Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples, and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie 

Reviewed by: Chelsea Bunton, Youth Services Assistant

Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction

Suggested Age: Children (ages 8-12)

What is the book about?  Author Gregor Craigie has been fascinated with tall buildings since childhood. He has decided to explore the world and history of building “up” in this eye-catching nonfiction book while also analyzing the apparently inherent need of humans to build in this way. Each chapter focuses on a reason for constructing vertically colossal structures – from security and utility to spirituality and beautification. Real world photographs are paired with bright, pop-art like illustrations and graphs by Kathleen Fu, adding to the quick glance appeal of a nonfiction children’s work. Like many works of informational children’s text, organizational aspects are utilized for readability. As each chapter is broken down into motivations for this type of construction, we see further break down of the information as focus is centered on particular structures: their basic facts, followed by anecdotal text and pictures. Craigie looks to answer his own questions about this deep-rooted need to build higher in humans, meanwhile addressing other possible questions like environmental impact and long term effects of towering construction in our world.

My Review: I don’t typically gravitate towards nonfiction. This is especially true of informational-based text like this (If I DO read nonfiction, I usually stick to biographies). So why did I pick this book up? Just look at the cover! I was immediately drawn to the bright colors and almost comic book-like illustrations. Reading this book was a fun journey. I enjoy information that leads me to look into things for myself. As I read, I found myself Googling more facts on mentioned buildings, as well as questions that came up. I don’t think that is indicative of bad writing, in fact I believe that is exactly what nonfiction SHOULD do: cause the reader to hunger for learning and go on their own research journey. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the simple readability factor. This could almost be considered a “coffee table” book. It’s one of those that you can grab, flip to a random page, read for a bit, and then put it back down for later. I enjoy snippets of details rather than long, drawn-out prose and analyzation. That is exactly how this book is organized, which kept my interest and didn’t bog me down with “too much” all at once.

Three Words That Describe This Book:  Appealing, Construction, Visual

Give This a Try if You Like…How it’s Made, What is…/Where is… series, books about construction/buildings

Rating: 3.5/5

Find it at the library!

The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell

Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager

Genre: Realistic fiction/fantasy (graphic novel)

Suggested Age:  Kids (7-12)

What is This Book About?  What kid doesn’t play make believe? These neighbors take their adventures to a whole new level! Every kid on the block works hard to make their own, unique character and creates a costume to join in the fun. Jack embraces his wicked side as the Evil Sorceress, kid finds her voice as the Banshee, Seth protects his mom as the Gargoyle, and many more! Each chapter, more and more kids join in, challenged by bullies, big brothers, and dragons alike.

My Review:  I fell in love with this book from the first chapter. Every kid has their own chapter for us to get introduced and uses their imagination to come up with fun characters and stories. Their adventures are tons of fun and are only dampened by the onset of the school year. While there are a lot of laughs, there are plenty of serious topics covered as well. Self-confidence and expressing yourself emerge in multiple stories, but there’s also questions of identity, divorce, and absent parents.

Three Words that Describe this Book: kids being kids

Give This A Try if You Like…  The Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse, The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley

Rating: 5/5

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Part of Your Nightmare (Disney Chills, Book 1) by Vera Strange

Reviewed by:  Chelsea Bunton, Youth Services Assistant

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Suggested Age: Late elementary/Middle School (Grades 3-6)

What is the book about?  Shelly has recently started attending a new middle school. At first, she has a hard time making friends, but eventually finds a place with some of the most popular girls on her swim team. Shelly’s family owns an aquarium and she loves all things marine and ocean- but unfortunately, her new friends do not. On a field trip to the aquarium, the popular girls peer pressure her into an act she would normally never commit (littering in the ocean?!?), which sets Shelly on a distressing journey involving sea witches, wishes, and scales. Things start to get spooky in Triton Bay as Shelly battles with the weirdness happening to her- is it all real, or just a nightmare? She will have to decide if having popularity is worth losing her humanity and dragging down others with her. Be careful what you wish for because you could end up a poor unfortunate soul!

My Review:  I’m a lover of all things Disney, so I was very excited to start this series! This book was an easy read, and had fun connections to the original movie. The “creep” factor wasn’t too scary and the darkness involved was a slow burn that assisted the pace of the story. The characters were very true to their age group- from their motivations to their speech. The setting was a great connection to the original film as well as it allowed for plenty of interaction with marine life and the villain herself. I think what I found most interesting in this book was the ending. With a young, middle grade novel I usually expect a straight-forward finale, but that was not to be found here! The reader will have to draw their own conclusions about Shelly’s fate. Each book in this series follows a different main character and original Disney villain, so I think we can expect more of the same when it comes to uncertain destinies.

Three Words That Describe This Book:  Fishy, cautionary, ominous

Give This a Try if You Like…Disney movies, Goosebumps books/movies, The Witches by Roald Dahl

Rating: 3/5

Find it at the library!