Okay, thanks.

Edward is officially worried. His dad takes him out for ice-cream (which can only mean bad news) in the middle of January and then ends up breaking up a fight between two men in an alley - an alley! Turns out his dad has lost his job and now his parents can't send him to Senate, the very-expensive private school he currently attends. He's willing to do anything to be able to continue going so it's a blessing in disguise (well, at first it looks real great and then he figures out it's in disguise) when the police ask him to work for them because of his art skills. If the police solve the case with his help, he gets full tuition for next year, if not, he gets minimum wage for his time. He can draw faces better than the (well he was current, but, you know, he's been replaced) previous police sketch artist. So he gets a cool code name and an IPODICU and it's off to work with him, draw this, draw that, don't think, no that's none of your business. Edward soon has enough of the police's secrecy and unwillingness to listen to him so he works with his hyperactive ADHD OCD best friend, Jonah, who has a knack for puzzles. Together they work on their own to solve the case. But then the police are given an ultimatum - seven weeks to catch the elusive Picasso Gang. Will Eddie Red be able to solve the case and attend Senate - and will he even survive until then? I think this was a fun read, although it wasn't one of my favorites. The beginning of the book made it seem cooler than it actually was. However, I wouldn't consider that detrimental as it made it seem real - like everything could really happen in real life. I would recommend this book to a slightly younger crowd - maybe fifth, sixth graders or reluctant readers.

Edward is officially worried. His dad takes him out for ice-cream (which can only mean bad news) in the middle of January and then ends up breaking up a fight between two men in an alley - an alley! Turns out his dad has lost his job and now his parents can't send him to Senate, the very-expensive private school he currently attends. He's willing to do anything to be able to continue going so it's a blessing in disguise (well, at first it looks real great and then he figures out it's in disguise) when the police ask him to work for them because of his art skills. If the police solve the case with his help, he gets full tuition for next year, if not, he gets minimum wage for his time. He can draw faces better than the (well he was current, but, you know, he's been replaced) previous police sketch artist. So he gets a cool code name and an IPODICU and it's off to work with him, draw this, draw that, don't think, no that's none of your business. Edward soon has enough of the police's secrecy and unwillingness to listen to him so he works with his hyperactive ADHD OCD best friend, Jonah, who has a knack for puzzles. Together they work on their own to solve the case. But then the police are given an ultimatum - seven weeks to catch the elusive Picasso Gang. Will Eddie Red be able to solve the case and attend Senate - and will he even survive until then? I think this was a fun read, although it wasn't one of my favorites. The beginning of the book made it seem cooler than it actually was. However, I wouldn't consider that detrimental as it made it seem real - like everything could really happen in real life. I would recommend this book to a slightly younger crowd - maybe fifth, sixth graders or reluctant readers.

Aluna has lived her entire life under the sea. She is a Coral Kampii - a splinter of humans that came to live in the sea generations ago to escape the horrors and dangers of the above world. She is only a day away from getting her tail and being confined to the water forever when she sees her friend floating dead in the water. Her breathing shell - the shells attached to their throats that allow them to breathe under water - had broken, causing her to drown. When she reports it to the Elders, she is surprised at their obstinance: ‘no one will venture out to the Above World’, they say, ‘no one will go looking for HydroTek, the tech company that made the necklaces’, ‘these deaths were just accidents’. Aluna knows the survival of her fellow Kampii and the city are in danger so she rejects her tail and escapes above in a last effort to save her people (and escape the fate that they’ve laid out for her - who wants to stay at home safe all day so she can rear children? She wants to be a hunter!) But can Aluna and her tech-savvy best friend Hoku survive in a world full of dangerous no-longer-humans, modified to live in their extreme environments as a cause of overcrowding and save their city too? This is a dystopian novel set in a world so far in the future where overpopulation has led humans to adapt to live in harsher environments - growing tails, wings, horse hooves, etc. It’s a very engaging story and is very suspenseful, kind of scary, but very exciting. It teaches to think beyond the set boundaries and to think before you act. Loyalty and friendship were very evident themes and the technology was like a kind of magic. I think this is a great read that most kids should enjoy.

Mr. Tooting, or Dad has some Very Big News. He has been sacked. Hooray! But now he needs something to occupy his free time and so he sets about improving their home - from a door that opens automatically and is hooked up to the tea kettle to brightening up Lucy’s black room and robot stuffed animals, the three kids’ ‘Hooray’s soon turn into ‘Oh no, somebody keep him occupied’s. So Mum brings home a 1966 camper van with 23 windows that looks like it is smiling… and falls apart at a touch. Dad sets about restoring it to its former glory with the help of his son, Jem. (Remember, Jem, not Jeremy. He hates being called Jeremy). It’s like a giant puzzle for Jem and Mr. Tooting can’t wait to take his family everywhere they’ve ever wanted to go. Unfortunately for them, Mr. Tooting does end up fully restoring the van and adding an old aeroplane engine to it as well. They name the van Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the sound of the engine and soon realize that they aren’t controlling it at all! Chitty is controlling herself, busting out her wings and flying them all over the world (where they had thought they wanted to go, but really it’s all her) to get back her lost parts. It’s only after a super-rich, not-really-tiny, out-to-steal-Chitty bank-robber comes after them that they realize what an adventure they are in for and how special Chitty really is. Even though I haven’t read the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I think is a really fun book. It’s full of humour, adventure, family, underestimated goth girls, a bossy van and evil villians. I think kids of all ages, especially fans of Dr. Cuthbert Soup will really enjoy it.

Mr. Tooting, or Dad has some Very Big News. He has been sacked. Hooray! But now he needs something to occupy his free time and so he sets about improving their home - from a door that opens automatically and is hooked up to the tea kettle to brightening up Lucy’s black room and robot stuffed animals, the three kids’ ‘Hooray’s soon turn into ‘Oh no, somebody keep him occupied’s. So Mum brings home a 1966 camper van with 23 windows that looks like it is smiling… and falls apart at a touch. Dad sets about restoring it to its former glory with the help of his son, Jem. (Remember, Jem, not Jeremy. He hates being called Jeremy). It’s like a giant puzzle for Jem and Mr. Tooting can’t wait to take his family everywhere they’ve ever wanted to go. Unfortunately for them, Mr. Tooting does end up fully restoring the van and adding an old aeroplane engine to it as well. They name the van Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the sound of the engine and soon realize that they aren’t controlling it at all! Chitty is controlling herself, busting out her wings and flying them all over the world (where they had thought they wanted to go, but really it’s all her) to get back her lost parts. It’s only after a super-rich, not-really-tiny, out-to-steal-Chitty bank-robber comes after them that they realize what an adventure they are in for and how special Chitty really is. Even though I haven’t read the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I think is a really fun book. It’s full of humour, adventure, family, underestimated goth girls, a bossy van and evil villians. I think kids of all ages, especially fans of Dr. Cuthbert Soup will really enjoy it.

Aluna has lived her entire life under the sea. She is a Coral Kampii - a splinter of humans that came to live in the sea generations ago to escape the horrors and dangers of the above world. She is only a day away from getting her tail and being confined to the water forever when she sees her friend floating dead in the water. Her breathing shell - the shells attached to their throats that allow them to breathe under water - had broken, causing her to drown. When she reports it to the Elders, she is surprised at their obstinance: ‘no one will venture out to the Above World’, they say, ‘no one will go looking for HydroTek, the tech company that made the necklaces’, ‘these deaths were just accidents’. Aluna knows the survival of her fellow Kampii and the city are in danger so she rejects her tail and escapes above in a last effort to save her people (and escape the fate that they’ve laid out for her - who wants to stay at home safe all day so she can rear children? She wants to be a hunter!) But can Aluna and her tech-savvy best friend Hoku survive in a world full of dangerous no-longer-humans, modified to live in their extreme environments as a cause of overcrowding and save their city too? This is a dystopian novel set in a world so far in the future where overpopulation has led humans to adapt to live in harsher environments - growing tails, wings, horse hooves, etc. It’s a very engaging story and is very suspenseful, kind of scary, but very exciting. It teaches to think beyond the set boundaries and to think before you act. Loyalty and friendship were very evident themes and the technology was like a kind of magic. I think this is a great read that most kids should enjoy.

We'll get the books before the program ends in October, right?

Malcolm is a rat undergoing a bit of an identity crisis, you see. Everyone thinks him a mouse because of his size, so he has gone from being on sale as python food to a comfy classroom pet. Then he meets the Midnight Academy during his first adventure outside the classroom. They are a secret society of classroom pets dedicated to keeping the kids of the school safe. They automatically assume he is a mouse too. His rat pride is yelling at him to tell them he is a rat, but rats have a terrible reputation: they are lying, skiving, thieving and selfish rats. When the Midnight Academy takes him on as a pledge, Malcolm is determined to prove that rats can be good too (excusing his lying about being a mouse), and tries really hard to be the fifth-grader he wants to be, one with merit and valor! However, almost everything he does leads the Midnight Academy’s second in command to think he is working with Snip - the cat who is terrorizing their school. And when Aggy the Iguana - the leader of the Midnight Academy - is kidnapped and all evidence points to him, he is locked in his cage. But Malcolm has nutter (kid) friends too and now it’s up to him (with encouragement from the nutters) to stop Snip from carrying out his evil plan, whatever that may be, find Aggy, be the fifth-grader he wants to be, and find Mr. Benny’s engagement ring. This book is a brilliant mystery and has characters with fully developed personalities. I think it will really appeal to fans of Humphrey the Hamster and other stories about animal/bug heroes. It is full of wit, humor, distrust and is all about learning who you really are and being who you want to be. After all, a critter reveals his true self at midnight.

Malcolm is a rat undergoing a bit of an identity crisis, you see. Everyone thinks him a mouse because of his size, so he has gone from being on sale as python food to a comfy classroom pet. Then he meets the Midnight Academy during his first adventure outside the classroom. They are a secret society of classroom pets dedicated to keeping the kids of the school safe. They automatically assume he is a mouse too. His rat pride is yelling at him to tell them he is a rat, but rats have a terrible reputation: they are lying, skiving, thieving and selfish rats. When the Midnight Academy takes him on as a pledge, Malcolm is determined to prove that rats can be good too (excusing his lying about being a mouse), and tries really hard to be the fifth-grader he wants to be, one with merit and valor! However, almost everything he does leads the Midnight Academy’s second in command to think he is working with Snip - the cat who is terrorizing their school. And when Aggy the Iguana - the leader of the Midnight Academy - is kidnapped and all evidence points to him, he is locked in his cage. But Malcolm has nutter (kid) friends too and now it’s up to him (with encouragement from the nutters) to stop Snip from carrying out his evil plan, whatever that may be, find Aggy, be the fifth-grader he wants to be, and find Mr. Benny’s engagement ring. This book is a brilliant mystery and has characters with fully developed personalities. I think it will really appeal to fans of Humphrey the Hamster and other stories about animal/bug heroes. It is full of wit, humor, distrust and is all about learning who you really are and being who you want to be. After all, a critter reveals his true self at midnight.