This time around Dodo and 3R-V meet up with Diggs who has been on a buried treasure hunt. But Diggs doesn’t realize that all his digging is ruining his planet. It’s up to Dodo and 3R-V to show Diggs the error of his ways so that his plant will a be a green jewel for generations to come.

If you could control the weather would you? Or better question should you? Cosmo and all his friends that have collected on the traveling planet are about to find out that you do not mess with Mother Nature. Another fun adventure.

#beatthebacklist #buckbeak

This is the sequel to Climate Masters. The remote to control the weather has been lost but the traveling planets are still feeling the effects. Rainshowers, earthquakes, a tsunami, and snowstorms galore. The planet has to right its damaged ecosystem, and maybe this time those living on it wont mess it up. I like this series for its environmental message. There is one more chapter book, but I have not found it in english. #beatthebacklist #buckbeak

Unlike many of the other picture books in this series, this book is almost exactly replicated in the chapter book The Quest for the Last Dodo. It is still a fun story, just a simpler repeat. #beatthebacklist #buckbeak

I am really enjoying this series. The illustrations are fun and the story is neat. This time Cosmo and 3R-V have landed on a traveling planet. The planet moves so fast. And it’s inhabited by friends they have met elsewhere (in the small picture books). Lots of fun and new monsters. #beatthebacklist #buckbeak

Avi takes an interesting look at the goldrush. When I picked up this book I thought someone would be heading to California, but instead it was about the gold rush at Pikes Peak, Colorado in Colorado Springs. I should have guessed being as Avi lives in Denver. This is the story of Early. The youngest son of the Whitcomb's. The Whitcomb's live in Iowa and the train is being built. The town mayor and the railroad want them off their land, even if it means foreclosing on the family. Jesse is Early’s uncle, but the two are thick as thieves since the age gap is not that great. Jesse runs away in the night to chase gold. There are stories a plenty and he know he can strike it rich and save the farm, even if it is only saved for the oldest nephew. But when the family receives news that Jesse may be in trouble, Early heads off to Pikes peak seeking Jesse, gold, and a way to save his family. Most of the story is the trip across a few state. There was no cars in the gold rush days, just horses, carriages. There was little food, water, or money, so Early hired himself out as a helper. He walked and helped the family, they feed him and gave him a place to sleep and a caravan to follow.

As always, Avi puts heart in the story that keeps your eyes or ears glued to the story. You are on that wagon train, your feet hurt, and you just want to save your family. He hides a history lesson inside a character driven story, where the setting and time are as important as the characters themselves. It could even be argued that the wagon train is a character. A well thought out book, a real life adventure, and a joy to read.

3.5 Stars

This is an interesting concept. Jimmy has had a rough few years. He attempts suicide and continues at it until he is successful. But why isn’t he successful. It’s like a bloody version of Groundhog's Day. Jimmy decides he is a demon and transports from the dead body to the living body closest to him at time of death. It’s an interesting set up, but book one is not enough. Things are left hanging. The OSS wants Jimmy, but the reader has no idea what the OSS does. Maybe Vol 2 will tell us.

#BeattheBacklist #Broomstick.

I absolutely love this book, but I also absolutely hate this book. And EVERY library, classroom, and home should have a copy. First the love. The illustrations are amazing. They do such a good job of conveying the story. At first anger is the ram running into the door, then it’s an alligator, a rhinoceros, a dragon. It’s glorious. But as the story says, it’s also lonely. So the reader needs to learn calming ways. At first the boy loves the anger side and how everyone reacts, but that reaction doesn’t last.

And It’s probably that I am reading and judging this book the Monday after the Douglas Stoneman High School shooting which makes me hate this book. I hate that we as a society NEED this book. That we are not teaching our kids to control our anger, or manage the feelings inside us. I HATE that we need a book that in the back talks about WHY we need to teach these things to our kids. Because they are not learning it on their own. Instead they bottle it up until it explodes. We need this book for Adults as well. We need to remember, or relearn the lessons of this book. We need to stop talking over everyone, letting our anger ram hit the door, and teaching our children that anger is okay. So for me, this is not just a lesson for child in a kids book, but a lesson for all the USA. And even sadder, is it takes a French book to teach the US a lesson. Because we cannot write it ourselves.