Super Secret Agent Dotty Detective

Super Secret Agent Dotty Detective by Clara Vulliamy was my most recent chapter book read.  I love a good mystery.  I love a story where friends work together.  I love books with a layout to support transitional readers.  I recently discovered Dotty, girl detective and enjoyed every moment we spent together.  There's an announcement at school for an upcoming talent show and she feels she has nothing to share.  She makes a list of all the things she's good at; be still my writing heart.  She discovers she's a "puzzle solving whiz kid".  Dottie over hears a conversation in the cafeteria about a plan to win the talent show and she's wants to figure out how.  Together with a couple of friends Dot Detectives is born.  I love their Golden Rules; stay frosty (alert), follow that hunch, use your noodle, look for a light-bulb moment, and get proof.  Readers follow their journey, friendship, and antics while the talent show is going into production and they do solve a mystery.  

If I only looked at the thickness of this book I might not have picked it up for my second grade classroom.  Once I looked inside I was visually in love before I knew anything about the story.  This book looks like a documenter, a story teller is telling it.  There's doodles, handwriting, and typed text to tell the story.  The titles are a different day of the week helping the reader follow a timeline and done with label machine tape or fun fonts.  Some pages are on graph paper and there's plenty of white space to help the reader.  You even find Polaroid sketched photos taped with washi tape to the page.  You feel like you are reading a journal that was carefully crafted.

The Kid From Planet Z Series

Magic Bones is a much read series in my second grade classroom and I was thrilled to find another series The Kid From Planet Z by Nancy Krulik while on vacation.  Both series have in common the idea of traveling to another place or space which is very interesting for my readers.

The first book in the series, Crash! is about the landing or crash of Zeke Zander and is family lose power while traveling through space and land on earth.  Zeus the spaceship commander is a cat and the only one to attend college.  As you can imagine, the spaceship isn't a quick fix and the Zander family has to adjust to living on earth with earthlings while not giving away their true identity.  I loved figuring out the things Zeke didn't understand as an alien and his responses to cover up his earthling mistakes while adjusting to going to school.  He might have even used some of his alien powers to help him win a game of hide and seek with new friends Amelia and Eddie.

The second book in the series, Don't Sneeze! has the Zander family still living among the earthlings.  Zeke continues to spend time with Amelia and Eddie and have earthling adventures.  The book begins with a trip to the circus and Zeke being exposed to tissues, juice boxes, and cotton candy.  Zeke and his friends are suppose to do a presentation together when Zeke gets the sniffles.  It's quite a struggle to keep his identity hidden because zeebops get the flu they leak green tears and to heal they have to stand on their head for quite some time.  Zeke needs to be there for his friends and the presentation.  Zee isn't the only one not feeling well, Zeus the cat/spaceship commander comes down with the itches.  I bet you might be able to figure out what Zeus catches while living as an Earth cat.

Inspector Flytrap

Inspector Flytrap by husband and wife duo Tom Angleberger and Cece Bell grabbed my attention right away with their front cover.  I wanted to know more about a skateboarding, tie wearing, magnifying glass holding, big mouthed venus flytrap.  I love plants.  I know the venus flytrap has interesting eating habits.  I was intrigued.

I began browsing the book and found out there are four parts and after reading the book I would call these adventures; four separate stories within the book.  Perfect for early readers who need support with stamina and comprehending longer stories.   I enjoyed the illustration support within the stories and the color hues of gray and green.  While reflecting about my reading I discovered the illustration color choice helped me focus on the text more as a reader.  I wonder if it does for students?  Something for us to explore as readers next year.

Inspector Flytrap is a fussy detective.  He only likes to solve BIG DEAL mysteries and can turn some mysteries away if they don't meet that criteria.  His assistant is Nina the Goat.  She helps him travel, think, and sometimes eats clues.  She even ate the phone that brings them their cases.    As I was reading, I started to predict the trouble she could get into and laughed as she caused problems while they worked on a case.  Nina the Goat requires patience and close supervision.  The dialogue between these two characters will make readers smile and giggle.  

The Escapades of Clint McCool - Octo-Man and the Headless Monster

Octo-Man and the Headless Monster
Author Jane Kelley

Illustrator Jessika von Innerbner

Penguin Random House, 2017

My last trip to the Book Loft was a successful trip for picking up new to me and first in a series books.  Last week I shared Super Turbo and this week I'm share The Escapades of Clint McCool - Octo-Man and the Headless Monster.  Clint McCool is a funny character.  He is active.  He has lots of ideas that are always bubbling out of his head and sometimes into action.  ML and Marco are coming home with Clint McCool for a play date after school.  On their way home from school there is a monster in the street.  Yes, it's a human dressed as a monster on a movie set.  Clint McCool is so excited he runs right to the monster on the movie set and touches him.  Oops, the monster's arm falls off.  He and his friends are banned from the set but Clint wants to fix what went wrong.  Fixing this escapade turns into a full time job for Clint and his friends try to be a bit more cautious.  They do return to the movie set.  Things do get fixed but I think all readers will be surprised how that happens.  

Princess Cora and the Crocodile

Author Laura Amy Schlitz

Illustrator Brian Floca

Candlewick Press, 2017

review copy provided by the publisher

I shut Princess Cora and the Crocodile and realized I want every student in my room to read this and every parent.  The student part is easy, it could be a read aloud.  However, the parent part could be tricky.  In the past during the winter months I held a family book group event in the evening, this book might just be a great book to use for that event.

Princess Cora works hard every day learning and training to be a princess.  She spends long hours with her nanny, mother and father working on different aspects of being a princess.  She must be clean all the time so she takes baths three times a day.  She must be physically fit so she jump roped five hundred times.  She had to read books that were not interesting and old.  One day she can't take it any more and sends a request to her fairy godmother for help because no one listens to her.  

The next morning she wakes up to a cardboard box in her room with a crocodile inside it!  The crocodile is here to help her.  He dresses up as Cora and tries to do her normal day while Cora goes out exploring the outside; getting dirty, built a fort, waded in the stream.  Let's just say the plan doesn't work out easily for the crocodile or Cora's caregivers.  When Cora returns she's quite worried when the crocodile shares how his day went.  

She rushes to her nanny, mother, and father to tend to them and help them. Over dinner Cora shares her true feelings about her training and makes requests to change her days.  She wants more book choice, time to explore, and time to rest.  Don't we all need these three things.

As I'm writing and thinking about a family book group night, I'm thinking we'll have to serve cream puffs.

Double or Nothing with the Two and Only Kelly Twins

written by Johanna Hurwitz

illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

Candlewick Press, 2017

review copy from public library

I was so excited to see Johanna Hurwitz has a new book out.  She's been an author I've enjoyed since I started teaching for books that are realistic and connect to readers.  Double of Nothing with the Two and only Kelly Twins is adorable and explores issues of sameness, being different, and lice.  Arlene and Ilene are identical twins.  They look alike, dress alike, and discover they like different things.  However, they do everything together until a sleepover with another set of twins or do not do everything together.  To Arlene and Ilene's surprise this sleepover is planned to be at two different houses.  The girls are splitting up and readers wonder and push through his chapter to see if they survive.  If you've experienced lice in your home or your classroom you know it's not an easy thing take care of mentally deal with.  I enjoyed reading the chapter about how the girls and their friends with the help of their school dealt with lice.  I think it could help someone after reading this.  While this is a transitional reader there aren't pictures or plenty of white space to help the reader.  Instead, this book has chapters that could stand alone which makes comprehension easier to understand.

King and Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code

written by Dori Hillestad Butler

Illustrated by Nancy Meyers

Peachier Publishers 2017

review copy from public library

I discovered King and Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code at our lovely Main library last week in the children's section and just had to find out more about these two adorable characters.  King is a dog and Kayla is a little girl and together they are detectives.  You might be wondering how a dog is a detective.  King is a detective by retrieving things, smelling things, and thinking to himself.  It's very interesting because the humans don't understand King but his actions and the thinking the reader follows allows the reader to understand his helpful role more.  

Mason and Kayla receive letters that are in a jumbled code.  They work with King to figure out who sent them and learn how to decipher them.  I can't share the who or how the mystery is solved but readers will love how it's solved and probably want to try their own code writing.  I've been reading a lot lately about diverse books and children needing to see themselves in them, this would make a nice addition to any library for this reason.   This is a great book for transitional readers with lots of white space, picture support and text spread out.  It also looks like there are a couple more titles with King and Kayla.  I hope more books are coming.

A Must Have for Readers and Teachers of Reading!

I couldn't stop reading Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami!  I started it last night and came home to set a timer twice so I could balance reading and getting some things done.  Then I did a "chore" and my reward was finishing this book.  After you start this book, you'll have to decide if you are going to tune out everything around you or organize your time and have it help you get things done.

Yasmin has been reading a book every day for just over 400 days.  She gets a book every day from Book Uncle.  A retired teacher who has a loaning library on the street in India.  There are no fees or fines for borrowing his books.  He doesn't get upset if books don't get returned every so often.  His motto is - "Books.  Free.  Give one.  Take one.  Read-Read-Read."  

Unfortunately, Book Uncle receives a letter from the city stating he has to stop his lending library because he doesn't have a permit.  Yasmin rallies her school mates and community to help Book Uncle.  It involves empowering a community and becoming involved in a mayor election.  

Here are three lines I love from this story and hope you find, if you pick this book up.

"Right book for the right person for the right day.  As you know well, that is my motto."

"Sometimes you have to let the perfect book sit in your mind for a while before it begins to mean something."

"The book smell in the air turns me dizzy with joy."

This book was just published in 2016 and it appears Uma Krishnaswami has 20 books for readers from picture books to a couple of novels.  You can find out more about her at umakrishnaswami.org

Piper Green is back in The Sea Pony

I noticed a few of my students trying the first two Piper Green stories during independent reading and it triggered my memory; Piper Green and the Fairy Tree The Sea Pony was in my TBR pile!  I immediately moved this book to the top of the stack so I could keep some reading momentum going in our classroom.  

With each Piper Green and the Fairy Tree story, I seem to fall in love with her more and more.  I love the format of her stories; short chapters, a smidge larger font, an occasional black and white illustration to support the story, and a good amount of white space between the lines.  

Piper's personality is one any reader must adore.  She's spunky, helpful, and hopeful.  Piper really wants a horse and witnesses the first horse coming to the island in which she lives on.  She decides to help her dad on their lobster boat by stocking feeder bags for ten cents each bag.  She soon realizes it would take a long time to save money for a horse this way.  She has a fairy tree in her yard where she leaves things for the fairies and in return the fairies leave her things.  An interesting whistle was left in the Fairy Tree and helps Piper connect with a sea pony while on a lobster catching adventure with her dad.  During this adventure, she helps her dad find something really important.  In return, he surprises her with a new opportunity.  She doesn't get a horse to own but her dad's clever thinking is one any parent should/can admire.

I can't wait to discuss this book with my students.  I think we will definitely discuss finger snails, bosun's whistle, gullywhumpers, and sternman.  

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover!

I did just that.  I judged Dirty Bertie GERMS! by Alan MacDonald by its cover.  I picked it because for two reasons; I need more boy characters/books in my classroom library and the front cover looked gross-ish.  Bertie isn't very cute.  He looks a bit of a mess and there appears to be mucus spraying everywhere!  I expected Bertie to be a silly story about silly things appealing to boys.

I was wrong and pleasantly surprised.  The story begins with a realistic situation.  His sister gets the chicken pox and he tries desperately to get the same germ so he can stay home from school.  His attempts are cute and funny.  When I finished chapter four, I discovered the next chapter was chapter one.  I had to do some further investigation to discover there are three stories about four chapters each within this book.  A huge win for my student's who need shorter books to help them comprehend and transition to longer text!  The second story is a charming story of how Bertie becomes his grandma's dance partner in a contest and how they hope to win.  The third story is about an evening he spends with a new boy babysitter.  Let's just say it wasn't his typical babysitter experience.  

An avid reader in my room was telling me about the second book during a reading conference last week and couldn't stop gushing about how much he liked the book.  We did some investigating and found out there are 27 Dirty Bertie books!  After reading this first one I found a great deal to get all 27 books and they are on our way to our classroom.  Dirty Bertie might appear a little messy but he's full of charm, laughter, and good things for second grade readers!

The Data Set - March of the Mini Beasts

While on vacation, I found a brand new series for transitional readers but I was a hesitant to pick it up because I found the front cover a bit dark and spooky.  The blurb did peak my interest and I remembered I need more books with guy characters, plus it fit my discover a new book while on vacation goal so I picked up, The Data Set - March of the Mini Beasts by Ada Hopper.  I have to be honest, I couldn't put it down when I read it this weekend.  

Gabriel, Laura, and Cesar are friends who love to gather random facts/information/data and share their knowledge with others.  The story begins with these friends trying to raise money for a school science field trip by selling chocolate bars door to door.  They have two boxes to go and an old run down mansion, the only house left to sell to.  Their interactions with the owner of this house, Mad Dr. Bunsen are entertaining.  The friends are so excited to discover all of his science experiment gear and then he shares his growth ray machine.  He wants to try it on the children but they convince him to try it on Gabe's lucky plastic Stego toy.  As you might predict the growth ray didn't work and the children go home.

A few days later Dr. Bunsen finds the children in  Gabe's backyard in the treehouse Laura designed.  Dr. Bunsen is super excited to share he got the growth ray machine to work and they try it on more plastic animals.  It appears once again it isn't working.  However, with some time they discover the animals may not be growing but they have come to life.  This is a problem and the solution that follows is entertaining.  I have to warn you, it's not a happy ending and takes the reader immediately to wanting to read the second book in the series which I ordered last night.  

I think this book is the right mix of every day life with a twist of fantasy for transitional readers to enjoy and want to read more of.  The print is a bit larger on each page with black and white illustrations to help support comprehension.  There is more white space which I always enjoy as a reader and think it supports the readers in my classroom.  However, the characters are a fun loving group.  They create, they collect things and knowing facts is super important.  A teacher's dream.

Mostly Monty by Johanna Hurwitz

Here it is the last week of school and I'm adding new characters and books to our classroom library.  I justified it because I need more boy characters.   Mostly Monty by Johanna Hurwitz is going to be a great addition to our collection and the three other books in the series.  Monty is a first grader but I think a mature first grader that second graders will enjoy getting to know.  

The first chapter might be my favorite.  We learn Monty has asthma and it's just part of his everyday life, like a pair of glasses.  He is worried about starting first grade.  He settles in and loves going to the library.  The librarian, Mr. Harris suggests the students pick from the picture book area in the library but Monty wanders over to the nonfiction section because he loves reading about animals.  Mr. Harris suggest these are too hard and Monty should wait a couple of years to read books in this section.  Don't worry, Mrs. Meaney his teacher saves the day and confirms Monty is a very good reader and can read anything.  Mr. Harris congratulates Monty and lets him browse for a book.  

Monty's next adventure involves having a pet caterpillar because anything with fur would bring an asthma but this caterpillar isn't a caterpillar for long.  Then  Monty rescues some treasures from the neighbor only to realize some of them are broken and can't be repaired.  However, there is one treasure he can keep and won't upset his asthma.  Then Monty becomes a lost and found expert at school which has an interesting twist for him.  Each adventure is told with humor and honest reactions that little kids would offer as they interact with each other.  It's interesting how each story has a small twist and turn with a positive outcome.  

A favorite line to enjoy - "Reading was the one thing he could do without worrying about his breathing."

Stella Batts Needs a New Name by Courtney Sheinmel

Stella Batts Needs a New Name by Courtney Sheinmel has been in my To Be Read pile for a couple of months and I'm so glad I spent time this weekend getting to know Stella.  Stella is a third grade girl with plans to be a writer.  I fell in love with her when she declared she wasn't going to wait until she grows up to be a writer, she's writing her first book right now; an autobiography.  

Stella has a younger sister who can make Stella's patience a bit thin but in the end really helps Stella figure something out.  Stella has a best friend, a group of friends, and then some boys at school who she doesn't like.  One in particular made fun of her name and changed it to Smella.  Stella doesn't want to relive the event that got her this nickname so she decides she is unhappy with her name and will change it.  Her friends love this idea and decide to join her.  How the girls go about thinking up new names is entertaining.  Her teacher doesn't love this idea so much.  Her parents "roll" with the idea, as all good parents would.  

This book has two features I enjoy and love to read; an introduction about the characters before the actual story begins and an epilogue.  When I finish a book I really enjoy, I always want to read more about the characters in the future and this doesn't always happen.  There's a lot of dialogue in this story but easy for readers to follow and understand.  I feel Courtney Sheinmel gave Stella a great voice; she defines words for the reader, she wrestles with her own thinking, and she's learning how to stand up for herself.   A fun new character to add to our classroom library with several titles.

Mouse Scouts by Sarah Dillard

I have a confession before I share any more about this book, I was a Girl Scout until my freshman year in high school and then I've been a troop leader for 13 years with one or two of my girls at a time, in various roles.  So, just the front cover of this book tugs at my heart.  

Mouse Scouts by Sarah Dillard is cute story about a scouting troop made up of mice.  The mice just bridge from one level of scouting to another and now have a new scout leader, Miss Poppy.  Miss Poppy isn't as warm and fuzzy as their initial leader, she goes by the handbook a bit more.  Violet and Tigerlily are the main characters and best friends.  The whole troop is excited to earn their merit badges and begin with a badge about gardening.  I found the mice approach to gardening quite interesting and practical given their physical size.  If you garden, you can imagine the problems that might arise.  As each problem arises, I was happy to read the mice were positive and cooperation helped them solve their gardening struggles.  

This book may not catch the eye of boy readers in my classroom but each year I seem to have a cluster of girls who participate in scouting that will find this book enjoyable.  I do love the transitional reader format; picture support, larger font, appropriate white space, ten chapters and an epilogue.  In between several chapters, the reader discovers pages that resemble a Scout handbook which just made me chuckle because they mirror many of my own experiences.  I thought for my readers it was a great way to weave in nonfiction reading in a fantasy book.  There are three books total and I can't wait to see how my students respond to this classroom library addition.

Lost! A Dog Called Bear! by Wendy Orr

I love dog stories and I hadn't heard of the Rainbow Street Shelter series but I am so glad I recently stumbled upon this first title.  Lost! A Dog Called Bear! by Wendy Orr tugs at the readers heart, encourages the reader to hope for the characters, and is filled with literacy language that will make readers stop and think.  I was reading along, enjoying the literary language, and imaging the excitement my second grade readers as they figure out the intended literary language messages when something felt familiar to me.  I read the author blurb on the back and instantly knew why this book felt familiar.  Wendy Orr wrote Nim's Island, another favorite book of mine to read to third graders.  

Logan lives in the country on a farm and loves it all.  Riding in the back of a pickup truck with his dog Bear, racing the wind, and watching Bear chase sheep.  Things change for Logan when his parents decide to get a divorce and he moves to the city with his mom.  Bear comes with him but gets lost on the journey there when they stopped for a rest.  Hannah is another character in the story that parallels with Logan's and then they cross into each others.  A dog shelter is an important piece of the setting and I have to stop here so I don't give away too many important details.  I want you to read this one or find the dog loving student in your classroom to share it with.

Here are a few literary examples to give you a feel of the rich writing Wendy Orr shares with readers-

"Logan felt like the turkey's wishbone being pulled apart after Thanksgiving dinner."

"...a sparkle of hope flickered through his black thoughts."

"Suddenly, the grumpiness dissolved like a Popsicle on the sidewalk."

A friend asked me if this was a sad story when I sent a tweet out I had just finished it and it is not.  

Gooseberry Park - Cynthia Rylant - My Favorite Read Aloud

Ok, claiming a Favorite Read Aloud might be a bit of a stretch because I have many favorite read alouds but Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant has many things I just love about it to earn this title.  

1.  It's my favorite WINTER read aloud.  The story takes place during winter time and an ice storm presents some pretty big challenges for the characters.

2.  It's my favorite LENGTHIER read aloud.  Unfortunately, with schedule changes and time over the years I tend to shy away from lengthier read alouds.  However, the chapters in this book are short enough to finish when you have a few minutes and also allows you to read more if you have the time and the students are begging for more.  

3.  Student ENGAGEMENT is high!  As I already mentioned my students beg for more of this story because the characters are interesting, funny, and tug at our hearts.  You'll meet Kona the dog, Stumpy the squirrel, Murray the bat, and Qwendolyn the hermit crab, along with Professor Albert.  Yes, this is an interesting combination of animals to create a story with.

4.  Student's INTERACTION is positive.  You know you have a great read aloud when student's sit leaning forward at the carpet, laughing, and sighing at all the right places.  Their smiles and glistening eyes tell you they are hooked and reading this book was a great decision.  We can't forget to observe body language as a formative assessment piece.

5.  I was shocked to learn this book was published in 1995!  It's twenty years old and I hadn't read it aloud since I taught third grade and remember my students loving it back then.  This just reminds me with all the new and wonderful books being published, we can't forget some of the great ones we have used in the past.  This was the perfect book to spend more time with as we eased back into learning from winter break.

Jasper John Dooley is a Fun Character!

Jasper John Dooley is a fun character and I'd love to see him meet Clementine.  There are three books about Jasper John Dooley and each one is filled with honest to good fun.  

In the first book Jasper John Dooley Star of the Week, Jasper is excited to be the featured student for a whole week.  Unfortunately, his sharing gets over shadowed by Ori, a classmate who has a new baby sibling.  In an attempt to create his own sibling, he creates one using wood and nails which results in a mix of reactions.  Luckily, the teacher Ms. Tosh is creative enough accept the wooden brother, Earl into a science experiment about living and nonliving.  Jasper meets Ori's new baby and has many realizations about life with a new baby which changes his own thinking.

In the second book Jasper John Dooley Left Behind, Jasper is devastated his grandmother is leaving him to go on a vacation cruise to Alaska.  His mind is preoccupied with her absence and several things happen; he staples a story to himself while publishing it at school, he and Ori try to build a cruise ship out of wood, he has to spend time with a new sitter instead of his grandmother, he gets in trouble at school for doing a Very Dangerous Thing, and brings home the class hamster who escapes for a bit.  One of the things I like about Jasper John Dooley is the realistic every day adventures or mishaps that occur.  

In the the book Jasper John Dooley Not in Love, Jasper spends the book trying to balance his guy friends and be kind to Isabel a classmate.  They have a couple of playdates together and he likes jumping on her trampoline but it gets uncomfortable when Isabel is convinced she is in love with him.  In the end, Jasper figures out a way to show Isabel he isn't as interesting as she thinks and saves a friend from being her next victim.

In all three books, Jasper John Dooley is a creative boy who can figure out quirky ways to solve some normal day to day life problems.  I think he will be a perfect addition to my classroom library.

The Diary of a Killer Cat

The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine was a book B picked up for her spring break reading.  B is in second grade and wants to read on her own but her Mama still savors reading together.  She's really grown as a reader this year, as beginning transitional readers do.  She is decoding multisyllable words with more ease.  She wants to read chapter books on her own.  She wants to be read to.  She wants to read like her fifth grade sister and consistently checks out very hard chapter books from the school library, ugh.  So, when we left school for spring break we went directly to the library and shopped for just right books for her.

The Diary of a Killer Cat was one of her picks.  It had many things she was looking for; chapters, a funny title, a title that raised questions instantly, and a layout that seemed manageable for her.  She liked the chapters were named by the days of the week.  I liked that it was a reasonable volume of pages and something she could accomplish easily and feel success in completing a book.

The story is told by Tuffy, a cat's point of view.  Tuffy brings his family a bird and then a mouse in the house.  Both times his family is not thrilled at all with his treasures and they become quite upset.  Things get much worst for Tuffy when he brings in muddy Thumper, the neighbors pet bunny, dead.  Tuffy's family returns Thumper to his cage and not without some funny things happening along the way and the reader discovering what you expect to be true is not.  B really enjoyed this book and it's fun to share an early chapter book with you for a change.

Elvis and Olive Super Detectives

Elvis and Olive Super Detectives by Stephanie Watson was an ARC I received at Cover to Cover earlier this summer. When I was younger I loved reading mysteries so I was intrigued with the title and the cover. Sometimes our students pick books by titles and covers too. The cover is a bit misleading. It shows the back side of two children, one with long hair and one with short hair and the one with short hair is in bib overalls. Yes, I did think it was going to be a book about a boy, Elvis and a girl Olive but it's not! It's a friendship about Natalie and Annie, two girls. See detectives need to have undercover names. I found myself stopping to think about which character was which, who was doing what so I think students, third graders might need some support to get started.

Natalie is hoping, trying and dreaming to become the Student Council Secretary. Part of her duties would be to run the school store and you can tell by the description of scents and texture she is passionate about this position. Part of her campaign is to do worthy community service. Annie brainstorms a detective agency to help neighbors with missing items. This confident pair begin and have some small success with normal missing items that were misplaced.

Along Natalie and Annie's journey to solve mysteries, we meet Mrs. Dimesworth who once was a famous actress for an old TV series. She provides the girls with some detective tips. We meet Steven who is also running for Student Council Secretary. Steven's little brother tends to be the neighborhood "officer" handing out his own version of violation tickets for things he thinks are being violated. There are students at school, on the bus and a few other neighbors but no one more important than Mr. and Mrs. Warsaw.

The Warsaws live down the street from the two girls. Mrs. Warsaw forgets. Mrs. Warsaw tells stories that aren't current. Mrs. Warsaw talks about things that appear to not be true at all. For example, Zadie Zeolite is a woman she speaks of in her closet and mother would be mad if she knew she was there. Natalie and Annie or should I say Elvis and Olive begin to think there is something to her story and wonder if they can help her. They use their detective skills to discover Zadie Zeolite was a comic, taken out of the library system by Mrs. Warsaw's mother. They also uncover, Mrs. Warsaw lived in a similar house on the same street that is abandoned and ready to be condemned. With a similar floor plan, they find a collection of Zadie Zeolite comics that are very valuable, in the closet. This discovery helps the Warsaws keep their current home and get Mrs. Warsaw some expensive medication she needs to help with her memory. What I loved about this journey the girls took was they validated Mrs. Warsaw's story, made a story a memory and made a difference.

Annie has her own personal story line for readers to follow as she is living in a foster care situation, hoping her mother will return. Her story brings sadness and joy, complimenting the humor and reality also found within this text.

Noonie's masterpiece

Over a week ago, I joined my Columbus area blogging friends for breakfast and book shopping at Cover to Cover. Thanks to Sally and her hospitality many of us gathered some Advanced Release Copy, otherwise known as ARC for our reading and viewing. I took advantage and selected some books for my older girls and they have been pouring through these hot new titles. Noonie's masterpiece by Lisa Railsback was one I picked for A and she couldn't put it down. With how busy the end of school is, she spent most of that Sunday reading this book in her pajamas. I then picked it for my first summer read.

What a great book for transitional readers and beyond. The book opens with, "I am Noonie Norton, and I am a brilliant artist. The only problem is that I haven't been discovered yet. See, most brilliant artist aren't actually discovered until they're dead, so I thought I should explain my art while I am still alive." Right now Noonie is ten, so is A. Noonie began her artist career with a blue period. She created everything in blue, blue showed just how sad she was when her mother died. Then, her father was very sad, leaving Noonie with her aunt and uncle while he traveled far places for work. Then when she turns ten she decides to start her purple period of art, life was just going to be different.

Through out the book, Noonie is struggling with relationships. She struggles with having her Dad traveling, writing to him about a weird illness or two in hopes he will rush home. She struggles with accepting her peers for their differences and friendships, Reno and Sue Ellen. She struggles with seeing her family as one that is non traditional and learns to accept while embracing her aunt, uncle and cousin. The one relationship she doesn't struggle with is that with her art teacher, Ms. Lilly. Ms. Lilly is guiding and understands her need to create, be different, and her struggles in life. Art is successful for Noonie, school is not always. We have students in our room that need art to express their learning and themselves. We have Noonie's each year.

Ms. Lilly belongs on A Year of Reading's 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature. Ms. Lilly is insightful and wise. I love these two bits of advice she gives Noonie; "artist have the power to change the world" and "sometimes artist block is a good thing." Ms. Lilly is also instrumental in showing Noonie it's okay to carry around a mentor text, the Masterpiece, it's a collection of different artist Noonie refers to constantly while she thinks about her own art. Ms. Lilly guides Noonie at the end showing her how to accept her journey and life. My ARC copy illustrations are done in shades of black and white but I believe the published version, was due to be out in April is done in full color. The illustrations are doodle like and often made me chuckle because they brought the text to life. A great new find, if you ask me.