"I Am the Greatest!" The Ultimate Shark Rumble: (Who Would Win?) by Jerry Pollatta

When big sharks duke it out, who is greatest? In the waters of the world, the stakes are high when the biggest and the baddest boys in the shark world enter the ring to find out who the champion carnivore in the sea can be. Each one claims to be "The Greatest!"

When Saw Shark tries to cut a slice of Mako Shark, Mako makes short work of the duel, biting off the sawfish's tail! Mako wins! Hammerhead Shark is sure he's got all the right stuff. He can keep watch for opponents on both sides, as well as back and front. Bye-bye, Six-gilled Shark! You're too ugly to live!

And the great white shark only needs one knockout punch, er, one Great White bite, to take down the competition. But here comes the bulkiest big boy in all of sharkdom, the whale shark! However, he is lacking the one thing sharks are famous for--big teeth. Tiny teeth are good only for copping krill.

Whale shark goes down to the quick chomps of Black-tip Shark. So long, sucker! The same goes for the stocky little Leopard Shark when he confronts the thresher shark, whose long tail whips him right out of the competition.

Megamouth Shark looks tough with a mouth big as a barn door, but his teeny-tiny teeth can't take down Greenland Shark, who can live for 500 years, sharpening his fighting skills.

WHO WILL MAKE THE SHARK FINAL FOUR?

Mako Shark makes use of his lightning jab, biting off chunks of Bull Shark here and there. But Tiger Shark deftly takes both down for the count. But nearing the final round of the World Championship Match, Great White Shark tries a quick undercut punch, striking from below at Greenland Shark.

Now it's down to the top contenders--Great White Shark comes in to deliver a low blow from below, and Tiger Shark twists and attacks in the clinch with a quick big bite. First blood! The match is over! Tiger Shark Takes THE TITLE!

TIGER SHARK WINS!

Tiger Shark may be the greatest--this time, but there's always time for a rematch out there under the waves, in Jerry Pollatta's Who Would Win books offer many animal champs a rematch with their greatest contenders, in his Ultimate Shark Rumble (Who Would Win?) (24) Ultimate Jungle Rumble (Who Would Win?) (19) and Ultimate Dinosaur Rumble (Who Would Win?) (22)/a>

This is a vividly illustrated book, with Rob Bolston's action drawings, carried out in bright colors that capture the serious competition between all contenders. For kids who like some excitement along with their curriculum-co-ordinated animal behavior lessons, this book and the others in this series offer some exciting encounters for rising middle grade readers.

When Words Seemed Weaker Than Whips: So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt

IN SLAVERY TIME WHEN HOPE WAS A SEED....

... a little slave girl was born in New York State, one of many children, most sold to work far away. Nine-year-old Isabella, too, was sold, along with a flock of sheep, for one hundred dollars. Mama Bett told her to remember that her family all looked to the same stars at night. Isabella looked at those stars ...

... and she asked God "if He thought it was right."

Isabella knew nothing but long days of hard work, but she grew strong and tall, and just before slavery became illegal in New York, she left with her youngest, Baby Sophia, and took refuge with an anti-slavery family who paid off her angry owner. But to get back her older children, Isabella stood tall and took her case to court and finally won back the custody of her family.

"I felt so tall within," she said. "I felt as if the power of the nation was with me."

Isabella stood tall and walked to New York City, where she managed to unite with some of her sisters, and then she felt a towering desire to help all slaves escape the whip of the owner.

It would be a journey--a sojourn--to tell the truth about slavery.

Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth, and she began to walk again.

Sojourner Truth began her long walk through her nation. She spoke powerfully in the non-slave-holding northern states--Massachusetts, Ohio, and Indiana. She walked to Washington, and met President Abraham Lincoln, "the best president who ever took the seat," and stood tall in front of a trolley until it stopped and let her ride. And when the slaves were emancipated and the Civil War was over, she walked with the Freedmen's Bureau to gain education for all freed slaves. Now she knew what she was in this world for.

Sojourner Truth walked all across the United States, delivering powerful speeches.

What she had to say was plenty. She spoke of a woman's right to vote. She spoke about making prisons more humane. She asked the government to offer land to former slaves. She spoke against capital punishment. She walked thousands of miles... and everywhere, she spoke of Freedom.

IN FREEDOM TIME, WHEN HOPE KINDLED A FIRE IN THE DARK AND HAPPINESS WINKED OVER THE HORIZON...

Sojourner Truth, born a slave, uneducated and poor, was a tall woman, still even larger than life in her farseeing dreams for her country, one who casts a very long shadow over human rights for all to this day. Gary D. Schmidt's So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom (Roaring Brook Press, 2018) is an eloquent picture book depicting the long life of the tall woman who changed her world and helped end legal slavery in America and became an early advocate of women's rights. In vivid descriptions and arresting prose of his own and the poignant words of Sojourner Truth ringing down through the centuries, and perfect for Black History and Women's History months, Gary Schmidt's new book belongs in all libraries for children. Schmidt, twice a Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist (see reviews here), has the added talents of artist Daniel Minter, whose illustrations are lovely, stark, and memorable.