Review: There's a Mountain in this Book

 

What do you know about mountains? I definitely learned about mountains and their environments. 

The illustrations in this book are soft and charming. Information about animals, how mountains are formed, and the different environments of a mountain the higher it grows. There's a glossary at the end of this book about mountain terms. 

This wonderful book makes a great gift and is perfect for the summer reading theme

* This isn't a book for libraries as there are flaps that showcase more information.

** This book was sent for review

Graphic Novel Review: Spy Camp

* Book 2 in the Spy School series * 

After a wild first few months at school, Ben is looking forward to a normal summer.  He's surprised to learn that spies don't get the summer off. Instead, he's headed to summer camp to learn survival skills.

But SPYDER isn't done with him. They infiltrate the camp and leave him a message. This sets off a chain of events that leads Ben into danger. Luckily, he has Erica to help him.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this graphic novel adaptation of Spy Camp. This is such a fun series - lots of action, danger, and funny moments. I love how Ben stumbles into everything. The characters surprised me in this one.  Looking forward to more in this series. This book is perfect for this year's summer reading theme.

Source: Book sent for review

Library Recommendation: A must have series for your school and public library

Middle Grade Review: Out of Range

 

Abby, Emma, and Ollie have not been getting along lately. Their parents have had enough. They girls have been sent to camp this summer. But it's not your usual kind of camp. Instead, they go hiking for hours and are supposed to be learning discipline. 

But the prank war between the sisters hasn't eased up. If anything, it's gotten worse. 

On the last day of camp, when they are supposed to be packing up and heading back to civilization, the counselor has had enough. The three sisters and the counselor leave for a punishing hike. But the sisters and the counselor get separated. The three girls find themselves alone; they're going to need each other in order to survive. But can they put their differences aside? 

My Thoughts: I really love survival stories. This middle grade read was fantastic. Lots of action and danger from the survival portion but also lots of drama from the fights between sisters. All three sisters have reasons to be annoyed at the others, but those reasons are slowly built into the story. Each of the sisters has a perspective in the story and the timeline weaves back and forth between present day and the past. This was a great read.

Cover Thoughts: Perfect - I like how it leans into the danger

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: Perfect for summer reading's theme. Highly recommended for your school and public library. 

New Paintings

 This is a very different post of paintings. These were done for work. We created an outdoor obstacle course for kids on the sidewalk outside the library. It's themed as an outdoor course for Adventure Begins at Your Library

Here are a few details:

Logs

Bee

Bear in a cave - the original bear didn't work out, so it was fixed.

Firefly

Duck (kind of looks like a dinosaur)

Elephant Cloud

Rainbow

Teen Summer Reading (4): Adventure Begins at Your Library

The past weeks, we have talked about craft ideas and food ideas. It's time to talk about books.

It's a little harder to create a booklist for the teens and middle grade crowd with new books, so this is a bland of new and older books that fit the theme.

A booklist featuring survival stories from wildfires, rock climbing, hiking, the elements, and danger

Books included:

Peak

Take

The Canyon's Edge

Be Not Far from Me

Alone

Just Keep Walking (review coming soon)

Five Total Strangers

Trapped

Far From You

Devil's Breath

Thin Air

The Lake House

Life as we Knew It

Up in Flames

Paradise on Fire 

This is the last summer reading post; I hope you enjoyed this series. 

Picture Book Review: Adventure Begins at Your Library

 

Just a couple picture books that are perfect for summer reading.

A little girl travels to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel trail. You see all kinds of nature and geological formations. 

This is a beautiful picture book with a big ending.

A boy and his family spend the day climbing a volcano. Several haiku poems appear on each page describing the journey, the nature, and his feelings. 

Describes a long hike perfectly - the awe at the top, the quick moment down, and the long strenuous hike up to the top.  I like the haikus - it's a different way to read and it's a fresh way to talk about poetry. 

Teen Summer Reading Program (3): Adventure Begins @ Your Library

The past two weeks, I've focused on crafts. Today I'm shifting and focusing on food programs.

This was the first part of summer reading that fell into place for me. 

It's perfect because it works well with the theme: S'mores Variations.

We do a take and make food program called Foodie Fun (if you're new to the blog, find out more about that program here.)

We have seven weeks this year. While I haven't narrowed it down yet, here are some ideas that I'm choosing from:

Cookie S'mores

Another Cookie S'mores

Cookie and Kiss S'mores

Snack Mix or Puppy Chow

Pretzel S'more Bites

Rice Krispie Twist

Sugar Cone S'mores

S'mores Nacho

Teen Summer Reading (2): Adventure Begins @ Your Library

Welcome to week 2 of craft ideas for teens. If you missed the first week, go back here. 

All these craft ideas are from Pinterest.

Nature Crafts:

Nature Bookmarks

Nature Lantern 

Book Flower

Camp Crafts:

Duct Tape Sunglasses Holder

Glue Art

Crayon Candles

Pet Rocks

CD Fish

Picture Frames

Next week we'll talk about food!

Teen Summer Reading Program (1): Adventure Begins at the Library

I talked about the Kids Summer Reading Program and now it's the Teens' turn.

Here are some craft ideas for Pinterest:

Yarn Butterflies

Ax Toss Game (could be part of a Hunger Games or Oregon Trail program)

Paint with dandelions 

Hammer Flower Art (bookmarks, t-shirts, bookmarks...)

Nature Clay Impressions 

Paint Night 

Stay tuned next week for more ideas! 

Review: Take

 

Cara isn't headed to college, she's headed to South America to go rock climbing. She has one last summer at home with her friends before they leave for college - together. Cara's worried that she's going to be left behind. The friends are determined to spend all their time together.

But when Cara's father isn't answering her texts or phone calls, she worries about him. She heads over to his house. He's not there, but she does find a wall of information. Cara isn't sure how to unravel all the information; there are pieces that don't seem to fit. Many of the clues involve a famous climber. Her ex-boyfriend read all his book. As much as she doesn't want to call him, she's desperate enough to ask for his help.

Can the two of them work together and solve the clues?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I love how all the pieces came together. There's so much in this book: rock climbing, second chance love story, figuring out your future, family drama, bits about WWII and Japanese Internment Camp. I liked the journal entries from the past interspersed with the present. Lots of twists and turns had me turning the pages quickly.

Cover Thoughts: Amazing

Source: Book sent for review

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your school and public library collection.

Summer Reading Kids (6): Adventure Begins @ Your Library

This is post #6 and the last week for Kids Summer Reading 

This week I'm sharing some fun adventure and outdoor books. These aren't all new books, but they will be new to my collection. 

Some books I'm going to order:

Books I did order:

For Parents:

What new books are YOU ordering?

Stay tuned next week for Teen Summer Reading Ideas