Bats

Bats Around the Clock
by Kathi Appelt and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

There is a twelve hour program called American Batstand where the bats are going to dance a whole bunch of different kinds of dances, and the host of the program is Click Dark. The dancing starts with the shrug at one, the jitterbug at two, the spin at three, and several other dances every hour. The bats also dance in the street, doing the locomotion. Then at seven it was time for the twist. The bats even dance the hokey pokey at nine. Finally, the bats have danced for twelve hours, and now it is time for the special guest, who has “blue suede shoes.” Who is the special guest? Will the bats continue to dance?

Homework Hassles
by Abby Klein

Freddy’s teacher wants the class to do reports on nocturnal animals. Everyone else seems to be able to think of a cool nocturnal animal, but Freddy cannot think of one. Mrs. Wushy, his teacher, tells him to think about it. Freddy invites his friend Robbie over to observe different animals at night. The plan is to go outside after Freddy’s parents are asleep, but Freddy is very worried about this plan. The boys see some possum tracks, but Freddy is getting very cold. So he decides to climb a tree, but he ends up falling down and breaking his arm. He has to go to the hospital and get a cast. Breaking his arm means that he will have to make a lot of changes over the next few weeks, and it does not change the fact that he still does not have a nocturnal animal to write about. Robbie’s mom finally gives Freddy a great idea for his report? What animal will Freddy choose to write about? What kinds of interesting things will he learn about that animal?

Baby Bat’s Lullaby
by Jacquelyn Mitchard and illustrated by Julia Noonan

A mother bat sings a lullaby to her little baby bat as they snuggle together in the rising sunlight. She sings to him all of the things that her little bat is, such as a forest streaker, a darling night creeper, a mosquito frightener, an upside-down clinger, and many other things.

Batty About Texas
by J. Jaye Smith and illustrated by Kathy Coates

This nonfiction book is about the bats of Texas. A Mexican free-tailed bat named Bo, tells many different facts about the bats in Texas, such as when Mexican free-tailed bats come to Texas, how many kinds of bats can be found in Texas (32), what kind of animal a bat is (a mammal), how high bats can fly (up to two miles), and many other really cool facts. Each page also has a bat fact. Bats also like to eat mosquitoes and many other kinds of bugs, including moths and beetles. They are also important to people in other ways.

Some New Books for October

Librarian on the Roof!: A True Story
by M.G. King and illustrated by Stephen Gilpin

Librarian RoseAleta Laurell of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, TX decided to campout for a week on the top of the library in order to raise money for the children’s department of the library. This is the story of her dedication. RoseAleta makes many changes to the library, and more people start coming to the library. She notices, though, that not many children are coming to the library. So RoseAleta decides that the children need a place of their own in the library filled with books and comfy chairs where they could read the books. In order to make those changes, the library would need $20,000 in donations. So RoseAleta decides to raise the money by staying on the roof until the money that the library needs is raised, and she is lifted up to the roof by the electric company’s truck on Monday. During the week, money was being raised, but they still had not reached $20,000 by Thursday. Thursday and Friday it began to storm, and RoseAleta stays on the roof instead of coming down. Will RoseAleta be safe on the roof during the storm? Will she be able to raise the $20,000 that she needs for the children’s department?

Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation
by Matt Myklusch

Jack has spent the last twelve years at St. Barnaby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost, and every year has been more boring and miserable for him than the last. Jack has no idea where he came from, who his parents were, or even what his last name is. So he calls himself Jack Blank. The other kids at school are always making fun of him, and this hurts Jack’s feelings. On this day, the other students are going to visit a prison, but Jack is not allowed to go because odd things happen to the bus when he is on it. Usually, the teachers make him stay and do chores all day, but on this day, Jack decides to hide instead and read his comic books. Soon he is found, though, and he is forced to burn his comic books in the incinerator. The bully, Rex, tells the teacher that Jack is always doing weird things, but neither the teacher, nor Jack, believe him. How could Jack being doing things like making the lights brighter or burning up a calculator without touching it? Then a Robo-Zombie like the one that Jack had read about in one of the comics comes after him. After Jack destroys the Robo-Zombie, Jazen Knight shows up to take Jack away from the home. Jazen Knight explains that Jack is really from a place called Imagine Nation, and that he is taking Jack back. Once they get to Imagine Nation, they look to see what secrets Jack’s DNA holds, but they soon find that he is infected with the Rüstov infection. Usually, people who have the infection are killed, but Jack does not appear to be sick. Jazen will not let them kill Jack. In fact, the people of Imagine Nation may need Jack and his abilities to save their world that is in danger from the Rüstov. Will Jack ever find out where he came for or who he is? Will he be the hero that Imagine Nation needs?

Miss Tutu’s Star
by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Carey Armstrong-Ellis

Selena loves to dance, and she goes she twirls and prances. So her mother takes her to Miss Tutu’s Dance Academy. Selena has a hard time dancing like the teacher and the other children, but Miss Tutu tells her that she can dance with some hard work. Miss Tutu shows the children the different moves in ballet from arabesque to demi-plié. Selena and the other children make some mistakes, but they keep trying really hard. Selena also practices her dancing at home. After a couple of years of hard work, it is time for Selena to dance in front of an audience. She is really nervous, but Miss Tutu tells her to smile, relax, and just dance. Will Selena be able to dance in front of the audience? Will she make any mistakes?

Little Fox Goes to the End of the World
by Ann Tompert and illustrated by Laura J. Bryant

As she is chasing a butterfly one day, Little Fox is told by her mother not to wander too far from their den, or Little Fox might get lost. Little Fox tells her mother that she will travel to the end of the world one day. Her mother asks her about how she will get to the end of the world. Little Fox tells her mother that she will have to go through a deep forest, and that she will see bears and tigers. Her mother asks her if she will be scared, but Little Fox has some ideas on how to be safe around the bears and the tigers. Then Little Fox tells her mother that she will have to cross the mountains, the hot desert, and a river filled with crocodiles. Her mother asks her if she will be scared by doing these things, but Little Fox also has a plan to keep on traveling. What else does Little Fox think she will have to do to go to the end of the world? What does Little Fox plan to do when she gets to the end of the world?

Playing and Games

The Golly-Whopper Games
by Jody Feldman

Gil is determined to play in the Gollywhopper Games that the Golly Toy and Game Company have put on for their fiftieth anniversary. His parents have promised him that they will move somewhere else, because if he won the games, they would be able to afford to move. Gil’s father used to work for the company, but he was accused of stealing money from the company. He was found innocent of the crime, but that did not stop the people of the town and the other children in Gil’s school from treating them badly. Gil is tired of all of the bad treatment, but he has to make it into the games to get out of there. He spends a lot of time studying facts about the company and the toys, so he can win the games. He makes it into the games, and he makes it through the first part of the games with some help from his new friend, Bianca. Then he makes it into the final round of the games with nine other opponents, including Bianca. Will Gil be able to win the games and move out of the town? Will they ever know the truth of who really stole the money from the company?

Play With Us: 100 Games from Around the World
by Oriol Ripoll

This nonfiction book contains one hundred games that children play all over the world. There are some things needed to play these games, such as baleros, flat pebbles, chalk, dice, and a ball. There are also instructions for how to make things like cartetas. The games include the shoemaker (from Mexico), Nawa Kuji (from Japan), Teruchu (from India), and many more. Each game has the number of people needed to play it, what materials will be needed, and some simple instructions for how to play. There are also illustrations to help explain how to play. Many of the games may be hard to say, but they all look like a lot of fun.

Kids Like Us
by Carole Lexa Schaefer and illustrated by Pierr Morgan

It is raining outside and the children cannot go out to play. So they open a trunk and use toys, clothes, and their imaginations to play. When they see the school bus, they gather up chairs and take a bus ride. When they see a fire truck, they pretend to be fire fighters. Then the children pretend they are in a jungle with lots of different dinosaurs. The children come up with lots of different games to play and shows to put on. Even as the day ends and they get ready to walk home, they are still using their imaginations to play.

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy
by David Soman and Jacky Davis

Ladybug Girl ( or Lulu) cannot wait to get to her favorite playground, and her mother walks with her to the playground. On the way, Ladybug Girl helps Mrs. Robbins carry the groceries. The playground is full of children when Ladybug Girl and her mother get there, and Ladybug girl looks around for a friend to play with. She sees Sam from music class and asks him if he wants to play with her. Sam wants to play, but Ladybug Girl does not want to play “diggers” with him. Sam does not want to play “monkeys” with her. Sam also does not want to play castle or seesaw. Soon Sam and Lulu are mad at each other, because the other does not want to do what the other wants to. Lulu is thinking about playing by herself, but then she asks Sam if he wants to play Ladybug Girl with her. Ladybug Girl has super powers, and Sam wants to play, too. Sam calls himself Bumblebee Boy, and soon they are saving Lulu’s dog from a monster, flying up high on the swings, and attacking the “Mean Robot” tire swing. Then there are two other girls who want to play, too. So there is Ladybug Girl, Bumblebee Boy, Dragonfly Girl, and Butterfly Girl, and the “Bug Squad” goes to save the playground from the giant snake (the twisty slide).

Storytelling

The Storyteller
by Edward Myers

A grandfather asks his grandson if he would like to hear a story. The grandson wants to hear a story, but he wants to hear one that he had never heard before. So his grandfather tells him the story of Jack, an ordinary farmer’s son who becomes a storyteller. Jack lives on a farm with his parents and helps them out every day, but he also loves to tell stories. Stories come to him and he tells them to his family, and in tough times, the family gets by on Jack’s stories. Then one night when he is lost in the woods, Jack meets an old woman, Queen Celestina, who tells him not only her story but many others. When he is sixteen, Jack tells the story of a robber named Garth Golden-eye and his treasure. The people of the village find the treasure, and the people now call Jack, Jack Storyteller. Soon after that, Jack decides to go out into the world, travel, and tell his stories. On his journey, Jack meets Loquasto, a midnight mynah bird that decides to go with Jack after saving him from Garth Golden-eye. When they reach the capital city, Jack starts telling his stories. The people really enjoy them, but then guards show up and take Jack to the palace. The prince had stuffed a ruby up his nose, and only Jack’s stories could cause the prince to sneeze the ruby out. The king names him a member of the King’s Artists. Then one night the king requests a story that will make him happy. The story that Jack tells may not be that story, but the king needed to hear it anyway. He appoints Jack as the royal storyteller. Jack and the eldest princess, Stelinda, fall in love, and the king is happy that his daughter will be happy. Events do not happen quite like Jack expects, though. The king becomes ill and dies, and Princess Stelinda will soon become queen. Or will she? Will Jack be able to marry his princess and live happily ever after? Will he still get to tell the stories that he loves so much?

Silly & Sillier: Read-Aloud Tales from Around the World
told by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev

This book is filled with tales that you can read aloud to your parents or your friends. The author has gathered the funniest stories from all over the world, and there are also tips on how you can add some acting, singing, or other ways of making the stories more entertaining for your audience. After the title of each story, it tells you where the story is from. Some of the stories include Silly and Sillier from England, Why Do Monkeys Live in Trees? from Ghana, Magical Mice from Japan, One Good Turn Deserves Another from Mexico, and many others. Hopefully, you and whoever you tell these tales to will find these stories as funny as the author does.

Once Upon a Baby Brother
by Sarah Sullivan and pictures by Tricia Tusa

Lizzie has always loved telling stories, from tall ones to sad ones. She tells stories to the people who work with her mother, her father on their hikes, and her dog, Big George. All of that changes when her brother, Marvin, is born. After that, every time she tries to tell a story, her mother and father are too busy with Marvin to listen. Big George still listens and enjoys her stories, though. In school, her teacher loves stories, and so Lizzie loves Miss Pennyroyal’s class. Marvin loves his big sister and tries to help her around the house, but mostly he ends up making messes. Lizzie likes to get away from him and go to school. One Friday, Marvin goes to stay with their grandmother, and Lizzie is very happy but soon notices that something is missing. In class, Miss Pennyroyal assigns everyone to write a comic book. Lizzie finds that she has no idea what to write about. She spends the whole weekend thinking, but she cannot come up with anything. Then she finds out that Marvin is home, and she finds a new idea to write about. Who do you think will Lizzie write about in her comic book?

Chester
by Melanie Watt or is it Chester?

In Melanie Watt’s story, a mouse lives in a house in the country, but Chester decides that he would rather tell his story than hear the story of the mouse. So Chester gets a red marker and adds things to the house to make it his, and he keeps trying to get the mouse to go away. When Melanie Watt continues trying to tell the mouse’s story, she has no luck. Chester keeps taking over and trying to tell his story, instead. So the author decides to write Chester’s story, but will Chester be happy with his story? How will he get even with Melanie Watt?

Some New Books for September

No More, Por Favor
by Susan Middleton Elya and pictures by David Walker

This picture book has some Spanish words to describe the animals and food, and there is a glossary and pronunciation guide in the front of the book. The story starts with a little monkey who has decided that he is tired of eating bananas. Then there are more and more little animals, such as the parrot, who is tired of papayas, the toucan, who is tired of pomegranate seeds, the iguana, who is tired of mango, and many other little animals who have become tired of eating the same things over and over. What will the little animals’ parents feed them? Will they get to try eating something new?

The Fantastic Adventures of Baron Munchausen: Traditional and Newly Discovered Tales of Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen
by Heinz Fanisch with illustrations by Aljosch Blau and translated by Belinda Cooper

The fictional book begins with a little note by Heinz Janisch to say that the Baron Munchhausen was a real person who told stories of his adventures as he traveled around. The book contains several of the stories that were written by Munchausen into a notebook. In one story, the baron arrives in a town that is covered in snow. He ties his horse to a pole that is sticking up out of the snow, and then he goes to sleep in the snow. When he wakes up, though, the snow is gone, and he finds his horse hanging from the top of a church steeple, which was what the pole that was sticking up was. He shoots the leather strap holding the horse up there, and then he and his horse take off out of town. Each page has a story of the baron’s on one side, with a beautifully illustrated picture on the other. In one story, the baron rides on a cannonball, and in another story a lady gives the baron and his companions a bag of sunshine so they can find their way through the forest to a hut. Each story is big and entertaining. What other adventures of the baron’s will you find?

Periwinkle Smith and the Faraway Star
by John & Wendy

Periwinkle Smith really enjoys looking through her little gold telescope at birds, fish, and even enemy pirates, and at night, she uses the telescope to look up at the stars. Then she notices one star that is off on its own and that looks very lonely. She decides to become that star’s friend, so that it will not be lonely. So she writes the star a letter and gives it to a little bird to deliver to the star, but the little bird does not take the letter to the star. Then she paints the star a picture and tries to send it to him with a balloon, but the balloon does not make it to the star, either. Periwinkle then decides to create a rocket that will take her message to the star, but the rocket does not make it off the ground. Periwinkle worries that she will not be able to reach the star, but then she gets an idea after seeing her flashlight. What will Periwinkle do to reach the star? Will the star be happy to have a new friend?

City Dog, Country Frog
by Mo Willems and pictures by John H Muth

In the spring, City Dog decides to run as far and fast as he can, and then he meets Country Frog. He asks what the frog is doing, and the frog says, “Waiting for a friend, but you’ll do.” So City Dog and Country Frog play Country Frog games together of jumping and croaking. Then in the summer, City Dog goes back to find his friend Country Frog, and they play City Dog games of sniffing and fetching together. In the fall, Country Frog is tired, so they play remembering games of the fun they have had together in the spring and summer. When City Dog comes back in the winter, will he find Country Frog? Will he still be able to have a fun trip?

Teddy Bears

One True Bear
by Ted Dewan

One bear named Darcy Brewster is a very brave bear who decides to volunteer to become a boy named Damian’s “One True Bear.” Damian is very hard on his stuffed animals, and no other bear had the stuffing to become Damian’s “One True Bear.” When Damian first sees Darcy, he is a little rough with him, but Darcy tells him that he cannot love and comfort Damian without his arms. In fact, every time Damian tries to be rough with Darcy, Darcy reminds him that he cannot love and keep Damian company if Damian tears him up. The days keep passing where Damian is not rough with Darcy, and Darcy knows that he has succeeded in becoming Damian’s “One True Bear.” Then one day Darcy falls under the bed and Damian forgets that he is there. Will Damian remember his “One True Bear?” Will Darcy have to stay under the bed forever?

Everybody Has a Teddy
by Virginia Kroll and illustrated by Sophie Allsopp

Everyone in a child’s class has a teddy bear except for her. All of them have lots of different kinds of bears. Hunter has a bear with stuffing poking out, Ben has a bear that moves and beats a bongo drum, Katie has a bear that is also a backpack, Josh has a teddy bear that is bigger than he is, and Sethy has a roly-polar bear that was once white. Everywhere he looks, he sees the different kinds of teddy bears that everyone else brought. This child does not have a teddy bear, but what do you think he brought instead?

Bedtime without Arthur
by Jessica Meserve

Bella’s bear is named Arthur, and Arthur protects her at night from anything that is hiding in the dark. One day when Bella went to give Arthur a slice of pizza, she cannot find him. She looks everywhere, but she cannot find him. Her parents tell her that they will look for Arthur in the morning, but Bella is very scared without Arthur there to protect her while she is sleeping. She also has bad dreams without him there. The next day, she still cannot find Arthur, and she has to go to bed without him again. That night, Bella sees something outside her window, so she runs into her little brother’s room. She finds something there that really surprises her. What did Bella find in her little brother’s room? Will she ever be able to find Arthur and get a good night’s sleep again?

The Perfect Bear
by Gillian Shields and illustrated by Gary Blythe

One day a girl gets a little white bear that plays music when you turn a little key. The bear was very proud of the way that he looked. The bear thought his name was “Do not touch,” and he did not like it when the little girl tried to play with him. Every time that she plays with him, he loses his hat, gets sand in his fur, and gets his fur dirty and this make the bear very angry. One day, the little girl gives him a bath, and his fur is not white or soft anymore. The bath also breaks his music box, and the girl takes it out for him. The bear is sad that he is now a plain, old bear, but the little girl starts taking him to bed with her at night because he is much cuddlier. The bear is very sad, but the old pink rabbit tells him that it is better to be loved that to be beautiful. Then one night, the girl tells the bear that she loves him, and this causes him to think. The next day, the little girl loses her bear in the department store. Will she be able to find him? Will the bear ever think that it is better to be loved than beautiful?

Honey

Honey…Honey…Lion!: A Story from Africa
by Jan Brett

The honeyguide and the honey badger work as partners to find and eat honey. The honeyguide shows the honey badger where the honey is, and the honey badger breaks the honeycomb open with its claws. Then the two animals share the honey. One day, the honey badger decides not to share any of the honey with the honeyguide. Honeyguide scolds Badger all the way back to his burrow, but he ignores the honeyguide and goes to sleep. The next morning Honeyguide decides to teach Badger a lesson. Honeyguide leads Badger over the roots of the baobab, across the water hole, over the termite mound, through the papyrus, and further and further on. The Badger wonders how far he will have to go, but he tells himself that he cannot wait to the get to the honey, so he keeps on following Honeyguide. Does the Honeyguide lead Badger to honey? Will Badger learn his lesson and never refuse to share the honey again?

The Best Beekeeper of Lalibela: A Tale from Africa
by Cristina Kessler and illustrated by Leonard Jenkins

Almaz likes to taste the honey from the different sellers at the open-air market. She decides that one day her honey will be the best at the market. One day, Almaz goes to visit the men who keep the bees, and she tells them that she also wants to make honey. The men all laugh at her and tell her that beekeeping is only for men. This makes Almaz so upset that runs into a priest. He asks her what is wrong, and after she tells him, he says that she can keep bees if she wants to. One of the men tells Almaz to climb the tree to bring a hive down, but she cannot make it up the tree. The men laugh at her as she leaves, and they think that she has given up on beekeeping. Then three months later, Almaz starts selling honey at the market, and every one decides to buy her beautiful honey. Then one Saturday, Almaz is not at the market. Then she misses two more. When the priest goes to check on her, he finds that the bee hive she made in a little mud cone on the ground has been invaded by ants. Will Almaz be able to figure out a way to keep the ants out of her hive? Will she be able to sell honey at the open-air market again? Will she ever achieve her goal of being the best beekeeper of Lalibela?

Honey in a Hive
by Anne Rockwell and illustrated by S.D. Schindler

This nonfiction book is all about bees and the way that they make honey. The book talks about the different kinds of bees and what their jobs are within the hive, how bees are able to find the nectar and pollen they need to feed the other bees and make honey, how one bee is able to tell the other bees where a field of flowers are, how the nectar becomes honey, and how the queen leaves to create other hives of bees. The book also tells you how you can tell what kind of flowers the bees gather the nectar from, and at the very end of the book are some more facts about bees and honey.

A Taste of Honey
by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

One day Lily opens the honey jar, looks and sniffs, and touches the honey, and then she asks her Poppy some questions. She asks, “Where does honey come from?” Her poppy tells her it came from the jar, but she asks him “But before that?” Lily’s Poppy tells her that it came from the store, from a truck, from a honey farm, from a honey harvest, from a hive, and from a honeycomb. Lily then asks him “before that?,” but he does not have an answer. Will Lily find out where honey comes from? The different pages also have a lot of information about the different steps in the honey making process. There are illustrations and explanations of each step of the process. At the end of the book is a honey game that can be played using the book and some honey facts.

September is National Chicken Month

September is National Chicken Month!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
by John Agee, Tedd Arnold, Jerry Pinkney, David Shannon, Mo Willems, and many others

We all know the age old question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?,” and many of us know that it was “To get to the other side.” However, there are many illustrators that have a different opinion of why the chicken crossed the road. Tedd Arnold believes that the chicken crossed the road to show an opossum that it could be done. David Shannon believes it was because the traffic light turned red, and the chicken could race away in his convertible. Jerry Pinkney believes that it was to get to a picnic with all of her friends. Harry Bliss believes it was to get away from the mutated zombie chickens from Mars. Each illustrator has a different theory that they have illustrated on each page, and some are really funny. How many other reasons can they come up with?



















The Chicken Dance
by Jacques Couvillon

Don never really gets much attention from anyone, not even his parents. His mother is always talking about his older sister Dawn who died when he was just a baby, and he feels that he can never live up to this sister that he never met. He lives on Horse Island where people raise a lot of chickens, and people know a lot about the chickens that they raise. His family also raises chickens, because they have to have at least twenty-five chickens to keep the house that Don’s father’s uncle left him. His mother understands very little about chickens, and she hates taking care of the chickens and living on Horse Island. Don knows both of his parents are unhappy, but there is very little that can be done about it. He also knows that they are keeping something from him, but he can never figure out what it is. Don really likes the chickens and wants to take care of them, but his mother does not want him to go anywhere near the chickens. After his parents forget his eleventh birthday, his mother decides to let him take care of the chickens. Don learns everything he can about chickens, so that he can take good care of them. Then he decides to take part in the chicken-judging contest at the Dairy Festival. Don knows so much about chickens that he wins the contest. Then he gets lots of attention from the people in town and the kids at school. Leon Leonard, the popular kid who likes to make fun of him, even decides to be friends with him. Then one day he finds his birth certificate and discovers that his real name is Stanley, and he really knows that his parents are hiding something from him. What is the big secret that he is missing? Will he stay popular with his new friends and all of the people in town?




















Chicks & Chickens
by Gail Gibbons

This nonfiction book is full of all kinds of facts about chickens. The book talks about the different ways chickens sing, what the differences are between chicks, hens, and roosters, some common breeds of chickens, how chickens lay eggs, how chicks grow in their eggs, and what the different names of the stages of a chicken are. At the end of the book are some more interesting facts about chickens, such as they can live to be about twelve years old, the egg can support up to nine pounds before it breaks, the most eggs laid by a chicken in one year is 371, and that each year in the United States, the chickens lay about 80 billion eggs.

Cock-a-doodle-hooooooo!

by Mick Manning and illustrated by Brita Granstrom

An owl is stuck in a storm one night and he looks for a place to get away from the storm, and at a farmyard, he found some place cozy and warm, where he fell fast asleep. The next morning, the hens were very surprised to see him in their henhouse. They decided to see if he would make a good rooster for them, because they needed a rooster around. Unfortunately, the owl is not good a pecking, scratching, and especially not cock-a-doodling. The speckled hen decides to teach the owl to be a good rooster. Owl learned how to act like a rooster, but as much as he tried, he could not cock-a-doodle. He gets mad when the hens start making fun of him and tells them that he is an owl and what owls do. Will the owl be able to prove himself to the chickens so that he can stay in the warm, cozy henhouse? Will he be able to do something that shows them an owl can be just as useful as a rooster?

Some New Books for August

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe
by Loree Griffin Burns with photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz

Bees are very important to people that like honey, beeswax candles, and of course, without bees, there would not be many others to spread the pollen from flowers, fruits, and vegetables (and so, without this pollen, there would be fewer flowers, fruits, and vegetables). This book starts by taking a look at the beehive, how it is inspected by the person who takes care of it, and what to look for while inspecting the hive. Then discussion turns to the problem with bees that we are facing. In November of 2006, Dave Hackenberg found that the bees he had left in 400 hives (twenty million bees) had disappeared. The bees had left everything and no other bugs had been in to steal the honey. This made him very worried about his other hives. Soon, other beekeepers noticed that something weird was going on in their hives, as well. Honey bees were disappearing all over and hives were being abandoned. A group of scientists formed the CCD Working Group to find out what was going. They collected samples from many different hives. They found that the bees from the hives that were in trouble were very, very sick. The scientists looked at the usual pests that can destroy hives, but they found that those causes were not the one they were looking for. One scientist looked at the diseases that the bees might have picked up, and they found that the infected hives had IAPV and the healthy hives did not. However, the scientists were not sure that IAPV, by itself, was the cause. The scientists agreed that there are many different things that might be adding to the problem and will continue to do research to find the right combination that is causing the collapse. Throughout the book, there is more information on bees, and at the end of the book is a section on how honey is collected.

Princess Says Goodnight
by Naomi Howland and illustrated by David Small

A little girl imagines she is a princess on her way to bed after leaving a ball. She thinks about all of the things a princess might do as she gets ready for bed, such as having some milk and chocolate éclairs, wishing on a star, having a bubble bath with special little towels to dry her toes, what she should wear to bed, and kissing her little “froggy prince” on his head. Will she have a lullaby sung to her or a bedtime story told to her? Will she get her bedtime kiss goodnight?

The Firehouse Light
by Janet Nolan and illustrated by Marie Lafrance

The fires in the small town used to be fought with hand-pulled carts that had water hoses on them, and all of the people in the town would bring their buckets and form “bucket brigades” to fight the fire. The cart with the water hose was kept in a shack, and it was hard to see the cart at night. One person would have to hold a lantern so that everyone could see. One day, a businessman gives the firefighters the gift of a little four-watt light bulb, which is never turned off. This little light bulb sees many changes happen to the firehouse, the firefighters, and the town. Soon, the firehouse has other electric lights, fires are telephoned in, and there is a new fire engine with a bell. After forty years the firefighters start wearing protective gear when fighting fires, and the town keeps growing bigger and bigger. In fifty years, firefighters are actually paid to fight fires, and stay at the firehouse so they can be ready for a fire. Things continue to change, and soon, the little light bulb has been burning for one hundred years. The town even throws a birthday party for the little light bulb.

Flight of the Outcast: The Academy, Year 1
by Brad Strickland

Asteria Locke’s world both ends and begins at her farm on the remote planet of Theron. Asteria had wanted something more than a life of farming before then, but then her farm and family are attacked. Asteria is put into a safe place by her father, and by the time she wakes up and gets out, she finds that her father is gone. Life on Theron would not be what she wants, so Asteria decides to use her cousin, Andre’s Royal Military Academy invitation, as it says A.F. Locke (which is her name, too). She wants revenge on those raiders who destroyed her family, and she has a better chance of getting it through the academy. At school, Asteria feels like an outcast, and she has a hard time making friends. One of the Aristo boys has decided to make her life difficult, too. On her first flight in pilot training, she enjoys every minute of her flight. Then the Aristo’s uncle challenges Asteria to a court-martial, since he found out that she had used her cousin’s papers, but the charges are dropped, because he only brought up the charges to keep her from beating his nephew in a war game. Soon, however, the pressures of school and everything else start getting to her, and she worries that she will not be able to control herself around the Aristo. Will Asteria be able to make it through the rest of the year and get to work on board a ship for the summer? Will her father’s past secrets end up causing her trouble?