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Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is elementary confidence and fun

Brothers and sisters don’t just exist in living beings. There are some books that have their perfect pair. It’s those books that are similar, but not identical, and have the right things in common that fans of either book want to see. If your elementary school reader is not hip to Mr. Wolf’s Class they are missing out. It’s an original graphic novel series on Graphix that is entertaining, builds the reader’s confidence, is on a level that they can easily understand, and doesn’t talk down to them. Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is the second book in this series by Beth Ferry with illustrations by Gergely Dudas and will strike the same chord of interest in those first through third-grade readers.

If your elementary-aged reader is looking for a great read try this

Big Foot and Little Foot: The Bog Beast, early chapter book fun

A nice, simple book that’s perfect for emerging readers is a tough thing to find. The chapters could be too short, or too long. The characters could be too juvenile, or just a bit too old for elementary readers. In short, it’s a very narrow line that books need to traverse if they’re targeting grades two through four. Our eight-year-old is right in this struggle. He can read sentences and is building vocabulary, but hasn’t made the jump to chapter books yet. Big Foot and Little Foot is a book series that’s tailor-made for this dapper young man.

An early elementary chapter book that checks all the blocks

The Derby Daredevils, Shelly Struggles to Shine levels up

I love it when the second book in a series surpasses the first one. It doesn’t even have to go all “Empire Strikes Back” and be leagues better than its predecessor. For us, just the fact that it’s better means that the series has lots of gas left in the tank. The Derby Daredevils: Kenzie Kickstarts a Team set up the story about a group of girls teaming up to create a roller derby team. That was a middle-grade book that mainly girls will enjoy that had a variety of positive, diverse themes. The Derby Daredevils: Shelly Struggles to Shine takes that storyline and delivers a J-block to the other teams lead jammer.

Middle-grade comfort food with a side of roller derby for girls 9 and up

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales Major Impossible gives explorers their due

Major Impossible is the ninth book in the bestselling series by Nathan Hale. Each book in this series takes a look at a real historical figure. Some of them you’ve heard of, whereas others aren’t as well known. Major Impossible falls in the lesser known category for us. It’s about John Wesley Powell, an explorer who fought in the Civil War and went on to lead the Colorado River Exploring Expedition in 1869. If you’re familiar with Hale’s storytelling you will love this book. If this is your first Nathan Hale book it’s one that will entertain you, educate you, make you squirm on a couple instances and make you curious about the rest of his subjects.

Nathan Hale’s go-to series for middle school explores The colorado river

Slamdown Town is middle grade reading gold

Take everything that a 10 year-old kid wants and put it into a middle-grade novel. It must have humor, heart, lots of jokes, parallels to school, the cliques that operate therein and have a side dash of science fiction. That’s a tall order but Slamdown Town encompasses all of those categories and another big one that will bring in some fans and that’s wrestling. Almost more impressively, the book weaves the wrestling into the book without alienating those that don’t like, or don’t know about the joys of a slightly pre-arranged body slam and victory.

Slamdown Town is a GREAT, go-to book for upper elementary through middle school readers

Alien Superstar is funny, whip smart and a book ages 9 and up will love

You might’ve seen the press tour for Alien Superstar. I was skeptical of the book because my bias against celebrity authors. The jaded side of my personality sometimes thinks that the quality of the book will be less and that the author is simply coasting by on their fame in another profession. Alien Superstar is written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver and is a hoot of a book. It’s one that our fourth grade student read in three nights and could not put down. Curious about the book that he couldn’t stop raving on I picked it up and can attest to his impression.

Alien Superstar is upper elementary gold, kids 9 and up will love it!

Mammal Takeover! is a full immersion educational graphic novel

Graphic novels can be so much more than entertaining and fun to read. They can be educational!! Really, they can be and they’re so much more than what some parents, educators or kids might think that they are. The Earth Before Us series from Amulet Books is a great example of how much and how different a graphic novel can be. Mammal Takeover! is the third book in this entertaining and educational series that is about old school Earth.

Mammal Takeover! is a semi-deep dive graphic novel into the prehistoric story of Earth