The Mysterious Howling

by Maryrose Wood
Part of a series, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: fiction

Penelope Lumley just graduated from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and is applying to be a governess at Ashton Place, a huge manor-type house. The young mistress of the house, Lady Constance is acting strangely--giving her the position without actually interviewing her, shutting all the windows on a beautiful day, making Penelope sign legal papers to stay on the job before hiring her. Then Penelope hears a mysterious howling from the barn and decides to see what's up. It turns out there are three wild, wolf-like children hiding in there--Alexander, the oldest, Beowulf, the middle, and Casseopeia, the youngest, who likes barking. Lord Frederick names the Incorrigibles. Penelope cleans them up in no time, and trains them out of most of their wolfish habits such as chasing squirrels and barking instead of talking. But when Lady Constance announces a fancy Christmas party and requires the Incorrigibles to learn many, many more things than reading and math, Penelope is hard-pressed to teach the children everything. And when the party arrives, it seems like someone is trying to sabotage everything... can Penelope solve the mystery and keep the Incorrigibles from taking the blame?
This is a really good book. I actually listened to it as an audiobook, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, and she makes it much better by doing all the voices perfectly!! This book has MANY humorous parts. The children are all very eccentric and wolfish and that makes this book all the funnier. There are also lots of strange happenings at Ashton Place that add to the storyline. It ends at a sort of cliffhanger so you might want to read the next few books, The Hidden Gallery and The Unseen Guest. 

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

by Claire Legrand

Rating: ***` (3.5 stars)
Age group: 9.5+
Type: fantasy

Victoria Wright has a stubborn personality and strives for a perfect academic record, but she only has one friend--Lawrence. Even if Victoria criticizes him and thinks of him as an experiment, he's loyal to her. But soon Victoria notices children going missing in her town--all the imperfect ones. And then Lawrence disappears! Victoria has a feeling that the mysterious, sinister Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, run by Mrs. Cavendish and Mr. Alice, is behind the kidnappings and she decides to investigate. But she always encounters strange ten-legged bugs that leave marks behind when they touch you. When she meets the only adult who will believe her, the bugs suddenly take him! Victoria digs deeper--too deep, apparently, because then Mrs. Cavendish takes her, too. Now she is trapped in a terrible prison with walls that alive and strange slaves to Mrs. Cavendish called gofers. Finally she knows what's happening to the missing children--but she has to get everyone out before their thirteenth birthdays or something terrible happens to them that nobody knows. Victoria finds out a dark secret--a dark, gross secret, and Lawrence's thirteenth birthday is coming up! Will she ever save the kids and destroy the Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls?

 This book is pretty good and it's interesting how Victoria's personality changes. The author does a really good job of making the Home feel creepily nightmarish and there's a lot of pressure put on Victoria to escape which makes parts of the book suspenseful. This book is very exciting but there are some really disgusting parts. Also it's a little bit scary. But overall it is okay.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: not really
Fighting: not really
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
SPOILER ALERT!!!




There is one really, really disgusting part where Victoria finds
out that on the kids' thirteenth birthdays they are turned into
gofers and eaten. This is also somewhat intense but not really.

Nerd Girls: A Catastrophe of Nerdish Proportions

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: Realistic fiction

Maureen is a Nerd Girl. So are her friends Allergy Alice (who is, fittingly, incredibly allergic to many things) and Beanpole (who is clumsy but nice). The ThreePees are super-popular girls--Kiki, the leader of the three, Brittany-Brattany, the second in command, and Sofes, who is a total doofus. One day the ThreePees lock the Nerd Girls in the art storage room! Soon the principal finds out and all six girls get into trouble. Then the principal drops a bomb on them--they have to work together as a team to win the ACADEMIC SEPTATHLON!!!  And not only that, but Maureen is having big family troubles. Can Maureen get Logan Meyers as her boyfriend? Can she fix her family? Can Alice cure herself of her allergies?

This book is really great. It has LOTS of humor and excitement. Maureen's voice is slightly sarcastic, and other funny parts are that Sofes is really, really dumb (no offense) and the septathlon announcer, Bingo, is really, really funny. I recommend this book highly!!!!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: yes, but no kissing
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

The Magic Cake Shop

by Meika Hashimoto

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 7+
Type: fiction

Mr. and Mrs. Burblee are perfect. No kidding. They look perfect, act perfect, even smell perfect. But their daughter, Emma, is not perfect in their eyes--she likes playing with their chauffeur, cooking, and HATES how her parents try to make her perfect. Her parents decide to send her to her Uncle Simon's. Uncle Simon is more horrible than anything Emma could have ever imagined--fat, piggish, and he makes her work all day, every day. What a relief it is that she befriends the owners of Mr. Crackle's Cake Shop! But one day a man named Maximus Beedy, who is Uncle Simon's friend and a professional poisoner, comes and tells Simon about the Elixir of Delight--a mixture that will make any food taste heavenly to anyone. And now they're threatening to take away Mr. Crackle's senses if he doesn't make it for them so they can get rich! But Mr. Crackle has a few secrets up his sleeve... can he keep his senses and stop Simon and Maximus?

This is a cool book. I like it a lot. It's very exciting. There is a lot of food descriptions in this book, but I will say that there could be more. It has a good plot. The bad guys are very bad. All in all, this is a yummy, delicious book that is also exciting!!!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: not really
Vandalizing: not really

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time

by Frank Cottrell Boyce
sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again
SORRY BORROWED THIS IMAGE FROM amazon.co.uk YOU CANNOT REALLY CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE!!

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Age group: 8+
Type: Fantasy-ish

The Tootings are back and this time they have discovered the Chronojuster--the lever that allows their car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to go back in time!!!!!!! So they do. They meet the original owner of the car, Count Zborowski. But they also discover two hardened criminals and a little boy called Red who is obsessed with money. Red accidentally turns the Chronojuster and off they go, zooming through time! But Tiny Jack is back, and with even more evil to bring... what will happen?
This book is also funny, especially since Lucy (who was really goth in the first book) is actually turning into a giggly teenage girl (!!!). This book  is more complex and harder to understand than the first one, but at the end, all the loose ends caused by the first book are wrapped up, plus most of this book's loose ends, and again there is a cliffhanger ending making everybody want to read the next book. Some things in this book: lucky cufflinks, the year 1966, and the lost city El Dorado!!! This is a a great book. :)

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: not really
Fighting: yes
Kissing/romance: well, Lucy starts to possibly have a crush on Count Zborowski
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: yes
Vandalizing: sort of

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

by Frank Cottrell Boyce

sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)

Age group: 8+

Type: Fantasy-ish

This book is about the Tooting family, made up of Dad, Mum, Lucy, Jem, and Little Harry Tooting. They live in England. They have a great life, until Dad gets fired from his job at Small Parts for Big Machines and they lose their car. But then Mum brings home a camper van from her job at Unbeatable Motoring Bargains, and Dad fixes it--and incorporates a new airplane engine into it. They find out the hard way that the car has a mind of its own--and can fly! They name her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and off they go to see the world. But a mysterious villain, Tiny Jack want Chitty and will stop at nothing to get her--so when the Tootings end up on his private boat, it's not good news. Will they manage to save Chitty and themselves? 

This is a great book. I like it mostly because of the humor, because it really is very funny. There are some more intense-ish parts but it's not super-dark. The Tootings go on really cool trips. Tiny Jack is a really evil antagonist. Plus at the end there's a really big cliffhanger that leads perfectly into the next book!!!

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: no
Violence: yes-ish
Fighting: not exactly
Kissing/romance: yes, Mum and Dad kiss hugely in Paris
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
There are some intense moments like when Little Harry--wait, I won't tell you that! You just have to read the book!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

by Richard and Florence Atwater

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 7+
Type: Fiction-ish

Mr. Popper is a wall painter. But one day he gets a penguin shipped to him from the Antarctic. An aquarium donates another penguin, and they all have babies! Now there are 12 penguins, which is a lot. Mr. Popper adores his penguins, but feeding them and sheltering them (in the proper condition) costs a bit more than the Poppers would like to be paying. Their money is quickly running out. So... Mr. Popper decides to train his penguins for performance!
This is a good book that is good for both little kids and big kids. Fun fact: Richard Atwater began writing it, but then he got sick so Florence Atwater finished it! Something specific I like about this book is that there is lots of humor in it. The tricks the penguins can do are especially funny. I will not tell you what they are. You will just have to read this book! Recommended for but not limited to penguin-lovers. This is a great book. The only problem is that Mr. Popper calls Mrs. Popper "mamma" and Mrs. Popper calls Mr. Popper "pappa" which makes for some confusing sections. Warning! There was a movie made out of this book. The movie is not really like the book at all, though it is pretty funny still if you want to watch it. 

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: comic violence. It's funny! (Penguins hitting each other)
Fighting: comic fighting. It's funny! (Penguins hitting each other)
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: the penguins have babies
Stealing: the penguins steal stuff to make a nest.
Vandalizing: nope.

Ties That Bind, Ties That Break

by Lensey Namioka

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 11+
Type: Historical fiction

Ailin lives in China and her family expects her to have her feet bound. Feet binding is when a woman's feet are wrapped in cloths to make them small and dainty. Unfortunately this process is uncomfortable, and Ailin doesn't want to do it. Her father is okay with that, but her mother, uncle, and grandmother do not like her reaction. Eventually they let her have it her way. Plus her family decides to send her to public school! She likes school a lot, and does well. But then her grandmother dies, and her father soon follows. Now Ailin's uncle is in charge. Her uncle thinks differently from her father. He first takes Ailin out of public school, but thankfully Ailin's English teacher agrees to tutor her at her house. Ailin plans to be a teacher, but her uncle has different ideas--she's either to be a farmer's wife or be a concubine to an older man. (A concubine is a woman who is married but treated badly and just helps her husband get a son.) Ailin doesn't want to do either. Can she get out of it and do what she wants?
This book is a pretty good book. It's very realistic and even though it does have history, it's also written in such a way that it could be modern (if people bound feet nowadays). It's not exactly a pick-it-up-and-never-put-it-down kind of book, but it's still really good. Ailin is a very brave, determined, likable character, and the antagonists are like real life people so in a way they're more antagonistic than ones that are super-modern gadgety people. This actually happened, which also makes them antagonistic.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: not really
Violence: not really.
Fighting: yes
Kissing/romance: sort of, not especially
Pregnancy: not really
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

Breadcrumbs

by Anne Ursu

Rating: ****(4 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: fantasy.

Hazel and Jack are best friends. They do everything together, from sitting and thinking to sledding down hills. Hazel may be adopted, but Jack doesn't care. But suddenly one day, Jack gets something in his eye and starts being mean to Hazel. Mean! They've been together since they were six, and now he's ditching her for his mean friends Tyler and Bobby, who pick on Hazel. Hazel doesn't get it. She feels sad and alone. But one day, Jack isn't at school. But Tyler knows why. Jack got into a sled with a white woman inside it. The woman took Jack into the woods, to stay forever in her ice palace. Hazel has read enough fairy tales to know what happens next. It's up to her to rescue Jack and save him from the clutches of the White Witch! But the witch is tempting... and she's frozen Jack's heart, and, it seems, his memory. And the woods are full of dangerous things. Will Hazel make it? Or will Jack have his heart frozen forever?

This book is pretty good. It has a lot of fairy tale aspects and a little bit of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The author does a good job of showing dangerous and creepy things in the woods. They are strange. I will not tell you what they are. But this is a very good book. It was summer reading. Plus it has a really nice cover!!! :)

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts:no
Violence: no
Fighting: yes
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen

by Donna Gephart

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: realistic fiction

Olivia Bean stinks at geography. However, she watches Jeopardy! every night and usually beats at least one player. Her parents are divorced, and she lives with her mom, her mom's boyfriend Neil,  and her brother, Charlie. Her dad ran away with her best friend's mom and now they all live in California. There's this boy at her school, Tucker Thomas, who's her kind-of-friend, and he tells her about a contest to be on Jeopardy! Kids Week. Olivia just HAS to sign up. Her family is going through some financial troubles at the moment, and she is determined to win--not only for the money, but because it's filmed in CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA, which is really close to Los Angeles, where her dad lives. She gets in, but the competition is fierce... and her dad doesn't always keep his promises. Will everything work out in the end???

This book is okay. I only gave it three stars because there are some parts that are kind of strange. Like there is a time when the Internet is turned off, and there is 10 minutes to the test to get on Jeopardy! and so she has to run to Tucker Thomas's house. The author tries to make action here, and she sort of succeeds, but it's kind of strange having a climax before anything really happens. But the writing is pretty realistic, and it is nice how the chapters are each phrased as a question. And it is nice how at first Olivia doesn't like Neil at all because he is replacing her dad, but eventually she warms up to him.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: not that much.
Kissing/romance: maybe a little bit. Not really.
Pregnancy: no!!
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
**There is one part when Olivia's dad swears (the d-word) and another where he might possibly be drunk.

Once Upon a Toad

by Heather Vogel Frederick

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: fantasy

Catriona Starr--everybody calls her Cat--is a perfectly normal girl living in Texas, except for the fact that her mother is a divorced astronaut and is going to the International Space Station for a while and now she has to go live with her Dad in Oregon. Her stepmother, Iz, is okay, and her little brother Geoffrey may be a barf bucket but is still nice. What she really hates is her hatefully evil stepsister Olivia. But it's either them or her eccentric Great-Aunt Abyssinia, who lives in an RV.
Olivia finds new ways to be extra-mean to Cat, like making a tap dancing routine to make fun of Cat with her tap dancing group, or coming up with a nickname: Catbox. Cat seeks out Great-Aunt Abyssinia for help--and the very next day, she wakes up spitting toads every time she speaks! Not only that, but Olivia's producing diamonds and flowers!!! Oh, the unfairness!!! But before long, a man steals Geoffrey and makes the family an exchange: give him Olivia or no more Geoffrey. Cat needs to protect Olivia but also get Geoffrey back! Luckily, Great-Aunt Aby is helping... and she isn't just a senior citizen. Will they manage to save both Olivia and Geoffrey? Or will Olivia and Cat's enemy-ship mess up the whole thing?

This book has humor and serious-ness in it. Mostly it is funny because it is unfair and the author does a very good job of telling it from Cat's point of view. Olivia is really very mean, but since Cat has toads on her side, she can provide humorous revenge. There are some funny moments, like when Cat first realizes it's the talking that's making toads and she ends up with 29 toads that she has to capture and get rid of. Plus they end up going to Las Vegas!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no.
Violence: no
Fighting: duh! yes!
Kissing/romance: 2 people get married, thanks to Cat and Olivia's help
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
***There are girls pretending to be boys, a lot of the FBI, and a man threatening to take a girl into custody. Also there is a bald Elvis, a pie waitress, a fairy godmother, and a wind instruments quartet.  

Big Nate Strikes Again

by Lincoln Peirce
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 8+
Type: Realistic fiction


Nate Wright is a great cartoonist. Unfortunately, at his school, P.S. 38, this can't help him at all. One day his most hated teacher Mrs. Godfrey gives him a school project to work on--with his know-it-all archenemy Gina!!!! They have to write an assignment on Benjamin Franklin. Also, Nate is the captain of the Fleeceball team, but he misses the choosing of the teams and forgets to tell the Coach his team name. So... Gina ends up on his team and chooses the team name for him! Now Nate is on the Kuddle Kittens with an annoying girl who is TERRIBLE at Fleeceball--and the SPOFFY trophy is at stake! Will Nate manage to win the trophy? And will he ruin Gina's spotless academic record?

This is a cool book. There are a lot of pictures. It is kind of like a graphic novel/novel. Also in the front and back they have activities like mazes and comics and a quiz and a code. Also inside the book there are a lot more comics. This book is really funny!!!! 4 stars!


PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no!!!
Violence: cartoon violence. The worst thing is that somebody gets a bloody nose by accident.
Fighting: ditto.
Kissing/romance: Nate's dad and friends keep hinting that Gina is Nate's girlfriend. Besides that, no.
Pregnancy: no!!!!
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
*You have nothing to worry about!!!! Really!

No More Dead Dogs

by Gordon Korman

Age group: 10+
Type: Realistic fiction
Rating: **** (4 stars)

This book is about a boy called Wallace Wallace (yes, that really is his name). He is a football star, ever since he made the winning play last year. And he always tells the truth, no matter how much trouble he will get into by doing that. His English teacher, Mr. Fogelman, gives the class an assignment to write an essay on Old Shep, My Pal and is expecting everybody to like the book only Wallace hates the book because he is completely and entirely fed up of the dog dying and he writes that in his essay. So, in Mr. Fogelman's eyes, Wallace's essay is unacceptable so he makes Wallace stay after school with the drama club to rewrite the essay. While he is doing this, he has to skip football practice which basically makes almost all the football team people hate him. The school play the drama club is doing is also Old Shep, My Pal and Mr. Fogelman is directing. But he is making it exactly like the book and secretly a lot of the cast members don't like it. So, Wallace begins helping make the play more modern and actually starts to befriend the cast. But there is somebody sabotaging the play, and it isn't Wallace--only everybody thinks it is. Will the show go on??? And what about football???
I liked this book a lot. It was very funny and there is this girl called Rachel Turner who always writes letters to Julia Roberts about her life and things and it is pretty humorous. She is in this story a lot. This book is funny because Wallace helps make the play really crazy and funny, like there is a band called the Dead Mangoes who plays music for the show and somebody drives a moped onstage and a roller-skating butterfly catcher. It alternates viewpoints. Plus this book is exciting because you want to figure out who is ruining the play.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no!!!!
Violence: not really.
Fighting: yes but not THAT much
Kissing/romance: Only romance.
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: yes
Vandalizing: yes
*Really this book has nothing to worry about.

ttyl

by Lauren Myracle (yes, that is really her name)
age group: 13+
rating: **** (4 stars)
(By the way, in case you didn't know, ttyl means talk to you later. There is a lot of texting abbreviations in this book.)

This book is written in an all texting  way so instead of actual dialogue and descriptive language it is all texting language.
This book is about 3 best friends, tough Maddie, fun Angela, and responsible Zoe. They have just started middle school and are going to stay best friends FOREVER!!! But suddenly Maddie befriends the Queen Bee Jana. She's actually ditching Angela and Zoe for Jana! Angela and Zoe are not so happy about this and soon Maddie isn't talking to them. Meanwhile, Zoe's English teacher seems like he wants to do more with Zoe than just teach her, and Zoe gets herself invited to go hot-tubbing with him. Zoe and Angela need Maddie's help, but she STILL isn't speaking to them. What will they do???
This book is actually very interesting. The texting format is interesting too. I think it is a pretty realistic account of friends and their relationships. 4 stars!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: kind of. Not actually sex. There's a porn website where you can go hot-tubbing with a guy pretending to be Jesus.
Violence: kind of.
Fighting: oh, yes. But not physically.
Kissing/romance: yes
Pregnancy: no!!!!!
Stealing: no.
Vandalizing: no

*SPOILER ALERT!!!!!*

There is one part where a bunch of teenagers get in cars on the highway and start going the speed limit and everybody behind them is going much faster so they block up everybody and people start getting angry at them. 

There is another part where somebody gets drunk and removes her shirt and bra. 

THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY ADVISABLE

Millicent Min, Girl Genius

 by Lisa Yee
Age group: 10+
Rating: **** (4 stars)

Millicent Min is a genius. Literally! She is only 11 and already taking college level courses! But she doesn't really have any friends. Her mother signs her up for volleyball and she meets another 11 year old, Emily Ebers. Millicent and Emily become friends. But Emily doesn't know Millicent is a genius--and Millicent doesn't plan to tell. Also, Millicent is tutoring a boy, Stanford Wong, but has sworn not to tell anyone. Only, Emily finds out somebody is tutoring somebody. So... Stanford says he's tutoring Millicent! Now Millicent is, apparently, a homeschooled kid who is failing English. Can Millicent manage this relationship without anyone finding out the truth?
This book is good. It's kind of funny. Also it is very interesting looking at the mind of a genius.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: not physically
Kissing/romance: not really but one of Millicent's supposed friends has a boyfriend and...well... interacts with him. This only takes up about 1   1/2 pages.
Pregnancy: yes, at the end. But not in a bad way!
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

Pirate Penguin vs. Ninja Chicken

by Ray Friesen

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Age group: Anyone who can read
Type: Humor/Graphic novel

This a great book!!!!!!!!!
It is really funny. It is about two frenemies, Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken. They are friends AND enemies. That is what frenemies means.
This book has 3 parts: Part 1 is a collection of short stories about the kind of trouble Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken  get into. Part 2 is a big story that actually has chapters. Part 3 is activities and the epilogue and the outroduction. 
In Part 1 the stories are short but funny, like in one of them Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken go into a sword shop and look at the swords and they have a pretend fight with the swords before buying them and then one of them breaks and you know... they would have to pay for it so they run away. 
In another one they order smoothies and Pirate Penguin drinks out of both and Ninja Chicken gets really mad at him and they fight. 
In Part 2, Ninja Chicken is going to a Ninja Convention so Astronaut Armadillo takes Pirate Penguin to space. Also, at the Convention, Kung Fu Koala releases a huge monster from another dimension!!!! Now Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken have to save the world from a huge monster!!!!
Part 3 just has funny activities like how to make nunchucks, a pirate hat, and Ninja Chicken SUPER-HARD SuDontKu. The Outroduction is really funny too!!! It is kind of like the About the Authors that people put in the backs of books. 
This book is SUPER FUNNY!!!! It is also a graphic novel! I strongly urge everybody to read this book!!!!!!!!!
PARENTAL SECTION 
Sexual parts: no
Violence: yes, but only cartoon violence
Fighting: yes, but only cartoon fighting.
Pregnancy: definitely not.
Kissing/romance: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: not really.
*There is one comic where Pirate Penguin thinks Ninja Chicken is a woman chicken and makes fun of him for it. But don't worry, it is not meant to be insulting to women.
*Also in a comic Pirate Penguin and Ninja Chicken break a sword and don't pay for it. That could be considered as vandalizing I guess.

Rocks and Minerals

by Dan Green
Part of a series called Basher Science

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: non-fiction

This book is just all about rocks and minerals. There are different sections: metamorphic, igneous, sedimentary, fossils, gems, etc. Each rock/mineral gets its own page and it has a cute animated picture and some facts and a paragraph or two or three about it. The paragraph is written like the rock/mineral is writing it. There are some very interesting facts like how to tell Fool's Gold from real Gold and what things in everyday life actually have lead in them. It is very cute and appealing. Plus it is science!
There is actually a whole series like this, including Chemistry, Planet Earth, Algebra and Geometry, Physics, Punctuation, Grammar, Music, The Human Body, and more. They are kind of addictive.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no!!!!!
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Pregnancy: no!!!
Kissing/romance: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
Why would any of that be in a book about rocks and minerals????

The Candymakers

by Wendy Mass

Rating:***** (5 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: Realistic fiction

Logan Sweet's father owns a candy company. His candy company is hosting 4 contestants in the Annual New Candy Contest, a contest where 32 contestants compete to make the best new candy. These 4 contestants are Logan Sweet, the candymaker's son, Miles O'Leary, an intellectual with many allergies, Daisy Carpenter, a cheerful and sunshiny girl, and Philip Ransford III, an obnoxious whiny grown-uppy boy who everyone hates. Immediately people start making friends. But Philip is left out. Nobody likes him. They tour the candy company, to prepare for the big competition. Logan's father has a secret ingredient that he uses to make his chocolate taste really good. Everybody wants to know what this ingredient is but nobody knows. And is everybody really who they appear to be?

Yes, this review is kind of all over the place, but the book is MUCH better. At first all the characters are on their own and then in the middle of the book 3 band up and 1 is left out and at the end... well I won't tell you the end. But this book is really great because all the characters change at least a little bit. This book is a mystery but is also just about candy, which mostly everybody loves. Also this book is really good because is has alternating viewpoints, so you could read about somebody doing something from, say, Logan's point of view and then get inside that person's head and find out why they did it in that person's point of view. It is also really good because each character ISN'T who they seem to be and if it really interesting once you find out who they actually are and why they act the way they act. 5 stars!!!
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: none
Violence: none
Fighting: see violence (e.g. none)
Pregnancy: no!!!!
Kissing/romance: mentioned in passing
Stealing: yes!
Vandalizing: no.

The Giver

by Lois Lowry
Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: Dystopian

Jonas lives in a perfect world: no poverty, no war, ultimate peace. Everyone who lives there is happy there. There is no death; when people in our world now would die, the people in Jonas' town are just sent on. When children reach certain ages, they receive certain things. For example, at Jonas' upcoming birthday, he will receive his future job. He will become apprentice to somebody who will train him for this job. At the ceremony, he discovers that he will be apprentice to the Giver. The Giver gives memories. He holds all the memories. So now Jonas must take the memories. The memories can be painful or happy. Jonas takes them all. But one particular memory makes him think deeply about his perfect world. At home, he is growing fond with a baby in a set of identical twins. Unfortunately, with identical twins, one must always be sent on. And this one is that one. Jonas isn't sure what happens when you are sent on. Fortunately the Giver has recorded access to all the ceremonies. Jonas is allowed to watch a recording of a sending-on.What he sees shocks him. So, he decides to save the baby. This book is REALLY sad, but it is really good. So good in fact that it deservingly won a Newbery medal. But it is sadder than any book I have ever read. If you are the sentimental type you may want tissues.
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: in the memories but none otherwise.
Fighting: see violence
Pregnancy: none
Kissing/romance: none
Stealing: kind of.
Vandalizing: none.

Wildwood

by Colin Meloy

Rating: ****(4 stars)
Age group: 10 1/2+
Type: Fantasy

Prue is out walking with her baby brother, Mac, when suddenly a murder of crows captures him and takes him into the Impassable Wilderness, a place where no person has ever dared to go. But Prue must rescue him so she ventures in. It turns out that her friend, Curtis, has followed her in. But an attack by talking wolves in soldiers' uniforms separates the two. Curtis ends up with Alexandra, the Dowager Governess, who seems actually pretty nice. Prue ends up with a postal officer. But they still have to find Mac, and then they have to escape from the animals of the Impassable Wilderness... who may or may not want to kill them. This book is really, really, really well written. However it is REALLY sad and actually it almost made me cry. There are also some parts that make it seem like a dead end. But still, it is VERY exciting.
PARENTAL SECTION 
Sexual parts: no
Violence: yes. There is a war and some bloody parts.
Fighting: yes; see violence.
Pregnancy: not really. Not actual pregnancy.
Kissing/romance: no.
Stealing: not really.
Vandalizing: not really.

Look Into My Eyes

by Lauren Child
a Ruby Redfort book

Rating:****(4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: spy mystery

Ruby Redfort is an extraordinary child who cracks codes and makes them and is very very very smart. She is just a normal kid, just MUCH above average in the smarts department. But suddenly a mysterious butler named Hitch shows up and Ruby becomes a member of a (good) spy organization, Chrome. She is assigned to do desk work on a death of one of the best agents Chrome had. But there is also a huge delivery of gold to the Twinford Bank and it seems to be attracting some unwanted attention from the criminals. Will Ruby end up solving the mystery? Or will the evil Count Von Viscount get there first? This is a very exciting read, especially if you like spy-thriller type things. You just HAVE to see what happens next. Plus it is by Lauren Child who is a really great author, in my opinion. This series was mentioned in the Clarice Bean series also by Lauren Child.
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: well, kind of. 
Fighting: kind of.
Pregnancy: no!!
Kissing/romance: no. Well, mentioned in passing. Not really important.
Stealing: yes! Ruby steals a gadget.
Vandalizing: no

The Search for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi
Has a sequel: A Hero for WondLa

Rating: *****(5 stars)
Age group: 11+
Type: Dystopian science fiction

Eva Nine lives underground with a robot called Muthr and has never stepped foot on the actual ground in all of her 12 years of existence. In her safe house she has discovered a piece of paper saying "WondLa" and has a picture of a robot and a human on it. They are both smiling. Eva doesn't know why there are no other humans like her and decides to find out the meaning of "WondLa" and find others like her. But one day, somebody breaks into her underground home and she is forced to escape. She leaves Muthr behind but later she comes back and gets her. But on the outside, it is nothing like what she has been trained to think. She meets some aliens, Rovender Kitt and an alien who she calls Otto. They and Muthr help her. But she is still in danger, as the mysterious intruder who tried to break into her house is still on her trail. So now she must escape the intruder, find other humans, and find the hidden meaning of "WondLa."  This book is very gripping and very exciting and it is just really well-written. If you read it and like it, you should also read A Hero for WondLa, the sequel.
PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting:not really. But kind of
Pregnancy: no
Kissing/romance: no
Stealing: yes. I will not tell you what though because that might spoil the story.
Vandalizing: no.
**NOTE: There are some intense bits because the evil intruder break-inner has a gun-like object called a Boom-rod that blows people up. He DOES use it. And at one point, Eva is trapped (literally) in a very bad situation and that is both intense and disgusting. Hint: it is in a taxidermist's lab. So yes, there is a lot of intensity.

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Age group: 10+

Type: Science fiction

This book is about a girl called Meg Murry whose father has gone missing. One day she gets up in the middle of the night during a hurricane. She decides to go downstairs. Her little brother, Charles Wallace, is already waiting for her. Charles Wallace can pretty much tell what Meg is going to do next, most of the time. Their mother comes to join them and drink hot cocoa. Suddenly, a woman who Charles Wallace is friends with, Mrs. Whatsit, comes into their house and upsets their mother very much. So the next day, Meg and Charles Wallace and their dog Fortinbras go to Mrs. Whatsit's house, which is known as a haunted house. They meet a boy called Calvin O'Keefe hanging around the house. They take him inside with them but instead of Mrs. Whatsit, they meet her friend Mrs. Who. Mrs. Who tells them to go because it is not yet time. But then a bit later, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and their other friend, Mrs. Which, show up at their house and take them to planets and tell them who they actually really are. They begin a dangerous journey to save Meg's father, visiting many planets by tessering, which is basically making a wrinkle in the universe so they have a shorter distance to travel. They have to visit a weird planet where everybody does the same thing and where Meg's father is trapped. But at this planet, Charles Wallace goes into IT: a giant brain who rules this country. Now Charles Wallace is not Charles Wallace anymore, and Meg must save him from IT.

Wow this book was so awesome and touching and I think anybody would love it. You would like it if you like science fiction and excitement and really this book is great. It is very exciting and sad and happy and I just LOVE IT!!!!

***NOTE: If you are a very sentimental person have tissues on hand.

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: no!

Violence: not really. Except Charles Wallace does hit somebody evil.

Fighting: no

Pregnancy: no!

Kissing/romance: yes a little.

Stealing: no

Vandalizing: no

Operation Redwood

by S. Terrell French

Rating:*****(5 stars)

Age group: 9+

Type: Realistic fiction

This book is about a boy called Julian Carter-Li who lives in California. His uncle is part of a company called IPX and IPX recently bought a forest of old-growth redwood trees and are planning to cut every single one down. When Julian is sick he sees an email which has a very interesting subject line saying Sibley Carter (Julian's uncle) is a world-class jerk. Julian looks at

it and this is how he finds out his uncle is going to cut down redwoods. The sender is a girl named Robin Elder. He replies to her and soon they have a plan to try to save the redwoods, which involves Julian traveling to Robin's house as part of a student exchange program in order to escape a four-week math camp in Fresno, a super-hot place in California. Danny, Carter's best friend, is also part of this plan. But the plan does not go as planned... What will they do????

This books is extremely good and very exciting and it involves a lot of exciting characters and exciting scenarios. You would like it if you like environmental stuff or excitement.

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: none

Violence: none, except there is a pretty suspenseful part where they are very high up the ground

and Julian is in danger of a thug who is trying to grab him

Fighting: not really except for the above-mentioned thug

Pregnancy: none

Kissing/romance: none

Stealing: none

Vandalizing: none

***NOTE: There IS something about a "kidnapping" and also Julian and his best friend Danny have to hack into a computer.

Down in the Garden

by Anne Geddes-- well, photographed by Anne Geddes

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 1+
Type: Photography


This book is really great and it is REALLY CUTE and pretty much, the summary is that there are incredibly cute and funny photos of babies dressed up as things you might find in a garden, such as insects and flowers or sometimes fairies or garden gnomes. Sometimes they are just babies only in pots with funny head-dresses. This book was really fun and if you like it, Anne Geddes has other photo books too. Also I'm pretty sure she has things like notebooks too, but that's off topic. The point is that this book is really great and funny and CUTE!!

You would like this book if you like babies and photography and Anne Geddes. And cute.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: none, except some of the babies are naked, only their privates are covered.
Violence: none
Fighting: none
Pregnancy: none
Kissing and romance: not really. In one picture they stage a "wedding."
Stealing: none
Vandalizing: none