Rainbow Magic

Recommended grades 4-5.  Daisy Meadows brings us another Rainbow Magic story with Destiny the Rockstar Fairy (Scholastic, 2011).  The five authors who write under the pen name Daisy Meadows have written over one hundred books featuring best friends Rachel and Kirsty and their fairy pals.  In the series, Kirsty and Rachel team up with the a variety of fairies from the kingdom of Fairyland to defeat the evil Jack Frost and his mischievous goblin henchmen.  In this installment, Frost has stolen Destiny's magical objects that she uses to protect all of the rockstars in the world.  Rachel and Kirsty must help her recover the items before their favorite band takes the stage for a special Christmas performance!  Lovers of the series will appreciate the similar plot, the attention to details when it comes to the girls' fashion accessories, and the length-- Destiny the Rockstar Fairy is a special edition volume four times the length of the average fairy book.  The text is accompanied by ink sketches of the scenes that contribute to the goblin's comedic mayhem.  Though adults may not always understand the appeal, there seems to be a very soft spot in young readers' bookshelves.  The text is familiar enough to build young readers' confidence.  As the most one of the most borrowed books of 2010, it is sure to see a great deal of circulation.  Recommended, ***.

May B

Recommended grades 5-8.  Author Caroline Starr Rose cites her inspiration for her historical novel in verse, May B (Random House 2012) to a childhood of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Reading about Laura's schooldays made her wonder about Laura's contemporaries with learning disorders.  How were they taught?  What cultural assumptions were made about them?  To satisfy this thought experiment, Rose created May B, a twelve year old girl with dyslexia who dreams of becoming a teacher, if she could only read the poems her teacher places in front of her!  May B does not only have to overcome her teacher's disdainful comments, but also the natural elements of the prairie as she is deserted in a homestead alone after being pulled from school.  With a historical novel in verse, particularly about people living on the outskirts of American society, it is hard not to compare it to Karen Hesse's brilliant Out of the Dust.  Rose's verse does not stand alone as Hesse's does, but it still finds its place in May B's love and obsession with memorizing lines of poetry.  Rose creates a memorable leading character and brings readers a compelling narratives that captures both the loneliness of the prairie and of students living with learning disabilities.  Recommended, ***.

Mockingjay

Recommended grades 6-9.  Katniss Everdeen is back in the final installment of the Hunger Games series, written by Suzanne Collins.  In Mockingjay (Scholastic, 2010), Katniss is thrown into the most dangerous game of all, actual war with the Capitol that has tortured its people for so long and killed so many of her friends.  As always Katniss is not alone, but she still can't always know who to trust as some of her closest allies are turned against her.  Collins has an artful way of putting concepts of loyalty and authority into question in a more caustic way than other young adult authors (J.K. Rowling comes to mind) have.  Though Katniss always has many people on her side, she is never quite sure who, and why.  Mockingjay serves as a satisfying conclusion to the series, though the writing and flow is a bit choppier than previous books.  Collins has made such a rich and open world filled with battles of epic proportion, though she doesn't always know how to transition between ideas.  Readers may put Katniss and her world to sleep after reading this book, though many will be hungry for more of Collins's writing.  Highly recommended, ****

Eoin Colfer's Legend

Recommended Grades 3-5.  Eoin Colfer, best-selling author of the Artemis Fowl series, reaches out to younger readers with his series of transitional chapter books about the "legendary" Woodman brothers.  In The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World (Hyperion, 2007), younger brother, Will Woodman is feeling neglected by his parents.  With four brothers much louder and whinier than himself, Will rarely gets his parents attention.  Will decides that he needs his own adult to complain to, and is lucky to have weekends alone with his grandfather in the lighthouse he takes care of.  Will and his grandfather swap and compare their worst stories.  Colfer gives Will a funny and smart voice that is enjoyable for both kids and adults.  Though his audience may not be as sophisticated as his YA fan base, Colfer does not hold back or dumb down the narration.  The text is high quality, and the characters are fully developed, empathetic even with their personal flaws.  Will's stories are complemented by hilarious black and white illustrations by cartoonist Glenn McCoy.  Colfer and McCoy collaborate to make the reader giggle along with Will and his grandfather, and empathize for all of the trouble his older brother, Marty, gets him in.  Ultimately, this is an enjoyable read with a heart-warming lesson.  Highly recommended, ****.

Judy Moody's Summer

Recommended grades 1-3.  Judy Moody has her heart on an exciting summer when she devises her Thrill-Point Race system in Judy Moody and the Thrill Points Race (Candlewick Press, 2011).  Instead of the humdrum summers of past, Judy initiates a summer-long competition with her friends to see who can have the most not bummer summer.  This transitional chapter book is not written by Judy Moody's creator, Megan McDonald, instead it is adapted from the recent Judy Moody film by Jamie Michalak.  Instead of illustrations, images are taken directly from scenes in the movie.  To this end, the story fell a little flat.  Judy's actions were captured but not the spirit of McDonald's books.  There were many valuable lessons for Judy to learn as she fell short of her expected summer, but Michalak failed to take these many opportunities.  The images from the movie will be fun for readers who have seen the film, but do not blend as well with the story as the drawn illustrations do in McDonald's stories.  As the movie fades from reader's minds, so will this book, leaving McDonald's books as longer-lasting library treasures.  Not recommended, **

The Magic Brocade

Recommended grades 2-4.  Aaron Shepard adapts a Chinese folktale in his picture book, The Magic Brocade (Edustar Press, 2011).  In the story, an old widow becomes enchanted by an image of a fairy palace far to the east of her Chinese Village that no mortal has ever traveled to.  She spends months weaving her own brocade of the scene, only to have it stolen by the fairies themselves.  Her devoted son, Chen, must face certain danger to return the brocade to his mother on her death bed.  Chen is a hero on a familiar journey, and he is rewarded for his bravery with a romance of his own.  Illustrations by Xiajun Li are done in a marbled watercolor that bleeds and exudes a dream-like quality.  It may have been helpful to young readers to have an illustration of the brocade itself to understand the content vocabulary of the book.  The author did not include much background information on the origin of the story, which leads readers wanting more.  This book could still be used to introduce students to classic elements in folk and fairy tales, including traditional heroes, magical beings, and the similarities in these stories across the world.  Recommended, ***

A Blues Ensemble For the Birds

Recommended grades K-3.  Jan Huling brings us a New Orleans flavored fable with Ol' Bloo's Boogie Woogie Band and Blues Ensemble ( Peachtree, 2011).  Huling gives Grimms' Musicians of Bremin an American feel.   In this picture book, Ol' Bloo, a hard-working Donkey, narrowly escapes death when his owners threaten to "end his misery" after a lifetime of back-breaking service.  Instead of sitting by to face his demise, Ol' Bloo makes a run for it, planning on furthering his musical career in New Orleans.  Along the way, Ol' Bloo encounters other musically inclined animals with rough stories of their own, and just like Dorothy on her way down the Yellow Brick Road, Ol' Bloo invites these animals to share in his dreams.  Illustrations by Henri Sørensen contribute the the folk feel of the story, combining rich oil paintings in warm hues with black sillouhettes of the animals incorporated with the text.  The silhouette have the feel of shadow puppets onstage in a children's theater.  Ol' Bloo's story offers young readers a glimpse into the mythic South, and the reader can't help but root for his Boogie Woogie Band, though they would surely be ghastly to the human ear.  Recommended, ***