Outback Hero: Max Conquers Outback Australia Book 2 in the Max series

Written by Sally Gould

Max and his family are ready to embark on an adventure vacation, except Max does not really want to go. They are going to the outback; Max is deathly afraid of crocodiles. His older brother Charlie delights in frightening him making matters worse. Mom and Dad insist that he must overcome his fears.

Max’s fears are confirmed when he falls overboard and must escape the crocs. Charlie and his brother will have to flee for their lives more than once, and Max narrowly escapes death when he falls off a cliff. Charlie and Max are typical brothers who are constantly competing with each other, yet deep down love each other to death. On the journey, the boys will meet up with another family who appear to be dauntless and unafraid. Upon their insistence, the two families climb up the Uluru. Will they be able to make it down again safely? Will Max be able to overcome his fears and insecurities?

This is the second book in this series targeted for middle grade readers ages nine through twelve. Lots of adventure, sibling rivalry, competition, and somewhat complicated family relationships keep the plot moving. Boys especially will find the series interesting. Readers unfamiliar with Australia will enjoy learning about the outback. While the text is age appropriate, the vocabulary is not overly difficult and the length at less than 150 pages allow the read to be appealing for reluctant readers. This is a series worth investigating.

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What’s Missing: Faces A Toddler Learning Activity

Written and Illustrated by Bonnie Ferrante

What a delightful way for a parent or caretaker to share playing a game and learning all at once! In this fun book for toddlers, simple multicultural faces are presented with one part missing. The child then guesses what feature is missing. The author explains in simple fashion how that part of the body is used. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth and hair are explained. Ms. Ferrante goes on to include eyebrows and tongue. Near the end of the book, a few familiar animals like ducks, cats, and elephants are presented. They possess additional facial features such as whiskers, trunks and bills that are an important part of that animal’s face.

Children ages two to five can have lots of fun with this book while stretching their minds, using their senses, and moving their little bodies. Highly recommended for parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians as a must have for their kindle or bookshelf.

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Frankie Dupont and the Lemon Festival Fiasco (Frankie Dupont Mysteries Book 2)

Written by Julie Ann Grasso

Illustrated by Alexander Avellino

Frankie Dupont is a pint-sized detective who wears a fedora and is accompanied by his trusty dog, Sherlock. His dad, Inspector Cluesome, has provided the incentive for his ten year old son to follow in his footsteps. In his first book of adventures, Frankie solved the mystery of Elderby Manor. He returns to that setting in Book 2 to solve the mystery of what happened to the lemon orchard.

At the outset the reader meets Frankie and Sherlock attending the new composite class at Maizon Valley Elementary School. His cousin, Kat, and friend Amy will again use their smarts to help Frankie solve the case. Almost as soon as class begins, Miss Chestnut presents a lemon meringue pie to the new head teacher, Mr. Mulberry, who immediately becomes ill. Frankie is determined to find out why.

When Miss Chestnut brings the class to the lemon orchard at Elderby Manor to pick lemons for the festival, everyone living and working there is under suspicion, One by one Frankie and his friends interrogate suspects and use their detective equipment to eliminate the innocent and find the culprit. There are enough twists and turns to keep the plot interesting and the reader guessing, and the characters are believable and humorous. The illustrator, Andrew Avellino, presents charming pencil drawings for each chapter. Book length is just around 100 pages, perfect for the eight to twelve age group. Look forward to joining Frankie again in Book 3 when the science fair will be sabotaged. Available in kindle and paperback editions.

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Myth Catchers: Book 1 Dad’s Pants

Written by Alan Riehl

This short book of less than sixty pages is the first in a series exploring the trials and tribulations of a ten year old boy named Curtis Armstrong. Curtis misses his father so much that he desperately hangs on to the one thing remaining to remind him of his dad, a pair of worn jeans. To make matters worse, his divorced mother works long hours and his older sister has a roomful of unicorns that he hates. To make matters worse, Christy loves to use her imagination and is considered “Miss Popularity” at school.

But now Curtis has an opportunity to start fresh with a move to Myth, New Mexico. He is determined to be the king of his new fifth grade class. Of course that dream does not materialize. On the first day he gets into trouble with the principal when he breaks her picture frame decorated with unicorns, his most despised symbol. A new threat appears in the form of the school’s most popular and clever student, Darla.

Curtis cannot understand what is happening to him as his usually logical and stable personality becomes overwhelmed with strange dreams and incidents that he cannot distinguish as real or imagined. Lots of twists and turns in the plot as Curtis struggles to figure out what is really going on, and how his father’s pants are suddenly the vehicle to catch some very scary things.

This first book does contain a few editing errors, but is filled with the kind of humor and absurdities that tweens love in their fiction. Short length makes the book a good choice for a reluctant reader. I must say that I was disappointed in the abrupt ending which left more questions than answers. No doubt that many readers will be waiting to see Book 2 in the hopes that their curiosity will be satisfied.

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Catnapped

Written by Teena Raffa-Mulligan

Illustrated by Daniel Weatheritt

Charming early chapter mystery book of less than fifty pages that is perfect for the beginning reader. Jenna bemoans the fact that her Nanna has moved from a bustling Australian city to a quiet house on Wattle Drive. Well, actually not that quiet, Nanna has adopted several pets: Oscar a large orange cat, Goliath, a large Great Dane, Cleo, a black and white cat, Albert, a python snake, and Polly, a chatterbox parrot, who enjoys watching police shows. One night while watching TV, Nanna screams with joy when she finds out that she has just won the lottery. Nanna quickly decides that after setting some money aside for Jenna’s education and a trip to Disneyland; she will use the rest to take her friend Alice to the Sydney Opera House, but give the bulk of the money to build a special home for cats that nobody wants.

Cass Snatchit and her lazy teenage brother Jack read of Nanna’s good fortune in the newspaper. They live in a run-down trailer and quickly decide that they will kidnap Nanna’s cat and demand a large sum of money for ransom. The author details their plans to spy on her and break into her house. Will they succeed in their plan to swindle Nanna and foil her generous plan for the lotto winnings?

The six chapters are short and the text is easy to read and conversational. Characters are fun, and the black and white pencil illustrations are charming. I do think the illustrations might have been more effective if they were larger and in color. This book has lots of elements a child age six to nine will enjoy: animals, the good guys and the bad guys, and a touch of humor. Recommended as an independent reader or read aloud at home, in the classroom or for siblings to share with one another.

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Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar

Written by Tommy Davey

Cora is a spunky preteen who is traveling alone for the first time on a overnight train from the city to Topaz Mountain to spend some time in the country with her Uncle Andre. She meets a colorful cast of characters including a single woman, Mrs. Bronwyn, and her dog, Calvin. Almost immediately she notices a man named Mr. Sloane, who is being overprotective of a silver briefcase that he does not let out of his sight. It turns out that he has good reason for that because Mr. Sloane is carrying a valuable gemstone. The stone disappears from his sleeping car; Cora, a honeymoon couple, Mrs. Bronwyn, a college student, and the railroad porter will all be suspects interrogated by an undercover detective on the train.

The inspector is determined to solve the mystery by interrogation, but Cora has a few plans of her own. Will they be able to unravel the mystery to find out the identify of the thief? Cora proves her cleverness and keeps her cool. All the action takes place in less than two hundred pages before the passengers disembark from the train. Certainly this is a first ride that Cora will long remember and the beginning of her interest in solving many mysteries to follow.

Great story for tweens. It has the elements of a good mystery, colorful characters, and a respectful, intelligent strong female role model. This is a quick, fast moving read that will appeal to reluctant readers. Recommended highly for boys and girls eight years up and older.

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Three Little Pigs Get An Extreme Home Makeover
Written by Caprice Hokstad
Illustrated by Richard Svenson

Hokstad has done a marvelous job of putting a modern day setting and spin on classic fairy tales. Adult readers will find themselves smiling at the innovative settings and modern day language. The three little pigs live in Florida and must contend with a hurricane instead of a wolf. Goldilocks becomes the home invader and the Three Bears a model family. Hansel and Gretel are the victims of a nanny instead of a witch, and the gingerbread house meets an unlikely demise. Jack’s beanstalk is genetically modified, and an unscrupulous salesman meets his fate. Rapunzel is not the timid captive held in the tower. What will happen to those gorgeous locks of hair? Finally, in the Pied Piper story, students in an elementary school must face the music when one of their science experiments goes amiss and rats overrun the school. The principal demands a humane solution to solve the problem.

Young children won’t understand the humor, but many children in the middle grades who are already familiar with the classic tales will love the satire. Their parents will, no doubt, be amazed at the creative twenty-first century scenarios. Each of the story has an original illustration appropriate to the new version. For lovers of fairy-tales, this one is a definite change of pace.

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The Rescue Team

Written by Billi Tiner

The author of this heartwarming tale told from the point of view of a dog and a cat is a veterinarian who understandably has a great kinship with animals. Targeted for children in the eight to twelve year age range, the chapter book has no sex, violence or profanity which makes it a nice choice for a family read aloud. This book will take you on a series of adventures that will put you in their shoes.

The adventure begins when Ellie, who is a one year old Border Collie, suddenly finds herself in an animal shelter when her owners become pregnant. After what seems like an eternity, a kind woman named Anne adopts her. Ellie soon discovers that her new owner loves animals; Ellie begins to bring animals in trouble home. Soon she is sharing her home with Toby, a six-month old kitten who becomes her best friend. Together they will form an improbable but talented rescue team.

When Anne is hurt in an automobile accident, she meets a fireman named Brent and their lives become even more involved in animal and human rescue. They will all face adventures and disasters that hit close to home. The plot is simple and predictable, but the author has a real knack for using first person to get the reader in the head of the animal characters. Text level of difficulty is suitable for middle grade independent readers; younger children will enjoy listening to the story read aloud. Nice book to curl up with on a rainy weekend afternoon.

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The Girl With No Shoes

Written by B.J. Rand

Charming and delightful book, the first in a series of books based on the character Arielle, written for children ages nine through twelve. This is a longer length chapter book based on Arielle and her two pets, Britches, the dog, and Nosy, the black cat. Arielle and her pets love to take walks in the hollow. Britches and Nosy are unusual in the fact that they both communicate in English with their mistress.

One day the three friends come upon a little girl sitting by a tree crying and barefoot. Upon hearing a loud man’s voice, she runs away. Arielle and her pets are mystified and worried for the stranger’s safety. They want to meet her again and agree to find a pair of shoes for her to wear. In the meantime, Nosy finds a pair of ballet slippers that fell out of a box near a neighbor’s house. They bring the shoes to the hollow, but cannot find the girl. Eventually one day the shoes disappear, and after repeated trips to the hollow, the girl appears and tells them her name, Francesca. She thanks them and promises to dance for them one day.

On Halloween night a stranger comes to the door and beckons them. Nosy lives up to her reputation and decides to investigate by following her home. That initiates a trail to another mystery that the three friends will have to solve. Will they ever learn the true identity of Francesca and why she has chosen Arielle and her pet family? No spoilers here, but children will learn it is better to give unselfishly and always be true to your own passion in life.

While it may seem difficult for tweens to accept this story line, it works seamlessly. You want to believe in all the characters and empathize with them. The vocabulary of the text is challenging enough but not overwhelming for the average reader. I had to finish reading it one sitting. Can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

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What A Pair! Mattie and Mark Miller:Double Trouble Series

Written by Wanda E. Brunstetter

This is the first in a series focused on the Amish way of life and nine year old twins, Mattie and Mark. Targeted for middle grade readers ages eight through twelve, the book is a fun and educational introduction to a way of life misunderstood by most observers.

Brunstetter begins by explaining that the Amish are group of people who live a plain life without using many modern things; a simple plausible way to explain to children why they are different but not strange. The author goes on to give examples as to how they live and work both in the past and present.

She provides a glossary of the Amish language words which are used liberally throughout the story. Readers will love these feisty twins with diametrically opposed personalities. What they do have in common is a love of life, family, and kind hearts. For example, Mattie is a dreamer, Mark a scholar, Mattie is cautious, Mark an adventurer, Mattie loves dogs, and Mark loves cats. Mattie is a great baseball player, while Mark cringes when he sees a bat and ball. As the reader follows one humorous adventure after another, what comes through is deep commitment to family, society and community, and a story about two children experiencing the same problems any tween faces. The book will appeal to both genders.

On their birthday, the twins receive an unexpected gift from their grandparents. This gift will require them to learn how to work together. When an unexpected emergency arises, the twins learn the real value of teamwork. The plot has lots of twists and turns and many different scenarios to appeal to a wide variety of reader interests. Text is interesting and challenging, yet not too overwhelming. Lots of humor, adventure, family fun, good values and the benefit of learning about a culture few have experienced first hand. Highly recommended for tweens and young adult readers or anyone interested in understanding Amish society.

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