Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth by Jan O'Connor J Oco

 Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth

By: Jane O'Connor

Reading Level: 3.3/ 1pt. 128pgs

The girl you know as "Fancy Nancy" is growing up and moving on to bigger adventures in her first chapter novel. Nancy has decided to become a detective, just like her favorite crime solving fictional character Nancy Drew. But, it turns out she isn't the only one looking for a crime to solve, her best friend Bree has become a detective too! Together, with their matching trench coats, spy glass, disguise gear, and what they've learned from Nancy Drew novels, they are an unstoppable team! Or, at least they would be if the could find any crimes to solve. They sneak, spy, and snoop, but no mysteries are to be found.

Finally, one day Nancy and Bree overhear the twins, Wanda and Rhonda arguing over something that has to do with Nancy, but what? Nancy and Bree are thrilled to have at least something of a mystery to investigate. But all too soon this mystery is shadowed by and even bigger mystery: On Family Day everyone brought a special memento to share with the group, but the next day their teacher's special blue marble he brought to share is missing. All signs point to thief, and Nancy and Bree are on the case!

This is a more grown up version of "Fancy Nancy" young readers will love. She's spunky, fun, and still fancy as ever. This is a perfect book for readers who are transitioning to chapter books... whether you read chapter books or have them read to you!

Kepler's Dream by Juliet Bell

Sometimes there is nothing in a book's title that would make a person want to choose the book when they see it on a shelf.. I think Kepler's Dream is one of those books. I chose to read it because I had read the reviews and it sounded pretty good. And it is a good book. It's a very good book and I think everyone who picks it up will enjoy the story. It's about eleven-year-old Ella, whose mother will be undergoing extreme treatment for leukemia. Ella's father hasn't really been a "dad" and is very busy as a guide for fishing expeditions. One grandma is dead, and the other one, Ella's father's mother, is a stranger. Ella has never met her. Yet that's where Ella is sent to spend the summer (she calls it Broken Family Camp) while her mother prepares for and undergoes a stem cell transplant.
Kepler refers to a mathematician/astronomer who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Dream is the title of one of his books, considered to be the first science fiction book ever written. So how are the two connected? Ella's grandmother, Violet Von Stern, owns one of the few existing copies of Kepler's Dream (along with thousands of other rare books she has acquired. So many that she built a separate building on her land for a library!) One night, in the middle of the night, the book disappears.
But this book isn't just about finding a lost book. It's about Ella and her grandmother getting to know each other; making new friends, understanding things about her father and his family that she has never known, and figuring out her place in her somewhat unsettled world. I especially liked seeing the relationship between Ella and her grandmother evolve.
They say you can't judge a book by its cover, and sometimes you shouldn't judge a book by its title. Give this book a try. I think you'll like it.

AR Level 5.1
AR Points 9

Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlan

Kindred Souls. That's what Billy says he and his grandson Jake are. Jake's mom seems to think so, too. "When I see the two of you together," she tells Jake, "Sometimes I think you were born for him."
Billy's job during summer vacation from school is to be with Billy. Since Billy likes "predictable," they take the same walk every morning, always ending up at the top of a rise on the farm where the old sod house used to stand -- the house where Billy was born. And predictable Billy always ends their conversation there by saying, "I miss that sod house."
One day Jake asks how a person cut a sod brick. Billy's eyes light up. "You could do it," he tells Jake. And before he realizes it, Jake has been given the task of building a sod house for his grandfather. Then there's the stray dog, whom Billy instantly names Lucy, and who plays a huge part in making Billy well after he get pneumonia.
Enough said about the story. This is a quick book, with strong characters, a bit of magical mystery and such a comfortable, down-to-earth story that I just felt all warm and happy after reading it. In a way, Billy and Jake remind me of my father-in-law and his only grandson in the kind of close relationship they shared. As Billy shows us, sometimes you something for someone, whether you want to or not, just because they ask you to.

AR Level 3.0
AR Points 1

Brothers at Bat by Audrey Vernick

A trend I really enjoy in children's literature is using the picture-book format to tell the story of an interesting real-life event. Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team tells a story most people don't know. The Acerra family, from New Jersey, had 12 boys, spanning 25 years, (and four girls, too!) In the 1920s and 1930s, before TV and other electronics, baseball was how they spent their spare time. So it only made sense when enough of them were old enough, that they had their own team. That began in 1938. The oldest brother, Anthony, was 32 at the time; the youngest on the team was Freddie, age 13. But there were three more boys waiting to play as soon as they were old enough. They took a break from baseball during World War II, when six of the brothers went to war. All six of the brothers came home, and it wasn't long before the team was ready to play again. And they kept playing until 1952. The Acerra brothers are the longest-playing all-brother baseball team ever. They were honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
This is a neat story about baseball, families, and a time-period from almost 80 years ago. And it is just a fun, little-known story in the history of America's game.
For books that tell other little-known stories, pick up a copy of the bookmark "Picturing History" next time you're at the Library.

AR Level 4.4
AR Points .5

The Genius Files: Never Say Genius by Dan Gutman

This second book in the Genius Files series follows Coke and Pepsi McDonald from their ill-fated meeting with the evil Dr. Herman Warsaw at the House on the Rock in Wisconsin, to their destination, Washington D. C., for their Aunt Judy’s wedding. Of course, with their mother, author of the “Amazing But True” web magazine, planning the route, this leg of the journey includes stops at the first ever MacDonald’s restaurant, a Hoover museum (it’s not the one in Iowa),  the world’s largest collection of outhouses, as well as some more normal venues, like Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Center Point Amusement Park – famous for its variety of roller coasters.

What a great trip, right? Well, not if you’re looking over your shoulder everywhere you go, trying to figure out who’s trying to kill you and where they will turn up next. And those secret codes that turn up every few days – even inside the shell of a soft-boiled egg – are a little unsettling, too.

Of course, once Coke and Pep decide to clue mom and dad in on the Genius Files project, their parents just laugh and attribute all the stories to the twins’ vivid imaginations. No help from the grown-ups on this trip.

But you’ll be happy to know that they make it to Washington D. C. and to Aunt Judy’s wedding, which provides them with maybe the biggest surprise of their journey – and the jumping-off point for Book 3. They do have to travel back to California, you know.

 I love the Genius Files books because they are goofy, have an element of mystery, and contain some interesting bits of information that are true and amazing. I also like Dan Gutman’s style of writing, like he’s sitting right next to you telling you the story, talking directly to the reader. If you haven’t read the first book in this series (The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable) well, I think you should. In fact, it’s one of the books we selected to give away as a summer reading prize. If you have read it, are reading it, or selected it for your reading prize, I suggest you get your name on the hold list for the second book. It’s brand new and will be in big demand after people read the first book.

And, these are the perfect books for “staycations” because you can travel right along with the McDonald family and even track their travels using websites included. And you don’t have to spend hours on the road in a motor home!

AR Level 4.8
AR Points 7

Out in Left Field by Don Lemna

Out In Left Field was a great book.  The main character is Donald and he loves to play baseball and hockey.  Donald has a lot of bad luck with his sports and works hard to get better.  I would recommend this to book to boys and girls 10 and older because it is a little scary and the vocabulary is difficult. 

by Joseph, fourth-grade reader




AR Level 5.3
AR Points 8

Theodore Boone, the Accused by John Grisham

Theodore Boone, 13-year-old son of two lawyers and an aspiring lawyer himself, finds himself on the wrong side of the law when stolen electronic tablets from a local break-in are discovered in his school locker. Theo knows he didn't do it, but the evidence is overwhelming, including his Minnesota Twins cap that was found at the scene of the crime. The police believe they have their boy; Theo's parents believe the legal system works correctly and they patiently wait for things to sort themselves out; Theo envisions life in and after a juvenile detention center and decides the only way to avoid that is to point the police toward the real culprits. The problem is, Theo has no idea who would want to set him up. Theo's uncle Ike, a disbarred hippie-type lawyer, isn't too worried about bending a few rules, and helps Theo arrive at a list of possible suspects. Oh, and while Theo is serving a school suspension for fighting, he takes time to defend a spitting llama and its owner in animal court. It's the quirky elements like that, along with interesting and well-defined characters, and a mystery so tightly written that you won't have it figured out right away, that make Grisham's Theodore Boone series fun reads for everyone -- even his adult fans. This is the third Theodore Boone book but you don't have to read the first to enjoy the others. 

AR Level 5.7
AR Points 9