Mary Ingalls On Her Own, by Elizabeth Kimmel Willard

Rating: Recommended
HarperCollins, 2008, $16.89
ISBN: 9780060009069

Age/Grade Level: ages 8-12

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Mary Ingalls has been blinded by scarlett fever. Her family find enough money to send her to a college especially for the blind. This book is about her adventures at college. Willard does a good job writing in her own style. I was worried when I first picked up this book because I don't like reading books that authors of today try to write similarly to authors of time past. But Willard doesn't try to copy or match Laura Ingalls Wilders "Little House" series. Willard admits that she is a life time enthusiast of Little House. She does a good job with this story of Laura's sister Mary.

Reviewer: Kim Bell, Orange County Public Library/Cypress Branch

Sleepover Larry by Daniel Pinkwater

Rating: Marginal

Marshall Cavendish, 2007, $16.99

ISBN: 0761453148

Age/Grade Level: 1st-3rd grade

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This story about a polar bear who wants to have a sleepover with his friends from the zoo is at best okay. The illustrations are not great. The story itself is okay. The bear has a sleepover and nothing really great happens except maybe for the food they eat (codfish cakes, blueberry muffins, codfish pizza, anchovies). Not a book I would highly recommend.

Reviewer: Kim Bell, Orange County Public Library/Cypress Branch

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman

Rating: Very Good
Greenwillow, 2008, $17.89
ISBN: 978-006-134466
Age/Grade Level: book jacket says grades 4-9

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The talented Sid Fleischman's newest book, "The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, is dedicated "for the million and a half" child Holocaust victims. Twelve-year-old Avrom Amos, returns as a dybbuk, a spirit as "harmless as a slice of rye bread." What better vehicle for his bodiless voice than that of a the great Freddie's ventriloquist dummy? With a heartbreaking score to settle, the dybbuk wrangles for possession of the stage and a platform for his vendetta. Tidbits of his past life haunt and build tension. Spreckled with yiddish, Fleischman treats his readers to fresh and original dialogue, conflict and pathos. Mature content would have one re-evaluate the grades recommended on book jacket.

Reviewer: Rebecca Porter, Orange County Public Library/Laguna Beach Branch

Dolley Madison Saves George Washington by Don Brown

Rating: Recommended

Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $16.00
ISBN: 978-0618411993
Age/Grade Level: Grades K-2

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A lively biography of Dolley Madison who grew up a simple farm girl, married James Madison, was a hostess for the widowed Thomas Jefferson and later actual First lady when her husband became President. Already known for her charm, fanciful costumes and delightful banquets, she showed her mettle and earned the nation's gratitude when she saved a valuable portrait of George Washington and important government documents from destruction by British forces.

Don Brown's dashing and whimsical watercolors do more than illustrate his text, they set the mood, extend the story and humorously, at the end of the book, place Dolley
in context, surrounded by cameos of the first eleven presidents she knew.
Notes by the author provide additional biographical material, also on Gilbert Stuart who painted this famous portrait of George Washington.

Instructive and entertaining, this picture book-biography should win over even the most reluctant readers.

Reviewer: B. Carswell, Orange County Public Library/West Garden Grove Branch

Keep Your Eye on the Kid, by Catherine Brighton

Rating: Very Good
Roaring Brook, 2008, $16.95
ISBN: 1596432764
Age/Grade Level: Grades 2-5
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This vivid account of Buster Keaton's early years, told in first-person narrative, takes us from his birth to vandevillean parents to his own precocious antics
and follows his growing fascination with moving pictures to his first successful solo foray into silent film.

True to the picture book format, the comic-book frames and cartoon-style illustrations by the author almost take precedence over the droll and witty dead-pan text and should captivate young readers probably unfamiliar with the streets and stages of early 20th century America.

Reviewer: B. Carswell, Orange County Public Library/West Garden Grove Branch

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad, by James Rumford

Rating: Very Good

Roaring Brook, 2008, $17.95

ISBN: 1596432764

Age/Grade Level: Grades 2 and up

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A beautiful book, showing the importance of writing as an art, in communication, and as an instrument of knowledge. In simple, elegant words and stunning illustrations incorporating Arabic callegraphy, the author takes the reader into his world and lets them look into a life in a different cultures and shows some ways in which it is very like his own.

Reviewer: Cathy Gillette, Orange County Public Library/La Habra Branch

When Harriet Met Sojourner by Catherine Clinton

Illustrated by Shane W. Evans

Rating: Very Good
HarperCollins, 2007, $16.95
ISBN: 0060504250
Age/Grade Level: Grades 3 and up

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Wonderful illustrations. The text introduces two leading female civil rights leaders of the Civil War era in an interesting way. Basic info on their lives is presented to give a feel for each person, and then they are introduced to each other. The book is honest about not having any real info about the meeting, except that they did meet.

Reviewer: Cathy Gillette, Orange County Public Library/La Habra Branch

Seer of Shadows by Avi

Rating: Very Good

HarperCollins, 2008, $17.89

ISBN: 978-006000016-5

Age/Grade Level: Grades 5 and up

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Real feeling characters in a vivid historical setting. Well set up, but ending feels a bit contrived when he marries the black girl and there is a fear of photographing their possibly dying child. Other than that, would recommend it as a ghost story for older elementary.

Reviewer: Cathy Gillette, Orange County Public Library/La Habra Branch

Vinnie and Abraham by Dawn Fitzgerald

Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Rating: Additional
Charlesbridge, 2007, $15.95
ISBN: 978-1570916588
Age/Grade Level: Grades 3 and up

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This is a hard story to get across in a way to interest and inform children. The vocabulary is a bit over the head of most of the targeted audience. Would not hold attention, and would bore very easily. I liked the feel of the illustrations.

Reviewer: Cathy Gillette, Orange County Public Library/La Habra Branch