Picture Books
by Gideon Sterer
In the secret spaces of the woods, there is a giant tree house. It is so big that it could be considered not a house but a town. Here, kids and animals live, work, and play together. They invent contraptions, create games, and express themselves through visual, musical, and performing arts. Treehouse Town is a place of imagination, friendship, and whimsy.
The text is presented in simple rhyming couplets. Most of the story is "told" through beautifully intricate illustrations, which will appeal to both young artists and engineers-in-the-making. This book is often labeled "diverse," but only because the pictures include children of different nationalities and physical abilities.
Maria Gianferrari
A young birdwatcher wakes in the morning and grabs her binoculars, eager to see the daily habits of a pair of neighborhood raptors who have built a home nearby. She spies the mother bird perched in the nest and the father scouting the land for the day's food. She patiently waits and checks back throughout the day. By evening, the father hawk catches a squirrel and brings it back to the nest, where the mother and her chicks await dinner.
This living literature book will teach readers about the behavior and habits of red-tailed hawks. The facts are gently incorporated into the story, and the bird's-eye-view watercolors beautifully illustrate ornithological science.
Please note: One picture shows the father hawk landing on a squirrel, and another shows him flying into the distance with the squirrel clutched in his talons. Although accurate to the hunting habits of carnivorous birds, the pictures might be troubling to some sensitive readers.
by Suzanne Slade
As he watched Thomas Edison invent one great gadget after another, Henry Ford became discouraged. On a mission to create an affordable horseless carriage, Ford continued to fail time and time again. Instead of seeing Edison as his scientific rival, however, Ford valued the light man's contributions and looked to him for advice.
Throughout their careers, Edison and Ford spurred each other on. And although they worked in separate fields of science, their shared curiosity changed the world. This is the story of their professional friendship.
by Sarah Stewart
The year is 1957, and Isabel has just legally immigrated to America with her family. They have settled near Lake Michigan, which feels like a world away from her former home in Mexico. She is nervous about starting school because she does not know English well. To cope with her new surroundings, Isabel uses large cardboard boxes to create a safe retreat for herself. Eventually, she makes friends, and her "quiet places" fill with many new faces.
The book is an epistolary story told through letters that Isabel writes to her Aunt Lupita back in Mexico.
Leveled Readers
by Molly Coxe
Cat wants a snack, so Cat sets a trap. But every time the trap is set, it catches something that is not a snack--a bug, a duck, a dog, and even Cat himself. It's not until his owner comes home that Cat finally gets the right kind of snack: chow!
This Level 1 reader has one to three simple sentences on each page. Many lines are repetitive and include one and two-vowel words, making it an excellent book for early emerging readers.
by Sally M. Walker
The British are coming! Lettie and her family must hurry to a family friend's farm. In their haste, they can not gather Solomon the gander and all 18 of his geese. Fearing for their lives, Lettie writes a note, pleading with the men not to harm her feathered friends. Will the enemy soldiers kill the treasured flock she's raised since they were goslings?
This Level 3 book is told from a child's perspective and uses age-appropriate language to introduce young readers to the hardships of the Revolutionary War.
Illustrated Chapter Books
by Eve Titus
In an English cellar lives a protege to the famed sleuth Sherlock Holmes, a mouse named Basil. Like Holmes, this four-legged detective notices things that other mice don't. Piecing scraps of information together, he solves critter crime. One day, a frantic couple enters his office. Their twin daughters have been kidnapped, and it's up to Basil and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Dawson, to discover who is behind their disappearance and bring the two little mice safely home.
This is the first in a delightful, language-rich eight-book series. The books stand alone and do not necessarily need to be read in any particular order. If possible, listen to the audiobooks. The narrator's many dialects are perfection!
Please note: the final book in the collection contains what is believed at the beginning of the story to be a ghost.
by Susan E. Goodman
Usually, Cora loves riding with her father to visit his patients across the prairie lands of Iowa. She helps him by administering medicine during surgeries, caring for little ones while mothers deliver babies, and comforting those who are sick. But one day, on their way to see a feverish infant, the pair get trapped by a fire that engulfs the grasses around them. They must keep their horses calm and create a fire break so the flames go around their wagon, not through it. Naturally, Cora fears for their safety. But as Pa's assistant, she must be brave.
Based on a true story, this book is perfect for young Little House on the Prairie fans.
Middle-Grade Novels
by Lee Bacon
While installing solar panels one day, XR_935, a 12-year-old robot, finds a human girl. "But that's impossible! Humans haven't been around for a whole generation," he thinks to himself. "Yet, here she is. And she needs my help."
The adolescent bot had always been told that people were dangerous, could not be trusted, and, therefore, had all been exterminated during the revolution 40 years before he was first activated. Unbeknownst to his parents and the other older bots, however, many humans, including Emma and her family, had found safety underground.
Now, a virus has swept through their secret bunker, leaving only the young girl. She seems innocent and harmless. But can XR_935 trust her?
Please note: Emma lies about her family's whereabouts to protect them from being destroyed by the robots who have taken over the earth.
I have not read the sequel Fall of the Robots, but I feel that one can enjoy The Last Human as a stand-alone story.
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Just after receiving word of three missing kids in Arizona--siblings who bear striking similarities to themselves--Chess, Emma, and Finn Greystone can not find their mother. She's gone, and in her place are cryptic notes and a hidden room. Why is she missing, and what does she have to do with the disappearance of the three kids on the other side of the country? All signs point to her guilt. And yet, since their father's death, she has never gone anywhere or done anything out of the ordinary. She's worked from home and kept strict tabs on each of them. How could she possibly be a kidnapper? Nothing adds up.
At least not in this world.
This is the first in a sci-fi trilogy about a pair of siblings who work together to solve mysteries. It ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger. I have not read the other two titles.
Please note: A secondary character says that she hates her mom. She later recognizes how unnecessarily selfish she was acting. That same mother tries to convince the two eldest siblings to tell a "little white lie" to protect the feelings of their younger brother. One character says, "sucks."
by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Marcel has always loved riding his bicycle. Though a war rages around him, he dreams of one day riding in the Tour de France. One day, when his parents ask him to make a delivery for their bakery, the French boy discovers that he is transporting more than just an order of fresh-baked bread. He's been tasked to carry a secret message to resistance fighters. At first, he fears what his parents may have gotten themselves into. But when he meets a new girl at school who later confesses to being a Jew, he knows that his mom and dad are the perfect people to help his friend and her family escape to freedom.
Please note: Due to the nature of the French Resistance of WWII, Marcel must lie to several of his friends, his teacher, and even German authorities. Apart from one lie that he tells his Aunt and Uncle to cover up the fact that he ate their loaf of bread without permission, all the lies Marcel tells are to protect the identity and whereabouts of his Jewish friend.
by Patricia St. John
Hamid and Jenny come from two different worlds. Hamid is the older brother of Kinza, a blind beggar who is soon to be sold into slavery by their uncaring stepfather. Jenny is a spoiled rich girl who has spent much of her life recovering from a serious illness. Their lives collide when Hamid helps Kinza escape to the home of a missionary nurse, Jenny's Aunt Rosemary. Through the woman's tender care, Hamid and Jenny begin to discover the cure for their aching hearts. All seems well until Hamid's stepfather returns and kidnaps little Kinza. Will he and Aunt Rosemary be able to find her before she is sold, and can Hamid learn to trust God not only with his life but also with his sister's?
Parents, Be Aware
by Kara LaReau
Brothers Louie and Ralphie Ratso are determined to be tough, just like their old man, Big Lou. Tough means bullying, pulling pranks, and creating misfortune for others. Trouble is, every time they try to act tough, their actions backfire, and they accidentally end up doing something kind. In fact, they do enough "kind" things that the principal sends a note home to their father, commending the boys for their good deeds. In the end, the trio learns that it's nice to be nice.
Things to know: While the story ends with a lesson in the value of kindness, the first three-fourths of the book glorifies naughty behavior with the brothers intentionally stirring up trouble. One illustration includes two coffee mugs that say, "Slug someone today" and "Bug someone today." Overall, this is an example of an author assuming that the "ends justify the means."
by Tim Green
Middle schooler Troy has a gift. Using probability, experience, and gut instincts, he can foresee professional football plays before they even happen. When his single mother gets a job working for the Atlanta Falcons, Troy seizes the opportunity to not only help his favorite team but also to prove to his school rival that he has what it takes to be a football great himself. Unfortunately, the Falcon's coach thinks he's a troublemaker. Only the near-washed-up linebacker, Seth Halloway, will even listen to Troy. Will his meddling cost his mom a great job, or will Troy be able to convince the team that he is a football genius?
Things to know: Determined to help a losing NFL team, Troy repeatedly disregards his mother's rules, trespasses on other people's property, and even nearly kills himself to get attention. While Seth Halloway admirably encourages Troy to heed his mother's advice, Troy's grandfather does the opposite. The elderly man declares that sometimes kids must break the rules because it's the right thing to do.
The following words and phrases are each included at least once in the text: my god, holy heck, thank god, holy shoot, and kick him in the astronaut. A boy calls another boy a "goober" and a "butt." Additionally, a boy "moons" a group of friends.
Just for you, Mom
The Woman They Could Not Silence
by Kate Moore
Amid the war between the states, Elizabeth Packard faces a different kind of enemy. He sits across from her at the breakfast table every morning and sleeps under the same roof every night. Her husband of over twenty years, who happens to be the pastor of her church and father to her six children, is threatened by her intelligence and popularity among his parishioners. In retaliation, he has her committed to an insane asylum, a shocking act that is entirely within his legal rights.
Once inside the state mental institution, Elizabeth realizes that she's not the only wife held captive against her will because of the false accusations of a disgruntled husband. The asylum is filled with intelligent, capable, and perfectly sane women living in horrific and abusive conditions. She resolves not just to earn her own freedom but to earn the freedom of all her "sisters" who have been unjustly imprisoned.
This is a narrative nonfiction about an Illinois housewife who takes on a board of directors, a state assembly, and eventually, Congress to ensure the liberties of married women in the United States. Much of the dialogue within the book is taken directly from Packard's journals, newspaper articles, and court records.
Please note: There is one use of "d*mned" in the text.