Out in Left Field

Collins, Matt     Out in Left Field       

 Holiday House     2012  217p  $16.95

978-0-8234-2313-2       elm/ms      VG      Historical 

This is a sequel to When the Sergeant Came Marching Home.  It is a gentle, somewhat slow-moving story of farm life in rural Montana.  Donald loves baseball.  In the ninth inning of a game against the neighboring town, he misses a pop fly because he has been  hit in the forehead by the ball.  He is sure he will never live it down.  He sets his heart on archery, and is a failure.  Then he tries ice hockey, then skiing, but all with similar results.  Donald is a bit clumsy and accident prone, and each escapade presents a new disaster.  Finally Donald learns that it is possible to forgive yourself.

This is a quiet story with laugh-aloud sections about rural farm life in post-World War II America.  A good boy story for that boy who is quieter.  It is not as interesting or adventure-filled as When the Sergeant Came Marching Home.

VG    Joan Theal        Farm life, Sports, Boys

 

Collins, Terry. Escape From Pompeii

Collins, Terry Escape From Pompeii
Capstone Publishers 2011 32p 29.32
978-1-4296-4771-7 ms Pompeii VG Graphic Expeditions (Capstone)
978-1-4296-4771-7
Dr. Isabel Soto is an enterprising archeologist who travels through time and space using a device called a W.I.S.P., the Worldwide Inter-dimensional Space/Time Portal, to travel into the past to investigate historical events and paranormal occurrences. In this new addition to the Graphic Expedition series, Isabel arrives at the Roman city of Pompeii.
Dr. Isabel Soto is an enterprising archeologist who travels through time and space using a device called a W.I.S.P., the Worldwide Inter-dimensional Space/Time Portal. W.I.S.P. allows her to travel into the past to investigate historical events and paranormal occurrences. In this new addition to the Graphic Expedition series, Isabel arrives at the Roman city of Pompeii. She jumps back in time to the time of the eruption as a young archeologist studying the site plays with one too many buttons on her W.I.S.P. As each time jump happens, true historical data is included in the fictional story and the book ends with an informative section on the history of the Pompeii and a brief “biography” of Isabel Soto.
This is an appealing book that allows the readers to “explore history without the confines of time or distance.” It provides an interesting take, allowing young readers to discover historical eras, culture, and places in graphic novel format, with a main character who is a woman. This is likely to attract girls to the graphic format and lead to further research and exploration into the events.
Science fiction Ogintz, Susan

Getting to the Bottom of Global Warming

Collins, Terry. Getting to the Bottom of Global Warming
Capstone Publishers 2010 32p 27.99
978-1-4296-3972-9 elm/ms Graphic novel VG
Graphic Expeditions (Capstone)
Dr. Isabel Soto is an enterprising archeologist who travels through time and space and, in this book, investigates the process of global warming. Dr. Isabel Soto is an enterprising archeologist who travels through time and space using a device called a W.I.S.P., the Worldwide Inter-dimensional Space/Time Portal, to investigate historical events and paranormal occurrences. In this new addition to the Graphic Library series, Isabel is investigating the global warming process. She begins by visiting a researcher in Antarctica and, after using the W.I.S.P. to avoid disaster, travels first to present day Greenland and back into the past to discover the manner in which early scientists explained how the greenhouse effect caused the rise of Earth’s temperatures. True historical data is included in the fictional story and the book ends with an informative section about global warming and a brief “biography” of Isabel Soto.
This is an appealing book that allows the readers to “explore history without the confines of time or distance.” It provides an interesting take, allowing young readers to discover scientific information in a graphic novel format, with a main character who is a woman. This is likely to attract girls to this format and lead to further research and exploration into the events.
This would be a very good addition to middle school libraries and may attract girls to the graphic format and lead to further research and exploration into the events.
Ogintz, Susan
Global warming