Sisters

I hope that everyone enjoyed the great visit from Chris Grabenstein during the book fair week.  If you have not had a chance to read Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library try to make some time to read it soon!  It really is a great book, and I am looking forward to the new book about Mr. Lemoncello planned for the future.

Fans of Smile and Drama rejoice!  Raina Telgemeier has just published the next book in the series, Sisters.  Once again, she brings her unique artwork and storytelling ability to this book, and I liked it just as much as the others.  Even if you don't think that you like "graphic novels" you will still enjoy these books.  Mostly autobiographical, Sisters is a fun read and a very accurate depiction of the very complicated relationship between siblings.

Booklist starred (June 1, 2014 (Vol. 110, No. 19))

Grades 5-8. Telgemeier’s follow-up to Smile (2010)—possibly the only universally embraced graphic novel on the planet—offers the same thoughtful perspective while also creating a slightly more mature and complex tone. Raina boards the family minivan traveling from California to Colorado to visit relatives, sharing a charged and eventful trip with her mother, sister, and younger brother. Cleverly, the trip is interspersed with flashbacks that flesh out the emotional background and neatly dovetail with Smile. While the focus of the story explores Raina’s combative relationship with her younger sister, Amara, it is in some sense about families themselves, the tensions they breed, the unspoken worries that swirl through households, and the ways an older generation’s unintended example echoes through younger generations. This may sound dark and heavy, but it actually exists only as an underlying reality. Telgemeier keeps the surface story popping and zippy, even through the constant sparring between the awkwardly adolescent Raina and her firecracker younger sister, a relationship that will prove profoundly familiar to many readers. Telgemeier’s art complements her writing to great effect, offering a cheerful, vivid cartoon simplicity that allows readers to instantly engage even as it leaves room for deeper truths to take hold. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: New York Times best-selling Smile continues to be one of the most widely loved kid’s graphic novels in recent history. With a sizable first print run, Telgemeier’s publisher is counting on a repeat performance.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Welcome back!  I hope that everyone had a great summer, and that you had a chance to read some great books!  If you are looking for a new book to read, make sure to stop in the library before school begins to check out something new. 

I all ready have a number of great books to share with you this year, and today I am going to highlight one of my favorites.  If you like to read, and you like to play video games, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library might just be the perfect book for you.  Luigi Lemoncello, a famous game designer, has just completed a new library, and invites 12 lucky 7th graders to the grand opening.  They will be the first to enter and be "locked in" for the night...little do they know that the real challenge will be getting out.  This story feels a lot like Night at the Museum and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  There are some great puzzles to solve too, so if you liked Chasing Vermeer or The Puzzling World of Winston Breen this would be a great choice for you!

From School Library Journal

Gr 4–8—The world's most famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, has just designed a brand-new, state-of-the-art library in his hometown, and he's invited 12 lucky seventh graders to stay the night just before its grand opening. Avid gamer Kyle Keeley jumps at the chance to meet his idol and see a real live library. After the previous library's demolition, this is the first library this small town has had in 12 years. Kyle is elated when his essay is chosen, and he gets to be among the first to wander the halls of one of the most interactive libraries ever. Kyle and the other contestants have 24 hours to find a secret exit out of the building and win a spectacular prize, and when the doors shut, the games really begin. Love of literature is a must if you want to escape. Librarians will fall in love with Mr. Lemoncello's library. This title is filled to the brim with witty literary references, an education on the Dewey Decimal System, and zany word puzzles. Narrator Jesse Bernstein expertly brings to life each character from the whimsical Lemoncello to the pretentious bully Charles Chillington. Insatiable readers who pick up on all the references will adore this book, as will general puzzle and mystery enthusiasts.

The Great Trouble

The school year is coming to an end quickly!  This is my last review for the school year, and Peck's library will be closed during the summer months.  Make sure to check out your local public library this summer.  In addition to offering great books to read, and book themed programs, you will find that libraries have lots of special programs in the summer.  Often there are theater performances, special guest speakers, and a variety of classes in art, technology, writing, etc.  On the side bar of this blog, I have also provided digital copies of my summer reading lists.  Check them out if you are looking for more great books to read.  Have a wonderful summer break!

I just finished The Great Trouble:  The Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel.  This work of historical fiction starts off in August 1854, on the first day of a catastrophic cholera outbreak.  During this time, people did not know how cholera was spread, but believed it had something to do with "bad air."  Eel, and orphan living on the streets in the center of the outbreak, finds himself in the employment of a doctor determined to find the source of the outbreak and stop it from spreading.  This is an amazing story, and the descriptions of life in London during this time period are accurate and it is enough to make anyone with even the smallest understanding of sanitation want to cringe.  While the character of Eel may be fictional, other characters in the book (like the doctor) are actual historical figures, and this book might inspire you to learn more about this event in history.  Check out this great book this summer!

From the publisher:
Eel has troubles of his own: As an orphan and a "mudlark," he spends his days in the filthy River Thames, searching for bits of things to sell. He's being hunted by Fisheye Bill Tyler, and a nastier man never walked the streets of London. And he's got a secret that costs him four precious shillings a week to keep safe.

But even for Eel, things aren't so bad until that fateful August day in 1854—the day the Great Trouble begins. Mr. Griggs, the tailor, is the first to get sick, and soon it's clear that the deadly cholera—the "blue death"—has come to Broad Street.

Everyone believes that cholera is spread through poisonous air. But one man, Dr. John Snow, has a different theory. As the epidemic surges, it's up to Eel and his best friend Florrie to gather evidence to prove Snow's theory before the entire neighborhood is wiped out.

The Girl From Felony Bay

I love when I find a book that has a memorable and strong main character, and I have found one in The Girl From Felony Bay.  Abbey Force is a spunky and very capable young sleuth, who is determined to prove that her father did not commit a crime he has been accused of.  Set in South Carolina this book has a distinctly southern feel, and it is full of pirate lore.  This will be a great read for all of you who love adventure and mystery novels!  Enjoy!

From the Publisher:
I'm not going to lie to you: the last year has been rougher than alligator hide for me and my dad. You see, he's in the hospital in a coma since his accident a year back, wherein he was framed for a terrible crime he didn't commit. Our home, Reward Plantation, had to be sold to pay off his debt to society, so I'm stuck living with my uncle Charlie, who, even in the few hours a day when he's sober, ain't exactly your ideal parental role model. And I managed to run afoul of Jimmy Simmons, the meanest kid in the sixth grade, and on the last day of school no less.

But things just got a bit more interesting. Turns out the new family that moved into Reward Plantation has a daughter named Bee, who is the same age as I am. And she's just as curious about all the No Trespassing signs and holes being dug out by Felony Bay, in the corner of what used to be my home. Seems like someone's been poking around a mystery that dates all the way back to the Civil War—and it just might be the same someone who framed my dad.

I'm Abbey, by the way. Abbey Force. And if it takes all summer, I'm going to find out what's happening out on Felony Bay, and maybe even clear my dad's name.

And the winner is...

It is awards season!  The movie and music industries are giving their big awards for the past year amid lots of glitz and glamor, but the American Library Association gives their awards quietly each year.  There will be no red carpet, but the winners deserve some attention.  Below is a  summary of the book awarded the Newbery Medal and one of the Newbery honor books this year.  I had read the winner, Flora and Ulysses, and loved it.  I am currently reading Doll Bones, and if you love a creepy adventure that will be the book for you.  I will post a summary and thoughts on the others next month!  Enjoy!

The Newbery Winner
Flora and Ulysses By Kate DiCamillo 

It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry — and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format — a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell. (from the Publisher)

Newbery Honor
Doll Bones by Holly Black

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they've been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach's father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she's been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen's ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches? (from the publisher)

True Blue

Happy New Year everyone!  The school year is flying by, and I haven't had a chance to write a review in a while, so it is time to catch up.  One of favorite books of all time is The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.  I have given this book to many of you to read when looking for a new fantasy book.  That is why I was so excited when I heard that Kathi Appelt published a new book, and it was a finalist for the National Book Award.  We are half way through January now, and we will find out who the Newbery Award winner is at the end of the month.  If I were on the committee I would choose Appelt's new book The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp.  This book is another masterful fantasy, with multiple story lines.  The whole time you are reading you wonder how it all will come together in the end, and that is the amazing surprise at the end!  Pick up this short book to read this month, and we will see who wins the Newbery for 2014!

Booklist starred (May 1, 2013 (Vol. 109, No. 17))

Grades 5-8. Swamps provide great fodder for stories, and Newbery Honor Award–winning Appelt uses every inch of the Sugar Man Swamp—and its inhabitants—to tell her engaging tale. At the helm of the complex ecosystem is the Sugar Man, a gigantic, fur-covered cousin to the yeti and bigfoot, who rules benevolently but has been asleep for the past 60 years. He is to be woken, preferably with an offering of sugarcane, only in the case of an emergency. Bingo and J’Miah, two raccoons who live in an abandoned DeSoto car, are the official Sugar Man Swamp scouts, and it’s their job to alert him to impending danger. Meanwhile, on the edge of the Bayou Tourterelle, a 12-year-old boy named Chap has just lost his beloved grandfather, and he and his mother must raise a “whole boatload of cash” making sugar pies to prevent Sonny Boy Beaucoup and an alligator wrestler from developing a theme park on their home turf. On top of all that, there are wild hogs headed straight for the swamp—“rumble, rumble, rumble!” This delicious, richly detailed story is told in 104 short chapters, which swing the plot beautifully from one thread to the next and keep the action moving. Appelt’s omniscient third-person narration exudes folksy, homespun warmth while also feeling fresh and funny. A satisfying romp with plenty of memorable characters to root for—and some to boo.