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MIDDLE SCHOOL NONFICTION camps. A discussion guide is available from the publisher and on the author’s website, making this a good choice for the classroom or book club. Recommended for school and public libraries, especially for 5 th grade and up. Carol R. Gehringer Cleopatra rules! : the amazing life of the original teen queen / Vicky Alvear Shecter. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2010. LCCN 2009026737. HBB, 9781590787182, $17.95. B or 932/.021092 128 p. : ill. (some sol.) ; 24 cm. MS Rating: 4 In Cleopatra Rules! Vicky Shecter asks, “What if all your preconceived notions about Cleopatra were wrong” She writes a fresh, informative, fun-to-read nonfiction book about Cleopatra aimed at middle school readers. When facts about ancient life are combined with doubts about earlier biographers’ motives (mainly Roman historians who wrote about her from their point of view), a different story about Cleopatra is discovered. Even modern scholars are not as quick to accept everything that has been written about her by the Roman historians. Each chapter in Cleopatra Rules! presents numerous photos of ancient artwork and sidebars with interesting information, illustrating her life from childhood (she was a “bookish nerd”) to her life with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony (she used them to protect and further her interests). The banner captions accompanying the photos and drawings make it easy to read. The chapters themselves are short in length; the tone of the book is fun and slightly irreverent, but factual. Punctuated with puns and a chatty, almost gossipy narrative, Cleopatra Rules! is especially appealing to its target audience of young adults in grades 5-9. Schecter’s research is backed with lengthy endnotes, t i m e l i n e , g l o s s a r y , bibliography, and picture sources. The bibliography lists both primary and secondary sources and articles. Even the typeface (Berkeley Oldstyle Book) lends itself to the book’s tone. Readers will enjoy learning about the “original teen queen” who was restored to her throne after her younger brother’s advisers took over in his behalf, and who had children with both Roman heroes, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Highly recommended for public and school libraries. Carol R. Gehringer Planet hunter : Geoff Marcy and the search for other Earths / Vicki Oransky Wittenstein. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2010. LCCN 2009024480. HBB, 9781590785928, $17.95. 523.2/4 48 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 32 cm. MS HS Rating: 5 Part biography, part science text, replete with beautiful illustrations, Planet Hunter tells the story of Geoff Marcy, his colleagues, and the lofty Keck Observatory atop Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and their collaboration in finding two hundred new planets since 1995. As a boy Marcy fell in love with the night sky. This love has blossomed into indepth study of that sky, adding greatly to the enormous leaps and bounds being made in astronomy in APRIL 2011 32 CHRISTIAN LIBRARY JOURNAL
MIDDLE SCHOOL NONFICTION our times. Meet the Mauna Kea telescope, the new extrasolar planets recently discovered, learn about the Doppler Effect, Sprectral Fingerprints, Dwarf Stars; be ready to think in terms of hundreds of billions of stars and millions of years. For further study the author has included an extensive bibliography and large glossary. A prosecutor and advocate for children and families, with an MFA in children’s writing, Vicki Wittenstein uses her research and discovery skills and her clarity of explanation to provide an engrossing account in Planet Hunter. While the narrative is engrossing, the illustrations, garnered from a wide range of media, are totally captivating. This book opens with a spectacular sunrise over the Keck Observatory . Literally and artistically out-of-thisworld paintings of unexplored but known planets draw the eye onward throughout this book. Scientific illustrations, pretty enough for a glossy magazine, illuminate the a s t r o n o m i c a l d e t a i l s . Mathematical drawings help explain salient points. Planet Hunter makes the reader want to learn. It will appeal to a wide age-range of readers, late elementary and middle school age through adult. Classroom, library, and home will want a copy. It will also enhance the coffee table, and waiting rooms. Donna Eggett Y o u n g p e r s o n ' s occupational outlook handbook / editors@JIST. Indianapolis, Ind.: Jist Pub., 2010. LCCN 2010006375. PAP, 9781593577438, $19.95. 331.702 xv, 304 p. ; 24 cm. MS (HS) Rating: 5 T h e Y o u n g P e r s o n ’ s O c c u p a t i o n a l O u t l o o k H a n d b o o k p r o v i d e s information on 260 major jobs, representing 90% of the workforce in the USA. It is a valuable resource for students starting to research job possibilities and explore career choices. Each job has a short description, subjects to study in school, related jobs, earnings, job outlook, as well as education and training required. In addition, there is an activity that can be done to learn more about the job or an idea on how to find out more information. Lastly, there are fun facts about each job. There is a brief contents page, followed by a detailed table of contents, a resource section of information available on the Internet, and an index of job titles. The information is based on the US Department of Labor’s O c c u p a t i o n a l O u t l o o k Handbook and follows their arrangement of jobs. It even includes a section on job opportunities in the military. A new section, written by the editors at JIST Publishing, on “green occupations” is also included. It also includes “Some Points to Consider” when choosing your career and using the information in the book. Each job is a single page, with a few carefully placed illustrations acting as a key to the Education & Training, Earnings, and Job Outlook sections. The Something Extra section is set in a tilted sidebar. The layout of the page is crisp and eye-catching. This publication is easy to read and visually appealing, making it good choices for students who are curious as well as those who are exploring career choices. It is a must for guidance counselors, school libraries, CHRISTIAN LIBRARY JOURNAL 33 APRIL 2011
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Page 4 and 5: Still More Book Lists Part 2 Donna
Page 6 and 7: Gillespie. 2 nd ed. (Children's and
Page 8 and 9: Middle & junior high core collectio
Page 10 and 11: mailing addresses, phone numbers, a
Page 12 and 13: Review Rating System *5 Outstanding
Page 14 and 15: PICTURE BOOKS Pam Webb Everything b
Page 16 and 17: PICTURE BOOKS church, from the sitt
Page 18 and 19: PICTURE BOOKS determined Lyle sprin
Page 20 and 21: INTERMEDIATE FICTION parents, outru
Page 22 and 23: C H I L D R E N ’ S N O N F I C T
Page 24 and 25: M I D D L E S C H O O L F I C T I O
Page 26 and 27: MIDDLE SCHOOL FICTION who has lost
Page 28 and 29: MIDDLE SCHOOL NONFICTION spot” si
Page 30 and 31: MIDDLE SCHOOL NONFICTION Thesaurus
Page 34 and 35: MIDDLE SCHOOL NONFICTION and public
Page 36 and 37: HIGH SCHOOL FICTION All the broken
Page 38 and 39: HIGH SCHOOL FICTION The story has a
Page 40 and 41: HIGH SCHOOL FICTION Ma hissed, “I
Page 42 and 43: H I G H S C H O O L N O N F I C T I
Page 44 and 45: HIGH SCHOOL NONFICTION narrative. B
Page 46 and 47: ADULT FICTION PAP, 9781599799858, $
Page 48 and 49: ADULT FICTION suspense, in this Her
Page 50 and 51: ADULT FICTION Dalton in book two, a
Page 52 and 53: ADULT NONFICTION Stepmom will be va
Page 54 and 55: ADULT NONFICTION urges specifically
Page 56 and 57: P R O F E S S I O N A L T I T L E S
Page 58 and 59: INDEX The 5 love languages of teena

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