Staff Picks for Children

Superheroes must be strong and do good deeds. From the time he is born, Veggiebaby loves to eat lots of vegetables and play with his food, making broccoli bears and giant green gorillas. He quickly grows into Veggieboy and practices his superhero skills—flying, lifting and helping old ladies. His shape-shifting practice turns him into a carrot, and luckily, back to himself again. He eats more vegetables and becomes Veggieman. When he rescues a boy from a tall tree, twigs stick to his shirt to form a “W” from the “V” and the children immediately call him Wedgieman. Nonstop action, an engaging hero, and delightful humor attract young readers while promoting healthy eating.  Charise Harper, author of the Just Grace series, has created another great superhero for kids.

www.chariseharper.com

Recommended for ages 4-8.

This easy to read mystery takes place in an unusual setting. The story depicts the legends centering on Iowa City’s Oakland Cemetery’s Black Angel monument. Linc (Lincoln Raintree Crenshaw), 12-years-old, and his mother, Lottie Landers, an absent-minded professor who studies burial customs, live in a house bordering the cemetery. Linc’s struggle in starting public school and leaving his private Home-Away-From-Home School, known as the Ho-Hos brings many challenges. His struggles in junior high and his and his mother’s grief over their father’s sudden death are problems that are resolved at the conclusion of the story.

Linc is determined to be just a normal kid with a normal social life. Everything goes according to plan until his first research assignment, Adopt-a-Grave Project, takes his class to the local cemetery to study graves. When he finds out that his mother is to lead the tour he convinces her to pretend he’s just another student, but the plan backfires. He decides to be cool by researching the Black Angel, the scariest grave in the cemetery. As Linc and a new friend, Delaney, discover the truth, they also discover a secret linked to Linc’s own family.

Additional dilemmas that arise include: Linc’s run-in with the new warden of the cemetery; his relationship with his old friend, Jeeter, the cemetery’s handyman; his relationship with a former classmate, Mellecker, a popular 7th grader; the mysterious woman who visits the Raintree gravesite each Monday; his relationship with an elderly neighbor, Mr. Krasny, who helps Linc translate the strange epitaph on the base of the Black Angel; and the mysterious connection to his father with the grave adopted by Delaney.

The story ends with Delaney and Linc presenting their reports to their family and friends in front of the Black Angel Statute. Each chapter of the book starts with actual epitaphs from gravestones around the world.

There are additional notes from the author about the Black Angel Statue and its background. The story is recommended for grades 4 through 8.

While not a ghost or Halloween story, Ballywhinney Girl is nevertheless haunting.  Maeve, a fair-haired Irish girl living in Ballywhinney Ireland, is in a bog with her grandfather as he cuts turf. Then Grandpa unearths something--no, someone--a small someone.  Shocked, Grandpa assumes it’s a boy, perhaps murdered a hundred years ago.  But he and Maeve later learn that it’s the mummified body of a young girl, a thousand years old, maybe more, once fair like Maeve.  Maeve feels a strange and strong connection to the bog girl, in a mix of fear, awe, wonder and empathy.  What brought her to that spot?  How did she die?  Beside the girl were flowers, a kind that still bloom in Ballywhinney.  Maeve could picture the girl picking the flowers, doing things that she herself would do.  So she can’t help but feel protective of the mummy, as scientists, officials, media, neighbors and other spectators converge on the bog, interrupting the peace of the girl’s longtime resting place, in order to investigate the discovery.

 Bunting’s flowing, free-verse narrative and McCully’s moody, intricate watercolors detailed capture the eerie events of the story and changing emotions of Maeve as she ponders the fate of the bog girl, her life long ago, and her spirit as well.

Just glimpses of the of the bog body--bony, shriveled and dark, leave readers to rely on the author’s description and their own imagination.  For readers who want to see and know more about real bog bodies, there is more information in back of the book.

Thoughtful, evocative, and somewhat spooky, this picture book is best for ages 6-10.

Fear is a natural part of growing up. Parr recognizes that sometimes children are scared because they don’t understand something. In his story, he recommends that children tell someone why they are scared and maybe after, they won’t be so scared anymore. The book touches on many prevalent childhood fears like being afraid of the dark and monsters or scary first-time experiences like riding on an airplane or being separated from a parent for the first time. Each fearful experience Parr writes about includes a positive result or answer to the fear. A great bibliotherapy read for children experiencing fear.

Adults who love Alexander McCall Smith's Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series will be thrilled to introduce their children to Botswana's Precious Ramotswe. When items start to disappear from students' lunches, Precious is on the case, even defending the boy who everyone at first assumes to be the culprit. Unfamiliar words are defined and pronunciation guides are given. Illustrations only add to the charm of the story.

May Elizabeth Bitterly lives on the Kansas frontier with her family. May wants to study and become a teacher, but her father needs her to earn some money for the familiy by living and working on the neighboring Oblinger homestead, but just until Christmas.  Mr. Oblinger has made a rustic sod house for his new young bride, who is not use to the roughness of life on the frontier. May cooks, washes and offers Mrs. Oblinger lessons of life on the frontier. Mrs. Oblinger does not return May’s kindness. An unexpected turn of events leaves May stranded in the sod house without a way home and winter bearing down on her. May’s gentle voice provides a soothing tone to a story in verse about a young girl’s determination to survive the harshness of winter on the frontier and return to the love and warmth of family.  This books is recommended for ages 8-12.

Fourteen-year-old Mike, a mathematically-challenged young man with dyscalculia, unfortunately has a brilliant engineer/professor father. Mike is forced to live with relatives he has never met for six weeks in summer while his father teaches in Romania. Mike’s father hopes that his son will improve his math and engineering skills by working on a local project. Not only are Mike’s octogenarian great-aunt Moo and great-uncle Poppy from a different generation, they are eccentric, humorous, and dealing with the death of their adult son. Mike and his father lost Mike’s mother two years earlier in a car accident, and coincidentally, many people Mike meets in Donover (nicknamed Do Over), Pennsylvania, are struggling with loss. A homeless man, “Past”, has also lost his wife, and is not truly homeless, but afraid to go back home. Moo and Poppy are unbelievably making his house payments. Moo saves water in rain buckets around the lawn and recklessly drives a monster car even though her vision is very poor. Mike has no time to sulk, once he is thrown into the town’s problems. He rises to become an organizing and motivating force to help the town raise money to bring an orphan boy home from Romania to be adopted by the local childless, widowed minister. Poppy is immobilized by the death of his son and Mike works on stimulating him to return to his workshop to build boxes in order to raise money. Humor and a constant flow of events keep readers glued to the pages. Though a somewhat contrived plot with everyone dealing with private issues, the story is a wonderful read showing how a teen can develop self-confidence and become what he is meant to be. Mike is a social people engineer in sharp contrast to his self-centered father. The chapter headings reveal basic mathematical concepts that relate to the story. This is a funny, satisfying read for ages 10 and up. Author Kathryn Erskine won the 2010 National Book Award for her novel Mockingbird.

The story is a typical who-done-it mystery. The story begins with 13 year-old, Oz Keiller opening the refrigerator door at his family's restaurant and discovering the body of Aaron Sneider, a journalist. He discovers that Sneider was a reporter who had accused his deceased father of being a spy and a traitor. His father was accused of stealing nuclear secrets from the company he had worked for. If this isn’t bad enough his older brother is arrested for the murder and Oz jumps into action to save him. With the help of his friend, Rusty, they try to solve the mystery and clear his father’s name. During the investigation of the murder, Oz and Rusty, find that maybe his father was being framed for a much larger conspiracy. In solving the mystery their search leads them closer to the real killer and also closer to real danger. There are some unexpected twists to the plot.

Readers will enjoy the action and fast paced story line. It is a likeable mystery that keeps readers motivated to finding out the solution along with the characters.

I would recommend the story for both boys and girls in grades 4th through 7th who enjoy mysteries that are not too complicated.

The cover photo of the chocolate brown pit bull puppy with soulful amber eyes drew me to this book.  Saving Audie is a straighforward but heartwarming true account of this dog, one of many rescued from almost certain death in an illegal dogfighting organization co-owned by NFL player Michael Vick.  Kept for many months in shelters as evidence against the wrongdoers, with only numbers instead of names, the dogs faced an uncertain future.  While many people thought the dogs were dangerous and damaged forever, determined members of animal rights groups saw the dogs as victims worthy of a second chance at life, and pleaded with the court to give the dogs that chance. Upon testing, all but one of the 49 rescued dogs were judged safe enough to be adoptable.  Members of the groups gave the dogs socialization training, fostered them, and worked to find them permanent homes with loving families.

Athough the author provides facts about the illegal ring, she doesn't dwell on it, but rather keeps the focus on Audie and the other dogs, their medical and social rehabilitation,  and their remarkable progress against many odds, including a segment about how Audie got his fitting name.

Colorful pages with text of varying sizes frame poignant, sweet and often funny photographs of Audie and dog friends, as well as the people in their lives.  The book also provides lists and links to more information about pit bulls, animal organizations, dog care, and updates on the "Vick Dogs."

This real story of love, hope, determination and redemption can be enjoyed by almost any age; recommended for ages 6 and up.

This review is dedicated to Howdy and Midnight.