Set in approximately 1590 B.C. in Ancient Egypt and Nubia, this historical novel tells of Rahotep, an Egyptian nobleman who commands a small but capable force of Nubian archers. He and his archers offer their services to the Pharaoh Sekenenre, who wishes to finally throw off the rule of the Hyksos invaders and restore Egypt to its former glory. The young and sometimes rash Rahotep finds himself in the middle of a complex web of traditional court protocol, scheming temple priests and treacherous plots to take the life of the Pharaoh. He is finally caught in the web himself, falsely accused of an attack on the Pharoah's life. Escaping, he must choose between rescuing the Pharaoh from another plot and proving his innocence or simply making his escape to safety elsewhere – having a strong excuse after the false accusations. He chooses to help the Pharaoh and becomes involved in several impressive battles with the goal of an all-important first great victory against the Hyksos – necessary to rally Egypt's confidence and support.

This dramatic story makes you feel like you've been dropped right into Ancient Egypt to experience life among soldiers and courtiers in dangerous times. The plot rivals the great adventure novels – secret plots overheard, dangerous undercover missions, daring military campaigns – and offers more besides. The characters are well-portrayed, not overly-simplified or stereotyped. The noble characters fight with courage and honor, and the author shows death and killing as an unfortunate consequence of a just war, not something to be gloried in or dwelt upon in a crude fashion (a remarkable departure from so many books and movies made today).The treacherous plottings in the court and the temples vividly and accurately portray those insidious evils that mix truth and lie into a complex deception. This sort of literature helps children to develop a strong moral sense of right and wrong and the intellectual skills necessary to distinguish the two. Suitable for upper grade school or high school.

Seymour Simon is well-known for his numerous photo-essay-type of picture books for elementary-aged students. Most of his books center around one specific well-defined topic and are illustrated with full-page photographs of the subject. This book is no exception. Sharks is an unpaginated, 32-page picture book, with approximately half of those pages containing full-color photographs of sharks.

The text begins by reassuring the young reader that shark attacks on humans are relatively uncommon and continues with a comparison between sharks and other types of fish. Several pages describe the characteristics of different kinds of sharks, leaving the reader with a sense of how varied these fish truly are. There are also two pages that describe the different types of shark reproduction; for my young non-readers, I skipped the paragraphs that described "external fertilization" and "internal fertilization". The book closes by reminding the children that sharks do not attack people very often, despite what they may have heard, and gives several suggestions for staying safe whilst swimming.

As usual for Seymour Simon's books, the photographs are of high quality and are truly the highlight of the book. Two of the photographs show the teeth and jaws of sharks up close, and my sensitive 5-year-old was horrified. Even so, my 3-year-old was fascinated. One photograph shows the birth of a lemon shark, which is born live as are human babies; my little readers didn't understand this and breezed right by it. The most popular picture of all was that of a hammerhead shark. The children were incredulous that any living creature could look so odd. Weeks later, they still talk about the hammerhead and are anxious to see one at an aquarium.

Show Don’t Tell! Secrets of Writing by Josephine Nobisso About 25 years ago, I attended a workshop for teaching writing in which the presenter talked about writing that "shows" as opposed to writing that merely "tells." As she described her method, I thought it was astounding and could quite possibly revolutionize the writing of my students. When I tried to teach it to middle school students, though, I had to break it down into components: What exactly is “showing” writing? How I wish I had had Nobisso’s book at that time. She breaks it down and makes it highly entertaining. She begins by making the case for writing that shows. It requires specific nouns, clarifying adjectives, and action verbs with their modifiers. However Show Don’t Tell only deals with the nouns and adjectives. (A sequel dealing with verbs and adverbs is promised.) A lion who is a writer does the narration, and he is instructing the other animals on how to make their writing more engaging. He says that merely adding adjectives to a noun doesn’t cut it, and adjectives should never end a sentence (as in, She is pretty) because that would only tell the reader something, not show it. The lion leads the other animals on a lesson in finding the noun that is “just right” to show the reader the ideas he has in his imagination, and then adding adjectives only if it helps to clarify the sentence. After the instruction, the lion asks the animals to do an exercise in which they feel, smell, and hear something and have to write about it. Your students can do this exercise as well since a little mesh patch, a scratch-and-sniff strip, and a push-button noisemaker are included in the book. Having the exercises makes the book so much more valuable and makes Nobisso’s point—children can write in a way that engages the reader’s imagination. My favorite line in the book is this: “One of the secrets of good writing lies in being not fancy, but honest.” The illustrations are fantastic (oh dear, I ended my sentence with an adjective! I’m not showing it to you very well.). The text font and size for this book vary by who is speaking and is not printed conventionally on the page. Your kids will love looking at it, though some might be bothered by having to figure out who is talking or where the lion’s narration comes back in. And, even though it looks like a picture book, I think a middle- or high-school student could read it and get something out of it. You would need to read it aloud to younger children, sitting right next to them so they can see the varied text and discuss who is talking. And then, revisit it often as you practice writing that shows.

Mike Aquilina's newest book, Signs and Mysteries: Revealing Ancient Christian Symbols is a great read and a great reference book in one. It's also an exquisite piece of art, thanks to the illustrations by Lea Marie Ravotti. (Do yourself a favor and click through to her site. Her work is gorgeous.) It's so easy to take illustrators for granted, isn't it? But one cannot do so with this book. The illustrations are integral; the book is, after all, about looking more closely at symbols, visual representations of the life of faith. It won't do merely to talk about them. We need to see them. And see them we do, beautifully rendered by a gifted artist. But the other thing we can't take for granted is the explication of these powerful, enduring symbols, and the importance of a knowledgeable guide. We need a guide who can gently but firmly impress upon us the power that is present in the visual language we're touring:

These symbols are, in one sense, quite ordinary; they are commonplace items from everyday life in the ancient world. And so we might take them for granted, overlook them. But they're there for a reason ... When we see these signs, how can we help sensing we have received an urgent message, telegraphic, cryptic, from a distant family member?

If it would be an injustice to merely talk about the symbols without illustrating them, it would be an equal injustice to focus only on the visuals. Signs and Mysteries takes us on a pilgrimage of sorts, delivering those urgent messages from our ancient brothers and sisters in Christ, because, as the author tells us of these symbols:

The first Christians traced those lines because they wanted them to stand forever as a perpetual prayer, for remembrance of the dead, for the perseverance of the living, and for deliverance in times of trial.

Exploring these ancient (but still relevant) symbols is far more than an archaeological exercise. Signs and Mysteries may be a fascinating read and a valuable reference, as well as a visual feast, but it is also about connections to our Christian family. It is a personal book in the best sense of the word -- a book that connects us, through a shared and vital language, to the person of Jesus Christ.