Holm, J. 2014. Comic squad, recess! NY: Random House.
A graphic novel composed of eight comics , The super secret ninja club, Book 'em Dog Man, Betty and the perilous pizza day, the magic acorn, Babymouse: the quest for recess, Jiminy Sprinkles in "freeze tag", 300 words, and The rainy day monitor. All comics are about recess and the hilarious things the kids do and experience. Hilariously funny with capturing images all synchronized in colors of orange, grey and white. A thumbs up keepsake.

Willems, M. 2013. A big guy took my ball. NY: Hyperion.
A humorous picture book about friendship. Piggie found a ball and played with it until, until a BIG guy cam and took his ball. He is devastated and doesn't seem to know what to do. Gerald the elephant friend looks for the big guy to retrieve the ball. Unfortunately for Gerald, the guy is a whale much much BIGGER than him. Gerald was in tremendous shock and did not get the ball back. After awhile the whale thanks them for finding HIS ball. a beautiful book with illustrations that are extremely expressive and heartwarming.

Selznick, B. 2007. Wonderstruck. NY: Scholastic.
Wonderstruck a good picture and words book about a young boy who finds himself in the life of a girl with the same disability as his. Wonderstruck, tells of two different stories of two different eras that eventually meet up at a Historical museum. A grand masterpiece with great black and white images with artistic value in characters and settings. A historical fiction tale which has received Parent's Choice Gold Award in 2011, and Schneider Family Book Award in 2012.

Landy, D. 2007. Skulduggery pleasant. NY: Harper Collins.
Skulduggery pleasant, fantasy novel filled with magical excitement. A young girl named Stephanie inherits a home from an uncle. Her uncle passed away and is being investigated as a homicide. Skulduggery pleasant is the protagonist in the novel that very much looks like the antagonist. He is a detective who solves crimes dressed in a scarf and long overcoat, quite the sharp dresser and is a living skeleton. Stephanie is saved by the detective and informs her of his speculations of her uncle being murdered and she just may be next. The antagonist in which they battle is Serpine an evil creature that seeks a sceptor to have full control of everything around him. A novel full of magic, sorcery, and fantasy with humor to ease the violence in the story line.

Hale,S. 2008. Rapunzel's revenge. NY: Bloomsbury.
Rapunzel's revenge, a graphic novel of fantasy telling the tale of Rapunzel but a very much twist to the classic fairytale. The story introduces a more valiant and western Rapunzel. A rapunzel who s afraid yet, daring and fierce. Rapunzel confront the evil person that claims to be her mother. Captured and condemend for life up on a tall tree because she found the truth of her real mother and longs to return to her. A wicked and unjust hag named, Gothel. Rapunzel escapes and meets a boy and seeks her revenge on the evil woman. And is ever reunited with her maternal mother and finds love with Jack. A western Rapunzel full of whiplashing hair towards evil in her path.

Gaiman, N. 2008. The graveyardbook. NY: Harper Collins.
A ghost story of horror written in third person point of view. A tale of a graveyard and all who inhabit are all dead, buta child they encounter, a child they name Nobody. A Newberry Medal winner and the Carnegie Medal, is quite humorous and a heartwarming tale filled with fantasy, supernatural fiction and paranormal. The Owens family take in an orphaned child, a child that escaped death by a man named Jack. Jack killed the entire family and seeks the child to fulfill his job. The Owens raise Nobody until his is of eighteen years of age. A well writen novel with great detail of trickery and fame.

Creech, S. 2001. Love that dog. NY: Harper Collins
A daily reflection of a young boy in school in poetry class. He doesn't understand the purpose in free-verse poetry and at times doesn't write much. But as he continues throughout the school year, he write about an unfortunate event he  has been through in losing his dog, Skye. In writing, in the end he is thankful for his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry for being such a great teacher. A FIve STAAR book that has been added to my collection, along with Hate that cat.

Collins, S. 2004. Gregor the Overlander. NY: Scholastic
A fantasy of a young eleven year old Gregor and his younger sister, Boots,  who is two years old venture in a world theat will emerge a battle of see through skinned humans, rodents, cockroaches, bats and other creatures that live deep underneath their apartment building and are able to speak. Gregor is believed to be the prophecy to fight off the Underlanders who have his father captive. A tale of great suspense and mystery of a boy who though was having a summer of pure babysitting. A story compared to Alice in wonderland but with an exciting twist.

Weisner, D. 2011. The three pigs. NY: Clarion.
An excellent picture book for young readers of the folktale The three little pigs but with a nice twist. A Caldecott Medal winning book with good humor and a happy ending. The three pigs starts off traditionally where as the little pigs as they are killed off by the ferocious wolf . The pigs as they are killed off by the wolf change up the story and begin another story with other characters of other stories. The tale becomes a story within a story. Good Read for all ages.

Urban, D. 2009. A crooked kind of perfect. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
A crooked kind of perfect, a cute story written in first person, ten year old Zoe Elias. Zoe's mom is always working and she feels mom has no time for her and dad is I want to say anti-social.  All she wants is a piano and her dad brings home an organ. She dreams of one day being a famous piano player. A heartwarming story for young girls that build self-confidence, an irresistible book to put down. Zoe comes to terms of accepting her family and friends and for whatever it is. It teaches a great value of not judging and appreciation. I believe this book to be an addition to a personal library.

Sweet, M. 2011. Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's parade. NY: Houghton.
A true story of Tony Sarg and how the Macy's parade began. I was mesmerized to learn of the parade considering I never really inquired as to how it derived but I sit and watch it every year. Everything only gets better with time and starts off as one's dream coming true. A very educational book that I truly would like to add to my personal collection. A great concept book that also ties together as possibly an activity book due how the puppeteer planned out his expansion of the puppets to making them bigger for all to see. Good factual book told in story format compared to just photos and captions.

Smith, L. 2011. It's a book. NY: Roaring Brook.
A good picture book for young readers learning to read.
https://youtu.be/x4BK_2VULCU

Singer, M. Mirror, Mirror. NY: Dutton.
Mirror, mirror, a well written book of poetry with classic folk tales and point of views. The book has unique poetry whereas it is written  in a reversal, changing periods and punctuations that
give the poem an entirely different. A creative, humorous book for
all to read that gives fairy tales quite a twist.

Sendak, M. 1963. Where the wild things are. NY: HarperCollins.
Where the wild things are, a fictional book for young children , is an easy read about a boy in a wolf suit that does not mind his mother. His mother call him "WILD THING" because he is just so mischievous and never listens. He creates an imaginative world he sails to, with large monsters where he is not just Max, but he is Max the king of Wild Things. Even with all the excitement and control in his imaginative world he misses home and returns to nice hot meal left by his mother.

Schlitz, L.A. 2007. Good masters, sweet ladies. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
Good masters, sweet ladies, a Newberry Medal winner, includes much poetry and screenplays of how life was during the medieval times of the year 1255.  The book includes nineteen monologues and two dialogues that are tales of survival. A good children's book for every parent and teacher, it is well written for ages ten and above that informs the reader the English manner in which these young children lived long ago. A well written book that reflects the time of 1255 English manner.

Paterson, K. 1972. Bridge to Terabithia. NY: Crown.
A classic tale of friendship between a young boy and a young girl. Bridge to Terabithia is a Neberry award winner. Jesse befriends Leslie who is new to the town and they become the best of friends. Jesse has an imaginative world in which he introduces to his new friend. One day, Leslie goes an ventures on her own to find the world of Terbithia and tragically drowns. Jesse has a difficult time dealing with Leslie's death and is unable to accept she is gone. Good literature for young readers to add to their collection.

Pastis, S. 2010. Timmy Failure. NY: Candlewick Press.
Timmy failure,  a humorous book told from a child's point of view. A detective in the making. The pictures are funny and kid drawn, which will lead to an attraction to young male readers. Timmy often is an awkward kid with quite an imaginative creation of his world. He believes kids get eaten my gigantic Scrum Bolo Chihuahua. In his world, Timmy is an investigator, founder, president and CEO of a detective agency. Timmy Failure is an easy read which resembles diary of a wimpy kid novels. A good humorous graphic novel for ten year olds to adult.

Ottaviani, J. 2013. Primates. NY: FirstSecond.
An excellent graphic novel that tells the story line of three famous scientist that dedicated their lives to the care of wildlife. The graphic novel is a good informational text that is heartfelt and is a good read for kids in the ages between ten to fourteen.  Graphic novels seem to be the trend for the young reader today, not only does it have a story line with facts but it is organized with much dialogue throughout the novel. A good read for teenagers into comic like novels that includes much science information.

Nelson, K. 2008. We are the ship.  NY: Hyperion.
A Coretta Scott King Medal award winner, a Robert F. Sibert Medal award winner , a nonfiction story of African American who loved baseball. Baseball players played during the existence of hard prejudice. Players faced being ridiculed, disrespected and not paid for the game they played as other baseball players. Many of the players even though faced with challenges of segregation continued with their passion for the game. A must read for all baseball lovers of all ages.

Munsch, R. 2012. The paperbag princess. NY: Annick Press.

The paperbag princess, a good tale of self morality. The visual element of art that gives off a realistic imaginative picture. The story has great color of emotions that is felt throughout the story. The end of the story concludes with a beautiful yellow sunset of depicting a good mood of great happiness despite of the anger the prince felt towards the princess. The princess was relieved of not having to marry such a crude prince. She remained composed and walked away from the prince. Beauty is not always on the outside, it is how a person is on the inside that truly matters.

McDonnell, P. 2011. Me... Jane. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Cute story giving background information of Jane Goodall and how it all started in her care for Chimpanzees. The illustrations target a young reader to give them a general overview of her life. The book gives good detail with cartoon Jane as a cartoon character and shares how she birthed the love of animals. The story has a fluent story line that is comprehensive and written with facts embedded in the story. A good book that every child would find appealing.

Klassen, J. 2014. This is not my hat. Boston MA: Candlewick.
A cute picture book of an adventure of a thief in the ocean. This is not my hat, A humorous tale of a quite small fish that seems to find a hat that fit and took it. He venture on repeating "this is not my hat"  and in my opinion, feels guilty but will not return it because it fits him just fine. Unfortunately for the small fish, the great bigger fish, the owner of the itty bitty hat, seeks his hat and retrieves it. OH MY! This Caldecott Medal winner, could also be found not only in English but is printed in French, Korean, and Japanese.

Lord, C. 2008. Rules. NY: Scholastic
Catherine, a twelve year old, she feels she is responsible for her younger brother's every action. Her younger brother, David, has autism a disability that has David doing the unthinkable things that should need be done in public. Catherine feels embarrassed most of the time because of her brother and tries to correct him. She encounters a friend that has a different disability and somehow just being a friend puts everything into perspective for her about her brother. A heartwarming story about a family and friendship.

Harris, R. 1999. It's so amazing. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
It's so amazing is an excellent book for middle school and older students that have the curiosity of a human's changing body and the basics of humanity.  The book is educational and accurate with an abundance good humorous information about human growth and changes that occur. It's so amazing, is designed with a friendly outlook with cartoonish dialogue. Growth, sex, puberty and human recreation can be found in this book. An excellent book that is friendly and gives specific understanding of explanations to a multitude of questions that parents may come across with their children.  

Giovanni, N. 2005. Rosa. NY: Holt.
The personnel story of the well known Rosa Parks, an event that created history and opened up opportunities for African American people. A Caldecott Award winning novel, is a story of the young Rosa Parks filled with impacting words and a great message to stand up for what you believe. A day in the life of Rosa.

Falconer, I. 2009. Olivia. NY: Atheneum.
Olivia by Ian Falconer is a good picture book of a young pig with her own set of mind and vivacious. Olivia is a strong character that is quite demanding of her mother. She is pretty active and drains her mother's energy. A tale every parent can relate too. Olivia is an interesting little pig with an amazing curiosity for books and very much talented for a pig her age.





Draper, S. 2010. Out of my mind. NY: Atheneum.
Out of my mind, A story written in first point of view through the eyes of a young girl with no ability to talk or walk. Melody Brooks is a disabled child with a smartness that is unbelievably remarkable and no one knows it. The book is so well organized written in timeline format. Melody recalls everything her eyes have set on from year to year as she ages from when she was extremely young. Out of my mind,  is a good read for young adults and has an excellent view on seeing situations through someone with learning disabilities giving an understanding that is seldom spoken of. The information in this book gives you great knowledge of the struggles a family goes through and how impacting it can be. I was not able to close the book as I read the first page. Out of my mind, had me cheering on for Melody Brooks as she stood up for herself and made an interesting point in the world. A FIVE star book.

dePaola, T. 1983. The legend of the bluebonnet. NY: Putnam.
Legend of the bluebonnet, colors were soft and peaceful giving the symbolism of Native American culture. The brown hues with white background skies portrayed the nature feeling of a desert. As the story progresses the colors change from day to night giving off the coolness of dark skies and bright stars. The story gives symbolism to the Texas native plant and how it derived to being an importance of culture.

Deedy, C.A. 1995. Martina the beautiful cockroach. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.
A heartwarming story of a young cockroach ready to choose her suitor. Encouraged by her grandmother, Martina is to spill coffee to see with her own the true character of the young suitors who come ask for her hand in marriage. Martina, Josephina, Catalina Cucaracha find the coffee test to be quite interesting for her grandmother proved to be right. The coffee spill revealed outrage in the el Gallo, don cerdo, and lagarto. The last suitor, turned the test on her and proved to be that Martina, Josephina, Catalina, Cucaracha had found her true love. A loving and tender story of love.

Curtis, C.P. 1995. The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963. NY: Delacorte.
A story of a young family, narrated by nine year old Kenny a middle child during the time of the civil right movement making a living in the city of Flint, Michigan. Kenny has an older brother who believes he is too good for his family and a younger sister who loves her brothers dearly. Kenny's older brother Byron gets into too much trouble his parents decide to take him to live with his grandma, his mama's mama, in Alabama. During their time visiting Grandma, a bomb is set off at the local church. The incident deeply impacts Kenny. He had gone by the church after the bomb had gone off to see what had happened. He believed his sister Joey was one of the children killed in the bomb and could not come to terms, why anyone could and would want to do such a thing to other people.  He faced a difficult time understanding the incident. Byron, the troubled tough older brother, feels for his brother's distraught and becomes concerned for Kenny. A truly compassionate story of an African American family with much love and tenderness as any family would want to be.

Clearly, B. 1983.  Dear Mr. Henshaw.  NY: Morrow.

Dear Mr. Henshaw, is a great novel written in first pint of view. The main character, Leigh Botts, is an interesting character with a life that is very common to many kids today as opposed to when the story was originally written. The story conveys of his how am assignment at school helps with his life. The story is a good read and is well organized for a reader with situation that may occur in a ten year olds life.

Brown, P.2014. My teacher is a monster. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

A humorous story of a boy named Bobby and how he feels about his teacher. My teacher is a monster (no I am not), begins with a boy seeing his teacher as a large green monster because she gets after him for throwing a plane in class. Bobby is startled to find his teacher, Ms. Kirby at the park where he hangs out. Both are surprised to see each other. They spend some time together and Bobby comes to a conclusion his teacher is not so bad after all. A must read for all teachers and student. An addition to my collection.

Bartoletti, S. 2005. Hitler Youth. NY:Scholastic.Hitler youth,  an award winning novel by Parent's Choice Award in 2005, Newberry in 2006, Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor in 2006. The story is detailed in regard to Adolf Hitlers control he had over young boys and girls. The story is appropriate for young adults in the grade level of 7th grade and up. The pictures are graphic in regard to the holocaust and could be drastic for the young eyes in an elementary level.  The novel is narrated in  first point of view and is well written with photos that include captions. The novel itself has reference to bibliography and informs the reader of the opposition of Hitlers leadership.

Bragg, G. 2011. How they croaked: The awful ends of the awfully famous.NY: Walker.

I have to admit the title kind of scared me, but as I began reading I could not help but continue reading. The book contains very good Trivial informational in short narratives of the deaths of many famous people whom were not really famous during the time they lived. My personal interest was Julius Ceasar's story of how he entered the world by c-section and in death was stabbed 23 times. Interesting. Although information targets a mature audience with the book includes numerous biographies and refences many websites and illustrations. A middle school read and a  new addition to my personal collection.

Bishop, N. 2007. Spiders. NY: Scholastic.

Spiders, informational text, informative of spiders and their way of life and how they exist in the world. Great photos and a good catogory of a photo essay. Accurate information with photos that include minimal information as a caption. Spiders is an eaasy read and inviting with the large print of spiders.  The book has a general organization of a spider's life and routine.