The Angry Little Puffin by Timothy Young

The Angry Little Puffin book is a cute story about a puffin that lives in the zoo.  He's pretty angry because everyone mistakes him for a penguin and he is NOT a penguin!  This short picture book is a great way to teach a young child about a new animal.  It can also be the beginning of a conversation on what other animals look alike and are often mistaken for something else such as moose and deer.  I think this would be a great book for a JK to 2 class.

Abroad by Katie Crouch

Abroad was a truly twisted book.  The story is about Tabitha, known by her friends as Taz.  She is on a year abroad studying at a University in Italy.  She arrives in Italy alone and eager for new friendships and experiences.  Both friends and experiences quickly come her way but neither exactly what she had in mind.  Everyone has secrets.  Everyone is telling lies.  Taz experiments with alcohol and drugs and sometimes doesn't remember the experiences that she's had.

I know this book has been compared to the real life events of the Amanda Knox story.  I haven't followed the reports in the news to make comparisons myself.  

I would expect that Abroad might make quite an interesting movie.  Abroad could serve as a good warning to any young students travelling abroad.

I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads.  

Skink on the Brink by Lisa Dalrymple

Skink on the Brink tells the story of a little lizard that is on the brink of extinction.  The book is full of interesting facts about the Skink such as habitat, life-cycle and more.

Skink on the Brink is illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo.  The pictures in this book are absolutely amazing!  They are stunning.  

The cover says the book is 'A Tell-Me-More! Storybook'.  The books are published in Ontario, Canada in 2013 which means lots of up to date Canadian content - something I look for when purchasing library books.  If I remember correctly, grade 4 has a unit on extinct animals in the curriculum.  This would be a great book for that unit.

I read this book with my son who is starting grade 4 in the fall and he really enjoyed it.  I will definitely look for more books in this series and be adding this series to my fall shopping list.

Sleeper by Eric Walters

In October 2014, seven of the best Canadian children authors will release seven sequels to their popular Seven series published in 2012.  I can't say enough about how much I love this series.  I was very fortunate to receive an ARC of Sleeper by Eric Walters from Orca Book Publishers.

Sleeper begins with some of the cousins meeting at their deceased grandfather's cottage.  Within the first few pages a mystery is uncovered and the action begins.  With a puzzle to solve, the cousins don't even have time to get settled at the cottage, before they each grab a pile of the hidden cash they've discovered and jet off to locations all around the world.  In Sleeper, DJ, now known as David, heads off to England to visit his friend, Doris, from his Mount Kilimanjaro climb.  While he is there, he also hopes to figure out the truth about who is grandfather really was.

Sleeper will be the answer to all 'Which book should I read next?' questions this upcoming school year.  It has something for everyone - strong male character, strong female character, mystery, spies, action, travel, fast cars, good role models, history and, yes, even a touch of a love story.  Everyone should read Sleeper and when you read one, you'll be sure to read them all!

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

Dabney Kimball Beech works for the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce and she loves everything about the island.  The residents of Nantucket all think quite highly of Dabney too.  Dabney is responsible for matching 42 couples which gives her the well deserved title of matchmaker.  Sadly, as great a matchmaker as Dabney is, she let her own true love match slip away.  Clendenin Hughes was Dabney's true love match but he left the island to pursue a journalism career 27 years ago.  Although Dabney has moved on with her life Clen still holds a large piece of her heart.  

After years of silence between the two, the story begins with Clen emailing Dabney to let her know that he's decided to move back to Nantucket.  The moment Clen arrives back on the island Dabney begins to feel unwell and she is convinced it’s simply heartache.  To complicate matters, she is terrified of leaving the island and can’t get the courage to go to Boston for the medical tests to confirm her self diagnosis.  Her fear of leaving Nantucket is what cost her to lose Clen in the first place.  Between not feeling well and all the lies she is telling Dabney is having a hard time keeping it all together.  As Dabney begins to unravel she continues to keep matching friends and family with their true loves.

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand is a story filled with true love but a fair amount of heartache as well.  Like most, if not all, Elin Hildebrand novels, the setting for The Matchmaker is once again the beautiful island of Nantucket.  The setting descriptions will make you wish you were lying on a beach.  The Matchmaker is a perfect summer read.

Once Upon a Balloon - Bree Galbraith

Once Upon a Balloon is the story of two young brothers, Theo and Zeke.  Theo receives a balloon from his cousin.  His mom offers to tie it around his wrist.  Everyone warns him not to let go of the balloon.  Theo tries really hard but his fingers just won't listen and sadly, he lets go of the balloon.  But where did it go?  Theo asks.  His mom and dad give answers that seem very unlikely.  But his big brother Zeke knows everything so when Theo tells him the balloon went to Chicago that just has to be true.  But what happens to all the balloons in Chicago?  Big brother Zeke has answers to all Theo's questions, after all, he is the older brother and he does know everything.

I had so much fun reading this book to the kids at school.  I read it with kids from kindergarten to grade 5.  They all enjoyed it.  While I read I asked the kids where they thought the balloon went.  Had any of the children been to Chicago?  Did they see lots of balloons there?

I was very surprised when I read that Once Upon a Balloon is Bree Galbraith's first book.  However, I was not surprised to read that she is Canadian.  So many great authors come from Canada!  Can't wait to see what Galbraith writes next.

Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards

Now that we`re all done reading the Forest of Reading books at school I went looking for some other books from some of our favourite Blue Spruce authors.  I found Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards.  Edwards was the author of Uncle Wally`s Old Brown Shoe which the kids just loved.  They really enjoyed the illustrations.  So yesterday I pulled out Monkey Business and read it to a grade 2 and 3 class.  They loved it!  The book starts with a definition of an idiom which none of them really understood.  After one or two pages there was a lot of shouts of "I get it!!"   They enjoyed the pictures and especially finding the magic page.  This is a fantastic book for grades 2 to 5.  Monkey Business is a fun way to teach idioms.