England. And she needs Mac’s help. The Crown Jewels have been stolen and the Queen of England wants Mac to find them. Mac, the newest secret agent, takes a trip to England, where he meets the Queen in the Tower of London. From there, Mac travels around the globe looking for the stolen treasure. Will the kid spy be able to find the treasure?

Mac Undercover will entertain even the most reluctant readers with its fast-paced plot, interesting characters, and funny historic facts. Short sentences and simple vocabulary will help readers build confidence. Readers will understand Mac’s disappointment when he’s not invited to a karate birthday party and laugh at his secret identities. Every page contains large blue and gold illustrations that add to the humor of the story. As the story unfolds, readers will learn historical facts, geography, and word origins. Each new fact is integrated into the story in a seamless manner, which makes learning fun.

Mac tells his own story with humor and puts a spotlight on the absurd. Younger readers will love the adventure, intrigue, and corgis. The only negative aspect of the story is that the French are portrayed in a stereotypical rude manner. Mac Undercover will leave readers in giggles and with some cool new knowledge.

Sexual Content

  • When Mac is exploring London, “two people with purple liberty spikes kissed against an ancient wall.”

Violence

  • The story includes historical facts such as how “Henry VIII kept many of his wives, friends, and relatives at the Tower of London, before he chopped off their heads.”
  • A KGB wanted to have a karate match with Mac. The KGB Man “twisted my arm behind my back and pushed my face into the carpet . . . The KGB Man placed me in a vicious headlock. His bicep was lodged against my windpipe. I could hardly breathe.” Mac ends the match by licking the KGB Man’s arm.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Supergifted

Noah Youkilis has never been normal. With an extremely high IQ, this super gifted kid dreams of having an opportunity to fail. After years at the Academy for Scholastic Distinction, Noah dreams of being in remedial classes, being a failure at something, and having some unpredictability in his life. When Noah enrolls in his friend’s school, both of their lives begin to change.

Noah may be super gifted when it comes to school, but he’s not super gifted at making friends. Noah makes enemies out of the cheerleading captain Megan Mercury and lacrosse player “Hashtag” Taggart.  Sticking up for Noah makes Donovan a target, and he’s told to stay away from Hashtag, or else. When a freak accident makes Donovan a hero, he can’t let anyone know. In order to help his friend, Noah steps in and becomes “Superkid.” When the fame goes to Noah’s head, Donovan wonders if the lie may just cause more chaos than telling the truth.

Younger readers will be pulled into the stereotypical life of junior high as they watch Noah go from friendless to popular. One simple lie drives the suspense in the story and will keep readers wondering how Noah will ever keep his secret.

The story is told from a first-person point of view, which allows the readers to understand the different characters’ motivations and feelings. However, the point of view changes between five different characters and becomes confusing. Although the story focuses on Noah, it really is a story about Donovan trying to save his family pet and his friend. The balance between Donovan’s home life and school life adds interest and heart to the story.

Supergifted has many stereotypes—the mean cheerleader, the bully jock, and the smart kid who can’t pick up on social clues. The only character that breaks the stereotypical mold of a junior high student is Donovan. Donovan wants to keep Noah out of trouble and goes to great lengths to keep the bullies from harassing him—the only problem is that Noah doesn’t seem to notice anything that Donovan does for him. And when Noah becomes Superkid, he also becomes a super terrible person. At the end of the story, Noah doesn’t even seem to recognize what a super friend Donovan is.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A boy goes to the park with the intent of beating up Noah. Donovan sees the boy, who is “hauling Noah up by his shirt . . . He wrestled Noah to the ground and straddled him, a knee pinning each arm.” Donovan tackles the boy. “It hurt like mad when my nose slammed into his shoulder, but not as much as when I slid through the wood chips, picking up splinters over at least half of my body.” The fight ends when a dog bites the bully.
  • Donovan goes to a party he was not invited to. He climbs a tree and falls. “I pictured him dropping from the sky into the middle of my party. . . And I remembered what had happened a few seconds after that—that same Donovan tackling Peter out of the way of a falling tree branch.”
  • At an event, a robot malfunctions and “lurched around the room firing projectiles in all directions. Cries of shock and pain rang out as golf balls bounced off heads and shoulders. People tripped over each other’s feet and ran into one another trying to get out of harm’s way.” Donovan jumps on the robot and turns it off.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Someone calls a person a “jerk” and an “idiot.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Turtle Invasion

Max receives an urgent message. The Battle Bugs need his help. An old enemy has returned and this time the enemy has vowed to destroy every bug. An epic fight is about to begin, and only Max can save the day.

For those who have read the previous Battle Bug books, the appearance of General Komodo brings suspense. The Turtle Invasion brings the gecko and bullet ants into focus and readers will learn interesting facts about each species. The bug (and human) characters are not developed as well as they were in the previous books; however, seeing a human through a bug’s eye gives the story interest. The fighting between lizards and bugs adds suspense with kid-friendly descriptions.

The plot of The Turtle Invasion has the same structure as previous books. The bugs need help. Max appears. Max is almost eaten by a creature. Max survives and is the only one who can save the Battle Bugs. Although younger readers might not mind the repetitious plot, some may find the story less enjoyable.

Readers should read earlier books in the Battle Bugs series because many of the characters were developed in previous books. Even though The Turtle Invasion has some longer, descriptive paragraphs, the text is easy to read. Dialogue, Max’s thoughts, onomatopoeia, and full-page illustrations help keep readers engaged.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Max arrives on bug island, a gecko wants to eat him. Max, “head-butted the gecko right on its nose. The gecko squealed and clutched its face. With one last surge of energy, Max flung the lizard away from him.”
  • General Komodo leaps onto Max. “Max let out a yell as Komodo’s claws grabbed hold of him and he went tumbling to the ground.” Later Komodo chases Max up a tree. Komodo is able to break the tree branch Max is on. “The impact knocked the wind out of him (Max). He lay on his back, fighting for breath.” Max is then taken to prison.
  • When Max escapes from prison, a gecko grabs him. “The gecko shoved Max down against the ground. Max twisted in pain. . .” Bullet ants appear and swarm the gecko, and “then the stinging began. The gecko yelped in pain, let go of Max, and went hobbling off toward the beach.”
  • The two armies fight. During the battle, “hornets zoomed down from the sky, struck with a barrage of stings, and then soared out of range of reptile jaws.” The bugs end up victorious.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Max has a magic book that takes him to Bug Island. When he looks at the book through a magnifying glass, “a familiar force snatched him off his feet. The room around him seemed to swell and swirl. He went tumbling down into the book.” When he lands on Bug Island, he is the size of a bug.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Switch

Gypsy Beaumont used to love being a whirly-twirly girl who picked flowers and danced. She has been dreaming of her savvy—the extraordinary talent that strikes every Beaumont on their thirteenth birthday. Gypsy had imagined getting the wings of angels or being able to catch candy necklaces instead of fish, but when her thirteenth birthday arrives, Gypsy gets blurry vision and catches glimpses of the past and future.

Then in a strange turn of events, everyone’s savvy is switched and things become topsy-turvy. Gypsy must learn to use her new powers and try to stop the events of the last vision she saw. As she tries to change the future, Gypsy embarks on an adventure that will lead to new friendships and closer relationships with her family.

Right from the start, readers will want to turn the page to see what happens next in this entertaining story of adventure and magic. Switch shows the power of friendship and family in a heartwarming story. Being told from Gypsy’s point of view allows the reader to peek inside of her mind and understand her hopes, fears, and uncertainties. Gypsy’s personality comes to life and shows the difficulties of being different; however, the story goes on to show how being different should not be seen as an embarrassment, but as a gift.

Switch tackles several difficult issues including changing friendships and the effects of aging. Gypsy’s self-confidence takes a hit when her best friend stops talking to her because Gypsy acts like a “baby.” The story also focuses on Gypsy’s grandmother who is beginning to have difficulties remembering people and often lives her life in the past. Switch expertly weaves lessons about friendship, family, and accepting yourself into a beautifully written story with memorable characters.

Sexual Content

  • Two characters kiss twice. When it’s close to Valentine’s Day, Gypsy is reminded of the way, “Samson and Nola had secretly kiss-kiss-kissed behind Grandma’s house.”

Violence

  • Tucker throws a tantrum and grows “as tall as the house itself.” In his anger he uproots “trees in our front yard like they were daisies . . . tossed two leafless maples and a blue spruce into the field across the road.” He also “kicked over a tool shed.” Someone finally calms him down by offering him candy.
  • A bully tells B-Bug to punch someone. “B-Bug was already reaching over the counter. With an apologetic look, he grabbed the front of Del’s hoodie. Then he pulled back his arm, aiming his knuckles at the smaller boy’s face.” Before B-Bug can hit him, Gypsy stops time.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Savvy family members have special powers. At the beginning of the book, Gypsy can see into the future and past.
  • Samson can make fire. When he first learns of the power, he “glanced down at his hands as each of his fingers lit up in licks of red-and-yellow flames. He looked like he was holding ten candles. A second later, there was a whoosh and a crackle, and Samson’s entire body became a bonfire.”
  • Tucker grows bigger (he can grow larger than a house) when he is angry.

Spiritual Content

  • Gypsy’s family attends church once and Gypsy prays. In one scene she “asked God and all the angels to make everything go back the way it was before Mrs. Kim called . . . before we learned that Grandma Pat was ill and had to live with us . . .”

Scumble

Ledger Kale has looked forward to his thirteenth birthday in anxious anticipation. That is the day when his savvy, a special magical talent that all members of his family receive, arrives. His excitement is short-lived, however, as everything falls apart . . . literally. Ledger’s savvy is worse than he could have imagined. Now he must struggle to regain control as things break all around him.

His family riskily decides to travel to Wyoming for a savvy-filled wedding, where his power is revealed in full force to his entire family and an outside witness: ambitious amateur reporter Sarah Jane Cabot. Due to Ledger’s newfound destructive nature, his parents decide that it is safer to leave him and his sister on the family ranch for the summer. They hope that when he and his sister return, Ledger won’t combust everything that surrounds him. Adventures ensue as Ledger must cope with his new capabilities, crazy cousins, and Sarah Jane’s nosy journalism.

Scumble is a delightful read for young audiences as Ingrid Law spins an enthralling tale of family, friendship, and finding yourself. Ledger’s journey to control his power brilliantly displays the struggles of growing up, no matter how extreme the circumstances. His initial disappointment and ultimate triumph are relatable to young readers trying to discover who they are. Fans of Savvy will love this new adventure because of the fresh faces that invigorate the story. Although not quite as entertaining as the first book, it is still a worthwhile, fun read.

Sexual Content

  • One of Ledger’s friends, Josh, is a “ladies man.” He has “even locked lips with Misty Archuleta during a field trip to the planetarium once, after giving her a necklace with a big silver M on it.”
  • The Kale family goes to the wedding of Fisher Beaumont. Ledger describes the ceremony, including the beauty of the bride and their “just-kiss-the-bride-already smooch.”
  • In order to distract Sarah Jane from some savvy magic that is occurring, Ledger kisses her. She promptly punches him in the ribs.
  • Ledger’s mom tells his cousin that “a girl wants a cheerful, clean-cut beau, not a moody caveman.”
  • Uncle Autry thinks that Ledger has a crush on Sarah Jane and brings it up several times throughout the book. Many of their family members join in teasing the young man and at one point, he protests by saying, “She’s not my girlfriend! Not, not, not my girlfriend.”
  • Rocket loses control of his powers and confidence in himself when he “was showing off . . . for a girl.”
  • Ledger receives a letter from Sarah Jane. His twin cousins Marisol and Mesquite see him with the letter and they ask, “Did you get a love letter, Ledge? Ooh! Do you have a girlfriend now too, Sledgehammer?”
  • When Ledger contemplates the thought that he and Sarah Jane might be cousins, he, “stood up fast, riddled with heebie-jeebies. I’d locked lips with her! And I’d considered doing it again!” It is later revealed that they are not cousins.
  • Once Sarah Jane and Ledger are apart for the school year, she writes in a letter that she “planned to kiss me the very next time we met.”

Violence

  • Ledger trips, and his “mouth filled with the taste of panic, sharp and metallic.”
  • Ledger blows up his Dad’s watch using his savvy. “The parts flying like shrapnel… I covered my head to avoid getting razor-thin gears lodged in my brainpan.”
  • The realization of the true nature of Ledger’s savvy is quite shocking. “The understanding that I had a powerful savvy after all hit me like a hammer blow. It wasn’t just watches and windshield wipers that needed to look out. It was the whole, wide world.”
  • Ledger accidentally blows up the barn during his cousin’s wedding. The groom is injured as his, “cheek was bleeding, gouged by something sharp and airborne.”
  • Ledger’s mom references a time when her brother was young. “You broke your leg here, Autry. . . Your collarbone, too. You also fell in the river and nearly drowned before Cam Beacham fished you out. The two of you weren’t even dry before you wrestled him into a cactus patch and got nearly a thousand stickers in your–”
  • When Ledger comes to talk to Sarah Jane, she says, “Did you come for another right hook in the kisser?”
  • When his cousins continually attempt to help Ledger learn to scumble, they intentionally pelt him with shrapnel to see if he can control it.
  • Sarah Jane gets hit by a fence that Ledger is scumbling. “The scratch wasn’t deep. Not even bleeding.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • On many occasions, characters “cuss” but the words they say are not described.
  • When Ledger breaks the handle of a suitcase, he is “cussing as it broke loose.”
  • When Ledger loses his temper, he lets, “a loud barrage of barnyard language rip. After a full minute of noisy cussing, I looked up realizing that the rest of the world had gone much too quiet.”
  • A character yells “shut it” once.
  • A character exclaims, “What in John Brown’s britches is going on here?”
  • When a truck drives away from Rocket, he runs after it and Ledger could, “hear Rocket cuss as he tugged on the sticky door handle.”
  • The word “crud” is used once.

Supernatural

  • The majority of the characters have an inherited magical power called a savvy. The plot of the story revolves around the main character learning to control his power of manipulating metal.
  • Dinah Kale, Ledger’s mom, can control people’s actions through her words and facial expressions.
  • Ledger describes Wyoming as “still and silent as if the ghost of the Wild West outlaw the Sundance Kid had come back to haunt the place.”
  • One of Ledger’s cousins, Samson, is invisible.
  • A magical jar that captures music is played at the wedding.
  • At Grandpa Bomba’s funeral, the Earth drastically shifts in remembrance of his life and savvy, which was the manipulation of Earth.

Spiritual Content

  • Ledger questions his purpose and says, “Surely my Maker had had some plan when He put me together like this?
  • In another instance, he asks, “Dear God, what had I been built to do.”

by Morgan Filgas

Surrounded by Sharks

Early in the morning, Davey wakes up in a small hotel room surrounded by his family. He sneaks out of the room because he doesn’t want to waste any of the vacation sleeping. Davey, with a book in hand, heads to the beach. The beautiful ocean is too much of a temptation for Davey to resist. When he sees the No Swimming sign, he decides to just dip his toes in the water. But the waves tear Davey away from the island and soon he’s miles offshore. He’s surrounded by water—and something else. Sharks are circling below the surface, watching, and waiting. Davey’s terrified he will become the sharks’ next meal. Then no one will find out what happened to him.

Northrop writes with the perfect balance of suspense and action. The short chapters allow the reader to see Davey’s struggle, the sharks’ thoughts, and the action that is taking place back on the island. As the people on the island search for answers about where Davey could have disappeared to, the reader knows that Davey is about to become shark food. Switching between perspectives keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.

Every character in Surrounded by Sharks comes alive and their unique personalities add to the story’s atmosphere. Although the story revolves around Davey’s predicament, there are also several other teens that make the story relatable. While Davey’s two-parent family is not shown to be perfect, they clearly love each other. Surrounded by Sharks is an easy-to-read, suspenseful story that will keep even the most reluctant reader turning the pages until the very end.

Sexual Content

  • Davey is distracted by a girl because “her T-shirt was so light that he could see her bathing suit right through it. Or, wait . . . was that her bra?”

Violence

  • A shark tries to bite Davey. When it attacks, “the black eyes rolled back in its head, and its permanent frown widened for the bite, revealing two rows of sharp, serrated teeth. BONK! It hit the water cooler bottle.” Davey has the air knocked out of his lungs but is otherwise uninjured.
  • A shark attacks Davey. As Davey is being pulled into a boat, “the smaller shark surged forward below the surface and clamped onto Davey’s leg, harder this time. It swung its head to the side with surprising power and pulled Davey out of Drew’s grasp and clean off the side of the boat. Davey’s head dipped under the water, and a mouthful of seawater slipped into his lungs.” Davey is saved.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Davey sits by a bar stand on the beach and worries about getting drunk off the fumes because then he’d get in trouble if he was “stumbling back into the hotel room completely blitzed on alcohol vapors.”
  • One of the characters, Zeke, had “been out at the local bars the night before. It was what they called ‘a late night’ in most places. . .” Later Zeke is described as having a “faint smell of booze.”
  • A man at the bar stand tells someone, “Come back at eleven. Mimosas and Bloody Marys. Full bar at noon.”
  • A character goes into a liquor store, but his wife doesn’t approve.

Language

  • “Frickin’” is used several times.
  • “Oh my god” and “god” are used as exclamations several times. For example, after being pulled into the ocean by a riptide, Davey thinks, “Oh my god, I’m an idiot!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • While out in the ocean, Davey believes thata he sees land and thinks “Thank God.”

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig

Eugenia Lincoln wants to add a little color to the yard by planting pansies. When Mercy’s nose leads her to find the delicious pansy petals, Eugenia’s perfect spring day is ruined. Eugenia calls Animal Control, and Animal Control Officer Francine Poulet arrives on the scene. Francine goes on a hunt for Mercy. Can Francine think like a pig and capture Mercy?

Mercy’s appetite leads her into hilarious trouble. A diverse cast of interesting characters reappears in each book. Younger readers will enjoy reading about the antics of the many loveable characters. The characters are portrayed like real people, with a variety of physical attributes. This installment of the series focuses on Control Officer Francine Poulet as she tries to capture Mercy by thinking like a pig, which results in some outrageously funny behavior.

Brightly colored illustrations appear on almost every page. The silly illustrations will cause giggles, and the exaggerated facial expressions will help readers interpret the characters’ emotions. Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig will help beginning readers turn into confident readers. The illustrations help break up the words on the page and most paragraphs are only one sentence. A few words may be difficult for younger readers to pronounce, and there are several plays on words that readers may miss. The Mercy Watson series would be a fun book to read alone or with a parent.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Control Officer Francine Poulet tries to find Mercy, she climbs a tree and then falls. “A woman fell from the sky and landed head first on the tea table.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

Orphaned as a child, Nan Sparrow is forced to work for a cruel chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She and several other children toil day after day, sweeping out chimneys for nasty Mr. Crudd.

Cleaning chimneys is a dangerous job, and when Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire she thinks death is near. Instead, she wakes up in the house’s attic—and she’s not alone. A small piece of char has somehow come to life and needs Nan’s help to survive. Since everyone believes Nan died in the chimney fire, she takes advantage of her misfortune and decides to create a new life for herself and her monster, who she names Charlie.

From the very first page, Sweep captivates readers with beautiful writing that vividly displays the horrors of being a Victorian London chimney sweep. The story seamlessly flows back and forth between Nan’s life before she was orphaned, and her life afterward, when the man who took her in mysteriously disappears. Even though life with him was difficult, her life was full of love. The connection between Nan and the man (who is referred to as “the Sweep”) is deep and vibrant, and will leave readers curious to discover why the Sweep disappears.

The characters in this story are so well developed that every character’s unique personality shines through. As Nan begins to create a new life for Charlie and herself, she learns important life lessons. For example, while Nan would like to stay hidden from others, she eventually discovers that “We save ourselves by saving others.” Sweep’s suspenseful, surprising conclusion will leave readers in tears as they realize that cruelty and kindness are locked in a never-ending battle.

This story focuses on difficult topics such as poverty, child labor, and anti-Semitism. As Nan’s story unfolds, the difficult life of a child sweep in described in detail. Children faced harsh masters who fed them little, beat them, and sent them up chimneys where they were injured and sometimes died horrific deaths. One of the characters, Roger, became a sweep when his parents sold him. He turns into an unpleasant boy who dreams of becoming rich enough to buy his parents’ house so he can “raise the rent. Raise it so high, they’re put out on the streets.”

The publisher recommends Sweep for children as young as eight years old. However, this book contains long passages, difficult vocabulary, and shows humanity’s cruelty, which could be quite difficult for younger readers to handle. The book ends with historical information on sweeps, Victorian London, and a list of suggested books for readers curious to learn more. In this section, the author points out that, “today over 160 million children worldwide are forced into child labor. The battle is far from won.”

Sexual Content
• Master Crudd attends weddings. When Crudd said he wouldn’t be home for dinner, one of the kids teased, “Too busy kissing the brides for luck, eh, sir?”
• Nan tries to get other sweeps to march for a cause. One of the boys says, “Hammie’s just hopin’ to get a kiss from the flower girl on Hastings!”

Violence
• When Nan tries to grab her bowl of gruel, “a wooden spoon came down on her hand. She shrieked, clutching her fingers.” The woman caring for her told her she would not eat that day because she was late for breakfast.
• While cleaning a chimney, Nan gets stuck. In an attempt to get her out, Roger sets a fire. Nan shouted, “ ‘Roger, no—’ Her cries were cut off by a hollow whoof as the match hit the coals. Air sucked down through the chimney, like a beast drawing a deep breath. First came the smoke, a thick black tendril that slid up the flue and snaked around her neck. . . Next came the heat. It started as a prickling sensation on her back and heels, then spread up her legs. Within seconds, the warmth had turned to a blistering heat. . . Her entire body felt as if it were burning from the inside out.”
• Nan and the Sweep see “a pack of boys who were beating a smaller boy, calling him a ‘Jew.’” The Sweep chases the boys away.
• When Nan was little, she had a doll. A group of “young ladies” teased Nan and “one of the younger ladies snatched Charlotte (the doll) and waved her in the air . . . the doll circled and spun and then struck the ground with a sickening CRACK!”
• When a small boy drops a bag of soot, Roger “stomped up to Newt and struck him hard with the butt end of his broom.”
• Nan throws a snowball at Roger. “Perhaps it was her form, or perhaps it was her ire, but the snowball hit Roger with such force that the boy was knocked right off his feet and landed—splat—in the slushy gutter.”
• Master Crudd threatens to kill Nan and Charlie protects her. “Crudd gave a feral cry and lunged at Charlie, swinging the poker at his head. It connected with a dull crunch. Bits of sooty rubble feel to the floor.” Charlie grabs Crudd’s head and “Crudd screamed at the scorching touch. The room filled with acrid smell of burning hair, burning flesh. Charlie hoisted the man up and hurled him through the air . . . Crudd’s body smashed clear through the shuttered windows and into the frozen street.”
• When Nan was little, some men tried to put her in an orphanage. “The men grabbed the girl and locked her in a carriage. She had kicked out a loose board from the roof and climbed out to escape.”
• When the sweeps protest their work conditions, the master hits the kids. “The crowd gasped as the man brought the brush down on the boy with a thwap.” When people try to help the kids, “The sweeps—drunk and enraged—attacked anyone who touched them.” A riot breaks out.
• Master Crudd grabs Nan, and her friend tries to help, but “Whap! Crudd struck Toby in the face with his fist. The boy fell backwards and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.” In order to get away Nan, “threw her head forward—striking him straight in the nose.” Crudd chases her up a tower. “He reached out and snatched her ankle. . . She felt her grip break loose from the monument—And then Nan Sparrow fell . . . They struck the ground with tremendous force. The man died instantly.” Nan lays “bleeding on the street, moaning in pitiful agony, her body shattered beyond repair.” Charlie finds Nan and carries her away.

Drugs and Alcohol
• During a parade, the “master sweeps were already deep in their cups, enjoying free drinks in public houses all across the city.”
• A sweep “sounded drunk” when he yelled at his climbers. He said, “What do you ungrateful rats think yer doin?”

Language
• Roger calls a boy a “lazy maggot.”

Supernatural
• Master Crudd attends weddings because “everyone knew that paying a sweep to attend your wedding guaranteed years of happiness.”
• A piece of char comes to life. “Whatever happened inside that chimney must have changed the char—brought it to life.” The char, named Charlie, isn’t sure what it is, but he’s not a monster. Nan thinks Charlie is a golem, which is a “gabled monster in the Jewish tradition, a homunculus crafted from mud or clay and animated through Kabalistic ritual.” A teacher tells Nan that a golem is made when “a sage or rabbi–that is, a Jewish priest—forms a body out of mud or clay and then brings that creature to life with a sort of magic word called shem.” The teacher explains shem “is kind of like a spark. . . Some say the word is a true name of God.”
• Charlie accidentally breaks a bird’s egg. Charlie holds the egg and his hands, “were smoldering. His dark fingers crackled and began to glow red and then white. Smoke billowed from his open hands. . . And then Nan saw something that snatched the breath from her breast—The egg moved.” The bird pecks its way out of the egg, and although the bird’s wing is damaged, it’s alive.
• Charlie holds an acorn and “there was a smell of cracking embers. Charlie’s hands began to smolder, just as they had done with Dent’s eggs.” The acorn grows into a tree. After he makes the tree grow, his fingers, “did not bend. They did not crumble. It was like touching a statue.”
• Charlie holds Nan, injured and bleeding, in his arms. “Nan could feel a flicker of warmth spreading through her broken body, bringing her back. . . She could feel his arms turning rigid around her.” Charlie uses his magic to save Nan.
• When Nan buries an ember from Charlie’s body, “the snow beneath her boots melted to reveal black soil. And there, pushing up from the earth, were little shoots of green grass.”

Spiritual Content
• Nan befriends a Jewish teacher. Nan sees a Jewish prayer book in the teacher’s room. Nan tells the teacher what she has heard about Jewish people. “The way some folks talked about Jews, it seemed as if all the pains of the world were because of what they had done. She knew that wasn’t true though; she’d suffered plenty at the hands of God-fearing Christians.”
• Nan reads a poem about sweeps. In the poem, the sweeps, “rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind. And the Angel told Tom if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father and never want joy.”
• Nan tells Charlie the story of baby Jesus, who was “born in a basket and how a wicked king tried to kidnap him but then a big bearded angel named Father Christmas fought the king. ‘And then he tossed the baby Jesus down the chimney of a girl named Mary, and that was the first Christmas present.’ ”
• The teacher celebrates Passover. She explains that “the Jewish people eat these things to remember when God delivered us from slavery in Egypt. . . Before the Jews escaped from Egypt, God sent an angel of death to the city. The angel visited the homes of the Egyptians and killed every firstborn child as they slept. It was punishment for the wickedness of their parents. The angled passed over the homes of the Jews and spared their children.”
• When the teacher meets Charlie, Nan asks, “Does it make you believe in God?” The teacher replies, “It makes me believe that the world is full of wonders that I can scarcely imagine. Perhaps that is the same thing.”

The Stolen Crown

When Ellie and the League of Archers save Maid Marian from execution, the group hides in Sherwood Forest. They dream of helping the poor by building a farm in the middle of the forest, where the baron cannot reach them. In order to make their dream come true, Ellie and the League plan on stealing from the rich.

Ellie and her friends keep Robin Hood’s legacy alive, by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. However, everything changes when Ellie witnesses King John’s murder. As Ellie flees the castle, a boy helps her escape and pleas to be allowed to join the League of Archers. When Ellie leads him to the heart of Sherwood Forest, he causes conflict among the members.

Then rumors reach Sherwood Forest—the baron plans to kidnap the crown prince. Will the League be able to unite in order to stop the baron’s plan?

The second installment of the League of Archers has less action than the first. The majority of the plot focuses on the power struggle between Ellie and the new member of the group, Stephen. The infighting of the group and the group’s thuggish behavior make the story less enjoyable.

Like the first book in the series, The Stolen Crown’s plot is difficult to believe because Ellie has the responsibilities of an adult but does not show the maturity and insight of an adult. Even though Friar Tuck and Maid Marian are both invested in building a farm for the poor, Ellie is left to make decisions better left to the adult. The two main adults in the story are not well developed and have little interaction with Ellie, which makes the story seem shallow.

The ending of the story is predictable and unsatisfying because the baron is not severely punished for his crimes. The one positive aspect of The Stolen Crown is the message that everyone deserves a second chance. Unfortunately, the League of Archers series will be easily forgotten once it is read.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The king is murdered. When the king was poisoned, “one brawny hand was propped on the table, the other was clutched around his neck. . . He groaned again, fingers clawing at his throat, then slumped over the table, eyes and mouth stretched grotesquely wide.”
  • Ellie is caught trying to steal and a soldier tries to capture her, but she “parried the blade away with her poker, sending it flying toward a knot of shocked nobles.” After a chase, Ellie is able to escape unharmed.
  • Ellie and the League of Archers attempt to stop a coach and steal valuables. A group of men tries to stop the kids. When a man tries to grab one of the League of Archers, he “loosed an arrow into the unprotected spot under his arm. . .” The fighting takes place over four pages, but no one is seriously injured.
  • When a nun tries to lock the League of Archers in the convent and hand them over to the baron, another nun, “pushed Mary Ursula so hard she fell backwards onto a pile of flour sacks.
  • Ellie and the League of Archers break into a man’s house in order to steal from him. When an elderly man sees them, one of the league hits the man on the head. “There was a hard, sickening thump. The old man’s eyes went empty and he slumped to the ground.” One of the league points an arrow at the man and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t hand over the valuables. The man complies.
  • When Ellie and a group of her friends attempt to steal a valuable crown, there is a brief battle with soldiers. Ellie hits one soldier with an arrow.
  • Ellie and Stephen sword fight. In order to win the fight, Ellie fires a shot, and “her arrow shot clean through the flesh part of Stephen’s sword hand, between thumb and index finger. A fine spray of blood fizzed up.” As Ellie begins to walk away, Stephen shoots an arrow, but it hits another girl instead of Ellie. The girl is injured, but not seriously.
  • When the baron sees Ellie, he tells her, “But I won’t show you the mercy I gave to your mother—no quick drop and a broken neck for Elinor Dray. You’ll hang on a short rope, so I can watch you die slow.” The baron then throws a dagger at Ellie. When the dagger misses, the baron uses a sword, and “the sword ran through the cloak this time, pinning Ellie to the wall.” The fight goes on for four pages, and Ellie is able to escape.
  • When Ellie and the League of Archers try to free a prisoner from the baron’s castle, the guards try to stop them. A guard tries to choke a girl, and “Ellie stopped him with an arrow just below his throat, serious enough to scare him, but not deadly.” The group is able to escape the castle without anyone dying.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When a noblewoman talks badly about the king, her companion warns her to stop. The noblewoman replies, “Oh, he’s too drunk to hear us.”

Language

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Several of the characters live in a convent and the life of a nun is described including going to prayer.
  • One of the nuns blesses the baron. She says, “May the Lord guide you on the road to Nottingham! May he make our path straight, though it be winding, and may the king be as honored by your illustrious presence as we are.”

League of Archers #1

Elinor Dray and her friends idolize Robin Hood. Calling themselves the League of Archers, they illegally hunt on Lord de Lay’s land. Although the game is scarce, the meat they obtain is used to feed their families and help the poor. One night, Ellie meets a man in the woods who has been shot with a poisoned arrow. When Ellie takes the man to the nunnery, Ellie discovers the man’s identity—Robin Hood. And the abbess of the nunnery is Maid Marian.

When Maid Marian’s secret is revealed, the Lord de Lay arrests Marian and blames Ellie for Robin Hood’s death. The villagers believe Ellie is a traitor to the poor and vow to hunt her down. Living as an outlaw, Ellie and the League of Archers attempt to clear Ellie’s name, free Maid Marian, and keep Robin Hood’s legacy alive.

Action-packed and full of battles, League of Archers has a strong female protagonist, who wants to do what is right. As Ellie fights to stay alive, she struggles with the need to hurt the baron’s guards in order to stay alive. Ellie truly cares about the needs of others and often wonders, What would Robin Hood do? Throughout the story, the hero Robin Hood is not portrayed as a perfect hero, but as a man who makes mistakes. Although many of his great deeds of legend are true, many of his deeds are exaggerated. However, it is clear that Robin Hood, flaws and all, is still a great man.

Despite the high-interest topic of the story, the plot is complicated and not necessarily believable. The character’s dialogue is not true to the time period, and the storyline is not historically accurate. Even though junior high readers may not pick up on all of the inaccuracies, some will question how a twelve-year-old girl was able to successfully use Robin Hood’s bow.

Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the League of Archers—all of them could have been interesting characters. However, none of them are developed into individual people. Ellie is the only character whose thoughts and feelings are shown, but her conflict lacks more specific details that would explain how she came to be a master archer who wants to be like Robin Hood. Ellie and the League of Archers go into battle after battle with grown guards and although the violence is not described in gory detail, there is blood, pain, and death. The many battles are what drives the suspense in the story and keep the reader interested in the outcome.

If a reader is wildly interested in the topic of Robin Hood, League of Archers will interest them. The fast-paced plot with many battles will entertain readers. Reluctant readers will want to leave this book on the shelf because the detailed descriptions are cumbersome and slow down the plot’s otherwise fast pace.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Ellie’s mother was caught poaching because they “needed to eat. But her mother was caught, dragged in ropes to the baron’s castle. The village was invited to watch as an executioner made Ellie an orphan at the baron’s command.”
  • Ellie witnesses Robin Hood being shot with an arrow. When it happens, “Ellie saw the bright red of the arrow’s fletching, and the way it pierced the stranger’s shoulder like a knife through meat. A bloom of dark blood spread across his cloak as he dropped to his knees.” The arrow was poisoned and, “the skin around it bubbled like fat atop a pot of soup.” Robin Hood dies from the wound.
  • The baron’s men enter the covenant in order to arrest the abbess. When the abbess resists, a novice is grabbed, and the baron’s guard, “pressed the flat of a knife to Ellie’s throat . . . The blade was cool against her skin.”
  • The baron parades Ellie around town, accusing her of killing Robin Hood. A riot begins, and Ellie tries to escape. When Ellie’s friend tries to defend her, a guard whips him. Later, when Ellie tries to defend herself, “the guard’s knife pierced the heavy blue dress, drawing a gasp from her as it cut into her skin. She felt a trickle of blood mingling with sweat in the small of her back.”
  • A mob of people throw rocks, mud, and horse dung at Ellie. In order to escape, Ellie grabs a guard’s wrist and “yanked the blade from his hand, then wheeled around and struck him with Robin’s bow, still clutched in her other fist. He fell sideways off the cart. . .” Ellie escapes.
  • While traveling, a friar is attacked by guards. The friar hits one guard on the head with a bottle. When three other guards appear, the friar fights back, but is wounded. In order to help, Ellie “pulled an arrow from her quiver and strung it on her bow. It flew straight and true and hit the guard in the eye before he could bring down his knife. He fell down dead. The fighting takes place over four pages. Another guard is injured when “Alice flung a knife that caught him between two ribs, then he fell.”
  • A group of drunk men tries to capture Ellie. The League of Archers helps Ellie. “Jacob yanked a pitchfork from one of the men and swung it like a scythe, forcing others to run clear. . .” A man grabs Ellie and “had wrapped an arm around her neck, squeezing until stars exploded in front of her eyes.” Ellie and the League are able to escape.
  • The gamekeeper shoots arrows at Ellie and the League of Archers. In order to save her friends, Ellie shoots the gamekeeper. “She swung the bow to the right and released the string. Her arrow slid neatly into the gamekeeper’s hand.”
  • A man grabs Ellie in order to take her into the village and hang her. “He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and stood her up, facing the door.” The man also tied up Ellie’s friends. In order to escape, Ellie “took a breath and drove her head straight into his nose. He screamed and reeled backward, clutching his face. Blood spurted through his fingers.”
  • When trying to free one of the baron’s prisoners, the guards try to stop Ellie and the League of Archers. Someone hits a guard over the head with a club. Ellie shoots at a guard, and “one of her arrows found the meat of a man’s leg as he swung his sword at Marian’s exposed side. A second shaved a slice off a guard’s ear as he tried to hoist Alice over the side of the drawbridge. Then he dropped her, one hand lifting to feel the blood running down her face. She turned on him savagely with her knife.” In order to save her friends, Ellie lets “the arrow fly and watched as it slid into the heart of the guard lowering the gate.” The battle lasts over a chapter.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Several characters are given ale or wine to drink.
  • One of the characters makes “home-brewed liquor,” selling it to the villagers. He is often drunk.
  • Ellie and her friends go into a tavern. While there, “she watched a man slap a woman’s hip as she delivered his tankard, and another one crash down drunkenly from his chair.”
  • Ellie and the League of Archers come across a group of drunk men who are patrolling the forest.

Language

  • Someone uses “Oh, God” as an exclamation.

Supernatural

  • When talking about Robin’s silver arrow, which never missed its mark, the friar said, “I’m a religious man, so talk of magic doesn’t sit right with me. But there’s something about that arrow. There was never any questions it would find its way to where Robin intended.”
  • A woman tells Ellie her fortune by casting “a handful of dry brown bones.”

Spiritual Content

  • Several of the characters live in a convent and the life of a nun is described including going to prayer. Ellie also says the “compline prayer.”
  • The baron chastises Ellie. “‘God made us men in his image girl,’ he said. ‘You should show your betters a mite more respect.’”
  • A friar tells Ellie, “Whether he’s a saint or a sinner is not for us to say. . . We must trust in God to sort it out.”
  • One of the characters tells Ellie, “But there are some who, like you, would go to any lengths to save the abbess’s life—and I believe God is on their side. And justice, too.”
  • When a woman wants to tell Ellie her fortune, Ellie asks, “Is fortune-telling not a tool of the devil, Mother Barkbone?” The woman answers, “The devil and I walk different byways. . . I respect his power just as I respect that of God’s. But I worship the things I can see, the spirits who speak back to me. Those of the land, those of my ancestors. They guide me true and would never lead me into the devil’s mouth.”
  • Ellie tells someone who committed murder, “I forgive you. May God, too, have mercy on you.”

Change Up

When Derek’s dad promises to coach his team, Derek thinks it will be the best season ever. He’s sure he’ll play shortstop and the team will head to the championships. On the first day of practice, Derek realizes his team needs a lot of work. To make matters worse, Gary—who hates sports and has never played baseball before—is on the team.

Soon Derek is at odds with his dad, and he isn’t getting playing time as a shortstop. Worst of all, Gary seems to be bringing the team down. Is there a way that Derek can help the players turn into a winning team? Derek realizes he has a lot to learn from his coaches, his family, and his teammates.

Sports lovers will enjoy the little league action and play-by-play descriptions of the games. Combined with realistic peer and coach conflicts, readers will understand Derek’s frustration when things do not go as he imagined. The conflict between Derek and Gary helps drive the story and will resonate with readers. The positive interaction between Derek and his parents reinforce the idea of talking through problems with your parents—even if you know they won’t necessarily agree with you.

An easy-to-read story, Change Up is a good sports story for reluctant readers. Derek knows that “life didn’t usually hand out globs of ice cream without at least a small helping of spinach on the side.” As Derek figures out how to resolve his conflicts, he learns important life lessons including focusing on the positive, helping others, and trying to see things from other people’s points of view.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • One of the players calls someone a “jerk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Meltdown Madness

Ed wants to join the soccer team, but first, he has to sell chocolate bars. But when he tells his friend to run “as fast as possible,” his friend runs so fast that the chocolate bars melt. Ed must figure out how to get out of this gooey mess. Is there any way for him to earn the money he needs to join the team?

Meltdown Madness is a super silly story that beginning readers will enjoy. The humorous black-and-white illustrations that appear on every page help readers visualize the strange events that happen to Ed. Talking coins, miniature horses, and rows of corn all come to life through the illustrations. Ed’s mishaps show the importance of choosing words carefully and teach the meaning of various sayings such as “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Even though the storyline is silly and humorous, Ed demonstrates problem-solving skills as well as taking responsibility for his actions. When Ed is unsure how to solve his problem, he seeks out adult advice and continues to brainstorm ideas. After Ed accidentally breaks two windows, he doesn’t complain about having to earn the money to pay for them. Meltdown Madness is a straightforward story that is worth the read.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Ed’s sisters give their toy doll bangs, Ed grabs the doll’s head. “The hair over its forehead had started to sizzle, like lit fuses. . . I hurled it at the window. It smashed through the glass, landed on the lawn, rolled halfway to the street, and exploded.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Ed finds a coin that gives him “the power to make strange things happen. Sometimes strange things even happen when I wasn’t trying to make them happen.”
  • Ed’s sisters have a toy doll head that allows them to try different hairstyles. When Ed’s sister makes three pigtails on the toy, “three pigs appeared out of nowhere.” As the sisters make various hairstyles, strange things happen.
  • Ed’s brother makes a thermostat that can change the weather. When his brother turns the dial to comfort zone, “the air grew cooler.” Ed’s brother is the only one that can make the thermostat work.
  • When Ed says, “money talks,” Ed and his friend can hear coins. Ed “held the coins near my ear. Lincoln and Washington were arguing about who was more honest.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Not So Normal Norbert: L4LUZR—1

Everything is the same. Being different is illegal. His All-Knowing Eternal Excellency, Loving Leader, has decided that “Conformity makes us Free.” Individuality is evil. All Earth must conform. When Norbert makes a funny impersonation of Loving Leader at school, the truth police arrest him. Being funny is illegal.

Norbert and two others are banished to the Astro-Nuts Camp on planet Zorquat 3. Now that Norbert is on a planet where rule-breakers are sent, the only things he wants is to be sent back to Earth. Norbert is on a quest to prove that he’s not creative. Will Norbert be stuck on a planet where everyone seems crazy creative or will he find a way to return to Earth?

The cover of Not So Normal Norbert will catch readers’ attention, and the first chapter will instantly captivate. Short chapters and funny black-and-white illustrations make the story easy to read. The descriptions include a healthy dose of onomatopoeias, which helps create the fun atmosphere of Zorquat 3. Told from Norbert’s point of view, the lives of those on Zorquat 3 jump off the page.

The main theme throughout the book is the importance of being an individual and being different. Everyone on Zorquat 3 embraces the message (except Norbert), which leads to some ridiculous and outlandish behavior by both the children and the adults. The crazy behavior adds interest to the story; however, part of the story drags because too many events do not connect to the main plot.

Anyone who feels different and odd will be able to relate to Norbert’s fears. The message of embracing being different is clear, but repeated a little too often. Norbert learns the hazards of obsessing over what if’s. One of the adults tells him, “don’t focus on what if’s or you will completely freak yourself out . . . Stick with what is.” The story also teaches that just because someone acts like a “jerk,” you don’t need to act the same way. For readers who are looking for a silly, humorous book, Norbert will make a good addition to their reading library.

Sexual Content

  • Norbert’s crush kisses him on the cheek. Later, the same girl “throws both of her arms around me and gives me a huge hug . . . then she leans in and kisses me. On the lips. Fireworks go off in my brain. It’s my first kiss. Ever.”

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Norbert’s teacher’s name was “Mrs. Hurlbutt.”
  • When seeing a brontosaurus Norbert makes a comment that “its breath smells worse than Mrs. Hurlbutt’s perfume, Butt Thunder.”
  • Norbert thinks one of the other kids is a “jerk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Loving Leader says he “sees all, knows all, and loves all.”
  • During a meal, Warden Buckner says, “Since today is Backward Day, it’s now time for grace before the meal.” Norbert is confused why everyone “mumbles something different. One of the adults tells him, “You can say whatever grace you feel like saying.” When Norbert asks if they are praying to Loving Leader, the adult replies, “No, silly, to a higher power.”
  • Norbert is scared of a mysterious Black Box. At one point he thinks, “I don’t know much about the higher power Crazy Swayzee talks to when he says grace, but I beg that higher power to protect me from whatever awaits me in the Black Box.”
  • When Norbert and some of his friends sneak into an adult’s office, they are almost caught.  When Norbert hears steps, he starts “praying to a higher power that my stomach doesn’t suddenly growl.”

 

Out of Remote Control

The Data Set finds a time-altering remote control. In the hopes of discovering if their project for the science fair works, they hit the button and travel into the future. But from there everything goes wrong. When Laura drops the remote control, the kids are taken on a crazy adventure. Is there any way they can reset the remote control? Will they be stuck in an alternative universe forever?

Out of Remote Control takes the reader on a wildly fun adventure. As the kids jump into television shows, younger readers will enjoy the funny pictures of Dr. Bunsen as he plays the role of villain in every show. Each short chapter jumps to a new place. In an attempt to outrun danger, the kids keep hitting the buttons on the remote control, and they jump into new situations.

The kids work together to try to figure out how to return home. The funny black-and-white illustrations appear on every page and help beginning readers follow the plot. The illustrations add humor, but also help break up the text so new readers do not become overwhelmed with the number of words on the page. As the seventh installment of the series, Out of Remote Control doesn’t continue the plot from previous books and can be read as a singleton.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The kids jump into an old western television show. When they arrive, they are on a train that is being held up by bandits. “The kids raced from train car to train car, with the bandits right behind them.” The kids are saved when they hit pause on the remote control.
  • The remote sends the kids into a shark show. When the kids swim away from the sharks, “the narrator laughed loudly, ‘SHARKS KNOW THAT THEIR PREY OFTEN HIDES BEHIND ROCKS.’” The kids hit a button on the remote and jump to a new channel.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The kids find a remote control that can take them back in time or jump them into the future. The remote control takes the kids into television shows where they become the characters.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Invasion of the Insects

The Data Set kids accidently shrink themselves. Now they are the size of a bug. When a dragonfly grabs Laura and flies her out the window, her friends come to the rescue. Now they’re lost in the backyard with a bunch of creepy crawlers. How will they ever make it back to Dr. Bunsen’s lab? Can the bug-sized kids work together to solve this problem?

When an argument breaks out between two of the kids, they soon learn the importance of working out their differences. The kid-appropriate message is clear: no argument should be allowed to end a friendship. The story includes a few fun insect facts and this bug knowledge helps the Data Set come up with a solution to their problem.

An entertaining book with a diverse cast of characters, Invasion of the Insects is a perfect book for beginning readers. The interesting, imperfect kids use their brainpower to solve problems. Invasion of the Insects has the right amount of action and conflict to keep readers engaged. With easy-to-read vocabulary, short sentences, and illustrations on almost every page, the story will build a reader’s confidence. The sixth installment of The Data Set series can be enjoyed without reading the previous books.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A spider web traps the kids, and a spider almost eats them.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Laura accidentally hits a machine in Dr. Bunsen’s lab. The machine zapped her, and “the room whirled around her. Everything in the lab was growing bigger and bigger!” Laura becomes the size of a bug. Later the other members of the Data Set also are shrunk.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

Polly loves words. When a magic book arrives, she is excited to put her words on paper. Then Polly learns that the book is magic and can make everything she writes happen in real life. Polly begins writing, but she soon learns that it’s hard to write what you mean. Soon, her bedroom walls are turned into an aquarium, her sister is turned into a banana, and she is turned invisible. How is Polly ever going to fix everything before her parents get home?

Beginning readers will love Polly Diamond for many reasons. The text is broken up with cute black and white illustrations that appear on every page. Polly loves to write lists of words, which are scattered throughout the story. Polly and her magic book write back and forth to each other, which adds humor because the magic book often misinterprets what Polly wants it to create. The silly events that happen when Polly writes in her book come together to create a fun story. However, some readers will find the story a little too goofy. The plot jumps from topic to topic without clear transitions, which may make the story confusing.

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book has many positive attributes. Readers will learn new vocabulary, including how words can have multiple meanings. Through Polly’s narration, she teaches different types of figurative language such as similes and hyperboles. In the end, Polly learns the important lesson that she doesn’t need to change her home and family—Her home is perfect just the way it is. Polly Diamond and the Magic Book will entertain younger readers and teach vocabulary in a creative, fun way.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Polly Diamond has a writing and spelling book that writes answers to her questions. Everything Polly writes in the book comes true. For example, when Polly writes that she wants a room that looks like an aquarium, the walls change so that, “fish flash past. Big ones. Yellow ones. Purple ones. A crab scuttles along the baseboard.”
  • Polly asks the book to do a series of funny things including turning her invisible and turning her sister into a banana.

Spiritual Content

  • None
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