Picture Book Pick: Big and Little Are Best Friends

Big and Little Are Best Friends
by Michael Garland
Illustrations by the author
Orchard Books
2017
32 pages
ISBN: 9780545870979

Big and Little Are Best Friends is a sweet story about friends who like different things yet still get along and love each other. Polar opposites attract in this tale of friendship. Rhyming lines like, "Little's books are scary./Big's books are sweet./ Big likes to nibble./Little likes to eat" with captivating illustrations make this an entertaining and MUST read aloud.

In fact, Big and Little are so opposite, they sometimes do fight, "..But they always make up,/ And it's always all right." The classic pairing of a mouse and an elephant is perfect for Big and Little. Although it's been done before, it has never been done with this exhurberance!

Young readers will see that friends can get mad, but that they do forgive and stay friends.

This one is a sure winner. Michael Garland's illustrations are full of soul! Big comes alive in the pages with his lifelike eyes and facial expressions. He is a joy to behold! Who knew a picture book elephant could be so real? Kids are certain to respond to him.

Highly, highly recommended for young readers and to teach values of friendship, acceptance, and forgiveness.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the F & G from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Series Pick: The Burnouts (Quarantine, book 3)

The Burnouts
Quarantine, book 3
by Lex Thomas
Egmont
2014
272 pages
ISBN: 9781606843383

Available July 22, 2014 (date from publisher's website)

The Burnouts takes readers out with a flash, bang, boom! Lightning paced, reeking of madness, sadness, grittiness, and dirt, The Burnouts delivers a TKO.

Brothers Will and David are reunited on the outside of McKinley, but both of them feel the  need to save Lucy who remains inside. There is talk that the government has finally found a cure for the infected and David wants to travel to Minnesota and check it out. Meanwhile, things have deteriorated beyond control inside the high school.

Gangs of kids roam the school looking for food, fights, and drugs. Some will do anything for a quick high: sniff gasoline, markers, paint or whatever they can "cook" up. There is no medicine and no clean water. Kids are dying every day waiting to be evacuated. Only the lucky will survive; only the sly will live to see another day.

Lucy is all alone--she's smart and  savage when she needs to be. Having survived a few battles of her own, she is not ready to face any more strife. When she realizes that both Will and David have entered the school, she is afraid for them all. How will the three of them escape the madness? And how will they remain human?

Book 3 is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Recommended for high school readers and fans of the trilogy. This book is much edgier than The Hunger Games trilogy. The Burnouts is intended for mature readers--I do NOT recommend it  for middle school readers. Blood, gore, sex, deviant acts, and drug use abound. Although The Burnouts depicts a world gone mad, it is certainly a world that humans can imagine--in our darkest nightmares.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)