Murder Below Montparnasse

by Cara Black

 I enjoyed this book a lot and look forward to reading more from the series.  That's right, it's a series. I can't believe how many times I find myself in the middle of a series without having read any of the earlier books.  That's not always a bad thing.  Reading a mystery out of order can create it's own experience - the reader gets to go back and discover the motivations behind the main character.

Murder Below Montparnasse is book 12 in the series.  There were times I was a little confused and that was probably because I wasn't familiar with the characters and some of the backplot.  The sprinkling of French words also added to my confusion but I wouldn't want those left out.

In spite of that, it was a really good book and a good mystery that revolves around a painting by a famous French artist that has gone missing.  I liked the main character, Aimee Leduc, and her two colleagues in her detective agency.  I have already made a list of the books in the series, in order, so I can read more.

This book will be released on March 5.

Are you familiar with this series featuring Aimee Leduc?  Do you have a favorite?  At this point I'm not worried about reading them in order, but I would like to read more.

Bones Never Lie

How forensics Helps Solve History's Mysteries

by Elizabeth MacLeod

This is another nonfiction intended for children 10 years of age and older.  I'm just barely over that and I love science.  I taught high school biology and chemistry before retiring.  Being a forensic scientist would be a great job.  That's what this book is about - using forensics to solve history's mysteries.

Each chapter focuses on a famous person or group of people and how forensics was used to answer questions and solve mysteries.

The first chapter:  How Did and Entire Maya Royal Family Die?  Different forensic measures are discussed and how they were used to discover what happened to this important family.  Involved were studying and reading the bones, looking at the artifacts left with the bodies, studying the Mayan history, and limiting the suspects.

Chapter 2 - Was Emperor napoleon Bonaparte Poisoned? This chapter discusses what an autopsy is and how it helps solve crimes, the use of bugs that give clues about the blood and guts, knowledge of poisons and illness, etc.

Each chapter is immensely interesting.  If I was a 10 year, I know I would devour every  tale and want to grow up to be a forensic scientist.  My grandson is dead set on being an airplane pilot, but my 9-yr-old granddaughter is undermined.  Well, she's pretty set on win gold in swimming at the Olympics but after that she needs a job.

Other mysteries discussed & solved in this book are King Tut, Kan Maax, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, The Man in the Iron Mask,Louis XVI, Louis XVII, Grand Duchess Anastasia, King Rama VIII, King Rama IX.  (Did you notice that many Louis that had questionable deaths?)

I loved this book and highly recommend it for sparking an interest in a young child's brain.  What a good source for a report for history or science.

I received a free copy of Bones Never Lie from NetGalley for an honest review.  No other compensation was given.

10 Plants that Shook the World

by Gillian Richardson

Is it just me or does everyone perk up at titles like this?  Books about the longest feuds of all time, the top inventions, the weirdest animals, the greatest speeches, anything with a list intrigues me.

My favorite classes in college were my botany classes so when I was this book dealing with plants I requested it from NetGalley.  I couldn't wait to read what the 10 plants were that shook the world and discover what criterion the author used to wheedle the list down to ten.  The introduction didn't really discuss why some were chosen over others.  This book is aimed at children age 10 and above, so that may explain why poppies, marijuana, or hops didn't make the list.  I guess the claim isn't that these are the top 10 plants to shake the world - only that these 10 did have a big influence on the vast populations of the entire world, not just a region or country.

That said, here's the list:  tea, sugarcane, corn, potatoes, cacao, pepper, cotton, rubber, chinchona (quinine bark), and papyrus.

This is the type of book that I love to buy and set out on an end table for the grandkids to pick up and read a bit here and there.  I want them to be exposed to a lot of different interests to broaden their horizons.  I learned some fascinating tidbits of this book and recommend it.

Have you ever heard of Fordlandia?  It was Henry Ford's dream to build a megacity and rubber plantation on the amazon.  When you think of potatoes, don't you think of Ireland and Idaho?  Potatoes came to Europe in 1570 from Peru.

These plants have brought about ease, comfort, improvements in life style, health and taste but there stories are often filled with greed and dishonesty by governments and businesses.

Prairie Chicken Little

 by Jackie Mims Hopkins
Illustrated by Henry Cole

I grew up loving the story of Chicken Little so when I saw this new version of the tale I wanted to read it.  In this version there's a real threat not a misinterpreted one.

Prairie Chicken Little hears a rumblin' and a grumblin' and a tumblin' and is sure a stampede is coming.  She feels she must warn Cowboy Stan and Red Dog Dan so she runs lickety-splickety across the prairie to tell them.  Along the way she meets other prairie friends who become convince of the impending danger and go with her to issue the warning.

One of the prairie creatures she encounters is Slim Brody the sly coyote who tells the group about a short cut.  You'll have to read for yourself to see if Slim Brody is really offering help or not.  Will Prairie Chicken Little get the message to Cowboy Stan and Red Dog Dan in time?

I highly recommend this book.  It reminded me of my children's favorite, What Was That? because it had lots of repetition of fun lines and fun words that they enjoyed saying with me.  This is the kind of book that children will love hearing over and over again and joining in on those fun repetitions.  Since my copy was an eBook for the Adobe Reader I didn't get to enjoy the artwork, but from the fun cover, I'll bet it's cute & vivid throughout.

Here's what a prairie chicken looks like.  In this picture you can just barely see one of the orange sacs on the side of the male's neck.  When it is mating season or when in battle he puffs those little sacs up to impress the females or to scare away other males.

I received a copy of Prairie Chicken Little from NetGalley and Peachtree Publishers in exchange for my honest review.  I received nmonetary compensation. 

10 Plants That Shook the World Trivia Question

by Gillian Richardson

I'm reading a children's book that is proving to be very interesting.  Before I post my review in a few days I thought I'd post a trivia question.

How many of the 10 Plants That Shook the World you can name?

I'm trusting you not to cheat -  the glory comes in guessing the correct ones, not looking them up on the internet and rewriting them in the comments.  No prizes.  This is just for the fun of it.