"Tracking" the Clues: The Case of the Snack Snatcher (West Meadows Detectives) by Liam O'Donnell

EVERYTHING WAS NEW. NEW SHIRT. NEW SHOES. NEW SCHOOL.

I DON'T LIKE NEW," SAYS MYRON TO HIMSELF.

New teachers and new classmates make Myron's brain itch. And sometimes his itchy brain makes him lose control of everything.

But Myron likes his new Resource teacher, Mr. Harpel. And before the other three students arrive, there is a shrill scream from down the hall.

"AAAAAHH!

Mrs. Peterson, the cafeteria manager, has discovered all the morning snacks she laid out on the big steel table are gone! The kitchen floor is littered with scattered flour, broken crackers, and shredded boxes and wrappers.

"WE'VE BEEN ROBBED!" SAID MRS. PETERSON.

Myron is sorry about the theft, but he is happy to have a mystery to solve. Myron is a detective who loves to search for clues. And he also has a very keen sense of smell, and he smells licorice. He follows his nose to a closet and pulls it open. Out pops a very bouncy girl, Hajrah, who has been hiding from the daycare lady to eat her candy. When she hears that Myron is a detective and that he is determined to solve the mystery, she immediately volunteers to help.

"I LOVE MYSTERIES! I'LL BE YOUR DETECTIVE PARTNER!"

"I WORK ALONE." I SAID. MY BRAIN BEGAN TO ITCH.

But Hajrah is a girl who doesn't take no for an answer, and soon she introduces Myron to a another classmate, Danielle, a.k.a. Glitch. Hajrah whispers that Glitch stole things last year and should be their prime suspect. Glitch doesn't help her case by continuing to scowl at Myron, but Myron meets another suspect at lunch, Sarah "Smasher" McGintley, and her two henchmen, Cameron and Carter, who deliver a suspicious warning:

"MYRON MATTHEWS, KID DETECTIVE! KEEP YOUR SNOOPING AWAY FROM ME!"

Myron plans to do some serious snooping for clues at recess, but he finds all the kids gathered around a big tree, fallen during last night's storm. Mr. V., the custodian, is busy cutting the trunk into sections and sadly points out a blue tarpaulin now covering part of the school roof where the tree fell.

"HEY! THAT'S SMOKY'S TREE!" HAJRAH SAID.

And when Hajrah explains that Smoky is the raccoon who lives in that tree, Myron's brain begins to itch. But this time it's a pleasant itch, one that means that he now has some circumstantial evidence to help solve the mystery. And when the thief strikes again, with the help of his new friends Myron finally gets to inspect and detect at an undisturbed crime scene with the tell-tale physical evidence needed to identify the snack snatcher.

Liam O'Donnell's new West Meadows Detectives: The Case of the Snack Snatcher (Owlkids Books, 2015), presents a different third grade detective. Like his idol, Sherlock Holmes, Myron's unusual mind can't stop turning over the facts in the case until he has a solution, and in his classmates he discovers some talents to rival Dr. Watson's. Glitch provides the technical support in the form of a motion-detecting camera, and never-still Hajrah is happy to do the legwork leading to the solution of Myron's first case at West Meadows School. Thanks to artist Aurelie Grand's pen-and-ink illustrations and author O'Donnell's clever foreshadowing, savvy young sleuths may well detect the solution even before Myron's super senses do, in O'Donnell's first book in his new spinoff series about the West Meadows Detectives.

See also Liam O'Donnell's earlier mysteries (in which Myron is an assistant detective), Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Volume 1

A Chapeau for All Seasons: I Had a Favorite Hat by Boni Ashburn

I HAD A FAVORITE HAT THAT WAS MY BESTEST HAT EVER.

I WORE IT AT THE BEACH. IT WAS FLIPPY AND FLOPPY.

But beach days don't last forever, and when the autumn leaves start to fall, Mom says it's time to put away summer things. But her daughter has other ideas.

I HUNG IT ON MY DOOR,
WAITING TO BE SO MUCH MORE....

Our crafty girl recognizes the hat has other possibilities and when October rolls around. she has an inspiration.

WITH A LITTLE OF THIS AND A LITTLE OF THAT....
... A HALLOWEEN WITCH HAT!

As the year goes by, the hat morphs into many styles. A few Christmas ornaments makes it a fine holiday concert chapeau, and some cute cut-out red hearts make it perfect for Valentine's day. It does double duty for playing dress-up with Maggie, and it's a natural for an Easter hat with a gauzy blue veil and a touch of daffodils--until Grandma appropriates it, declaring it perfect for her spring garden's scarecrow.

But then one day, the girl finds the scarecrow hat-less! Her hapless hat has been carried away by the breeze!

But luckily summer is coming and her friend Maggie points out that floppy sunhats are o-u-t of style this season.

"SHINY VISORS ARE IN!" SHE SAYS.

HMMM! Maybe with a little of this and....

Boni Ashburn's I Had a Favorite Hat (Abrams Books, 2015), with it pinkish cover and stylish theme is obviously aimed at the young female fashionista, a companion book to its popular predecessor, I Had a Favorite Dress, (see my review here) one which proves that our girl has learned a thing or two from her crafty (in more ways than one) Mom. Although this one is a natural as an activity starter for birthday or holiday parties for girls, there may be some future Christian Diors out there who will pick up some techniques for their careers in haute couture as well.

"The energetic and engaging illustrations, created using graphite, cut paper, watercolor, crayon, and PhotoShop, invite perusal," points out School Library Journal.

A Lid for Every Pot! Who Wants Broccoli? by Val Jones

A HODGEPODGE OF PETS LIVE AT BEASLEY'S ANIMAL SHELTER.

And among the usual mix of homeless puppies, too-big bunnies, cats and kitties, cast-away parrots and overgrown turtles, there is Broccoli. Left as a pup in front of the shelter in a greengrocers' produce box, Broccoli has always lived in the shelter.

Mrs. Beasley loves all the animals, fluffing them and assuring them that they will all find their perfect "forever home" soon.

"THERE'S A LID FOR EVERY POT," SHE PROMISES CHEERILY.

But big, ebullient Broccoli is a hard pot to fit. He wants so badly to be chosen. But in his zeal to be noticed, he tosses his full water bowl up so that it lands on his head, wetting everyone and everything in range, chases his tail furiously, and barks--LOUDLY. Not surprisingly, nobody finds him the perfect adoptable pet.

But one day as he is looking longingly out the front display window in the shop, Broccoli notices a new boy moving in across the street. Oscar is playing with a ball, and he looks lonely, dreaming of a big, fun dog to play ball with in his big new yard, as lonely as Broccoli feels. He can't help himself...

BARK!  BARK! BARK!

Mr. Beasley mops up the spilled water dish spatters and grumbles, moving poor Broccoli into the storeroom to keep him quiet.

"THIS NOISY, MESSY POT WILL NEVER FIND A LID!" HE MUMBLES.

But Oscar hears that bark. And when his mom feels they are settled in, Oscar, ball in hand, leads her across the street to Beasley's Animal Shelter to look for a big, fun dog to play with. But Broccoli is nowhere in sight, and none of the bunnies, turtles, or hamsters look like the pet he wants. Sadly he shakes his head, and they prepare to leave, Oscar accidentally leaving his ball behind. Mr. Beasley absent-mindedly sticks it in the storeroom.

And Broccoli recognizes that ball.

THE BALL! THE BOY! WHAT COULD BROCCOLI DO?

BARK!

It's a made-in-heaven match, as Oscar hears that bark, the sound of a big, fun dog, in Val Jones' Who Wants Broccoli? (Harper, 2015) and boy, ball, and dog are brought together in a happy ending, in which Oscar joyfully plops his baseball cap--his lid--on the head of his new shaggy friend. Jones' story of true friends found is deftly paced to set up its joyful climax, and her characters are well defined, both in words and in her charming artwork, to make this boy-and-his-dog tale a sweetly satisfying one for young readers who have dreamed of finding the perfect pet. Val Jones' first picture book shows she has much promise as a rising author-illustrator.

The Starving Time: The Wolf~Birds by Willow Dawson

DEEP IN THE WILD WINTER WOOD
WHEN THE SNOW FALLS AND
THE ICY WINDS BLOW,

TWO HUNGRY RAVENS HUDDLE
IN WAIT FOR THEIR NEXT MEAL.

It is the time of year some Indians call the Wolf Moon, for the hungry wolves that wail from the wooded hills. Some even call it the Starving Moon.

A pair of ravens huddle together on a bare branch, their heads capped with snow, waiting for the sun to rise and melt the snow just enough to show where the burrows of seed-collecting little animals lie. One raven pokes her head inside, as deep as she dares, hoping for a bite of something hidden there.

And nearby a pack of four wolves has caught the scent of a buffalo. They give chase, but the powerful bison kicks out at the lead wolf at his heels, and the hunter falls, dead.

THREE WOLVES MUST SAY GOODBYE.

The three wolves move on, always looking for food.

THEN THEY HEAR A FAMILIAR SOUND...

KAW  KAW--THE SOUND OF HUNGRY RAVENS.

The ravens have seen something from their tree, a starving deer, limping and alone.

The wolves understand. They follow the ravens' call. The chase is brief.

ONE ANIMAL'S LIFE HELPS MANY OTHERS LIVE.

The wolves fill their empty bellies, and the ravens dart in to take their finder's fee. Then the ravens make their own cache for leftovers under the snow, and the wolves depart, carrying food back to their den where a mother is waiting, curled around her cubs.

THE STARVING WAIT FOR SPRING'S RETURN COMES TO AN END.

"Did you know ravens are also called wolf birds... because of the very special relationship they have shared with wolves," says author Willow Dawson, in her just published The Wolf-Birds (Owlkids Books, 2015). A powerful story of the cycle of life and the cycle of the seasons, this one also describes the cooperative relationship called mutualism between the clever scavenger birds and the predator wolves. Like black-hooded ninjas, the ravens of the far north act as spies for the wolf pack, infiltrating the woods, perching high and soaring over the landscape and leading the wolves to prey that the ravens cannot bring down but surely will share.

Life is hard in the far north, but this exquisitely designed and illustrated picture book's lovely style, limited palette, and fluid line has a stark beauty of its own. Even the visually striking endpapers reinforce the seasonal theme, opening with snow-drifted birch trunks and closing with budding twigs and new leaflets emerging as life goes on.

Dawson adds an explanatory author's note and a bibliography of her sources in creating this story.

"I Am Not Afraid:" For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai's Storyby Rebecca Langston-George

NO EDUCATION FOR GIRLS!
GIRLS WHO ATTEND SCHOOL BRING SHAME TO THEIR FAMILIES!

To most kids, going to school is what they do, even though they sometimes wish they didn't have to. But in 2008 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, under the control of the Taliban, this grim message declared that education was to be only for boys.

But for Malala Yousafzai, a born scholar, going to school was the most important thing in the world.  Supported by her father, who taught girls and boys together at his school, she continued to attend, even when the Taliban forced separate classes and entrances for boys and girls. And when the Taliban forbade girls over ten years from school, she pretended to be younger and slipped in with her identity concealed under a large shawl.

And Malala fought back. Taking the name of an earlier Pakistan freedom fighter, Gul Makai, Malala authored a defiant blog that insisted that girls should have equal education under the law. Despite being driven out of their home by the Taliban and their schools and homes bombed, twelve-year-old Malala and her father continued their opposition. Pakistan named its national prize the Malala Peace Prize and she was interviewed on radio, television and newspapers. Her face became familiar to all--especially to the Taliban.

TALIBAN LEADERS BEGAN TO THREATEN MALALA, SAYING SHE WAS WORKING FOR THE WEST. THEY PUT HER ON THEIR HIT LIST.

BUT MALALA REFUSED TO HIDE. SHE REFUSED TO BE SILENCED.

"THE GIRLS OF SWAT ARE NOT AFRAID OF ANYONE," SHE SAID.

But the Taliban was determined to silence her forever. And one day when Malala and her friends were on their way home in the school bus, the bus was suddenly forced to pull over and a man yanked back the canvas roof cover over their seats.

"WHO IS MALALA?"

NO ONE SPOKE. THE ONLY MOVEMENT WAS THE GIRLS' EYES DARTING IN CONCERN TOWARD THEIR FRIEND

THREE SHOTS SHATTERED THE SILENCE.

Grievously wounded, Malala was flown to England for surgery and a long recovery. But determined, she continued to speak out for the right to women's education from her bed and soon became an international hero, and after being awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, she addressed the United Nations with a powerful statement of her own creed:

"ONE CHILD, ONE TEACHER, ONE BOOK, AND ONE PEN CAN CHANGE THE WORLD."

There is nothing so liberating as an education, and Rebecca Langston-George's For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai's Story (Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books) (Capstone Press, 2015) skillfully tells the true story of the courageous girl who stood up to terrorism to speak for equal opportunity for girls and women all over the world. Few young teenagers have their world view threatened and their resolve tested in the way Malala has, and young readers will have their eyes opened to the price many girls in this world may have to pay for the education that most take for granted.

Author Rebecca Langston-George's narrative is simple but eloquent, letting the subject provide the innate drama and passion in Malala's story and using her own strong words to reveal character. The illustrations by Janna Beck are done in somber tones appropriate to the seriousness of the narrative, and since the characters are mostly portrayed draped in fabric, body language cues are of necessity portrayed, vividly, through their eyes. This slim picture biography is bolstered by an author's note, "More about Malala's Story," a glossary, and an index, and a reading of it is a good preface for Malala's memoir, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.

Countdown: Around the Clock by Roz Chast

FROM 6 TO 7 PETE IS UP

DRINKING FROM HIS FAVORITE CUP.

Not only is Pete apparently an early riser. He's also quite a slob. His kitchen is a shambles of burned toast, spilled chocolate syrup, broken eggs, and an overflowing blender.

But not to worry. Somehow by 7:00, Pete's kitchen is tidied by invisible hands, and he's ready to take on some interior decoration.

FROM 7 TO 8, PETE'S MUSE

TELLS HIM TO PAINT HIS ROOM CHARTREUSE.

Other characters, Bea, Lou, Hazel Jane, and Deb, also change activities every hour on the hour throughout the morning, But then it's time for lunch.

FROM 12 TO 1, LYNN EATS BALONEY

WITH HER IMAGINARY FRIEND TONY.

You can see where this one is going, as Roz Chast's new Around the Clock (Atheneum Books, 2015) takes youngsters through the hours of the clock in a humorous lesson in telling time on the conventional clock. Chast, a famous cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine whose style is instantly recognizable, adds some deliciously silly, internally rhyming verse to each hour's activities, full circle, right through the night, bringing the reader back to messy eater Peter, as his dreams are interrupted by his alarm clock, when we might safely predict that he'll arise to clutter the kitchen yet again.

In our times, when some young adults seem to be incapable of reading the hour and minutes from a non-digital clock face, a book which teaches time-telling with imagination, whimsical humor, and clever couplets that can't help provoking chuckles is a welcome addition to any bookshelf. As the New York Times reviewer says, "In Chast's world, the emotions that most picture books aim to help children manage are given gloriously subversive free reign."

Roz Chast is also the author of the zanily offbeat back-to-school story, Marco Goes to School,  the co-creator  (with comedian Steve Martin) of the wacky alphabet book, The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! and her memoir for adult readers, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir., a 2014 National Book Award nominee.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Hiawatha and the Peacemakers by Robbie Robertson

A FIERCE SCREAM ECHOED THROUGH THE WOODLANDS.

An eerie steam crept up from the ground, and the smell of burning pine filled the air

Everything I had ever known had been burned to the ground. My wife and three beautiful daughters had been killed.

Only one man was capable of such horror: the evil Chief Tadodaho.

The Mohawk warrior Hiawatha is filled with rage and vows revenge upon the enemy. But as he broods and schemes alone in the woods, he sees what seems to be a vision, a strange man paddling a white stone canoe up the river. Hiawatha challenges the interloper.

"I-I-I KNOW OF YOUR PAIN," THE MAN STAMMERED.

"I HAVE COME TO TELL YOU OF THE GREAT LAW: FIGHTING AMONG OUR PEOPLE MUST STOP. WE MUST COME TOGETHER AS ONE BODY, ONE MIND, AND ONE HEART.

PEACE, POWER, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE THE NEW WAY."

At first Hiawatha is doubtful. Tadodaho is very powerful and very cruel. But the Peacemaker's message begins to change his heart, and at last Hiawatha agrees to go and speak for him to the chief, elders, and the clan mothers of the Mohawk. But the War Chief cannot agree to disarm for fear of their enemies, especially Tadodaho and his fierce Ononadago warriors. So Hiawatha and the Peacemaker agree to go to the other tribes, the Seneca, the Cayuga, the Oneida, At each meeting Hiawatha tells of his pain at the deaths of his family and his angry desire for revenge, but his new understanding that revenge only creates more war and more death. One by one, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Oneida join Hiawatha and the Peacemaker.

But the War Chief of the Mohawks remains unconvinced.

THE PEACEMAKER LED US TO A TALLEST OAK BY THE MOHAWK RIVER.

"I WILL CLIMB THIS TREE AND YOUR MEN WILL CUT IT DOWN. BUT I WILL NOT PERISH.THEN YOU WILL KNOW THAT MY WORDS ARE TRUE."

And when the Clan Mothers and the War Chief find the Peacemaker downstream, miraculously safe by his fire, they agree to go with the peace party to see Tadodaho himself. They approach his secluded and heavily guarded dwelling.

A FIGURE APPEARED IN THE DOORWAY. HUNCHED OVER, WITHERED, AND TWISTED, TADODAHO WAS A HORRIFYING SIGHT. SICKNESS FROM THE EVIL WITHIN HAD TAKEN OVER HIS BODY, SCALES COVERED MUCH OF HIS SKIN, AND SNAKES SLITHERED FROM HIS HAIR. A FORKED TONGUE PRODUCED A HISSING SOUND.

But the Peacemaker begins singing a beautiful hymn and asks Hiawatha to make medicine to cure Todadaho, to give him forgiveness that will set them all free. When Tadodaho's voice returns, the Peacemaker approaches him:

THE PEACEMAKER PLACED HIS HANDS ABOVE HIS HEAD AND CHANTED.

TADODAHO LET OUT A SCREAM AND THE SNAKES SLITHERED FROM HIS HAIR.

Then the Peacemaker leads them all to the base of a tall pine.

"PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS MUST COME TOGETHER AS ONE. BENEATH THIS TREE WE SHALL BURY ALL OUR WEAPONS OF WAR. IT SHALL BE CALLED THE TREE OF PEACE."

Robbie Robertson's new Hiawatha and the Peacemaker (Abrams Books, 2015) relates the history of the treaty that united the Five Nations in a peace that lasted for centuries, telling it as one of the hero tales of Hiawatha, known to most of us from Longfellow's poem. A noted songwriter with the famous rock group The Band, Robertson turns his skills to relating the story he first heard as a part-Mohawk boy, and his retelling of this legend is dramatic and symbolic in its universality and its advocacy of the power of forgiveness to confront evil. Adding to the power of this portrayal are Caldecott artist David Shannon's (of No, David! fame), monumentally strong oil paintings of great power. Historical and author's notes add documentation for further information and a related music Cd is included. This book is a first purchase for library collections. As School Library Journal's starred review says, "Hiawatha and the Peacemaker adds a much-needed, authentic Native American voice to children’s literature. Its message of peace and Shannon’s incredible art make for a winning combination."

For another, more personal legend of forgiveness and peacemaking, share this one with Joseph Bruchac's gently beautiful Cherokee legend, The First Strawberries (Picture Puffins).

Skeletons in the Closet? Even Monsters Say Good Night by Doreen Muryan Marts

AVERY NEVER LIKED BEDTIME, AND SHE LIKED IT EVEN LESS ON HALLOWEEN WHEN ALL OF THE MONSTERS WERE OUT.

Her weary little weiner dog, still costumed as (what else?) a hot dog, has already dropped down on the living room floor for a doze, but Avery is still counting her trick-or-treat loot when Mom calls "Bedtime." She folds her wings and follows Mom to the bedroom, but not without some dread. How does she know that all those monsters out at Halloween aren't under her bed? Mom has an answer for that one all ready.

"AVERY, MONSTERS HAVE BEDTIMES, TOO."

Avery climbs into bed with her dog and cat, but she still has questions that keep her eyes wide open.

Mom, already stretched out on the sofa with her book, soon sees her former fairy daughter peering at her from over the sofa back.

Mom has answers at the ready. Glibly, she says witches go to bed when their breakfast potions are brewed. And werewolves sleep in dens like regular wolves do. Vampires? Well, they sleep by day in their caskets. Skeletons snooze--in closets, of course.

"MUMMIES SLEEP IN COFFIN BEDS INSIDE PYRAMIDS.

GHOSTS SLEEP INSIDE HAUNTED MANSIONS."

Avery is finally ready to wish a "sleep well" to all the creatures of the night in Doreen Muryan Marts' Even Monsters Say Good Night (Capstone Young Readers, 2015) in a bedtime story in which the main character gets wished a "Sleep tight," from all the monsters from their own particular bedtime places of repose. Told in easy text and speech bubbles, with funny sight gags to seek out, Marts' jolly Halloween-themed illustrations of the legendary denizens of the dark may take most of terror out of these scary critters for the youngest readers. A combo storytime offering, featuring both Halloween spooks and bedtime, this one is a unique read for the scary season.

For an up-close preview, see Capstone's clever trailer of this book here.

For a sleep-provoking pair, read this one with Maurice Sendak's pop-up monster tale, Mommy? ( a pop-up book) (Read my review from when this book was new here).

To Jump Or Not To Jump! You Can't Spike Your Serves by Julie Gassman

I AM A CHEERLEADER HERE AT THE VICTORY SCHOOL FOR SUPER ATHLETES. LIKE ALL THE STUDENTS AT VICTORY, I HAVE A SUPER SKILL -- JUMPING!

When a gold-medalist volleyball player comes to Victory School as guest coach, Alicia is sure that her jumping skill will make playing volleyball a cinch for her. She's so excited about learning a new game from a world-famous athlete that she gets a real inspiration. She should organize a fund-raiser for her friend Jenny's cheerleading squad to buy new uniforms and equipment. A volleyball tournament will be something new for Victory School.

But Alicia has a problem. In Olympian Reece's special classes, Alicia shines at jumping up to spike the ball over the net. But she discovers that her jumping ability is a problem with her serves.

I THROW THE BALL UP LIKE REECE HAD SHOWN US. WITHOUT THINKING, I JUMP UP. SLIGHTLY ABOVE THE BALL, I HIT IT WITH MY RIGHT HAND, BUT IT SLAMS TOWARD THE GROUND

"NICE TRY, ALICIA, BUT YOU CAN'T SPIKE YOUR SERVES," SHE TEASES. "KEEP THOSE FEET ON THE FLOOR!"

I TRY AGAIN, BUT MY FEET KEEP LEAPING UP.

Alicia doesn't give up easily, but she is discouraged when she can't get a single serve over the net. And it's going to be embarrassing if the benefit's organizer can't even play the game!

But pro Reece Robinson has a few elite moves up her sleeve, and she shows Alicia a powerful, but little-used serve, the "jump serve,"

"YOU TAKE A FEW STEPS TOWARD THE BALL AND JUMP UP AS YOU HIT IT. BE SURE TO STAY BEHIND THE BALL, NOT ABOVE IT," REECE EXPLAINS.

With just a little practice, Alicia finds the jump and strike technique is a natural for her, and now she can't wait for the tournament!

It's a winner for Alicia's power serve and for the fund raiser, in Julie Gassman's You Can't Spike Your Serves (Sports Illustrated Kids Victory School Superstars) (Stone Arch/Sports Illustrated). With emphasis on the anxiety that goes along with learning a new skill--even if you are a star at your sport--the Victory School Superstars put the emphasis, not just on winning and starring at a sport, but on cooperation, teamwork, and loyalty to each other, all in a breezy, easy-reading, illustrated chapter book for young elementary students. Pair this one with Julie Gassman's Cheerleading Really Is a Sport (Sports Illustrated Kids Victory School Superstars).

How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm? Dojo Daytrip by Chris Tougas

WITH MASTER LEADING, ARM IN ARM,

NINJAS LEAVE THE BUS TO TOUR THE FARM.

The six little black-hooded ninjas are up for a fun field trip to the farm.  Master is into the spirit of the day, too--all decked out in his straw hat and cowboy boots and ready to show off his agricultural acumen for his little students.

But best laid plans of mice and master go astray!

YIKES! YEE-0W!

With the ninjas perched on the pigpen fence, Master strides manfully with a bucket of swill toward the sow, slips on a banana peel, and lands, slop and all, in the trough.

The little students find it amazing and work off their excitement by letting the chicks loose and breaking a few boards in the fence with karate kicks! Then, leaving Master to struggle out of the slop, they scamper off to climb ropes and hide among the hay bales in the barn.

Master tries to carry on with his lesson in milking the cow. But the bull seems to be a bit possessive about Daisy!

YIKES! YEE-0W!
MASTER FLEES THE RED BARN, RACING
FROM A BULL THAT'S CHARGING, CHASING
NINJAS CHASE EACH OTHER, TOO,
MAKING HORNS AND YELLING, MOO!

Master goes up a tree, at bay, until at last the bull goes away. Courageously, he climbs down and presses on with his lesson plan--hitching the horse up to pull the plow!

But the plowhorse spooks and drags Master, still hanging onto the plow, through the sod. The little ninjas are enthralled with the excitement of the moment. But, wait.

What would a good ninja do?

THE NINJAS ALL FORGOT THEIR CREED: ALWAYS HELP SOME ONE IN NEED!

The six ninja kids go into action. They jump onto the runaway horse and make him whoa. They rescue Master and help him recover. And then they leap into action, repairing the fences, refilling the trough, milking the cow, and giving the plot a good plowing. They even repaint the barn. The barnyard is restored to perfect order.

THE LITTLE NINJAS GIVE A BOW.

MASTER BOWS AND WHISPERS... WOW!

All's well as Master and students board their van and head back to the daycare center. But... what's that critter with the big horns doing in the back of the dojo bus?

It's Yikes! Yee-Ow! all over again as the dojo bus bounces back down the road, in Chris Tougas' Dojo Daytrip (Owlkids Books, 2015). Field trip stories usually involve some sort of hi-jinks among the day trippers, and it seems little ninjas are no different. Tougas' digitally generated cartoon ninjas go right along with the slapstick script, with liberated chicks everywhere, pratfalls in the pigpen, and considerable hazard to the seat of Master's pants in the plot. But this tale is saved from total silliness by the repetition of the dojo creed: Always help someone in need, and kids will soon take up the refrain... Yikes! Yee-Ow!

Pair this one with its predecessor, Dojo Daycare or N. D. Wilson's Ninja Boy Goes to School (review here).

Born to Run! Wild At Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them by Terri Farley

THE OLD BLACK MARE SENSES TROUBLE IN THE QUACKING AIR.

FAR OUT ON THE RANGE, GIANT HEARTBEATS PULSE. SHE CAN'T IDENTIFY THE SOUND--THE POUNDING OF MECHANICAL ROTORS ON A TEAM OF HELICOPTERS. SHE CAN'T KNOW THAT A ROUNDUP HAS BEGUN.

THE LEAD MARE SQUEALS IN WARNING. THE GOLDEN DUN STALLION SPOTS BRIGHTNESS FLASHING OFF THE WHIRLING ROTORS AND GIVES A QUESTIONING SNORT. THE LEADER'S SQUEALS AND SNORTS SEND ALARM CRASHING THROUGH THE BAND. A PREGNANT MARE FLINCHES AT THE THINGS CIRCLING LIKE CARRION EATERS. THE BAND RUNS.

PAIN FROM RUNNING ON THE ROCKS SEARS THE OLD MARE'S FORELEGS. HER PACE SLOWS UNTIL ONLY TWO FOALS TRAIL BEHIND HER. CALLING FOR MOTHERS THEY CAN'T SEE, THE LITTLE ONES STILL TRUST HER TO LEAD THEM OUT OF DANGER. THE BLACK MARE'S CRIPPLED GAIT PROVOKES ANOTHER SWOOPING ATTACK, BUT THE FOALS STILL FOLLOW. SHE GIVE A BUCK, AND HER STIFF SPINE GOES CRACK, RETURNING THE MONSTER'S CHALLENGE. SHE WILL WATCH OVER THE FOALS. IT IS THE LAW.

Something about such a roundup just seems wrong. To those who have witnessed a wild horse collection, euphemistically called a "gathering" by the Bureau of Land Management, and have heard the anguished cries of the mares calling their foals, the screams of the little ones separated from their mothers, the shrieks of the stallions who cannot protect their families from the attack from the sky, it just feels dead wrong.

Until recently, there was a biological argument for removal. The mustangs, wild horses of the West, were considered feral animals, interlopers left behind by the Spanish conquistadors, the army and the pioneers, an "exotic" species which did not belong on the western range, animals to be rounded up, sold as mounts, or worse, sold to slaughter houses that cater to pet food manufacturers or those in the world with a taste for horse flesh.

New archaeological and genetic science has shown that wild horses, E. caballus, originated in North America* and spread across the land bridge to Eurasia, and indeed only disappeared, because of the hunting of those humans who also made use of that land bridge, only 8,000 to 10,000 years before they were re-introduced to the land by European explorers and settlers. As such, America's wild horses are not an invasive species, to be uprooted and removed to make room for cattle and development. Their grazing habits are good for the dry range, promoting vegetation growth that holds water lost under the close cropping of cattle. They are native and belong in the ecology of their ancient homeland.

Terri Farley's Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) is an impassioned plea, not just for humane treatment but the recognition that our wild horses have come home, that they are in their rightful place in our land. Farley begins with the story of Wild Horse Annie, Velma Bronn, the first advocate for mustang conservation, and continues with the growth of youth advocacy for wild horses today though organizations like YEA in which children and teen advocates work for the rights of mustangs to a free life and the rights of Americans to see them running free together. "The last wild horse in America may already have been born," Farley reports, and it is up to those of us alive now to see that this prediction, that the wild horses of America face yet another extinction at the hands of humans, will not come to pass. Says School Library Journal, "An urgent call to action, supported with detailed endnotes and a substantial bibliography."


*Amazingly, the vastly different breeds of horses that came together in North America since 1500 combined, by virtue of their common DNA, into a single common type, some even exhibiting the black legs and strip down the back pictured in ancient cave drawings.

The Genie Inside: Oscar Lives Next Door by Bonnie Farmer

ROOT-A-TOOT-TOOT GOES OSCAR'S TRUMPET.

BING BANG BOP GOES OSCAR'S PIANO.

"WE'RE MOVIN'!" SAYS DADDY, PULLING THE PILLOWS UP OVER HIS EARS.

"THAT OSCAR BINGS, BANGS, AND BOPS TOO MUCH!"

But Milly loves Oscar's trumpet, and the horns and piano his brothers and sisters play next door. And she's glad that they never do move away from the fun next door.

Oscar is her friend. Together they race each other down the streets of St. Henri, pretending to be elephants with swinging trunks or high-stepping horses. Sometimes they are partners in crime.

WE GIDDYUP BACK TO THE CHURCH TO PLAY A TRICK ON REVEREND JAMES.

WE BANG ON THE CHURCH DOOR AND HIDE. REVEREND JAMES POKES HIS HEAD OUT OF A WINDOW.

"OSCAR! MILDRED!" HE YELLS! "COME OUT OF THOSE BUSHES!"

WE DON'T STOP RUNNING 'TIL WE'RE BACK HOME.

Then one day Oscar's cough turns into a fever and he's very sick. The doctor says he has tuberculosis and must stay in the hospital until he gets well. Millie misses her friend and is sorry to hear that he is so lonely there that he refuses to speak to anyone. She can't visit Oscar, but she can send him a special card.

Dear Oscar,

The trick that we played on Reverend James did not make you sick.

Get better and come home soon,

Love, Millie  XOXOXOXO

After a long time Oscar comes home, but he is discouraged to learn that he when he blows into his trumpet, no sound comes out.

He patiently disassembles his instrument to look for the problem.

"I WANT TO SEE WHERE THE MAGIC COMES FROM," HE SAYS.

"MAYBE THERE IS A GENIE INSIDE THE PIANO, TOO," I SAY.

WHEN OSCAR'S FINGERS TOUCH THE KEYBOARD, IT SOUNDS LIKE ROLLING THUNDER.

But the genie is not inside the piano, but in Oscar's mind and fingers, in Bonnie Farmer's Oscar Lives Next Door: A Story Inspired by Oscar Peterson's Childhood (OwlKids, 2015). Farmer, who grew up decades later in the same neighborhood in Montreal as Oscar Peterson, nostalgically provides a warm setting for the childhood of one of the piano jazz greats of the twentieth century. Told simply through the eyes and voice of Oscar's fictional friend Millie, we see Oscar studying and practicing his piano and getting that magic inside himself. Marie LaFrance's soft faux naif illustrations, night scenes in deep blue tones and sunny city streets where children play, capture the charm and warmth of a small enclave where a girl can watch and listen from her porch to hear her best friend playing next door. This is a homey look at the boy before he grew into the man who became a jazz star.

Some people say, "it's the music that is important," and of course that comes first. But lasting music comes out of the mind and heart and, yes, the body of a musician, and a book for children that portrays how that happened for the celebrated greats has value in opening up the music to children. There is a magic in the music--a genie inside the horn or the piano--but it takes a real person to coax that spirit out. Farmer's elegant picture book biography captures the time and place, the musical family, and the milieu of the close community in which his talents grew. Oscar, heartbroken that he can no longer get a song from his trumpet, nevertheless courageously turns to another instrument and the rest is jazz history.

For young fans, picture biographies of famous musicians include Bird & Diz, Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her, Fab Four Friends: The Boys Who Became the Beatles, and Keith Richards' memoir of his grandfather, Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar

Nature Knew It First! Picture This: Shapes by Judith Nouvion; translated by Vali Tamm

STAR

A starfish has five
strong arms. Count them:
1-2-3-4-5!

Nature, that peerless design artist, is the ultimate source of the familiar shapes that dominate this concept book that teach preschoolers the shapes--triangles, squares, circles, and the more complex diamonds, spirals, curved and straight lines, and even trapezoids, hexagons, and pentagons.

And nature does it in living color, with elaborate shapes and patterns that have their functions--camouflage, simulation, attraction, strength, and sometimes seemingly artistic caprice. Judith Nouvion's Shapes (Picture This) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) is that rare creation, a board book for preschoolers and primary graders that includes stunning photographs for nature study and concepts of geometric shape with illustrations that inspire both young scientist and artist.

Nouvion begins with a ladybug on a sunflower and invites the child to count the dots on her wings, but also remarks that the number of dots reveal the type of beetle she is. Other glorious one- and two-page spreads show a line of pigeons roosting on a straight telephone line, followed immediately by the supple curved lines of a slithering snake. There is a lovely round, blue jellyfish, with radial lines from center to circumference, a more-or-less triangular green moth on a green leaf whose striations mirror the figure, a square-shelled ghost crab, a rectangular-ish flying squirrel in full soaring position, the diamond shape of a devil ray, and the oval egg of a gentoo penguin in its pebble-and-feather nest.

There is a sumptuous semi-circular peacock tail, coiled antelope horns, and the beaded beauty of a chameleon's spiral tail.  A flock of flamingos on a lake form a definite criss-cross, while honey bees tend the golden hexagonal cells of their hive. The fake eyes  of the peacock butterfly adorn the four corners of its trapezoidal wingspan, and a porcupinefish puffs itself into a defensive spiky ball shape. These and more shapes in nature beguile the eye and stimulate the mind of youngsters as they teach and reinforce the concept and vocabulary of shape.

With a text that invites interaction (Can you spot the square before the crab disappears?), this book is a first purchase for public and school libraries, as well as all early childhood classrooms and homes with preschool libraries of their own. Art, mathematics, and biology come together, as they should, in this intriguing nature study book for young readers.

Taken! Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War by Jessica Humphreys and Michel Chikwanine

My name is Michel Chikwanine. The story you are about to read is true. It is my story, and it is just one of thousands like it.

I was five years old. There were rumblings of chaos in the distance, but I didn't hear them. I played soccer, I watched TV, I went to school, and I daydreamed.

Michel's life in the town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is good. His dad is a lawyer, and his mom sells goods in the market. He has a best friend, Kevin, to teach him soccer skills and walk with him to school, and he has three sisters. He is the only son and the apple of his father's eye.

But his dad listens intently to the news on the radio, and one morning he has a unusually stern warning for Michel as he leaves to walk to school.

"Be home by six, Michel!"

But Kevin and the boys are planning a soccer game right after school, and little Michel brushes aside his father's words to stay for the game with the boys. That choice changes his life.

As they play, a group of army trucks pull up, with soldiers packed inside. Suddenly he hears a loud BANG!

A group of wild-haired men bolt out of the truck and seize the boys, separating them by ages, and throw them into trucks.

When the truck stopped, we were ordered out. I heard a crunch underneath my feet. It was a skeleton without a head. My legs couldn't move.

"Put out your hands." The rebel soldier blindfolded me. He put a gun right into my hands. Someone grabbed my fingers, putting one on the trigger.

"SHOOT! SHOOT!"

Someone took off my blindfold. I had been forced to kill Kevin, my best friend.

"Your family will never take you back now," whispered one of the soldiers."You are one of us."

Michel Chikwanine's story of his captivity and brave escape is that of many young children, estimated at a quarter million worldwide, taken into bondage as child soldiers, forced to labor, fight, and serve as spies, decoys, and suicide bombers. With Jessica Humphreys, Chikwanine tells the story of those children who cannot speak for themselves in Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War (CitizenKid) (CitizenKid, 2015). Artist Claudia Davila utilizes the graphic novel format--with empathetic full-page illustrations and panels--in a style that tells the grim story of child soldiers worldwide without being unduly disturbing for elementary and middle school readers. The authors append a thumbnail update of Mechel Chikwanine's life and information on the United Nation's program to end the use of children under 18 as combatants along with a appealing "What You Can Do" section. "An enlightening, accessible, and, above all, child-friendly introduction to the issue," says School Library Journal in its starred review.

When Life Gives You Lemons....: Mr. Putter and Tabby Smell the Roses by Cynthia Rylant

MR. PUTTER AND HIS FINE CAT, TABBY, LIVED NEXT DOOR TO MRS. TEABERRY AND HER GOOD DOG, ZEKE.

TABBY AND ZEKE DID EVERYTHING MR. PUTTER AND MRS. TEABERRY DID.

EXCEPT SOMETIMES ZEKE DID IT THE HARD WAY.

Tabby made a fine Christmas reindeer when she wore her antlers for Christmas. Zeke was cool in his cowl and Batman cape at Halloween. But now Mrs. Teaberry's birthday is coming up on Saturday, and Mr. Putter wants to do something special--but different--for this birthday.

They'd done cake and ice cream. Mr. Putter had blown up many balloons.

But they were always done for when Zeke got his fine teeth into them.

Over several thoughtful cups of cocoa, Mr. Putter finally has an inspiration. He will escort Mrs. Teaberry to the Conservatory. Mrs. Teaberry was partial to beautiful trees, exotic plants, and flowers, especially roses.

On Saturday Mr. Putter wore his best striped tie and pomade on his hair.

"POMADE MAKES THE MAN!" HE TOLD TABBY.

He cranked up his blue Buick with its brand-new tires, and Mrs. Teaberry wore her ruffly dress and zebra earrings. Zeke wore his zebra-striped dog sweater.

But although Zeke was a good dog, he was not always as well-behaved as Tabby. So Mr. Putter had a plan.

MR. PUTTER HAD TOLD ZEKE THAT IF HE WAS VERY, VERY GOOD, HE MIGHT GET A SURPRISE.

ZEKE LIVED FOR SURPRISES.

For five minutes, Zeke was extra good.

THEN HE SAW THE BANANA TREE.

ZEKE THOUGHT THE BANANA TREE WAS HIS SURPRISE.

Zeke sprang straight up and brought down a bunch of bananas. The guard tweeted his whistle, loud and shrill. Startled, Tabby sprang straight up to take refuge in a lemon tree.

Apparently the lemons were ripe, because they rained down on the heads of Mr. Putter and Mrs. Teaberry and several other plant lovers below.

So, clutching fallen bananas and lemons, Mr. Putter, Tabby, Zeke, and Mrs. Teaberry, made a run for it to Mr. Putter's big blue Buick. And having made their getaway, all four of them celebrated at the ice cream parlor with strawberry cake and ice cream. And the next day there was another surprise. . .

LEMONADE!

All's well that ends well, as it always does when Mr. Potter and Tabby entertain, in Cynthia Rylant's brand-new Mr. Putter & Tabby Smell the Roses (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), the  latest (and twenty-fourth!) in this beloved beginning reader series. As always, artist Arthur Howard adds his inimitable comic illustrations to the recipe for these gentle and sweet stories of an unlikely pair of human and animal best friends.