Team Moon: How 400,000 People
Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
written by Catherine Thimmesh
Houghton Mifflin, July 2006
ISBN13: 978-0-0618-50757-3

Of course! How could I not have realized that it took a gargantuan effort to send Apollo 11 to the moon and allow a world full of people holding their breath to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon? I've been an avid follower of the space programs of the world since I was in grade school. I had space maps and photos of the astronauts all over my bedroom walls. And yet, I never thought about all the people who made the moon walk possible. Catherine Thimmesh did. Through precise research and personal interviews, she has crafted the story of the people who made it happen. The number 400,000 and a period of eight years qualifies the effort as gargantuan. Thimmesh writes the story in an accessible manner that will leave readers eager to turn the page. From flight director Gene Kranz taking the stairs because he didn't want to risk being stuck in an elevator to the program alarm that occurred twelve minutes before moon landing, Team Moon reveals the drama that evolved at key steps in the mission to set foot on the moon. People needed to see images. How do you take can't-miss photographs on the moon? Parachutes had to open, without fail, on re-entry. Heat shields needed to protect the capsule from burning up and destroying lives. I'm so glad that Thimmesh took the time to interview the people who had such valuable stories to tell us. Especially gratifying is the beauty of this book. The well-chosen photos are startling in contrast to the rich black background. Sources, references, and pointers for further reading will help fascinated readers continue their own journey into space. Highly recommended for schools, classrooms, and every home that has a reader who is curious about the world—and space.

— Vicki Palmquist

The Cat with the Yellow Star:
Coming of Age in Terezin
written by Susan Goldman Rubin
with Ela Weissberger
Holiday House, ISBN:13:978-0-8234-1831-2

The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin slaps the reader with the reality of life in Nazi-occupied Europe. Illustrated with original photos, this true story offers readers a glimpse into a place few have ever seen—a girl’s barrack in a Czechoslovakian concentration camp.

Ela and the other children fill their days with schoolwork and music, eventually organizing and performing in the opera, Brundibár. But at night they wait, wondering whose name will be read next from the list of those destined for the gas chamber.

Books about the horrors and heroisms of World War II are many, but The Cat with the Yellow Star tells a heartwarming and heroic story, through the life of one little girl, of how loving teachers helped make an intolerable situation tolerable through the use of music.

Although this book is a story of hope and survival, the naked truths written on every page make it unsuitable for young readers. For older children, already introduced to war, The Cat with the Yellow Star will give the realities of war a name. For teachers and librarians, this book will be a welcomed addition to their arsenal of teaching tools about World War II history.

— Jane Bedell

Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music
written by Holly George Warren
illustrated by LauraLevine
Houghton Mifflin ISBN: 13:978-0618-19100-0
Suggested age range: Pre-school through sixth grade

Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music blends down-to-earth storytelling with good ol’, down-home illustrations.

Holly George Warren, restrained by the format of the picture book genre, can only introduce her readers to the artists that gave birth to County & Western music. Born long after rock and roll, disco and rap, today’s young music lovers will enjoy this all too short romp into the lives of fifteen C&W greats. Warren tells about each artist’s life and musical style while leaving the essence of each artist’s personality to the illustrator.

Laura Levine’s illustrations hearken back to a simpler time. Her use of bright vibrant colors, juxtaposed within old wooden frames, perfectly portray the folksiness and inner qualities of each artist.

With no other books on this subject on the market, Honky-Tonk Heroes will satisfy any C&W music lover’s desire to introduce kids to the origins of their favorite music. Teachers and librarians may like it for the same reason. Although there is little to hold the attention of a very young reader, older children will find plenty to absorb. The short biographies are ideal for teaching about the pursuit of dreams and the breaking down of social and socioeconomic barriers.

Country & Western songs are music for the heart. This book left me wishing there were a CD along with it.

—Jane Bedell

Chew on This:
Everything You Don't Want
to Know About Fast Food
written by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson
Houghton Mifflin, 2006
ISBN 0-6187-1031-0 hardcover

From the author of Fast Food Nation, this look at the way fast food meat, poultry, and side dishes are grown, processed, and marketed is sobering. Tackling issues such as child and teen obesity, feedlots, the 37-day life of a McNuggets chicken, and marketing to children with Happy Meals, this is a well-documented book that belongs in every middle school and high school library. Useful for health units, economics, and marketing classes, the book is eminently readable. Interviewing older teens who have read Fast Food Nation, it's startling to hear how persuasive Schlosser's exposé has been. This is a new book, though, with different information pertaining more closely to those under 18. It was refreshing to hear about programs such as the Edible Schoolyard program, which is fighting the trend toward brand-name food being sold—and marketed—in schools nationwide. Chew On This is sure to have an effect on readers.

—contributed by VLP

Across the Blue Pacific 
a World War II Story
written by Louise Borden
illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
Atheneum, 2006
ISBN 0-6183-3922-1 hardcover

What is war like for those who stay at home? How does a child deal with the complicated emotions of hero worship, admiration, fear, and sorrow? How does a child understand what war is when it is happening so far away? Louise Borden does a fine job of sensitively capturing those emotions in this book set in an ordinary American neighborhood during World War II. One of the neighbor boys, long-admired by the younger children, graduates from Annapolis to serve on the USS Memphis, where he's stationed when war breaks out. The children write him letters every day, follow the progress of the war, paint a map of the world on the school walls so they can try to understand what's happening ... and they must deal with the sadness that so many families and neighbors have to bear. The last page helps to put perspective on the story and an afterword by the author clearly shows that this story is separate but drawn from her own experience. Mr. Parker's watercolors, defined by ink with a loose style, fit the mood of the book perfectly. This will be helpful to those who are trying to understand today's wars.

—contributed by VLP

Blizzard: 
the Storm That Changed America
by Jim Murphy
Houghton Mifflin, 2000
ISBN 0-5906-7309-2 hardcover

Whether the snow is coating your windows, blown there by a fierce wind (that's the scene outside as I write this) or you've rarely seen snow, this book will have a profound effect on the way that you think of a snowstorm. In March of 1888, before there were snowplows, paved roads, radios announcing school closings, and the National Weather Service, a blizzard was a very frightening natural disaster. Jim Murphy chronicles the four-day snowstorm that hit the northeastern United States in a way that draws the reader breathlessly through the pages, wondering what happened next. He brings people from newspaper accounts to life in believable ways without straying from the nonfiction aspect of the book. Front and center as a living, ice-breathing character is The Blizzard, a memorable book indeed.

—contributed by VP

The Life and Times of the Ant
by Charles Micucci
Houghton Mifflin, 2003
ISBN 9780618689491 paperback

Filled with not-to-be-forgotten facts, this will capture the imagination and curiosity of the reader who is interested in insects and the natural world. The information is presented in many different ways, specific and general, chronological (did you know about the ant calendar?) and biological (a detailed description of the ant's body), cultural and historical. Anyone can observe an ant anywhere in the world, so it's particularly useful for classroom activities that involve social studies, biology (Harlow Shapley observed that ants run faster on hot days), math (how long does it take to dig an ant colony?) and plain old wonder. Micucci's illustrations are both factual and whimsical, an appealing combination that helps the reader focus on this jam-packed resource. Now available in paperback, it's a good addition to a school or individual library.

—contributed by VP

The Ojibwe and Their History
by Natalie M. Rosinsky
Compass Point Books, 2005
ISBN 0756508436

This is exactly the type of information (non-fiction) book I would have loved and been inspired by when I was 8 to 11. There is information in The Ojibwe and Their History that I was glad to learn as an adult. I studied and wrote many reports about Native Americans when I was in elementary, middle, and high school, but the information available here is far beyond what was written in books forty years ago.

The information is organized with a tension that creates a strong pull through the narrative. The author's tone is not condescending or judgmental. A good hook for reluctant readers, the book begins with the overwhelming treachery and destruction created by the Death March of 1850 and closes with the observance in 2000 commemorating those who died. In between, The Ojibwe describes the culture of this fascinating people who lived with the land, from the early information we have to the present time. Written as an introduction to the Ojibwe people, there are many intriguing ideas represented that will raise the curiosity of readers. Resource material at the end of the book works well in pointing to further reading and research materials for this age group, as well as providing further facts.