Today I received an email from by public library. It holds a summer reading program every year (no, I forgot to enter), and today I received some enlightening statistics. Reading is gaining speed, if this is any indication.  20,649 people joined–an 11% increase from last year! More than 4,400 of those were children.

While I do not know the exact number of kids who participated, I do know that they logged nearly three times the number of hours reading than the adults and teens combined!  Kids: 106,569 hours to Teens & Adults: 36,545 hours.  In the “Read to Me” program for babies and toddlers a whopping 17, 381 books were read in the three month summer program! If you are a writer or want to be a writer, those numbers should be very encouraging.

Okay, on to today’s reviews.  Today is a tri-fecta day.  Boys from infancy to age 13 will find a book for them.  Starting with a board book for the youngest readers in the house.

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Diggers Go

by Steve Light

Back Cover:  Come on down to the construction site!  Make some noise with eight exciting construction vehicles as they rumble, crunch, chug, and BOOM their way through this lively book!

First Spread:  The excavator goes chumma, chumma, chumma, hufft, hufft, fallump.

About the Book:  This board book contains the pictures of eight construction vehicles and the sounds each makes as it is used on a construction site—or in your house!  The eight vehicles are <–keep reading–>

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For Picture Book Fans

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Otto & the Grand Prix Bees

by Kip Noschese

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Inside Jacket:  Otto is a bear with a unique talent for racing cars.  It’s a talent that requires drivers to be fearless.  Otto has only one fear.  A great fear—BEES!  When he crosses paths with some very smart bees that love racing as much as he does, he might need to overcome his fear if he wants to win.

Opening:  Just outside of Orvieto, Italy, is where Otto learned to drive.  He became a stunt driver in the circus under the guidance of “The Great Vittorio.”  Otto had no fear of driving fast.  His only fear was an extreme one—bees!

About the Story:  Otto, a bear, was a circus bear.  He persuaded Vittorio to restore his old racing car so Otto could race in real races.  In otto’s first race he was doing great until <–keep reading–>

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FOR MIDDLE GRADE KIDS

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World War II Pilots:  An Interactive History Adventure

by Michael Burgan

Back Cover: Air raid! The world’s great powers are at war again. This is the Second World War—but it is history’s first war in which airplanes play a major role. You want to fly and you want to fight. Will you:
• Fly with the Royal Air Force as a British pilot and fight in the Battle of Britain?
• Dogfight as an American fighter pilot over the Pacific Ocean?
• Join the Tuskegee Airmen and be one of the first African-American aviators in the U.S. military?
Everything in this book happened to real people, and YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to survival or to death.

Opening: YOU are living through World War II. It’s the early 1940s and airplanes, including bombers and fighters, are playing a major role in battle. You want to join the fight. Chapter One sets the scene. Then choose which path to read. Follow the directions at the bottom of each page. The choices you make will change your outcome. YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

About the Story: World War II Pilots is an interactive story with 3 different stories (see above), 36 choices that can send you in many direction in your story, and 20 endings or <–keep reading–>
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