Beard, George and Harold Hutchins. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER DIAPER BABY. The Blue Sky Press, 2002. ISBN 0-439-37605-X. $16.95. 115pp. Super Diaper Baby has super powers that Deputy Dangerous desperately wants to steal so. The deputy has big plans to take over the world, so he develops a plan to capture Super Diaper Baby’s powers. However, things go wrong, and with a stroke of bad luck, Deputy Dangerous gets turned into Deputy Doo-Doo. In the end, Super Diaper Baby and his trusty sidekick, Diaper Dog defeat Deputy Dangerous by wrapping him in toilet paper and sending him to Uranus (very appropriately). I dreaded reading this book and put it off to the end, but must admit to laughing my head off the entire time I was reading it. I found the Flip-O-Rama sections particularly amusing and now completely understand why these books are so appealing to 5^th grade boys. (Graphic Novel)

Chambers, Aidan. POSTCARDS FROM NO MAN’S LAND. Dutton/Penguin Putnam. 2002. ISBN 0-525-46863-3. $19.95. 312 pp. Jacob who is 17 years old goes to Amsterdam to find the grave of his grandfather who died during World War II. While there he meets Geertrui who is the Dutch woman who cared for his grandfather when he was wounded. Jacob develops a kinship with Geertrui who shares her teenage war memories. Jacob matures and learns secrets about himself and his family that surprise him. This book was very intense and would be appropriate for an upper middle school audience. (Printz)

Donnelly, Jennifer. A NORTHERN LIGHT. Harcourt Children’s Books. 2003. ISBN 0-15-216705-6. $17.00. 400pp. Mattie Gokey aspires to finish High School, go to college in New York City and become a writer. She is faced with a number of obstacles that keep these goals from being easily obtainable. She is forced to deal with the fresh wound left by her mother’s death, the burden of raising her sisters while her father struggles to make ends meet with their farm, and the hodge podge of feelings she feels for Royal Loomis who says he wants to marry her. When a drowned body shows up at the hotel where she works, Mattie finds her voice as a writer in the deceased woman’s love letters. This book was extremely difficult to put down and did not seem lengthy despite its 400 pages. Highly recommend for a middle school audience. (Printz)

Pilkey, Dav. RICKY RICOTTA’S MIGHTY ROBOT VS. THE MECHA-MONKEYS FROM MARS. The Blue Sky Press. 2002. ISBN 0-439-25295-4. $16.95. 143 pp. Ricky Ricotta and his friend, Mighty Robot are going to be in big trouble because they wrecked Ricky’s parent’s van and they must find a way to pay for the repairs. In the meantime, Major Monkey is on Mars, devising a plan to eliminate Mighty Robot. If he can get rid of the robot he and his Mecha-Monkeys will be able to take over Earth. Major Monkey doesn’t bank on Ricky and his robot sticking together and teaming up on him. In the end, Ricky and Mighty Robot put Major Monkey behind bars and as a reward for saving Earth, they are given a new van to replace the one the wrecked. (Graphic Novel)

Testa, Maria. ALMOST FOREVER. Candlewick Press. 2003. ISBN 0-7637-1996-5. $14.99. 69pp. Almost Forever is a collection of short poems about a young American family who is separated by the Vietnam War. The family must watch as their father, a doctor leaves them to serve a year in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. The young girl in the family learns what a long time a year truly is. Not only does she have to worry about the danger her father is in, but she is scared to death of forgetting him. Despite their length, these poems are truly powerful. A number of parallels can be drawn between the emotions people/families felt during Vietnam and now. (YA Poetry Collection)