Month: April 2013

Review: The Dark by Lemony Snicket

| Tasha

dark

The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Laszlo is scared of the dark.  You know, that darkness that is always there, hiding in corners and behind the shower curtain, and especially the dark that lives down in the basement.  At night the dark would spread around the entire old creaky house and all of its staircases, but in the day it retreated to the basement.  Laszlo would visit the dark every morning, from the top of the steps into the black basement.  He would say hi, thinking that maybe then the dark wouldn’t feel the need to visit him in his room at night anymore.  But that didn’t work, the dark still came at night.  Luckily Laszlo slept with a flashlight on his pillow and a nightlight on the wall, so the dark stayed away.  That is until one night when his nightlight burned out and the dark started talking to Laszlo.

I can’t think of a stronger author and illustrator match than this one.  Snicket turns on the creep factor in this book in a way that will have children leaning in closer, cuddling tighter, and listening to every single word.  There are the noises of the house, the scary basement, and the series of staircases.  But mostly there is the darkness itself, a second character in the book and written about with almost poetic phrasing.  This is one beautifully written book.

Klassen plays so much with light and shadow here.  He uses the darkness beautifully as both a frame for his images but also as the thick lines of objects.  Then there are the pictures of the cool daylight and the fierce warmth of the nightlight that burns almost like a flame.  This is one beautifully illustrated book.

One of my favorite picture books of the year, this book reads aloud perfectly, the tension growing and growing until it’s almost explosive.  One can almost hear the dark chuckling along.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

2013 E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards

| Tasha

The American Booksellers Association has announced the finalists for their awards.  Their awards celebrate the books that make indie booksellers great as well as the great read aloud books.  Winners will be announced on April 18th. 

E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD AWARD FINALISTS – MIDDLE READER

The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy, #1) The Last Dragonslayer (The Last Dragonslayer, #1) The One and Only Ivan

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Neilsen

The Last Dragonslayer: The Chronicles of Kazam, Book 1 by Jasper Fforde

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Patricia Castelao

Same Sun Here Three Times Lucky Wonder

Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Wonder by RJ Palacio

 

E.B. WHITE READ-ALOUD AWARD FINALISTS – PICTURE BOOK

13170028 Creepy Carrots!

Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown

Extra Yarn Oh, No!

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Oh, No! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann

Too Tall Houses Z Is for Moose

Too Tall Houses by Gianna Marino

Z Is for Moose by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Review: Little Cub by Olivier Dunrea

| Tasha

little cub

Little Cub by Olivier Dunrea

The author of the Gossie books returns with this companion book to Old Bear and His Cub that explains the way that Old Bear and Little Cub met.  Little Cub lived all alone near the forest with ono one to take care of him.  He was often hungry and slept alone and cold outside.  Old Bear lived alone too.  He had plenty to eat and a warm place to live, but no one to share it with.  Then one day, Old Bear heard odd noises coming from a pile of rocks.  It was Little Cub, trying to sleep curled into a ball.  It was Old Bear who named him Little Cub and Old Bear who took him home, gave him food, tucked him into a warm bed, and promised to teach him how to fish.  And it was Little Cub who filled up that empty bed so that neither of them had to be alone any more.

This is such a warm story.  Showing the way that Little Cub and Old Bear came together to be a family is honey rich.  Dunrea takes him time showing the parallels between the two bears’ lonely lives.  Though they are different in age, in being able to care for themselves, they are alike at heart and searching for something new. 

Dunrea’s writing is simple but also cheery.  Though it explores a child alone in the cold wilderness, one doesn’t worry because there is a sense of safety throughout.  Children will understand the hunger and chill and also that level of joy that is clear.  A large part of this are the illustrations that show blustery winds but also have the security and solidity of Old Bear right there too.  He is the hope for Little Cub, one that radiates across the pages.

Fans of Dunrea will enjoy this new series and those who read the first in the series will cheer to see Old Bear and Little Cub return.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Philomel.

Harry Potter Beats Gruffalo

| Tasha

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A poll to help celebrate International Children’s Book Day sees some intriguing results.  Both children and parents were able to vote:

Children selected Harry Potter as their favorite character with 38% of the kid vote.  The Gruffalo got 34% and the Cat in the Hat received 28%.

But Rowling did not get selected as best ever children’s author, Roald Dahl won that category for both children and parents.  In the children’s vote Rowling came in second with Beatrix Potter taking third.  Something I am completely charmed by.  The parental vote had Enid Blyton second with Rowling third. 

Perhaps my favorite result of the survey are that more than half of the parents polled said that their children are reading the same books as they did as children.  Now that’s a great family tradition!

TES Teacher’s Favorite Books

| Tasha

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TES Magazine in the UK surveyed teachers to find out what their favorite books are.  500 primary and secondary teachers participated in the survey and the result is a list of 100 top books.  It’s a very intriguing mix of classics and popular fiction.

As with any list, there are ones I love and others that I sigh at in despair (Twilight is number 77).  Enjoy!  And let me know which ones you delight in or sigh at!

THE TOP 100

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling

4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

6. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

7. The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien

8. The Book Thief Markus Zusak

9. The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien

10. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

12. The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins

13. The Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger

14. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis

15. Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

16. Birdsong Sebastian Faulks

17. His Dark Materials (series) Philip Pullman

18. The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

19. The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

20. Life of Pi Yann Martel

21. Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy

22. Rebecca Daphne du Maurier

23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon

24. Lord of the Flies William Golding

25. Matilda Roald Dahl

26. Catch-22 Joseph Heller

27. Millennium (series) Stieg Larsson

28. Animal Farm George Orwell

29. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood

30. Persuasion Jane Austen

31. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

32. Kensuke’s Kingdom Michael Morpurgo

33. Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian

34. The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl

36. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne

37. Little Women Louisa May Alcott

38. One Day David Nicholls

39. We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver

40. The Twits Roald Dahl

41. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

42. A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini

43. The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame

44. Frankenstein Mary Shelley

45. Great Expectations Charles Dickens

46. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernieres

47. George’s Marvellous Medicine Roald Dahl

48. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

49. Room Emma Donoghue

50. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

51. Atonement Ian McEwan

52. Emma Jane Austen

53. Middlemarch George Eliot

54. The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon

55. The Color Purple Alice Walker

56. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle

57. Brave New World Aldous Huxley

58. Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen

59. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

60. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll

61. Charlotte’s Web E.B. White

62. Dracula Bram Stoker

63. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

64. A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

65. The Secret History Donna Tartt

66. The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery

67. Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky

68. The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver

69. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy

70. Skellig David Almond

71. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins

72. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell

73. Game of Thrones (series) George R.R. Martin

74. David Copperfield Charles Dickens

75. Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro

76. Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak

77. Twilight (series) Stephenie Meyer

78. Beloved Toni Morrison

79. The Help Kathryn Stockett

80. Sherlock Holmes (series) Arthur Conan Doyle

81. Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

82. Moneyball Michael Lewis

83. My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell

84. Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden

85. On the Road Jack Kerouac

86. Cloud Atlas David Mitchell

87. Wild Swans Jung Chang

88. Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery

89. Les Miserables Victor Hugo

90. Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

91. Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo

92. Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman

93. Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee

94. Danny the Champion of the World Roald Dahl

95. Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell

96. The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton

97. The Witches Roald Dahl

98. The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy

99. Holes Louis Sachar

100. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde

I must say that it does my heart good to see Holes right next to The Picture of Dorian Gray.  I think that summarizes the list quite nicely.

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

Encouraging Lifelong Reading with Great Children’s Books | NEA Today http://buff.ly/16w0Ma8

Fathers, read aloud to your kids http://buff.ly/Yr78WE

Librarian Nancy Pearl records first children’s audio book http://buff.ly/YqArJ1

Sarah Moore Fitzgerald’s top 10 books featuring grandparents | Children’s books http://buff.ly/XRWSqY

w00t! 30 Poets/30 Days is off and running, leading off this year with @MaryLeeHahn – http://bit.ly/YXBK4u #poetry #kidlit

EBOOKS

Ebooks are actually not books—schools among first to realizing this fact | Digital Book World http://buff.ly/ZD9GyL

LIBRARIES

6 Bookless Libraries – iLibrarian http://buff.ly/YtwSBQ

The 12 Technologies Forever Changing School Libraries | Edudemic http://bit.ly/YXCXSB

Civic Art Cleveland – Abandoning Our Historic Character and the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Library – http://buff.ly/160YeyO

Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, Susan Sontag, Harper Lee, and Other Literary Greats on Censorship | Brain Pickings http://buff.ly/PKQZob

Libraries in Lock-Up » Public Libraries Online http://buff.ly/YkFoTB

Library helps local youth learn to design video games | TechSoup for Libraries http://buff.ly/YqLpOG

Philly Free Library Debuts Virtual Collection at Suburban Station http://buff.ly/YqLK3S

Will Librarians Still Use Goodreads? http://buff.ly/16wGP3a

PRIVACY

California Wants Companies to Disclose Everything They Know About You http://on.mash.to/XYgjKm

PUBLISHING

Arthur Frommer reacquires travel book brand from Google | Internet & Media|CNET News http://buff.ly/16yI16f

Michael Wolff: Why Paywalls Won’t Solve Newspapers’ Larger Issues – PSFK-PSFK http://buff.ly/16kdk2v

TECHNOLOGY

Amazon snaps up book recommendation site Goodreads | Digital Trends http://buff.ly/YjXaGD

The Best Applications For Creating Free Email Newsletters | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… http://buff.ly/164sY1N

Blogs still more influential than Twitter, says study | The Wall Blog http://buff.ly/YPCTrV (Chart below)

Delicious Becomes A Bit More Social Again, Adds Twitter And Facebook Logins | TechCrunch http://buff.ly/163LyY4

Free Technology for Teachers: Create Your Own iPad Magazine on Flipboard http://buff.ly/16iS5y3

Google’s Secrets Of Innovation: Empowering Its Employees – Forbes http://buff.ly/YPSeFU

In South Korea, wifi movie posters offer the connectivity to access extra content | Springwise http://buff.ly/Yf8Av6

I’ve Been Using Evernote All Wrong. Here’s Why It’s Actually Amazing http://buff.ly/Yt4Shs

Music Fans Aren’t Owners? Court Finds Redigi Music Resale Service Infringes Copyright | EFF http://buff.ly/16isJQX

The Simple Reason Why Goodreads Is So Valuable to Amazon – Jordan Weissmann-The Atlantic http://buff.ly/YXlsm4

Stop Reacting to Robots: A Path to Mindful Work – 99U http://buff.ly/11PC2Hq – How distracted are you by your own digital habits?

TEEN READS

The Guardian – My transgender novel is too personal to be propaganda | Books http://buff.ly/16iSTTG

Michael Grant’s top tips for writing YA | Children’s books http://buff.ly/16w0eBl

The tide swings toward #middlegrade at #Bologna13: via @publisherswkly http://ow.ly/jxH9C

Review: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen

| Tasha

nothing can possibly go wrong

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

Released May 7, 2013.

Nate and Charlie are friends, but mostly it’s about sharing a ride to school.  Then when the cheerleaders threaten Nate’s robotics competition, Charlie is caught up in the middle of the conflict.  Nate decides to run for Student Body President and Charlie’s cheerleader ex-girlfriend forces him to run against Nate.  Things quickly get out of control in this jocks against the geeks sort of storyline that ends with both groups stripped of their school funding.  Now the only way forward is to work together to fund and build a robot that can win the robot death match.  And of course, just like with all plans, nothing can possibly go wrong.

The storyline could have been cliché, but it steps away from that fairly quickly and into much more intriguing collaborative efforts.  Shen and Hicks have created a great gang of characters here.  Nate is laid back and really the normal one of the group.  Charlie is alpha-geek, neurotic, ballsy and intellectual.  Mix in the cheerleaders who are clearly at the top of the popular food chain, and this is regular high school on steroids.  While some of the characters are left as stereotypes, Charlie and Nate are well developed and interesting. 

The art is hip and fun.  Done in black and white, the images play up the funny moments beautifully and often the dance of words and image is sheer perfection.  It’s hard to believe that it was done by two people rather than just one.

Geeks and jocks alike will enjoy this one, after all who doesn’t love to see a robot death match!  Appropriate for ages 13-15.

Reviewed from copy received from First Second.

2013 IBW Book Award Children’s Shortlist

| Tasha

Here are the titles that have been shortlisted for the British 2013 Independent Booksellers Week Book Award.  The winner will be announced on June 29.

Dear Scarlett Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, #6) Gangsta Granny

Dear Scarlett by Fleur Hitchcock

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney

Gangsta Granny by David Walliams

Maggot Moon Matilda's Cat. by Emily Gravett

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Matilda’s Cat by Emily Gravett

Oh No, George! The Sacrifice (The Enemy #4) The Secret Hen House Theatre

Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

The Sacrifice by Charlie Higson

The Secret Hen House Theatre by Helen Peters

The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P., #1) White Dolphin Wonder

The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer

White Dolphin by Gill Lewis

Wonder by RJ Palacio

Review: Betty Bunny Didn’t Do It by Michael B. Kaplan

| Tasha

betty bunny didnt do it

Betty Bunny Didn’t Do It by Michael B. Kaplan, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

I’m a Betty Bunny fan, since I enjoy protagonists in children’s books who have a feel of being a real kid.  Betty Bunny in this third book in the series breaks a lamp when her siblings refuse to play with her.  When she is asked about it, she blames it on the Tooth Fairy.  Betty Bunny thinks this works so very well that she’s surprised it hadn’t occurred to her to try it before.  But things quickly unravel when her mother asks if she’s telling the truth.  Betty admits to telling an “honest lie” and is sent to her room.  Later, when a vase is broken, everyone in the family automatically blames Betty Bunny, but she really didn’t do it this time! 

Betty Bunny is precocious for a four year old.  I enjoy the way that Kaplan explains what Betty is thinking about her new ideas.  Also, the family dynamics ring very honest with older siblings unwilling to play but all too willing to offer witty advice. 

Jorisch’s illustrations have a great modern vibe to them.  The bunny family is active and they dynamic lives appear clearly on the page.  This has the trademark style of the earlier books with zingy writing and a naughty but quite charming little bunny at the center.

Fans of the earlier books in the series will find more to love here.  This series is not for every reader or family as some will find the naughtiness less funny and more problematic.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Dial Books.