For the third year, schools, libraries, booksellers, and book lovers are coming together to celebrate Picture Book Month in November. It’s an international literacy initiative that showcases print picture books, founded by author/storyteller Dianne de Las Casas, along with author and illustrators cofounders Katie Davis, Elizabeth Dulemba, Tara Lazar, and Wendy Martin. Every day in November, there will be a new post from a champion of picture books on the Picture Book Month website explaining why he or she thinks picture books are important.

Librarians and teachers can help celebrate the initiative by becoming a Picture Book Month Ambassador and adding an Ambassador badge on their websites. Posters are available for download in a media kit. Participants can register and pledge to celebrate their love of picture books throughout the month and be added to the Picture Book Month mailing list. A theme calendar for Picture Book Month can be downloaded to help you plan a celebration of picture books throughout the month. Ideas for ways to commemorate the event (such as author/illustrator visits via Skype) are provided on the website, and the supporters can help spread the word via social media with #picturebookmonth.

NYC Neighborhood Library Awards

Five winners of the first-ever NYC Neighborhood Library Awards were announced by the Charles H. Revson Foundation on September 17. The awards “celebrate the crucial role of local libraries in serving New York City’s diverse communities” and are the first to honor individual branch libraries. More than 4,000 New Yorkers nominated libraries from May 20 to July 1. A panel of judges reviewed the 10 finalists. The, and. The judges included author R.L. Stine; author Kurt Andersen; Carla Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore; Fatima Shama, NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs; and Don Weisberg, President of the Penguin Young Readers Group.

The five winning branches that have received $10,000 each are: Corona Library (Queens); Macon Library(Bedford-Stuyvesant/Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn); New Dorp Library (New Dorp/Midland Beach, Staten Island); Seward Park Library(Lower East Side, Manhattan); and Sheepshead Bay Library (Brooklyn).

The five finalists that have been awarded $5,000 each are: Aguilar Library (East Harlem South, Manhattan); Kings Bay Library (Sheepshead Bay/Gerritsen Beach/Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn); Parkchester Library (Bronx); Queens Village Library; and Tremont Library (Claremont/Bathgate, Bronx).

“These nominations reveal the passion that New Yorkers have for their neighborhood libraries,” said Julie Sandorf, President of the Charles H. Revson Foundation. “Our libraries promote and reflect the promise of our city—evening the playing field for millions of New Yorkers who seek self-improvement.”

Children’s Lit Fellows Program

The Stony Brook Southampton’s (NY) Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing and Literature is a one-year certificate program for children’s book writers that launched last year. The Children’s Literature Fellows program is now accepting applications for 2014. The selective program chooses only 12 applications each year. The year-long course, which can be completed mostly through distance learning, was developed by author Emma Walton Hamilton and MFA in Creative Writing Director Julie Sheehan. During the course, each Fellow completes either one publishable young adult or middle grade manuscript or, for picture books writers, a series concept with one completed manuscript or three separate manuscripts. Students get to attend the Editing and Publishing Conference where they have the opportunity to meet with editors, agents, and other members of the publishing industry.

“The Children’s Literature Fellowship is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself,” noted middle grade novelist Janas Byrd. “It is a one-on-one mentorship with award-winning authors who are also brilliant teachers.”

The application deadline is December 1, 2014. For more information, visit the Stony Brook website and click on Children’s Lit Fellows.

LEGO Essay Contest

“It’s Your Adventure, Where Will You Go” is a storytelling essay contest, open to children in the second through fifth grade, sponsored by Lego Education in celebration of National Literacy Month in September. Students entering must use Lego Education StoryStarter, a hands-on learning tool that “enhances students’ reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.”

The challenge is for students to use the Lego Education StoryStarter product to write a 100–200 word creative story using the following prompt:

“It’s the new school year but your principal is nowhere to be found! It’s your school mascot’s mission to find out what happened and bring them back safely to the school. While your mascot is on their adventure, they make new friends along the way. Who will your mascot meet, what cities will their adventure take them to? You get to decide how this story ends!”

Students can build their stories using StoryStarter LEGO bricks, take photos, upload into the StoryStarter Visualizer software, and then write their story for submission. The only limitation is that it must involve the use of LEGO Education materials and showcase student’s writing within the 100–200 word limit.

Entries must be submitted via email by October 21, 2012. The grand prize winner will receive a LEGO model built in honor of their school mascot. The two runners-up will each receive a $1,000 LEGO Education gift card. Be sure to check out the details of the initiative and the rules of the contest.

Illustration by Harry Campbell

By Chad Sansing

Our classroom glows with activity. One kid drafts a how-to article in which he explains the steps involved in wiring a cardboard Minecraft controller. Another writes a branching-path, choose-your-own-adventure story in Twine, a free, downloadable interactive fiction app. A student who’s claimed throughout his middle-school career that he isn’t a writer leans close to his laptop screen, finding and fixing coding errors. He composes, compiles, and debugs more than 100 lines of code to light up a three-by-three-light LED display plugged into his laptop.

A pair of especially curious students sits huddled around our newest computer, an exposed-faced circuit board smaller than a paperback book. It’s called a Raspberry Pi. They’re watching how the code they write in one window changes the course of a game in another. They may not know it yet, but these kids are playing with an open-source computing platform that just might change the way we teach young people how to interact with computers.

What is Raspberry Pi, and how do I get started?

It’s a $25 computer that fits in the palm of your hand. While you supply the mouse, monitor, and keyboard connection, your “RPi” supplies the rest. It comes with a Linux-based operating system (an open-source alternative to Windows and Mac OSX) called Raspbian. The operating system is on a Micro SD card.

With its astounding price and flexible capabilities, the Raspberry Pi has the potential to challenge the digital divide and make coding in schools as commonplace as textbooks. Computing could truly become about what kids can make rather than what schools can buy. And making coding affordable for all students could foster creative, independent computing in a way that downloading the latest app does not.

The RPi was developed at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory under the leadership of Eben Upton, trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Concerned about the lack of programming in schools and the reluctance of parents to let kids hack expensive computers at home, the Foundation members set out to put the Raspberry Pi into kids’ hands so they could experiment with code and physical computing in a simple, cheap way. After alpha and beta phases in 2011, the Raspberry Pi went on sale in 2012, selling more than 500,000 devices by September of that year.

To get the little device up and going, a new user can either download Raspbian on a Micro SD card to boot the RPi or purchase a card preinstalled. A good way to start is with a card already loaded with Scratch (a popular plug-n-play visual programming language developed for kids at MIT) and IDLE (which allows for the use of Python, another programming language).

Scratch, used widely in schools and clubs, lets kids program animations and games through a visual interface. IDLE helps kids author text-based code to control circuits or actions on screens. It’s amazing to insert these tools into the RPi and watch a computer come to life from a tiny hard drive the size of a fingernail.

What if I don’t understand coding technology?

Don’t worry. There are many ways to get up to speed on the RPi. Among a host of online resources (see sidebar below), David S. Whale’s visual guide to starting a club helps educators and technical support staff get the RPi ready for classroom use. Fortunately for librarians, Whale, a school science ambassador in the UK, and other early RPi adopters have shared many strategies for purchasing, configuring, and using these diminutive computers with kids.

In addition to searching for online help, consider asking your IT person—or better, some tinkering-inclined students—to walk you through RPi, as my colleague Melissa Techman, a K–5 librarian in Albemarle County, Virginia, did, with great results.

Techman asked some sixth- and eighth- grade students at a local student-led professional development session to teach her how to use the RPi. “I was hiding a fear of anything electrical, but I wanted to get past that,” Techman says. She was motivated in part because she wanted to work with Teen Tech Girls, a local organization dedicated to helping girls find pathways to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers and projects.

“My student mentors patiently showed how the connections worked and got me started reading circuit schematics,” says Techman. They showed her how to write simple code in Arduino, an open-source software for physical computing, in order to make lights blink in a pattern.

Within a week of that first learning session, Techman started Scratch and Minecraft lunch groups at her school. Another great outcome: The tutorial “gave me the confidence to learn alongside my own inventive young students and to try new things with several programs,” she says.

For novices like Techman, learning to program with Scratch on a computer you assemble yourself is one of those experiences that shows how fulfilling it is to become a coder and maker. Once we know that feeling, it becomes a happy task to imagine how reading, writing, and math relate to planning physical computing projects and composing code.

Techman also came away from her student session inspired with ideas for physical computing and writing projects to use with upper elementary grades. In addition to starting multiage Scratch, Minecraft, and physical computing mentoring groups in her school, she plans to partner with a local high school to find mentors for her young students. The high schoolers could help the younger kids write their own Web pages using Mozilla Webmaker’s Thimble platform, among other exercises.

Photograph courtesy of Raspberry Pi Foundation

What kind of physical computing can I do with the Raspberry Pi?

Using the RPi, kids can connect Scratch with Microsoft Kinect to write programs controlled by a player’s body. Or they can plug an Arduino circuit board into a laptop to light up or move attached objects by writing small “sketches”—short programs—of code.

Working with Python and IDLE to run a circuit or to modify a game like Minecraft makes it clear to kids how computers control the devices around us. Programming a blinking LED light or a Minecraft building helps them see how what we do with code translates into what happens virtually, on screen, as well as in the physical world of electricity.

They can use a MaKey MaKey board—a small, cheap ($50) circuit board built on the Arduino platform—to wire up anything from bananas to books. MaKey MaKey boards act as bridges between computers and other objects that can “talk” to Scratch like hand-held video game controllers. Anything conductive can become a part of a kid’s controller with MaKey MaKey. For example, in one well-known MaKey MaKey project, bananas can and do act as keys of an on-screen piano (demonstration). A wire from the MaKey MaKey connects to each banana. Another wire—the “earth contact”—goes from the board to the user. When the user touches the banana, the board registers the completed circuit and tells the computer to play a note.

Another idea: Make a digital book project with MaKey MaKey. It’s possible for a kid to animate a story in Scratch and then to “turn” its pages using a MaKey MaKey connected to her computer and a physical book decorated with conductive material like graphite or tin foil. The author can wire a decorated page of her book to a MaKey MaKey, hold the earth contact, and then tap her book to complete a circuit. The MaKey MaKey then tells the computer to advance her story on-screen.

Another very useful Raspberry Pi extension for physical computing, called Cobbler, connects the computer to a breadboard (a kind of pegboard for circuits) so users can write short programs that control physical parts like lights, motors, sensors.

Arduino is another great open-source software for physical computing. The Arduino sketch pad, a free download, provides embedded help as the learner writes programming commands.

Photograph by flickr.com/skokiepl

What else can kids make with Raspberry Pi?

Brad Jones, a youth technology librarian for the Skokie (IL) Public Library, runs a “Codebots” club for elementary school students, with the help of two staffers. Recently, kids in the club used Raspberry Pi computers to run Scratch and write programs for LEGO WeDo kits, another example of physical computing for kids.

“Try! Fail! Fix!” the kids were chanting. I was impressed by how patient these LEGO natives were. Things would break, and they’d shrug. “That’s OK. That’s how it goes with LEGOs,” says Jones.

Projects like this serve as ready pathways to increasingly sophisticated endeavors using the same open technology—like the recently Kickstarted “Brick Pi” project that uses Raspberry Pis to run robots built from Lego Mindstorm/NXT kits.

In my own middle school classroom, one eighth grader has learned how to run Minecraft: Pi Edition. He’s started using IDLE and programming tutorials to change the way he plays the game. For example, he created a never-ending bridge right under his avatar’s feet. A stone appears in front of his character wherever he walks so that he can never fall into water or lava—or fall from a great height while exploring the sky. By altering the materials that make up his “bridge,” my student can actually leave multihued trails that make his avatar into a kind of paintbrush walking the land. When feeling silly, we also make the LEDs on the breadboard blink as we play.

As the student puts it, “You can customize the technology to do whatever you want. You feel like you’ve accomplished something that’s actually useful and really cool.”

The bigger picture

Using tools like the RPi to bring the Maker movement into libraries and schools is a powerful way to combat academic passivity. Kim Wilkens, the founder of Teen Tech Girls, sees other benefits from learning to code and physical computing.

“Being able to code opens new avenues to create and explore,” says Wilkens. It “helps everyone build an understanding of the role of hardware and software in the technology we use and take for granted every day.”

Wilkens has found that by late elementary school, many girls lose sight of imagining themselves in computer or engineering careers. For such girls, engaging in coding, making, and physical computing with women mentors in formal and informal learning spaces helps them see that technology overlaps many fields. It’s not just for those who study “serious math” in high school or college.

Several major organizations allied with kids and educators, such as the MacArthur-supported Digital Media & Learning Hub, the Mozilla Foundation (webmaker.org /en-US), and the National Writing Project, are investing heavily in connected learning around code, making, and physical computing. This kind of support should encourage us to set our young male and female students loose on code. Where there is room for code—which encompasses art, creation, and inquiry—there is room for curiosity and empowerment. With a tool like Raspberry Pi, it takes just a small investment and a willingness to learn for us all to code, make, and connect with other people who are doing the same.

Photograph by flickr.com/skokiepl

1. Visit a site like Adafruit to find a starter kit that’s right for you. I suggest a kit that has all the cords you’ll need, a Cobbler extension kit, and a Micro SD card preinstalled with the Raspbian Wheezy operating system.

2. Gather old and unsupported mice, keyboards, and monitors from around your school, library, or community.

3. Once your kit arrives, assemble your Raspberry Pi! Check online tutorials for any help you need.

4. Follow the on-screen start-up prompts to get everything running.

5. Pick a project—for starters, try to make a single LED blink using your RPi. Document your progress and publish it online for others to see.

6. Keep your RPi and LED on display and invite kids and community members to change little bits of the code—like how long the light stays on—to dip their feet into physical computing. As interest grows, invite kids to create a club with you.

7. Keep documenting what folks make with the RPi and curate a display of their work in your learning space. You can encourage kids to do the same and publish their learning.

8. Pick a next step: Start learning how to install and program software like Minecraft: Pi Edition on your RPi or perhaps set up another computer or two around the first.

Raspberry Pi Quick Start guide

Raspberry Pi project ideas from MAKE magazine

An Adafruit Raspberry Pi starter kit for purchase

Great Raspberry Pi Projects Created by Kids Winners at the Cambridge Computing Centre 

Minecraft Pi Edition

David S. Whale (@whaleygeek) on setting up a Raspberry Pi club

An 11 year old’s blog on Raspberry Pi Projects

Chad Sansing (csansing@gmail.com) teaches middle school language arts in Staunton, VA. He works with the National Writing Project and Mozilla’s Webmaker project to champion kids’ connected learning.

McGraw Hill SmartBook

Despite the much-publicized grumblings about CES being less relevant this year due to the direct absence of big players like Microsoft, Apple, and Google, there were clear trends and several standout products at the January Consumer Electronics Show, which will likely impact K–12 education. Here’s a short list of highlights from CES, starting with an overarching trend that’s bound to affect a wide range of devices in coming years.

The future of display technology, foretold. Just the other day, I eyed a ceiling-mounted projector in my library that cost over $5,000 back in 2000 and still works, but just can’t cut it in today’s wide-screen, HD world. Considering the prospect of replacing it, I wonder, where will it end? Well, thanks to CES, I think I know: Ultra HD. It’s the display standard that’ll set the new bar for virtually all screens in the future.

Also known as 4K or Quad HD, Ultra HD was originally driven by digital cinema’s requirement for a high-def display dense enough to look good on really huge screens. Ultra HD displays, those boasting a horizontal resolution on the order of 4,000 pixels (a common one is 3,840 x 2,160), are definitely headed for a living room TV near you. At about 8.3 megapixels, Ultra HD has four times the pixels of HDTV. It’s not just about TV, though: Panasonic debuted a 20-inch Windows 8 tablet at CES with 4K resolution, and Qualcomm announced that its newest Snapdragon 600 and 800 mobile processors are now engineered to handle Ultra HD, too, so expect Ultra HD to make its way onto the screens of even the smallest personal devices. We’ll also see more OLED screens in the marketplace, with their richer colors and higher contrasts. Samsung has introduced super-thin, bendable, nearly unbreakable OLED displays. The technology, called Youm, could make curved screens and other yummy new display form factors commercially possible. Plus, Youm mojo could prove valuable in school settings where only the toughest screens survive. Some think Ultra HD could be the ultimate display resolution, the finest display we’ll ever need… or want. Do I believe that? No. But it should satisfy us for a while.

Adaptive ebooks and courseware. Imagine textbooks that actually revise themselves on-the-fly to adjust to an individual reader’s comprehension. That’s the idea behind SmartBooks from McGraw Hill Education. They’re multi-platform etextbooks, readable online or off, that adapt to how students respond to periodic review questions, reinforcing material that needs more attention. The company uses student behavior models to create the most efficient path toward subject area mastery. McGraw Hill Education is yet to set SmartBook prices, but expects them to be comparable to standard ebooks. Pearson was also reportedly at CES promoting similar adaptive products.

Gaming pioneer Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, also believes that software that adapts to learners—keeping them on the optimum edge of their ability—maximizes academic achievement and learning enjoyment. That’s the idea behind his company, BrainRush. See how it works yourself: I challenge you to visit www.brainrush.com and take one of their sample lessons. Unless you immediately nail the drill, you’ll feel the software adjusting to your mistakes. I took the lesson on South American countries and could sense the software repeatedly trying different ways to get me to stop confusing Guyana with nearby French Guiana. Eventually, I caught on. And Paraguay is north of Uruguay… duh.

Robotics for students of all ages. Fans of Lego Mindstorms robotics kits, popular in classrooms and homes for well over a decade, will be happy to hear that a new set, Lego Mindstorms EV3, is scheduled for release this spring. The $350 kit reportedly includes 17 different bot designs. Builders can follow plans on paper or tablets, or they can invent new robots freestyle. The kit includes a variety of new and improved sensors and capabilities, has a Linux-based, programmable brick that aspiring hackers can mess with, and is compatible with Mindstorms NXT components. Students can remotely control their robotic creations with apps for iOS and Android, and curricular support is available at www.legoeducation.us.

While the Mindstorms kit is recommended for ages 10 and up, younger kids can have hi-tech fun with Cubelets from Modular Robotics. Cubelets are blocks that simply snap together; no wiring or programming is needed. Each block has either a sensor, logic, or action function. Put them together in different ways and they do different things. Kits start at $159.95.

The XO Learning Tablet. Remember the One Laptop Per Child initiative and the so-called $100 laptop from back in 2005? Well, the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit has now unveiled a commercial product, the XO Learning Tablet. Manufactured by Vivitar, it will be available in the U.S. through retailers, including WalMart, sometime next fall for a price rumored to be around $149. The 7″ tablet will feature front-and rear-facing cameras and can function as a standard Android tablet in parent mode, or a heavily skinned, child-centered, and career-focused Android tablet for kids as young as three. When it’s in child mode, young users choose a professional aspiration—say scientist, for example—and then get access to a vetted set of apps relevant to scientific pursuits. (Alas, school librarian is not currently a career choice.) A robust parental dashboard gives adults full control over their child’s access and provides detailed reports on how the tablet is being used.

And who knows what else? One of the great things about CES is that, warts and all—and no matter how cringe-worthy its keynote address might happen to be—the annual trade show retains its spirit of playful innovation. That was demonstrated this year by the number of creative products at CES that were funded through the grassroots online platform Kickstarter. Who can foresee how these products, no matter how whimsical they seem now, might wind up touching the future? Consider the Puzzlebox Orbit Brain Controlled Helicopter. While it may seem like nothing more than an impractical plaything today, the company is encouraging the development of the open-source BCI (brain-computer-interface) that controls the toy copter. BCI technology is already impacting “serious” fields like vision science and prosthetics, and—who knows?—it could even wind up affecting the most serious profession of all, education.

The action is set in the world of Ninjago, created long ago by the first Master of Spinjitzu who also forged four formidable weapons: the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Scythe of Quakes, the Shurikens of Ice, and the Dragon Sword of Fire. Upon his death, he left the objects under the protection of his two sons, Garmadon and Wu. However, Garmadon, twisted by his lust for power, tried to steal the armaments for himself, and was defeated in battle by Wu, who banished him to the underworld and hid the artifacts in the far corners of Ninjago. But Garmadon formed an alliance with Samukai, king of the Underworld and leader of a skeleton army, and launched a plan to retrieve the Four Weapons and seize control of the realm.

Knowing that he would need help to stop his brother, Wu recruited four young men to become ninja, training them in the ways of Spinjitzu (a technique in which one whirls around at top speed to create a tornado of power) and teaching them to tap into their inner strengths. Together, they will defend their home against otherworldly creatures and protect the Four Weapons from those who would use them for evil. The Serpentine, an assemblage of competing tribes of snakelike villains, were introduced to the franchise’s storyline in 2012.

The new season of the highly rated animated TV show is scheduled to premiere on Cartoon Network on July 18. Kids can visit the series’ website to view video clips, browse photos, read character profiles, and chime in on fan surveys (“Which ninja is most like you?”). Free online video games include “Spinjitzu Snakedown” (players choose a ninja persona and protect a village from evil serpentine forces) and “The Four Paths” (players navigate through various terrains using the mouse to move and jump). Youngsters can also cruise over to LEGO’s dedicated website for character profiles, detailed travel guides (with descriptions of locales, summaries of flora and fauna, and lists of things to do), LEGO product info, and playing tips, and a variety of videos and games.

Book Tie-ins

Ninjago fans will enjoy meeting their favorite characters and exploring familiar plot elements and scenarios in the pages of these tie-in titles. In the Official Guide (Scholastic, 2011; Gr 2-5), Sensei Wu provides a detailed introduction to this intricately imagined world. Sections cover the realm’s history, characters (including a cast of skeleton villains), dragon inhabitants, ninja and Spinjitzu training, important locations, and more. Flavored with touches of humor and tidbits of wisdom, the first-person narration unfurls at a graceful pace and creates a believable voice for Wu. Numerous full-color images appear throughout, showcasing the characters and their devices, and fact charts (weapons of choice, favorite foods, hobbies, quotes, etc.) and “Ninja Notes” add more detail. The book ends with a recounting of the heroes’ perilous journey to retrieve the Shurikens of Ice. Fun for browsing or reading cover to cover.

A series of easy readers (K-Gr 4) combine straightforward storytelling with vibrant full-color artwork and invitingly open layouts. Way of the Ninja (2011), introduces Kai, the son of a blacksmith who is left reeling when his village is attacked and his sister Nya kidnapped by skeleton troops. Hope is offered by the mysterious Sensei Wu, who reveals secrets about the young man’s father and offers him the chance to become a warrior and “learn to tame the fire inside.” In another story, the young Masters of Spinjitzu (2012) are sent on a dangerous mission to find the Scythe of Quakes, and soon discover that it will take all of their training and their best teamwork to succeed. The series continues with The Golden Weapons and Rise of the Snakes (both 2012; all Scholastic). Subtitles break the text into accessible sections, while short sentences, basic vocabulary, humorous dialogue, and brisk action keep the pages turning quickly. The colorful illustrations support the narratives with visual clues. Good choices for beginning readers or as share-alouds for younger franchise fans.

Four fast-reading chapter books (Gr 2-5) each focus on one of the heroes, highlighting the featured individual’s personality traits and personal challenges. Each book begins with a segment from Sensei Wu’s journal, a first-person entry that recounts how the master met the young warrior and his particular strengths and weaknesses, followed by a short story and a multi-chaptered adventure both written in a clear third-person narrative. A combo of personal experiences and vigorous encounters with the enemy reveal details about the character and his role on the team. Kai: Ninja of Fire displays both his fearlessness and headstrong rashness when he goes on a special quest with a fellow ninja; an orphan with no memories of his past, Zane: Ninja of Ice (both 2011) is conflicted when Garmadon offers to reveal these secrets in exchange for betraying his friends; always ready to crack a joke or come up with a useful invention, Jay: Ninja of Lightening must use his talents when he and Kai are accused of a crime they didn’t commit; and Cole: Ninja of Earth (both 2012, all Scholastic), a natural-born leader, devises a clever plan to remind his companions of their unique strengths and demonstrate the importance of working as a team. Utilizing short sentences, straightforward language, and snappy dialogue, the narratives are filled with clearly described exploits and sparkling humor.

Graphic Novels

Combining compelling storylines with eye-grabbing artwork, Papercutz’s series of graphic novels (Gr 2-6) will wow Ninjago devotees. In “The Challenge of Samukai” (#1; 2011), Garmadon overhears the skeleton ruler bragging about his ability to conquer Sensei Wu and his young cohorts, and the two baddies make a high-stakes wager for control of both the Underworld and Ninjago. The fast-paced tales that follow depict Samukai’s ill-fated efforts to hold up his end of the bargain, while touching upon elements of the Ninjago back story. In “Mask of the Sensei” (#2, 2012), the skeletons have been defeated and peace reigns over the land, but Sensei Wu is behaving oddly. When their wise leader suddenly transforms into a ruthless despot, Kai and his friends soon discover that an imposter is on the loose, but will they be able to get to the truth and set things right before it’s too late?

“Rise of the Serpentine” (#3, 2012) takes place after Ninjago has been invaded by nefarious snake-like villains. The inhabitants of a village are acting strangely, and when the four young warriors investigate, it soon becomes apparent that the Hypnobrai are on the loose, using their hypnotic powers to mesmerize the townsfolk, and the situation becomes even more dire when the ninja begin to fall under their control one by one. In “Tomb of the Fangpyre” (#4, scheduled for release on August 21), Sensei Wu sends his students in search of true knowledge about their slithery enemy. Each warrior will travel to a far-off place to track down the shattered pieces of the serpent stone, an artifact that contains the history of the snake tribes, encountering difficult-to-navigate terrain and ferocious foes along the way and ultimately discovering secrets important to the fate of Ninjago.

Balancing moments of Sensei Wu’s wisdom with the more lighthearted quips of his young followers, the storytelling is fast-paced and satisfying. The characters are faced with situations that require them to use their particular weapons and abilities (including the versatile Spinjitzu whirlwind), personality traits, and smarts to overcome diverse challenges. Ablaze in bright colors and filled with motion, the artwork brings the characters and settings to life while referencing their LEGO-style characteristics. Rapid-fire events are delineated through artfully laid-out panel sequences, with an occasional full-page image adding perspective and drama. Great choices for reeling in reluctant readers, nourishing youngsters who can’t get enough of the world of Ninjago, and encouraging imaginations to soar.

Publication Information

FARSHTEY, Greg. LEGO Ninjago: Official Guide. Scholastic. 2011. pap. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-545-36258-0.

WEST, Tracy, adapt. LEGO Ninjago: Way of the Ninja. (Reader #1). 2011. ISBN 978-0-545-40113-5.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. (Reader #2). 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-40114-2.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: The Golden Weapons. (Reader #3). 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-40115-9.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: Rise of the Snakes. (Reader #4). 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-43592-5.

ea vol: Scholastic. pap. $3.99.

FARSHTEY, Greg. LEGO Ninjago: Kai: Ninja of Fire. 2011. ISBN 978-0-545-34827-0.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: Zane: Ninja of Ice. 2011. ISBN 978-0-545-34828-7.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: Jay: Ninja of Lightening. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-36994-7.

_____. LEGO Ninjago: Cole: Ninja of Earth . 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-36993-0.

ea vol: Scholastic. pap. $4.99.

FARSHTEY, Greg. LEGO Ninjago: “The Challenge of Samukai” (#1). illus. by Paulo Henrique. 2011. Tr ISBN 978-1-59707-298-4; pap. ISBN 978-1-59707-297-7.

____. LEGO Ninjago: “Mask of the Sensei” (#2). illus. by Paulo Henrique. 2012. Tr ISBN 978-1-59707-311-0; pap. ISBN 978-1-59707-310-3.

____. LEGO Ninjago: “Rise of the Serpentine” (#3). illus. by Paul Lee & Paulo Henrique. 2012. Tr ISBN 978-1-59707-326-4; pap. ISBN 978-1-59707-325-7.

____. LEGO Ninjago: “Tomb of the Fangpyre” (#4). illus. by Jolyon Yates. August, 2012. Tr ISBN 978-1-59707-330-1; pap. ISBN 978-1-59707-329-5.

ea vol: Papercutz. Tr $10.99; pap. $6.99.