Read This! Grades 5 and 6

Madhattan Mystery
by John J. Bonk

Lexi and her brother Kevin are spending the summer in NYC with their aunt, who is an actress. Right after arriving, Lexi overhears a plot to steal Cleopatra's jewels from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that gets their vacation adventure rolling!
Lexi and Kevin team up with a reporter (and neighbor of the aunt) and whirl around New York City, following leads and trying to solve the mystery. Fans of Chasing Vermeer and The Mysterious Benedict Society will surely dig this new mystery!

Watch this! Adults

Life in a Day: A Documentary
Filmed by You (well, not really You, a general You)
95 minutes
Rated PG-13

The global community uploaded over 80,000 videos to YouTube on July 24, 2010. From major cities to remote mountain tops, from Austrailia to Zambia, there are experiences spliced together - one day - all over the world. Kevin Macdonald presents an amazing feat, and something that everyone should see!

Read This! Easy Readers

Mrs. Wow Never Wanted a Cow
Written by Martha Freeman
Illustrated by Steven Salerno

Mrs. Wow finds a cow on her lawn one day, and tries to shoo it away, but it will not leave. Mrs. Wow has a lazy cat and dog who decide to teach the cow to do their chores (chase mice and protect the house). The cow is not good at those chores. Mrs. Wow realizes that the cow can mow the lawn, and give her milk. Moral of the story: sometimes you have to tailor the chores to a specific entity's skill sets. Everything works out in the end, and the words are big, with a lot of repeat sounds. The pictures are old school and brightly colored!

Read This! Grades 2-3

Bears Beware
Written by Patricia Reilly Giff
Illustrated by Alasdair Bright

A group of multi-cultural kids all go to the ZigZag Afternoon Center together. Mitchell is a little scared to go on the group camping trip, but his best friend is going. He's very worried about sleeping in the woods, creepy crawlies and (most especially) bears! It's also his birthday, and he really wants to spend it with his friends. Mitchell finds his courage, though, and goes, and we learn more about letting your friends help and support you when you're nervous about something, because eventually they'll be scared of something too!
Patricia Reilly Giff is a master of the multiple character series for this age group. This is the fifth in the series, and the print is pretty big!

Read This! Adults

The Weird Sisters
by Eleanor Brown

Three sisters - Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia - return home to "care for" their mother, who has breast cancer. They all left home for different reasons, and return for their own reasons, and they are all VERY different people. They are connected through their childhood, through their parents, through the small college town where their parents still reside.
This was our pick for our Spring Edition of the Low Commitment Book Club. It was a lively discussion! The story is a good combination of plot and character, and has a lot of interesting and introspective moments. You'll find yourself rooting for all of the characters, even when they make mistakes.

Read This! Grades 5-6

Pegasus: The Flame of Olympus
by Kate O'Hearn

Did you love Percy Jackson? Mythology? Mystical Winged Horses? New York City?
Well, the answer to your reading prayers is here!

Pegasus crashes into the roof of Emily's apartment building, and she has a strange connection with the mythical beast. Suddenly, she is part of a battle between Roman Gods and stone warriors and she is part of a race to save mankind!
This is a very fast paced, sort of complicated story with Greek Gods and Goddesses, and crazy action! If you love animals, mythology or super adventure, you'll love this! This is definitely the first in a series!

Read This! Picture Books

Moo Hoo
Written by Candace Ryan
Illustrated by Mike Lowery

Cow and Owl are best friends, and they do everything together. Then Kangaroo shows up, and wants to play. Cow and Owl ignore him until he goes away. Then, they think about how cool Kangaroo is and how they have a lot in common. Cow and Owl go out to find Kangaroo, and they all become friends and do things together!
This is a happy book about including everyone! The illustrations are pretty fun and awesome!