Truce by Jim Murphy
Scholastic Press (October 1, 2009)
Ages 9-12
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Kudos to Jim Murphy for telling a story that most people have never heard. On the front lines of World War I where lives are lost and soldiers are tested, Jim Murphy tells the true stories of soldiers from opposite sides exchanging kind words, gifts and human kindness. An impromptu truce between British and German soldiers enables the men to take a break from the cacophony and misery of war on Christmas Day. Defying orders not to fraternize with ‘the enemy,’ soldiers paused for a handshake and friendship and found that they had more in common than different. The book has archival photos to accompany the text which makes this fascinating story even more interesting.

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Sprout Your Own Sweet Scents
Complete mini-garden kit with seeds, peat, and planters
Ages 4-12
Chronicle Books - March 2009
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
I believe it was snowing the day this kit arrived and it was a welcome sign of spring! Everything about this kit is well-planned and would make a perfect gift or even a science fair project. The plastic cups are biodegradable, the packaging is recyclable and the sweet-scented plants will be wonderful organic air filters for any home (through the magic of photosynthesis). This kit will brighten anyone’s window sill. The publisher also offers Leafy Wonders, which is a similar kit with 3 plants: Sensitive plant, Polka-Dot plant and Lamb’s Ear plant.

Product Description:
Sprout Your Own Sweet Scents — This clever kit has everything young gardeners need to grow three plants with sweet-as-candy scents. Easy-to-follow instructions make growing these fragrant plants simple, fun, and fast, as the plants will have scented leaves in as little as two weeks. The book features recipes and herb-drying instructions so kids can make use of their harvests.
Seed packets: Cinnamon Basil, Lemon Balm, and Spearmint

Kit includes:
3 see-through biodegradable planters, so kids can watch roots grow
3 seed packets
3 dried peat pellets (just soak in water to expand)
Stickers to decorate the planters
Book with growing instructions, plant science and history, science-fair experiments, recipes, and more!

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Chasing Lincoln’s Killer - (Audio CD) by James L. Swanson
Reading level: Ages 9-18
Scholastic Audio Books - February 2009
Cautions: Murder

Kiwi Magazine Review:
History need not be boring or rely on rote memorization. If all history lessons read like exciting novels full of intrigue, espionage and human vulnerabilities, kids would devour it. Thank you, James Swanson, for creating Chasing Lincoln’s Killer as the exciting event that it was. Not a series of dates and names, but real action and real people. Reluctant and avid readers will love this audio book format.

Product Description
Based on rare archival material, obscure trial manuscripts, and interviews with relatives of the conspirators and the manhunters, CHASING LINCOLN’S KILLER is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth: a wild twelve-day chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS MATERIAL: Features fascinating facts from this time in history!

“This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865. Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books and other documents. What happened in Washington, D.C., that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up.”

So begins this fast-paced thriller that tells the story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day-by-day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices. Based on James Swanson’s bestselling adult book MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER, this young people’s version is an accessible look at the assassination of a president, and shows readers Abraham Lincoln the man, the father, the husband, the friend, and how his death impacted those closest to him.

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