Lemons by Melissa Savage

5^th Grade to 7^th Grade

BIGFOOT!

In the year 1975, Lemonade Liberty Witt is forced to start a new life in Willow Creek, California – the Bigfoot Capital of the World – with a grandfather she’s never met after her mother passes away.

Then she meets 11-year-old Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives Inc., who is the sole Bigfoot investigator for their small town. After he invites Lem to be his assistant for the summer, they set out on an epic adventure to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film. But along the way, Lem and Tobin end up discovering more than they ever could have imagined. 

Yet another book about a kid who lost their parents. I get that it’s a good plot conflict and I try to stay away from most books with that plot line but it’s hard because it’s the most common plot conflict in all of bookdom. The main plot is about Lemonade learning to deal with her new life without her mom, but the second part of the plot is what drew me to this book. BIGFOOT!

This book mentions the Paterson-Gimlin film, which according to Wikipedia is ‘a famous short motion picture of an unidentified subject that filmmakers have said was a Bigfoot. The footage was shot in 1967 and has since been subjected to many attempts to authenticate or debunk it.’ Here is the famous and iconic picture of Bigfoot:

Cryptozoology is the study of creatures whose existence has yet to be – or else cannot entirely be – proved or disproved by science. These creatures, known as cryptids, include creatures like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and Chupacabra. I believe that if these creatures did exist, humans would have found them by now. Then again there are tons of animal species that we didn’t know about until recently. Check out the Monsters in American picture below:

If you’re interested in Bigfoot and cryptozoology, check out the following entertainment:

Harry and the Hendersons, a film about the Henderson family, who adopt a friendly Sasquatch but have a hard time trying to keep the legend of ‘Bigfoot’ a secret.

iCarly,episode iBelieve in Bigfoot. Carly tires to prove Bigfoot is real after Bigfoot fever hits Seattle. This is one of my favorite episodes of iCarly.

This weeks’ Weird but Ture Fact about Bigfoot

There is a trap designed to catch Bigfoot in a forest in Oregon, U.S.A.

The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson

2^nd Grade to 4^th Grade

Stephen Satlow is an eight-year-old boy living in Brooklyn, New York, which means he only cares about one thing-the Dodgers. Steve and his father spend hours reading the sports pages and listening to games on the radio. Aside from an occasional run-in with his teacher, life is pretty simple for Steve.

But then Steve hears a rumor that an African American family is moving to his all-Jewish neighborhood. It’s 1948 and some of his neighbors are against it. Steve knows this is wrong. His hero, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in baseball the year before.

Then it happens—Steve’s new neighbor is none other than Jackie Robinson! Steve is beyond excited about living two doors down from the Robinson family. He can’t wait to meet Jackie. This is going to be the best baseball season yet! How many kids ever get to become friends with their hero?

This is probably going to be the one and only sport centered book I review on this blog. I’m just not into sports. I only read this book because I thought it was an interesting story. It wasn’t until I brought the book home that I realized it was based on a true story. I felt really dumb because it said so right on the book cover at the very bottom.

I liked baseball as a kid. I didn’t like to watch it on TV, but I liked playing in my front yard and at the park. I usually just played with my dad and he would throw me the ball and I would hit it and run the bases while my dad chased me with the ball. My parent signed me up to play baseball with a team for some reason I didn’t understand then and still don’t understand now. It was really boring. I don’t mean to insult baseball players and/or people who love baseball but it’s really boring waiting to be brought out to bat and standing out in the field. I played one time and never went back. My parents were happy because they were bored too.

Let’s talk about a serious topic: prejudice and discrimination. I’ve never understood how someone can hate another person based on the color of their skin or where they come from. Maybe that’s just because I was born in this time period and how I was raised. Sometimes I wonder what my opinion would be if I had been born in another time period. 

If you want to learn more about Jackie Robinson, check out Brad Meltzer’s book I Am Jackie Robinson.

On an ending note, here’s a Baby Blues comic featuring the ‘joys’ of baseball:

This weeks’ Weird but True Fact about Baseball

A study found that a 3-hour baseball game involves an average of just 18 minutes of actual play time.

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World by Henry Clark

4^th Grade to 7^th Grade

When River, Freak, and Fiona discover a rare zucchini-colored crayon between the cushions of a mysterious sofa at their bus stop, they quickly find themselves in the middle of an evil plot to conquer the world! The plot’s mastermind, Edward Disin, is responsible for starting the underground coal seam fire that continually burns just beyond the kids’ backyards, a dastardly cover-up for an intergalactic portal that will soon transport an army of invaders to Earth.

Disin’s only weakness is his otherworldly obsession with the zucchini crayon—and he knows the kids have it. But with the help of an eccentric neighbor, an artificial intelligence in the form of a double-six domino, a DNA-analyzing tray, two hot air balloons, and a cat named Mucus, three kids from the middle of nowhere might be able to save the planet.

This book is crazy, made almost no sense but I kept reading because I wanted to know how it ended. I feel like the writer knew the story made no sense but was having too much fun writing it to stop. Kind of like in the Frazz comic below:

I’m not saying this was a bad book. I’ve read worse. But if you’re interested in reading a story with a lot of wacky details then this is the book for you. I will say one thing about this book, it never got boring.

This weeks’ Weird but True Fact about Crayons

Macaroni and Cheese, Asparagus, and Cotton Candy are not only foods; they’re also crayon colors.