Please enable JavaScript
Juvenile Fiction | Page 145 | LitPick Book Reviews
Juvenile Fiction
Ballpark Mysteries #4: The Astro Outlaw
Ballpark Mysteries: The Astro Outlaw
Mark Meyers, David A. Kelly
Now batting clean-up—book #4 in a new early chapter book mystery series where each book is set in a different American ballpark! Houston, we have a problem! Before a game at the Astros' ballpark, Mike and Kate get to meet astronaut commander Nick Rice at the nearby Houston Space Center. He's planning to display a very rare moonrock at an autographing event later. But just before the event, a nefarious outlaw knocks out the commander and steals the moonrock! Can Mike and Kate figure out who did it . . . when their only clue is a broken green feather?The Astro Outlaw includes a fun act page about the Houston Astros' stadium with trivia about the train on the outfield wall and the homerun gas pump.Cross Ron Roy's A to Z Mystery series with Matt Christopher's sports books and you get the Ballpark Mysteries: fun, puzzling whodunnits aimed at the younger brothers and sisters of John Feinstein's fans.

Book Details

Punished! (Darby Creek Exceptional Titles)
Punished!
David Lubar
Logan and his friend Benedict run into the wrong guy at the library--literally. When Logan slams into the reference guy in the basement and gives hima little lip, Logan gets punished, really and truly punished. He has three days to complete three tasks before Professor Wordsworth will lift the magical punishment that keeps getting Logan in even more trouble.

Book Details

Horse Diaries #9: Tennessee Rose
Horse Diaries: Tennessee Rose
Astrid Sheckels, Jane Kendall
Alabama, 1856. Tennessee Rose is a dark bay Tennessee Walking Horse with a rose-shaped marking on her forehead. She loves dashing around the plantation in the running walk that her breed is famous for, then coming back to her comfortable stall and her friend Levi, the slave boy who is her groom. But as the Civil War approaches, Rosie begins to question plantation life. Is slavery fair? Could Levi be free? Like Black Beauty, this moving novel is told in first person from the horse's point of view and includes an appendix full of photos and facts about Tennessee Walking Horses and the Civil War.

Book Details

Super Surprise (Zigzag Kids)
Zig Zag Kids: Super Surprise
Patricia Reilly Giff
This week the kids at the Zigzag Afternoon Center are being creative, and trying new things. But that's not so easy for Destiny. All of her ideas turn into disasters—until she finds out what a good poet she is.  The sixth book in award-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff's Zigzag Kids series captures all the excitement of new friends and after-school fun.

Book Details

Power Hitter (Travel Team)
Travel Team: Power Hitter
M. G. Higgins
Sammy Perez has to make it to the big leagues. After his teammate's career-ending injury, the Roadrunners decided to play in a wood bat tournament to protect their pitchers. And while Sammy used to be a hotheaded, hard-hitting, home-run machine, he's now stuck in the slump of his life. Sammy thinks the wood bats are causing the problem, but his dad suggests that maybe he's not strong enough. Is Sammy willing to break the law and sacrifice his health to get an edge by taking performance-enhancing drugs? Can Sammy break out of his slump in time to get noticed by major-league scouts?

Book Details

A Poor Excuse for a Dragon (Step into Reading)
A Poor Excuse for a Dragon
Geoffrey Hayes, Geoffrey Hayes
"Punchy dialogue and compact sentences should make this a read-aloud delight."—Publishers Weekly"Part-slapstick, part-fairy tale, the gently humorous plot has enough twists and turns to keep newly independent readers engaged."—School Library JournalFred the dragon has a list of tasks he must complete in order to be a successful dragon—none of which comes naturally. But he's determined to make #5—eat people—work. Before you can say "pass the salt" he's gobbled up three people even though he doesn't have the stomach for it. Luckily a local shepherd, with the help of a giant and a witch, knows how to cure what ails him and get those pesky people out of his belly. It's happily-ever-after for everyone in ways you'd never expect.Geisel award-winning author/illustrator Geoffrey Hayes is a stepped reader maestro. The common threads between his wildly popular Uncle Tooth and Otto Step into Reading books and the more recent Benny and Penny series (Toon Books) are clear and constant. The art is adorable, the characters are bursting with personality, and the stories are humorously subversive. From marauding pirates to misbehaving mice to a dragon who swallows people whole (and then continues to communicate with them in his belly!), Geoffrey always hits that sweet spot for the stepped reader audience—easy to decode, illustrative tales that tickle the funnybone.

Book Details

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny--Detectives Extraordinaire!
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire!
Sophie Blackall, Polly Horvath
From National Book Award winner Polly Horvath comes a hopping mad mystery that's perfect for Easter baskets everywhere!In this hilarious chapter book mystery, meet a girl whose parents have been kidnapped by disreputable foxes, and a pair of detectives that also happen to be bunnies! When Madeline gets home from school one afternoon to discover that her parents have gone missing, she sets off to find them. So begins a once-in-a-lifetime adventure involving a cast of unforgettable characters. There's Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, who drive a smart car, wear fedoras, and hate marmots; the Marmot, who loves garlic bread and is a brilliant translator; and many others. Translated from the Rabbit by Newbery Honor-winning author Polly Horvath, and beautifully illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Sophie Blackall, here is a book that kids will both laugh over and love."National Book Award-winner Polly Horvath's latest, a rabbity romp complete with whimsical illustrations and a quirky cast of characters, has both the look and feel of a classic children's book," raves The Washington Post.

Book Details

Galaxy Games: The Challengers
Galaxy Games: The Challengers
Greg R. Fishbone
Things are looking up for Tyler Sato (literally!) as he and his friends scan the night sky for a star named for him by his Tokyo cousins in honor of his eleventh birthday. Ordinary stars tend to stay in one place, but Ty's seems to be streaking directly toward Earth at an alarming rate. Soon the whole world is talking about TY SATO, the doomsday asteroid, and life is turned upside down for Ty Sato, the boy, who would rather be playing hoops in his best friend's driveway.Meanwhile, aboard a silver spaceship heading for Earth, M'Frozza, a girl with three eyes and five nose holes, is on a secret mission. M'Frozza is the captain of planet Mrendaria's Galaxy Games team, and she is desperate to save her world from a dishonorable performance in the biggest sporting event in the universe.What will happen when Ty meets M'Frozza? Get ready for the most important event in human history--it's off the backboard, around the rim, and out of this world!

Book Details

Cheesie Mack Is Cool in a Duel
Cheesie Mack: Is Cool in a Duel
Cheesie and Georgie are back, and this time they're off to the greatest summer camp in Maine. As the oldest of the Little Guy campers, they'll get to make the campfires and choose the sports teams. It's sure to be their best summer yet!Then disaster strikes. Cheesie and Georgie are put in a cabin with the Big Guy campers, including Cheesie's archenemy, Kevin Welch. Now the youngest—and smallest—of the Big Guys, Cheesie has no choice but to use his brains to fight Kevin's brawn—he challenges the bully to a Cool Duel. The adventure that follows includes a toilet on a wall, a headless skateboarder, a garter snake mustache, and the scariest ghost story ever told. Will Cheesie survive to start middle school? With plenty of lists, drawings, and made-up words, Cheesie—with a little help from Steve Cotler—tells the story of the best worst summer ever.

Book Details

Stone Rabbit #6: Night of the Living Dust Bunnies
Night of the Living Dust Bunnies
Erik Craddock, Erik Craddock
After months and months of neglecting his chores, all of the dirt in Stone Rabbit's house has come to life—and it is turning all of the citizens of Happy Glades into evil living dust bunnies! Will our hero be able to clean up his town? Or will he be swept away by the fiendish filth?Night of the Living Dust Bunnies is the sixth book in a full-color series of riotous, rip-roaring graphic novels that chronicles the zany of adventures of a quick-tempered and quick-witted young rabbit. Its fast pace and outrageously-high visual content will appeal to thrill-seeking young readers everywhere!

Book Details

Pages



RECENT BOOK REVIEWS