This is yet another comical installment in the Bad Kitty Series. In this book, Bad Kitty’s cat license has been revoked! Not that he knew such a thing existed. Apparently, he has done too many un-catly deeds, and now he is suffering the consequences. The only way he can get it back is to take a test. If he gets one question correct he gets to be a cat again. But if he doesn’t...he loses his license for good, not to mention any dignity left. Once Bad Kitty arrives for his class, he notices something strange. Some of the test-takers look quite bizarre...and things get even more weird when Uncle Murray shows up for class. Is there something else going on? Is there a sinister plan plotted by chickens to get rid of cats? Maybe. You will have to read it to find out. This book was good, but I don’t think it lived up to some of the other Bad Kitty books. Some of the jokes weren’t that funny. This book is meant for younger kids. I would say anywhere between ages 5-8. It would be perfect for a beginning reader, who is looking for easy reads. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Julia Marks doesn’t have what you would call any type of musical talent. So she doesn’t understand why her mother is making her audition for the Wizard of Oz. She is even less thrilled when she finds out both she and her little brother Randy got roles as Munchkins in the play. Now the thing she dislikes most about herself, her shortness, will be magnified. Things get even worse when Julia is appointed lead dancer. But there are perks. Three of her fellow Munchkin are adults, who have dwarfism, one of them a woman named Olive. Quickly Julia becomes friends with Olive, and learns not to be ashamed because she is short. The director, Shawn Barr, although he is set back by a ladder accident, quickly befriends Julia and she and Olive are given another role-the flying monkeys! Julia is thrilled to learn how to fly with the theatre wires. Along the way Julia makes new friends, learns how to avoid discriminating other people, how to live up to your full potential and dream big. I think this was a wonderful story for middle and high school kids and even adults. Holly Goldberg Sloan did not disappoint in another one of her inspiring stories! I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Dog Man Unleashed is by Dav Pilkey, who is also the creator of Captain Underpants. Just like Captain Underpants, Dog Man is a comic book series. Dog Man Unleashed is the second installment in the series. Dog Man is a police officer, who in an accident would have died, so doctors took the dog’s head and the man’s body and combined them. Unfortunately, Dog Man has the mind and thoughts of a dog, and often gets sidetracked by balls and slobbers over many people he meets. This book is about the life of Dog Man, and his struggle to behave. Although the book is clearly meant for young kids, there is some crude humor, and some of the images could be frightening to younger readers. The whole series is about a person with a man’s body and a dog’s head. To be honest I wasn’t entertained by this book. However, it was not geared toward my demographics. I think that it is best suited for beginner readers, and mostly boys. I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Alex Petroski comes from a broken family. His father died when he was little, his business-man older brother lives in L.A., and his mother doesn’t care what he does as long as he fixes her lunch. Alex is fine with the way things are as long as he can pursue his love of space and rockets with his best non-human friend Carl Sagan(his dog he named after his hero.) Since Alex is allowed to do what he wants, he travels with Carl Sagan to SHARF, which is one of the largest space-lovers gathering. At SHARF Alex plans on launching his rocket with his Golden iPod inside, on which he has recorded various sounds on Earth as well as a verbal journal, to show other lifeforms the daily routines of Earth. But before he knows it, his trip has turned a lot more personal than he expected, when he finds out on Ancestery.com that a man with his dad’s name and birthday lives in a city nearby. So he decided to go discover the truth. All the while he records his journey on his iPod This was an emotional and heartwarming story about finding yourself and the belonging of family. I love the life lessons woven in within, including friendship and about not giving up, and dealing with failure. I would recommend this book to ages 10 and up. There are some parts that may be questionable for younger readers, so it may be best if the parent reads the book before the kid to approve. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This was an interesting day for Gracie. She was just on a field trip with her friends, and everything was going the same as ever. Then something happens. Her friend, AJ, laughs at one of her jokes and her stomach...flurries? She’s never felt like this before. It takes all her concentration to remember to breathe, to walk, to act natural. But before she even has the time to evaluate her feelings, she finds out AJ likes Sienna, one of the most beautiful girls in school-who also happens to be Gracie’s best friend. Of course, Gracie is ecstatic for Sienna. At least she tries to act like it. Inside she doesn’t know what she’s feeling. Soon she is helping dictating response texts, and helping Sienna in different ways. Of course, this is middle school and the always changing loyalties and drama soon is in full swing! I felt like this was a very realistic book, dealing with friendships, and boy/girl relationships, but also focusing partly on family relationships. Gracie's older sister died several years before Gracie was born, and so a lot of times Gracie feels like she has to be "perfect" for her parents. This book also touches areas of grief, and dealing with death. An interesting part was the format of this book. Some chapters were written as text between characters, which I fell helped move along the story and character interactions. I recommend this book to realistic fiction lovers, probably around middle school age, as that is the age range in the book. Some high-schoolers would probably enjoy it as well. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

What do you get when you put together a boy, dog, rocket, and spray painted gold ipod? An amazing story about growing up and finding the truth. Eleven year old Alex really loves space, his dog Carl Sagan named after the real Carl Sagan his hero, his mom and his older brother Ronnie. All Alex really want to do is send his spray painted golden ipod with recordings of his life into space so that the aliens can know what life is really like on earth just like the human Carl Sagan did....well he did it with a record, but because who knows if aliens still have record players Alex is going to do it with his ipod. I really liked this story. I liked how the author wrote it as if you were listening to the recordings instead of just reading it out of a book. This book was so good it almost made me cry. I recommend it to anyone who likes real life stories, books that make you think or cry. All in all I really loved this book.

Julia Marks is not a good dancer, or singer, but she is short ( shorter than her younger brother Randy ) which is why she is cast as one of the munchkins in the university's play production of the Wizard of Oz. Julia doesn't like being short for one she is always looking up to everyone, but then she meets Olive an adult with dwarfism who is a fellow munchkin in the play, and the play director who is also short but has a tall voice she begins to see that being short doesn't always mean you are not tall. I really liked this book. I had read Holly's other book Counting by Sevens and really enjoyed it so I decided to try this one and was not disappointed. I recommend this book

The Ruby Moon completely lived up to its predecessor "The Glass Castle", the first in the series. After I first read The Glass Castle I couldn't wait to read the sequel! Of course I was horrified when I found out I would have to wait almost a full year til it even came out-not to mention when I would get access to it. So I was thrilled when I received it for my birthday. That very next day I re-read The Glass Castle and finished The Ruby Moon. In the Ruby Moon, Avery along with her friends Tuck, Kate and Kendrick are still in charge of the secret underground society of 13 year olds, all who are in hiding from the king and new queen. But they are in the least expected place-the castle itself. Little does the royal couple know that their castle is pretty much run by the kids. Now that the Olympiads are soon arriving, the stakes become even higher as Avery prepares to run in the race, and kids are disappearing. Fear is in the air. All the while, Avery is discovering who the lost heir to the throne is, and who her mother really was. As the days go on, times become more dangerous.Will the kids be discovered? And who is there real enemy? Who can Avery really trust? Just as in the Glass Castle, this book is filled with many plot twists and turns. You don't know what will happen next! I recommend this book to fantasy lovers of all ages, but especially to pre-teens and teenagers. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. The Ruby Moon has joined the ranks of The Glass Castle on my favorites shelf! I am ecstatic to read the next installment in the series! I can't wait!

It all starts when Delvin Quick's new friend Liza witnesses a robbery. Liza and Devlin are at the New York Public Library when Liza sees someone steal a page from a rare book-at least that what she thinks she sees. Devlin and Liza chase the thief but soon lose him in the crowds. But Devlin isn't ready to give up. Unfortunately, not many people believe them. And even though Devlin's mom is Police Commissioner, one possibly stolen page isn't the top priority. So, with the help of her friends(and some top-notch equipment at headquarters), Devlin begins an adventure in New York as she tries to solve this mystery. She is ready to prove that she has what it takes to be a real detective. I liked that since part of the story is that Liza has come to the Quick's home to live with them for a month, we get to know Devlin and her family in a way that we wouldn't if no new people were introduced. This is a difficult book to recommend to a certain age group. I feel like most of it is written for younger grades, but there are some high-tension scenes that may not be appropriate. So I would recommend this book to middle school students. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

12 year old Giacomo lives in a Renaissance-inspired world where art is feared and has been outlawed. Giacomo has been living on his own for several years after escaping the orphanage. He spends his days hiding in the sewers and evading Nerezza guards, the evil ruler of Virenzia. The only thing he actually does for fun is to draw in his sketchbooks. Then one day a Genius shows up-his Genius. This is extremely rare, as a Genius (which is a birdlike creature that represents an artist's creative spirit and essence) is supposed to come when you are a baby. Not to mention all the Geniuses are supposed to be extinct. He is even more surprised when three other kids show up to find him, also with a Genius each. They tell him about a secret studio where they are trained to use their energies as weapons. Giacomo thinks he has finally found a safe place. But an evil artist is looking for something, the three Sacred Tools. With them he could destroy the world. So Giacomo along with others must set off with their Geniuses to stop him. There were so many details about this world that I wouldn't know where to begin. I love how as the book goes on you learn little pieces that fit the whole puzzle together. I also loved the suspense and mystery, there was also a lot of action. There were very few, if any, dull moments in the book. Every scene had a purpose. There were some intense parts in this book. Part of the story is told by a man-made creature who has four arms, and his whole purpose is to follow the bidding of his master, which is usually to threaten or even kill somebody. Another aspect of the story revolves around the Lost Souls, which are the artists who are dead. Because of some of those parts I would recommend this book to middle grade and up, not elementary. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.