Charles R. Smith Jr. has written a new picture book called "Brown Sugar Babies". He has taken wonderful pictures of babies of different hues of brown. He wanted to enrich the world with these photographs by exhibiting the many different hues of beautiful brown babies. Furthermore, the text that he’s written goes so well with each picture that it could stand alone as a rhythmical poem. The lyrical words sing out in their sweet and loving imagery. "Chocolate-drenched buttery smooth skin soft and fine. Black-cherry kisses taste so divine." Each page charms you with delight as smiling caramel and chocolate babies are staring back at you. Between the text and the pictures, this book could be the best dessert yet! Smith has associated food, like brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, and chocolate chips, to compare to skin colors. And he does this superbly. Smith has surely exhibited a delicious diversity of black children throughout the world. See if you can discover which baby is his own. This book is wonderful for anyone, young or old, who loves to smile or loves looking at babies.

A fascinating book that you won’t be able to stop reading is Gary Paulsen’s newest book, "Guts". Mr. Paulsen is the author of "Hatchet" and "Brian’s Winter", as well as many, many more outstanding books. (By the way, if you haven’t read Hatchet, you are missing what I believe will become a classic!) Mr. Paulsen has had many readers write and ask him how and where he received his ideas to write the aforementioned books.

In his forward of "Guts" he writes that the letters have just kept coming - asking for some answers. So he decided to write a non-fiction account about his life growing up in Minnesota and all that he has experienced. These experiences have prepared him to write such vivid and exciting tales about young boys trying to survive when suddenly thrust in the wilderness. The result is an incredible, exciting book that once you pick up, you won’t want to put it down. Gary has had so many experiences, some life-threatening, that you begin to see how he was able to write his fiction books and the harrowing escapes with such reality. It’s no wonder that he was able to detail the pilot suffering from a heart attack, the plane crashes, the blinding snowstorms, and so much more. There is a section in the book about his experience with a moose and how it nearly killed him. The section that is all about the insects he’s encountered makes me never want to leave the house without bugs spray!

Mr. Paulsen’s life has been quite an adventure. One of his greatest strengths as a writer is to draw on those real life experiences and then weave a tale so exciting that you never want it to end. With both of these attributes, it’s no wonder that one or more of his books are usually always on every child’s list of favorite books. Even though this is an easy read, I recommend this book for 12 and up only due to some of the descriptions he writes about when witnessing a plane crash.