Month: February 2013

This Week’s Tweets and Pins

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter and Pinterest accounts this week that you might find interesting:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Eric Carle, Author Of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, Announces New Book Called ‘Friends’ – http://buff.ly/159CeEr

Happy Birthday, Judy Blume! – http://buff.ly/15c74fy

I want to go to this school –> RT @librariancheryl: NYC to Name School in Honor Maurice Sendak http://huff.to/12Gz1wj via@HuffPostBooks

Miami Beach home of children’s book author Syd Hoff declared a historic literary landmark – Miami Beach http://buff.ly/X5Cr4O

EBOOKS

The e-book revolution is bypassing U.S. elementary schools – Computerworld http://buff.ly/X5Dt0I

Impelsys Enters Library Ebook Market, Joining OverDrive and 3M | Digital Book World http://buff.ly/15fALfD

LIBRARIES

top 10 productivity tips

ALA LibraryLab – Google+ – the mingling of librarians and Boing Boing readers – http://buff.ly/XzMWR1

BONK! Performance Series at Racine Public Library | Library as Incubator Project http://buff.ly/X5TBiT

Gaby Roslin: Why parents need Britain’s local libraries to be saved – Telegraph http://buff.ly/WTQZro

Hackerspace intro: Metrix Create:Space in Seattle, Washingtonhttp://buff.ly/X5QY0m

PUBLISHING

http://Beatrice.com » I Have Nothing to Say About Bookish http://buff.ly/WQgGsJ

READING

Your Brain on Books: 10 Things That Happen to Our Minds When We Read | OEDb http://buff.ly/159aOhK

WRITING

Ray Bradbury’s Tips on How To Sell 8 Million Books | Bestseller Labs – http://bit.ly/Yqt3c9

TEEN READS

Locus Online 2012 Recommended Reading List http://wp.me/p1iTZw-1Qb

MIND MELD: SF/F Book Recommendations for Teens 13-16 – SF Signal-SF Signal http://buff.ly/XzMQsB

VOYA’s Perfect Tens

| Tasha

VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) rates their reviews in two categories: quality and popularity.  Only 2% of the books for teens that they review get a perfect 5 in both categories, meaning that it would be “hard to imagine it better written” and “every young adult who reads was dying to read it yesterday.”  Here are those amazing few reads that VOYA gave a perfect ten:

As Dead As It Gets (Bad Girls Don't Die, #3) Ashen Winter (Ashfall, #2) Between the Lines

As Dead as It Gets by Katie Alender

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3) Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, #1)

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steven Sheinkin

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Burning Blue Camp Carnival of Souls

Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

Camp by Elaine Wolf

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5) Don't Turn Around (PERSEF0NE, #1) The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2)

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

Endlessly (Paranormalcy, #3) Everbound (Everneath, #2) The Fault in Our Stars

Endlessly by Kiersten White

Everbound by Brodi Ashton

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Hysteria   Origin

Hysteria by Megan Miranda

Issues in the Digital Age Reference Series

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Out of Sight, Out of Time (Gallagher Girls, #5) Palace of Stone (Princess Academy #2) The Secret Prophecy

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

The Secret Prophecy by Herbie Brennan

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, #2) Sons of the 613 This Is So Not Happening (He's So/She's So, #3)

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Sons of the 613 by Michael Rubens

This Is So Not Happening by Kieran Scott

Through to You What Came from the Stars Who Could That Be At This Hour? (All The Wrong Questions, #1)

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt

Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Winter Town 

Winter Town by Stephen Emond

The Yawning Rabbit River Chronicle by J. L. Kimmel and David Ceccarelli

Review: Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay

| Tasha

lulu and the dog from the sea

Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay

Released on March 1, 2013.

This second book in the Lulu series continues the story of Lulu, a seven-year-old girl who loves all kinds of animals.  In this story, Lulu goes on vacation by the seaside with her parents, her dog,  and her cousin, Mellie, who is also seven.  At the seaside, they stay at a small cottage and Lulu quickly finds out about a stray dog who has been living off of garbage along the beach.  Lulu sets out to make friends with the dog, but no one else is enthusiastic.  Mellie just wants to build her kite, Lulu’s mother just wants to read the stack of books she brought along, and her dad wants to work on his running.  But Lulu knows that this stray is actually a very special dog, she just has to convince the rest of them.

McKay has a knack for creating characters and experiences that read as vibrantly true and honest.  In her books, there are lost kite bits, sand tracked into the house, trashed garbage cans, and too many shopping trips for forgotten items.  At the same time, there is also the love of a dog, a family that truly spends time with one another, and the success of plans coming together in the end, perhaps not exactly as planned.  As with her previous books, I have always wanted to live in a McKay novel in the midst of the loving mess.

I must also mention that this is an early reader series featuring a modern family of color.  Nothing is made of this fact in the stories.  It is just there, not a plot point, just a fact.  It’s handled with a matter-of-fact nature that I wish we saw more of in books for children.

A great addition to this growing series, the second Lulu book is sure to please fans of the first and bring new fans to the series too.  Appropriate for ages 6-8.

Reviewed from digital copy received from Albert Whitman & Company.

Review: Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

| Tasha

hokey pokey

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

No adults live in Hokey Pokey, just kids.  They fall asleep right where they leave off playing and then jump up again to start playing the next day.  There are plenty of places to play: the Doll Farm, Thousand Puddles, Snuggle Stop, and Trucks.  Jack is one of the biggest kids at Hokey Pokey. He rides a legendary bike, Scramjet, captured from the herds of wild bicycles that roam the plains.  But when Jack wakes up one day, Scramjet has been taken and by a girl!  As Jubilee rides Scramjet around Hokey Pokey, everyone soon realizes that something is changing.  Jubilee paints the bike yellow but as she tries to get under Jack’s skin, Jack realizes that he himself is changing.  It must have something to do with hearing a train whistle no one else can hear.  But trains never come to Hokey Pokey despite the train tracks.

I was captured by this book the moment I read the first page.  I knew that I was in for a treat from Spinelli that is unlike anything he’s every written before.  This is a wonderfully wild and fanciful book that will remind readers of Peter Pan, yet it is brightly modern and not afraid to be dark too.  Spinelli uses a new language in Hokey Pokey, one that is easily understood but that also marks that we are somewhere new.  Take this description of children at play in Hokey Pokey, “…kids big and little everywhere streaking, leaping, chasing, shrieking, warring, hopscotching, footballing, hide-and-seeking, jumproping, hokeypoking, razzing, dazzing, runamucking, chuckleducking…”  The language he uses has a wonderful rhythm to it that is evident throughout the book.

The setting of Hokey Pokey is such a large part of this book.  Some places remain rather mysterious while others are completely explained in action in the story.  When readers are given a glimpse of some of the other wonders of Hokey Pokey, they can immediately relate to what it is because all of it is about childhood and play.  As Jack moves towards adolescence in the story, the book changes too.  It becomes more filled with questions, more angst pervades it.  This is a story of leaving childhood and all of its bright, candy-colored play behind and heading into the unknown.

Gloriously fun to read, this book was impossible for me not to love.  Spinelli writes with a lovely playfulness and yet beneath it all is truth.  A truly outstanding read for middle graders.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Review: I Haiku You by Betsy Snyder

| Tasha

i haiku you

I Haiku You by Betsy Snyder

This diminutive book is filled with equally small haiku poetry.  Each poem is a celebration of either love for someone else or a warm moment in time.  There are poems about warm soup, purple popsicles and lemonade.  Each one is a tiny look into a universal and noteworthy moment.  Turning from one page to the next, the book manages to avoid being overly sweet through its humor and the sense of joy that pervades it.  In other words, these are far more organic and natural poems than Hallmark ever manages to create.  Instead these are wonderful little gifts of haiku that are invitations to celebrate the small moments of life that we share with one another.

Snyder has created illustrations that are equally warm and special.  Done on cream paper, the illustrations have pops of purples, oranges, reds and yellows but still have a softness.  The result is a book that is cheery and warm.

A perfect Valentine’s Day gift, this book should also be useful as an introduction to the haiku format.  Or one could just curl up at bedtime and share some short and lovely poetry.  What better way to create beautiful dreams?  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber

| Tasha

yuckiest stinkiest best valentine ever

The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber, illustrated by Tedd Arnold

Leon has a crush on a girl, so he makes her a construction paper heart for Valentine’s Day.  But when he tries to put the valentine into an envelope, the valentine runs away insisting that Leon can’t tell Zoey Maloney that he loves her!  In fact, the valentine thinks love is “mushy and gross and just plain YUCKY!”  He says that Valentine’s Day is not about love, but about candy.  Soon Leon is chasing after the valentine, trying to get him to stop.  They pass a group of boys, a group of girls and a group of teens before finally coming to Zoey Maloney herself, and a valentine that she has made for Leon.  Maybe Valentine’s Day is about more than candy after all?

Ferber marries Valentine’s Day and the pacing and style of the Gingerbread Man together very successfully in this book.  This is a book about crushes and valentines that is far from being too sappy.  It is full of humor, action and lots of silliness, mocking the entire idea of love and then in the end turning around and seeing that life (and Valentine’s Day) is sweeter than candy. 

Arnold’s style plays perfectly with this story.  His swirling lines add to the motion and action.  His characters are always clearly showing emotion and the large-headed child characters have an endearing quality to them.

This is one Valentine’s Day book that will appeal to boys and girls alike, those with crushes and those who are just looking for candy.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.

Review: Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

| Tasha

nelson mandela

Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

In a way that only Kadir Nelson could capture, this book tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s life, imprisonment and how he became the inspiration he is.  This is a very humanizing tale of Mendela, showing his childhood before his father’s death and then his move across South Africa to study under a powerful chief.   Mandela attended school and then got involved in fighting apartheid.  The book follows him as he is jailed the first time and as he rises to be a threat to those in power and goes into hiding.  Mandela returned to South Africa to continue the fight and is then jailed again, doing heavy labor.  After being in prison for over 27 years, Mandela was freed.  His passion for righting the wrongs of apartheid and speaking for equality of all people shines from every page.

Nelson tells the story of Mandela in verse that is factual but also compelling.  He captures the long time spent in prison in a way that children will be able to understand.  Cold meals, thin blankets and beating rocks into dust.  It shows the futility and the harshness with such clarity.  Nelson’s verse also has a great sense of awe for this man and what he has accomplished, that too makes it a very special, honest book.

As always, Nelson’s images are simply wondrous.  Here they seem to shine from within whenever Mandela is part of the image.  As you can see from the cover illustration, there is all of the human inside his art; it radiates from his work.  Shown with detail, interesting perspectives, and ending with a sense of celebration, Nelson’s art is a standout.

This is the story of Nelson Mandela captured fully in a picture book that celebrates all of his accomplishments and what he stands for as a human being.  Beautiful.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Katherine Tegen Books.

Review: A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner

| Tasha

pet named sneaker

A Pet Named Sneaker by Joan Heilbroner, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre

Sneaker was a snake who lived in a pet store and wanted to be taken home.  But no one seemed interested in a snake until one day Pete came into the store and noticed how special Sneaker was and decided to take him home.  The two invented games together, forming handcuffs and a hat out of Sneakers’ flexible body.  Then one day Pete had to go to school.  Sneaker didn’t want to be left behind, so he slithered into Pete’s backpack.  Once they got to school, Sneaker proved to be a great snake ambassador, quickly proving that snakes are not only no slimy but are quite smart.  Sneaker continued to show how amazing he was by saving a drowning toddler at the pool and getting it so that animals were welcome to swim there too.  Funny and briskly paced, this book will have great appeal for beginning readers.

Told in very simple and friendly language, this book has a strong storyline for a beginning reader.  Sneaker and Pete have several adventures in the course of the book, moving quickly from a tale of new friendship to one of real action, which is sure to please new readers.   The art by Lemaitre gives the book a vintage feel, hearkening back to Seuss and Eastman in its simple lines and bold colors.  There is also that little zing to the eyes, that feeling that the reader is in on the joke that is conveyed through the illustrations. 

This is a book with great humor, a touch of vintage feel, and one cool cold-blooded hero.  Appropriate for beginning readers aged 3-5. 

Reviewed from copy received from Random House.

Review: A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

| Tasha

tangle of knots

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

Cady has a Talent for baking cakes and making just the right one for a specific person.  Miss Mallory’s Talent is matching children with the perfect home, but she hasn’t been able to find the right fit for Cady for years.  Will has a Talent for hiding, passing through walls and disappearing along with his pet ferret.  Zach has a Talent for spitting, something just right for a troublemaker.  Marigold is desperately searching for her Talent, trying all sorts of things with no luck.  Then there is the mysterious man who has a Talent for knots who seems to appear whenever he is needed most.  There is even a man who steals Talents and keeps them in jars, as he frantically searches suitcases for a slip of paper he lost over 50 years ago.  The stories of all of these characters are just a tangle at first, but slowly the stories come together into one gorgeously designed knot of a tale.

Graff has created a world like ours but with more than a touch of magic infused into it.  While most of the characters have Talents, there are some who don’t have any.  There are others who only discover their talent late in life like Marigold.  But in this book it is not the magical bits that make it special, instead it is the intricate storytelling, the puzzle.  Readers who want a straightforward book should not look here.  This is a book that hints, it rambles, it invites you in for cake and adventure, then wanders a bit more.  But the wandering is rather the point, the cake is particularly important, and one wouldn’t want to miss a ramble.

Give this one to the dreamers, the wanderers, and those who want a hint of magic, sweetness and frosting with their stories.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Philomel.