The Crossover! The Little Blue Bridge by Brenda Maier

ONE DAY RUBY SPOTTED SOME BLUEBERRIES ACROSS THE CREEK.

"LET'S GO PICK BERRIES TO BAKE IN A PIE," SHE SAID.

DID SOMEONE SAY PIE?

Ruby's older brothers perk up their ears.

"OKAY WITH ME!" SAID OSCAR LEE.

"LET'S GIVE IT A GO." SAID RODRIGO.

"I'LL FIND A WAY" SAID JOSE'.

Ruby is used to being belittled by her big brothers. She's a girl. A little girl! But when they see big bully, Santiago, guarding the downed log that serves as a bridge across the creek, they get second thoughts. Jose', oldest brother, gives it a try, but Santiago demands a snack before letting him use his bridge. Jose' thinks fast.

"WAIT FOR MY BROTHER. HE PACKS A BETTER SNACK." OFFERS JOSE'.

Rodrigo gives it a go, promising that his next brother has a better snack in his pack. But Santiago claims that he's the boss of the crossing, Oscar Lee suggests he give the shakedown to his sister. A little sister? Santiago can't believe his luck. He's the boss and no little girl can beat him out of a fast snack! But Ruby claims she's carrying no snacks. No snack? Go back! Santiago proclaims.

"I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT SAY THAT!" SAID RUBY.

But little Ruby knows there's more than one way to cross a creek. And with some found blue planks and some pretty green vines, she begins to build her own bridge, while her brothers busily fill their pails with berries. Grasping the concept, Santiago pitches in to help Ruby complete the bridge and pick more blueberries, too.

And, oh my, there's plenty of blueberry pie for all and soon plenty of trip-trapping back and forth over the bridge for the new blueberry pie pals, in Brenda Maier's latest, The Little Blue Bridge, the companion book to her first fractured fairy tale, The Little Red Fort. Both books are super companion reads for savvy primary graders who are familiar with the original folktales of The Billy Goats Gruff and The Little Red Hen, and will love spotting and pointing out the parallels in the plots of the two classics. With the colorful individualized characters in the illustrations of Sonia Sanchez, Maier's latest is a good way to give youngsters a taste of the fun of the fractured fairy tale.

Conflict Resolution! The Infamous Ratsos: Ratty Tattletale by Kara LaReau

The Bully Boys are at it again. No sooner has little Tiny declared that he loves Mondays than Kurt Musky and Sid Chatterer snatch him up to toss up and down the school hallway.

"Cut it out, guys!" yells Tiny.

"Aw, he's so cute when he's angry," says Sid.

"Stop being so uptight, Crawley," says Kurt.

Millicent is moved to call a teacher, but Tiny stops her, saying that will only make it worse. Ralphie's warnings to the rowdies don't help, until at last Mrs. Beaver, the third-grade teacher steps out of her door and dispatches the two bullies to the principal's office. But now Ralphie knows he'd better watch his back.

And he's right. At lunch Sid and Kurt flip his lunch, and Ralphie has to clean up the mess while the bullies snicker. Still Ralphie is mum about the bullying around his big brother Louie, hoping to handle the problem himself. But at recess Sid and Kurt gang up on Tiny in Bombardment, and when Ralphie nails them with two balls, one after the other, he and the two bullies are all O-U-T of the game! Now, Ralphie knows he's on the two troublemaker's hit list. And when school's out, he finds his backpack in the trash can with a note:

PREPARE TO GET TRASHED!

Still, Ralphie is determined to keep the harassment to himself. Walking home with his brother Louie, he suggests they take a new way home, one that takes them by Mrs. Porcupini's, who offers them some of her hot cookies and cold milk. Just as the famished Ralphie is about to take a bite, the two bullies appear.

"Well, well, well," said Kurt, cracking his knuckles. "If it isn't our old pal, Ratty Tattletale!"

Now Louie gets what's going on and tells his little brother he should report the bullies to the principal. Ralphie refuses, on the grounds that tattling is not cool.

But when Ralphie tries to enter the arms race with Kurt and and Sid's pea shooters, things take a turn for the worst, resulting in the smashing of Mrs. Porcupini's window, and Ralphie agrees that it's time to 'fess up to their dad, Big Lou, about what's been going on, in Kara LaReau's latest in her The Infamous Ratsos series, The Infamous Ratsos: Ratty Tattletale (Candlewick Press, 2021). Choosing when to fight your own battles and when to ask for help is not easy, but in this Geisel Honor-winning series, all ends with a peaceful solution in what Ralphie calls "A smashing success." Along with Matt Myers' funny illustrations, author Kara LaReau's beginning chapter books offer comic considerations of those real-life early school days problems for developing readers.

Be the Best You! Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

Molly Lou Melon was the shortest girl in her class.

Her grandma had told her, "Walk as proudly as you can and people will look up to you."

Molly's front teeth stick out so far she can stack pennies on them, but her grandma tells her to smile broadly and everyone else will smile with her.

Her voice is croaky as a bull frog's, but Grandma tells her to sing loud and clear and the world will be full of joy.

And what Grandma said was true... until Molly Lou Mellon had to say good by to her Grandma, move to a new town, and start at a new school.

Her new school had a bully--Ronald Durkin--who seemed to think it was his job to point out Molly Lou Mellon's shortcomings.

On the first day of school, Ronald Durkin called her SHRIMPO.

So Molly Lou Mellon caught a pass and ran right under Ronald Durkin's legs.  TOUCHDOWN! The kids cheered for Molly. So the next day Ronald Durkin was waiting with a new insult.

He called her "BUCKY THE BEAVER."

And Molly stacked pennies on her teeth and made all the class giggle in amazement. Ronald Durkin was appropriately abashed. But in music class the next day he sneered.

"You sound like a FROG!"

But Molly Lou Melon quacked so loud that Ronald Durkin fell over backward and had to go to the nurse's office for the rest of the afternoon. The rest of the class didn't miss him much either.

And Molly Lou Melon writes Grandma a letter.

"Dear Grandma,

Everything you told me was exactly right!"

"Be the best you that you can be," is good advice in Patty Lovell's beat-the-bully-at-his-own-game story, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon (G.P. Putnam's Sons), comically illustrated by noted artist David Catrow in his typically quirky style, who shows that keeping your cool and your smile can go a long way. Says Publishers Weekly, "Catrow's full-bleed pencil-and-watercolor illustrations, awash in ripe colors and animated by slapstick exaggeration, radiate a winningly eccentric elegance."

For more giggle-bait, share this one with Lovell and Catrow's Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon and David Catrow's hilarious I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards)) and Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs.

The Right Question: Why? by Adam Rex

"RUN, PUNY FOOLS!"

Mall strollers flee as, through the dome in the ceiling, a Supervillain crashes down among the terrified shoppers.

"NO ONE CAN WITHSTAND THE POWER OF DR. X-RAY!"

"WHY?" ASKED THE LITTLE GIRL.

BECAUSE OF MY X-RAY BLASTER!"

The girl repeats her question.

The disgruntled Supervillain mumbles through an explanation of his ray gun and his indestructible super suit, but the little girl repeats her question.

"WHY?"

The supervillain explains impatiently that it is his destiny to rule the world. The world deserves ill treatment because the world has treated he him so badly, he complains, unfairly showing disdain for his deep love for YARN! On the escalator he tells the little girl that he's always loved knitting, but his yarn shop was a failure because the fickle public cares nothing for his craft. The supervillain doesn't understand why not.

"KNITTING IS AMAZING!" HE SAYS.

No one understands him, not the non-knitting public and certainly not his father, who made him be a doctor just because his grandfather and this grandfather's grandfather were doctors. Now it is HIS turn to make people do what HE wants. He must be the master of the universe.

"WHY?"

"BECAUSE THEN MAYBE MY DADDY WILL BE PROUD OF ME!" HE ADMITS.

Now we're getting down to the basic question, in Adam Rex's both comic and poignant story of self-knowledge in his Why?: (Funny Children’s Books, Preschool Books, Early Elementary School Stories) (Chronicle Books). "Know thyself," said Socrates, and even supervillains need to work on their self-knowledge, and who better to ask the big question than a little girl determined to get to the root of the issue, portrayed charmingly by illustrator Claire Keane's little inquisitor. Declares Booklist, "Rex delivers a storytime home run--hilarious, heartfelt, instructive, and interactive."

More books for thinking kids by Adam Rex are Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, and Nothing Rhymes with Orange: (Cute Children's Books, Preschool Rhyming Books, Children's Humor Books, Books about Friendship).

Shark Alert! Sam Wu Is NOT Afraid of Sharks by Katie and Kevin Wang

From the outside the Aquarium looked a lot like the Space Museum--BIG.

"Hey, Sam Wu-ser! Do you have a stupid outfit for the aquarium, too?"

It was Ralph. Only Ralph thinks it's hilarious to call me Sam Wu-ser--because it rhymes with loser.

Sam's Wu's nemesis, Ralph Philip Zinkerman III, has made it his life's work is to let nobody in the class forget that unfortunate INCIDENT at the Space Museum. So Sam hides his fear when Betty the Aquarium Lady puts his hand right on the back of a real stingray. But touching a stingray is nothing compared to that holy terror in the shark tank, Crazy Charlie, who seems to have his eye on no one but Sam.

THEN THE SHARK UNHINGED HIS BIG JAW AND SHOWED ALL ITS TEETH... AND CHARGED.

AARRGH! said everybody who had seen Crazy Charlie ram his head into the glass.

Except... Ralph Philip Zinkerman, who laughs and points at Sam.

"Scaredy Cat Sam is scared of SHARKS!"

At least I hadn't wet my pants like I did at the Space Museum, Sam thought.

Sam figures he's pretty safe from sharks as long as he stays away from large bodies of water, but of course Ralph's parents make him invite everyone in the class to his birthday party, and of course his birthday party is at the BEACH, which means that the shark-infested ocean will be only a few steps away.

Sam's Space Blaster buddies Zoe and Bernard remind him that they will be there with him. They do research at the library on sharks, and Sam screws up his courage to venture onto the beach. He's planning to stay busy building sandcastles safely away from the waterline, but then he sees a black fin approaching an old man in the water.

He is even older than Na-Na.

If ever Na-Na is ever in the ocean and about to be eaten by a shark, I hope someone will save her, too!

Sam Wu comes through, wading bravely into the surf with his Space Blasters' mantra on his lips: Do it for the universe! in Katie and Kevin Wang's latest book, Sam Wu Is Not Afraid of Sharks (Sterling Books, 2019). Again Sam Wu gets by with a little help from his friends and triumphs over his fears and Ralph Philip Zinkerman III in a truly funny beginning chapter book, illustrated in black and white comic drawings by Nathan Reed. There's even a hint of the Wangs' next book, as Ralph's sister Regina has an invitation for Sam Wu:

"Do you think you could come over sometime and get the zombie werewolf out of our basement?"

Katie and Kevin Wang's first book is Sam Wu Is Not Afraid of Ghosts (see review here).

Well-Read: The Losers Club by Andrew Clement

A bright red plastic chair sat in the hallway outside the principal's office. The chair was known as the Hot Seat and Alec Spencer was in it.

Alec was a special case. Every time he had landed in the Hot Seat, he'd been caught doing something that teachers usually liked: reading.

You could say Alec Spencer is well read.

He's racked up hundreds of books he's read, and re-read, several times over. Alec uses reading as an escape strategy from everything, and he has become an expert sneak reader, reading during lessons when he needs to be listening and looking. But in sixth grade, when his grades are not even as so-so as usual, his parents are on the warpath, threatening to make sure his next visit to the Hot Seat is going to guarantee a seat in the after-school Homework Room.

Alec makes a deal with his parents. If he gets good weekly reports, he can join the less rigorous after-school Clubs Group instead. He reads the rules closely, and finding a loophole, Alec formulates a plan. He founds a reading club, and to make sure no one will interfere with his obsession, he names his group "the Losers Club" to keep most kids from joining. He suffers the teasing of his sometime friend, Kent, now class bully and current kickball champ of the Active Sports Group who continually calls him "Bookworm."

But Alec gets lucky and even gets the requisite second member in the person of a quiet fourth-grader named Lily. His plan is working. And per parental degree, seated in the center front row in every class, he's forced to pay attention and his grades immediately go up. After all, he's got three hours of undisturbed and officially approved reading to look forward to after school. Alec thinks he's beat the system.

And then he gets another applicant, a cute girl named Nina, a refugee from the Origami Group. She's read Hatchet, and is no fan of show-off Kent. Perfect.

Life is good--until Kent seems to become interested in Nina. He invites her to come over with her brother to shoot baskets on his lighted basketball court and begins to send booming kicks across the gym and onto Alec's table to show off his prowess. It's clearly a challenge that Alec needs to counter, but surprisingly other would-be book lovers are wearying with their clubs and joining his. Even Kent wants to join. Suddenly Alec is the champ reader leader! He has three tables of kids that he has to find just the right books for, and now he has to plan a presentation about his group for the fall PTA meeting.

Life in sixth grade can be complicated, especially with a special girl in the picture, as Alec learns in Andrew Clements' The Losers Club (Random House, 2017), a realistic and humorous coming-of-middle-school-age novel that sensitively explores the transitions that his many fans are experiencing. Clements' characters are well crafted, familiar, but more prototype than stereotype, offering middle readers insight into their own classmates--the groups they choose and the games they play. Author of the landmark best-seller, Frindle: Library Edition and dozens of other top-selling books, Andrew Clements is the phenom of middle-reader fiction. Says Kirkus Reviews' starred review, "Clements once again effectively taps into the challenges of middle school social politics and mapping out one’s identity. This empathetic coming-of-age journey makes it clear how limiting and pointless labels can be, and that both books and real life have quite a bit to offer."

Different Cloaks for Different Folks! Super Manny Stands Up! by Kelly DiPucchio

Every day Manny put on a different cape after school.

When he wore his blue cape he was fearless.

In his red cape he battled an army of of zombie bears.

In his purple cape Manny overpowers alien robots from hostile planets. In his green cape he bests forest giants.

Manny is indeed a legend in his own mind. With a wardrobe of capes for all occasions, he is strong and brave enough to defeat any mean monsters and bad guys he meets.

But Manny is a good kid, and since costumes are strictly forbidden (except on special days), at school Manny is cloaked only in the school uniform of superhero capes--

Manny saved his top-secret undercover cape for school.

The INVISIBLE CAPE!

But one day in the school cafeteria, he encounters a new bad guy loudly giving orders to his friend, Small One.

"I SAID MOVE!"

Tall one towered over Small One.

Manny can't move out of his seat. He can't even move his mouth. He looks around for a lunch monitor, but there's no help in sight. At last he manages to speak but his voice comes out very small and squeaky.

"Stop it."

Manny remembers his invisible cape and bumps it up a bit.

"Stop it."

Apparently, mild-mannered reproaches don't work so well with lunchroom bullies. All eyes are now on Manny and the bully. It's time for Super Manny to put up or shut up!

Will Manny find his super self and stand up to face down Tall One?

Once in a while, everyone needs to find his or her inner superhero, and Manny has his moment in Kelly DeiPucchio's newest, Super Manny Stands Up! (Atheneum Books, 2017).   Author-illustrator DiPucchio sets the scene and skillfully builds the suspense for the final shootout in the OK Cafeteria, with a timely, back-to-school message that sometimes bullies just need someone to stand up to them, especially when the small and meek are in need of rescue.

DiPucchio's pictures Manny and his superhero fantasies engagingly in her pencil and water ink illustrations and makes good use of thought balloons and font size to stage Manny's big moment. Youngsters will share Manny's moment of truth gleefully and also appreciate the secondary message that it's good to have some sidekicks on your side when super deeds are in order. Says Publishers Weekly, "When the lunchroom scene unfolds, the images take on surprising and touching drama, creating a powerful moment of truth."

Revenge of the Nerd! Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive The Cafeteria by John Grandits

Kyle's on the school bus, nose in his trusty insect book, while his seatmate Ginny natters on and on about the virtues and vices of the celery sticks in her sack lunch. Trying to be sociable, Kyle volunteers something that makes Ginny's eyes bug out.

"Mom didn't have time this morning, so I'm buying my lunch in the cafeteria."

Ginny gasped.

"How hard can it be?" I said.

That question is Kyle's first mistake. Ginny leans in dramatically.

"There are RULES!"

#1: DON'T HOLD UP THE LINE.
#2: DON'T TAKE TOO MANY THINGS.
#3: DON'T FORGET TO PAY.
#4: ALWAYS EAT WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.
#5: HOLD ON TO YOUR TRAY.
#6: NEVER AGGRAVATE THE LUNCH LADY.
#7: NEVER, EVER, TALK TO THE BIG KIDS.

Kyle doesn't like rules. They are too easy to break. His bug book under his arm, he scurries nervously down the hall to lunch with the other fifth graders like a line of army ants, the scary sixth graders hot on their heels, looking more like a swarm of yellow jackets, with the worst bus bully, Arthur, right behind him.

But the posted menu is long, and Kyle pauses to squint at each choice. Arthur pokes him in the back:

"Hey, Dweeb! Get moving!"

Yikes! He's already broken the first rule of survival. But Food Service Guy barks at Arthur. Quickly, Kyle stammers out a truthful explanation.

"It's not his fault," I said. "I was taking too long."

In short order, Kyle finds himself breaking every one of Ginny's rules. He piles his tray with all the choices and gets busted by the Lunch Line Lady. He doesn't know his PIN to pay the Register Woman, and when he hustles to get the last empty seat with his class, he trips and fall flat, the contents of his tray splattering everywhere. Every kid in the room turns to look and in that time-honored school custom, they hoot with one voice. All the Cafeteria Ladies have had it with Kyle. The Lunch Monitor glares down at him.

"That's it! You've caused enough trouble for today."

Eyes bulging like a beetle, she points a skinny, hairy appendage toward the sixth grade table, to the only empty seat in the house, right next to Arthur the bully.

He was hunched over his food with five other meat-eating water bugs. What could I do?

"Hey, Dweeb! Thanks for covering for me in the line," Arthur says.

It's The Revenge of the Nerd, in John Grandit's Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the Cafeteria (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), in which Kyle encounters all of the hazards of the school cafeteria--the bully, the menu, the wrath of the various Lunch Ladies and Guys, the dropped tray, and (horror of horrors) having to sit with the Big Kids. The only nemesis he navigates easily is the food. Sure, the pasta may look like worms, but creepy-crawly critters are Kyle's passion, and while slurping up his spaghetti, he engrosses and grosses out the sixth graders with his true tales of fifty-feet-long tapeworms and headless living cockroaches.

Artist Michael Allen Austin ably portrays his entomology-obsessed hero as the perfect preppy nerdboy in his pressed blue oxford shirt and scholarly glasses, with beloved bug book under his arm. Kyle is the quintessential bully bait, but also one with a secret weapon--he's a nice guy who knows really cool gross stuff. Austin's illustrations fill the full-bleed pages with comic bobble-head caricatures of the usual suspects of the middle-grader school scene, sure to tickle kids and a sure-fire hit for back-to-school reading.

For more first-days of school fun, pair this one with Grandit's and Austin's comedic and congenial companion book, Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break if You Want to Survive the School Bus.

One Big Trick! POOR Little Guy by Elanna Allen

Life is fraught when you're a little Caspar Milquetoast of a fish--bright yellow, spherical, with big glasses, rotund and definitely not built for speed.

He's surrounded briney deep predators who figure he's an easy mark.

An Octopus eyeballs him and decides he's the perfect bully-bait.

"HEL-LO, LITTLE GUY. LET'S PLAY... CATCH OF THE DAY!

FISHKET BALL!"

Octopus tosses Little Guy back and forth.  He chases him through the maze. He plays with the little fish like a cat with a mouse. He tells Little Guy that he's so little and adorable that he must even taste cute.

And finally Octopus is ready for the ultimate taste test. He opens his mouth and chunks Little Guy in.

AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Little Guy doesn't have natural camouflage. He doesn't have speed. He doesn't have a mouthful of sharp teeth. He doesn't have any of nature's usual attributes to protect against predators.

But he does have ONE BIG TRICK that trumps the rest.

He's a pufferfish. He can blow himself up, which activates hundred of spiny spikes!

It's Big Guys, BEWARE in Elanna Allen's clever tale of a little pufferfish who is the little one who gets away to live to swim another day, in Poor Little Guy (Dial Books, 2016).  Youngsters will chuckle as the little guy bests the bully just by being himself. Author Clark sets this one up with wry wit as the big predators of the deep learn that size isn't everything and her sly, unstated humor also comes forth in her simple but telling illustrations that practically tell the tale on their own. Publishers Weekly likens this one to Jon Klaasen's award-winning This Is Not My Hat (see my review here) and quips that Allen's tale "proves that revenge is a dish best served wet."

Not Just Another Cute Face! Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery by David Gordon

ONE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY, KAREN, AN EXTREMELY CUTE ANIMAL, WAS AT THE PLAYGROUND MAKING A SAND CASTLE.

It's an idyllic scene--Karen, an exemplary and endearingly tutu-ed little pink rabbit is busy sculpting a charming little medieval village with her cunning little plastic shovel and pail, surrounded by equally engaging and cute chums.

But this is no pink paradise! Enter the bad guys--Skylar, the head honcho, and his henchmen Mike and Trent, who declare this a cute-free zone.

WHAT DID I SAY, KAREN?

I SAID THIS IS MY PLAYGROUND AND NO STUPID SAND CASTLES!

Down come the cute castles and lovely little cottages. SMASH! CRASH!

Still the dainty Karen is undaunted, and she and her cute cronies rebuild the village, bigger and better, and with a moat to keep the riff-raff out.

But the bully boys were just waiting for the chance to crush the castle, crash the cottages, and maul the moat once more.

Okay, that's it!

EXTREMELY CUTE... DOESN'T MEAN ... YOU CAN'T GET EXTRA MAD!

The cutesy crew commandeers the construction equipment in the park--the heavy-duty dozer and the sky-crane 'copter--to steamroll the bullies and build the biggest and best playground ever. Karen wields her acetylene torch welding girders without scorching her tutu, and Josh pilots the copter to construct a veritable Taj Mahal of a water slide and bumper car track, surrounded by a stout security fence, all with...

NO BULLIES ALLOWED!

But you should never underestimate the empathetic qualities of extremely cute animals, in David Gordon's Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery (Simon and Schuster, 2016), as the almost excessively cute critters craft a truce with Skyler and his mean-spirited minions, and peace reigns over the play space. Gordon slyly slips in a bit of satire at the expense of the cuddly cast of characters in many a fanciful animal tale, in which all ends in extreme peace in the playground--where everyone agrees to limit the occasional smashing and stomping to their own castles only.

She Still Loves Books: Miss Brooks' Story Nook by Barbara Bottner

MISS BROOKS HAS STORY NOOK FIRST THING BEFORE SCHOOL, AND I DON'T LIKE TO MISS IT.

BUT WHENEVER I TAKE A SHORTCUT PAST BILLY TOOMEY'S HOUSE, HE GRABS MY HAT AND YELLS, "I'M GOING TO GET YOU, MISSY!"

IT'S VEXING.

But this morning it's raining and Missy makes it to Story Nook just in time. But before Miss Brooks. decked out in pirate hat and eyepatch, can start reading her seadog tale to the early birds, with a clap of thunder the lights go out!

Being a crackerjack librarian, Miss Brooks improvises instantly.

"IT'S TOO DARK TO READ. SO LET'S HUDDLE IN CLOSE AND MAKE UP OUR OWN TALES," SAID MISS BROOKS. "EVERYONE HAS A TALE TO TELL."

"I GOT NOTHING!" MISSY SAID.

With complaints from Plum, who prefers a kitty story, Violet, who wants ghost stories, and Wilbur, who demands there be aliens, Miss Brooks points out that all stories begin with an interesting character and a problem that requires action. Missy knows that kitties, ghosts, and even aliens can't solve her Billy Toomey problem, so she goes for broke.

"AN OGRE LIVES DOWN THE STREET FROM ME. SHE HAS A BUNCH OF WILD ANIMALS!"

Miss Brook draws out more details, and before she knows it, Missy is clearly skewering Billy Toomey. Her ogre is named Graciela, and she has scary pets in her basement--hyenas, lions, alligators, and a giant snake that escapes from its cage. Plum quails at this development and whispers that kittens would be nicer.

Miss Brooks points out that Missy needs to keep developing her plot. Glad to comply, Missy cheerfully has the giant snake slither into Billy's house and constrict him so tightly his eyes pop.

"WHY CAN'T THERE BE KITTENS?" WHIMPERED PLUM.

Missy ignores the interruptions, and goes on to have her lion dispatch Graciela the Ogre. The End, she thinks.

But there're no shortage of literary critics in that story circle.

"WHY WOULD YOU GET RID OF GRACIELA? SHE WASN'T BOTHERING ANYBODY!" SAID PLUM.

"SHE GETS ON HER SPACESHIP AND RETURNS TO HER PLANET..." OFFERED WILBUR. "THE GHOST PLANET...." ADDS VIOLET.

"I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT SNAKE," SAID MISS BROOKS.

Miss Brooks suggests that there are some loose ends dangling in Missy's plot. That snake is still loose, and presumably Billy Toomy survives to snatch her hat the next time she takes a shortcut to school. What Missy's story needs, she points out, is a satisfying ending, a resolution.

Barbara Bottner's newest tale, Miss Brooks' Story Nook (where tales are told and ogres are welcome) (Random House, 2014), is a satisfying sequel to her best-selling Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) (see review here) continuing the account of Missy, the former book hater, who is now also a storyteller whose hat is strangely safe from Billy Toomey, thanks to her inspired conclusion just for Billy. Michael Emberley again does the artistic honors in clever and comic portrayals of the Bottner's "interesting" characters and plenty of snicker-provoking details that illustrate the twists and turns of Missy's story for kids to peruse.

"Characters come alive with distinct voices and appearances, and the twin plots flow smoothly, if purposively, to the requisite "happy ending," reports Kirkus Reviews.

And for special celebrations of reading and libraries, pair this one with Bonnie Becker's just published A Library Book for Bear (Bear and Mouse). for a whang-dang-doodle duo.

Two Worlds: Where I Belong by Mary Downing Hahn

I'm sitting at my desk, drawing on the back of my math worksheet, not even trying to solve the problems. What's the use? They'd all be wrong, and Mrs. Funkhauser will make some sarcastic remark about my inability to learn long division--as if I cared.

I look at the picture I've drawn of the Green Man. I just learned about him in a book of British legends. My Green Man is treetop tall and his face is framed with oak leaves. His wavy hair falls to his shoulders like mine.

Suddenly Mrs. Funkhausen is beside me. "What's this?" Her eyes are eagle sharp.

"Boys and girls," she says. "Look at this. Brendan Doyle thinks drawing pictures is more important than math."

For Brendan, drawing is more important than math, which he is no good at anyway. Drawing is a way out for him, that and escaping from his foster mother Mrs. Clancy to the woods whenever he can. It is a place where he can leave her "real life" and all her rules behind and be safe and alone in a world where he might see a unicorn or even the Green Man who takes care of the woods and its creatures. Brendan finds the tallest tree in the woods and builds a treehouse high up, sure that it will be a world where real life cannot reach him. He hopes he fails sixth grade. At least that will keep him out of middle school for one more year.

But when Brendan does fail and is forced to go to summer school, real life intrudes. A girl named Shea in the class follows him, finally managing to slip so quietly behind that she discovers his tree house and insists that she should be allowed to climb up to it and watch for unicorns with him.

"You and me, we're right for each other," she says. She turns those eyes on me full force. "See, what I know about friends is, you have to pretend to like what they like. But you, I don't have to pretend to like what you like, because I like what you like."

And then the Green Man comes. At least, Brendan and Shea believe he could be the Green Man. His beard and hair are long, with leaves caught in the mass of it, and he can appear and disappear in the trees soundlessly. He must be magical, although he says he's just a man, just an old man named Ed who lives in a hidden hut in the woods. But Brendan is sure that he's found someone from a world away from the real lifers back in the town.

But still, real life catches up with him. Brendan sees a gang of tough kids rob a store in the mall, and they beat him severely and one hacks off his long hair with a long knife to keep him quiet. Brendan tells the police and Mrs. Clancy that he doesn't know any of the gang who did it, but when they attack Ed and he dies in the hospital the next day, Brendan realizes that it's time to face up to real life, and with his friend Shea, he knows what he has to do.

Mary Downing Hahn's latest, Where I Belong (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2014), takes on an unusual character in Brendan, one whose life has forced him to rely on an imagination that has been both comforting and yet misleading. He sees that he is capable of succeeding in school when he has the right teacher, and he suddenly understands that the critical voice he hears in his head as Mrs. Clancy's is really his own creation, that just as his Green Man was really a kind old drifter, his foster mother is just a tired middle-aged woman who does the best she can and is as lonely as he is.

In this coming-of-age story, the outsider finally comes in out of the cold, into a new real life that offers what he needs most. Here Hahn, that veteran teller of ghost tales and creator of wispy spirits, dips less deeply into the supernatural, walking the fine line between the objective and the subjective mind in a way in which middle readers, standing so briefly on that boundary between childhood and maturity, will understand.

Other classic tales by Mary Downing Hahn include Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story, The Old Willis Place All the Lovely Bad Ones, and The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story.

Warts 'n' All: Thomas the Toadily Terrible Bully by Janice Levy

THOMAS WAS NEW IN TOWN. HE DRESSED TO IMPRESS.

HE STRUTTED HIS STUFF. HE GOT IN EVERYONE'S FACES.

Undoubtedly, Thomas is nattily attired, in his purple bowtie and dotted waistcoat, but it's hard to be a dapper dandy when nobody is impressed.

IF I CAN'T MAKE FRIENDS," HE THOUGHT, "I'LL BE A BULLY INSTEAD."

Thomas tries another tack at making an impression on his peers. He swaggers. He glowers. Although he tries to carry off being toadily tough, he can't even dominate poor wimpy little Gomer. Being bad to the bone is apparently way beyond Thomas' range.

But while Thomas is trying to intimidate Gomer, they both hear a bellow.

"RRRRRRRBIT!"

Now that's a BULLY!

He's bigger than big, and little Gomer begins to whimper.

"HE'S BEEN AFTER ME ALL DAY!"

Thomas may be toadily terrible as a bully, but he can think fast, and he uses his wits to trick this Truly Terrible Toad with one of the oldest ruses in the book, in Janice Levy's latest, Thomas the Toadilly Terrible Bully (Erdman Books, 2014). Illustrators Bill Storm and Esperanca Melo make the most of this turn-the-tables-on-the-bully storyline, using crackly toad-textured layers of paper and paint to provide plenty of eye-appeal to this toadish trickster tale, which leaves the real bully sputtering and toadily all wet and Thomas and Gomer bonding as toadily terrific friends. Pair this one with Anna Dewdney's best-selling Llama Llama and the Bully Goat (see review here) for an alternate take on taking care of a bully.

Back Off, Bully Boy! Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna Dewdney

LLAMA LLAMA
LIKES TO SING.
GILROY LAUGHS
AT EVERYTHING.

LLAMA SINGS OUT
JUST THE SAME.
GILROY SAYS
A NOT-NICE NAME.

Llama Llama had his problems getting used to school, but now he likes everything about it--counting and painting, writing and making things, and especially circle time music with songs and clapping to the beat. Llama is in the school groove and everything is going just fine for him and his friend Nelly Gnu until Gilroy Goat joins the group.

In no uncertain terms Teacher tells Gilroy that name-calling is NOT allowed, and he backs off, but when recess rolls around and Llama and Nelly are busy in the sandbox making roads for  Fuzzy Llama and Gnu Doll, Gilroy horns in again, this time jeering at their toys and kicking up a sandstorm with his hooves.

GILROY THROWS
SOME SAND ON NELLY.
"HA HA! GNUS ARE
REALLY SMELLY."

This time Teacher is not at hand, but Llama knows how to handle a bully goat. He advances on Gilroy, looks him in the eye, and tells him to butt out. Then he and Nelly leave the bully standing in the sand all alone. Now who's the goat?

BEING BULLIED
IS NO FUN!
WALK AWAY...
AND TELL SOMEONE.

Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama has had his moments of misbehavior, but in her latest, Llama Llama and the Bully Goat (Viking, 2013), he steps up and makes Gilroy Goat pull in his horns. Dewdney's Llama Stories series combines engaging rhymes and evocative artwork in which body language and facial features help preschoolers interpret situations and see their own behavior as others see it, with adult figures who calmly moderate all that llama drama, leaving her characters to work out better ways to deal with their feelings.

As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "Her textured oil, colored-pencil and oil-pastel illustrations shine when portraying the animals' faces--joy, discomfort, surprise, anger, stubbornness, disappointment are all crystal-clear on them." This skill is a rare gift that has been displayed throughout Dewdney's series, beginning back in 2005 with her best-selling battle-of-bedtime story, Llama Llama Red Pajama. Other not-to-be-missed sequels are Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama Home with Mama, Llama Llama Time to Share, and that classic of the pre-Big Day meltdown, Llama Llama Holiday Drama.