The Land of Stories Book 6

Colfer, C. (2017). The land of stories: Worlds collide. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Book 6: Worlds Collide

The last book in the series. Chris Colfer created another great adventure for Alex and Conner Bailey. He through in a little twist of starting the book in the future with Conner being old. He can not remember what has happened to Alex. He is an author who has written all their adventures down in print and sold them as best sellers. He begins to read his own book to figure out what has happened to Alex. Which leads the reader to pick the story back up as the portal opens between worlds. The witches and the literacy army emerge into New York City. Alex is under a curse and has to do what ever the witches tell her to do. Conner and his friends go to New York to try and save Alex. Lots of twists and turns happen before the end of the story. Of course it is a fairy tale and all fairy tales have their happily ever after. It appears the Bailey twins are no exception to this rule. At the end in the prologue Conner finally remembers where his sister is and waits for her to come and get him. Colfer leaves a little opening for the Bailey family legacy to continue. Conner's grand daughter discovers the stories her grandfather has been telling may be real. She discovers the original Land of Stories book in the attic and it begins to glow. Will Colfer write a spin off to this series? Time will only tell.

The Land of Stories Website

The Most Magnificent Thing

Spires, A. (2014). The most magnificent thing. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press.

Brief Overview: Ashley Spires gives teachers a great book to use with students when starting to problem solve and explore with STEM concepts. This book is simple, yet complex at the same time. It can be used with many different grade levels to teach many different skills with creating. Another must have for any elementary library.

Resources:
Author's Website 
Educational Resources
Discussion Questions
Growth Mindset

Two Books by Kobi Yamada

Yamada, K. (2013). What do you do with an idea?. Seattle, WA: Compendium, Inc.

Brief Overview: What a sweet little book about working through an idea. This book is great for social and emotional development with dealing with frustration and confusion when problem solving. Great lessons can be learned through this book. A must add to any elementary library. This book can be used in so many different ways.

Resources:
Idea Portraits Lesson Plans
Discussion Questions
Questions for Philosophical Discussion
How to use the books Pre-K through 5th grade?

Yamada, K. (2016). What do you do with a problem?. Seattle, WA: Compendium, Inc.

Brief Overview: Another winner from Yamada. A great book for helping students work through solving problems. How sometimes the problem seems to large to be able to tackle. The book walks the reader through how to break a problem down and take it one step at a time. Another great life lesson book.

Resources:

Discussion Questions

Growth Mindset Support

Interview with Author

The Trails of Apollo: Book 2 of The Dark Prophecy

Riordan, R. (2017). The trials of Apollo. Los Angeles: Hyperion.

Brief Overview: Apollo is back in action in book 2. He is with Leo and Calypso flying over Indianapolis. They are force to land and begin the adventure of the Dark Prophecy. They come across the weigh station that is one of his sisters hideouts for the hunters. They seek shelter and guidance from the weigh station keepers. Apollo is forced to face the consequences of decisions he made long ago in order to move forward. During the book Apollo is sent on 3 different missions to help save him and his friends. Meg comes back and Apollo must help her see that she does not need Nero and that Nero is not good for her. 

I don't want to give away all the great details of the story. It is a page turner with lots of adventure. Of course Apollo's story is not over and he is sent on another quest to camp Jupiter. Book 3 is coming out in Sprint 2018.

Resources:
Author's Website