Summer Reading

I like that the summer gives me more time to read than the school year does, so I am sure that I will be posting about books that I read over the summer.  In the meantime, I wanted to let you see my top choices for books to read this summer.  You can see the complete lists by clicking on the links to the right of this page, under "Lists".  You can also find information on participating in the "Postcards to the Library Program."  Remember each postcard will be entered for a chance to win a gift certificate to the Fall Book Sale.  Enjoy the last few weeks of school, and have a wonderful summer!

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

In 1984 Chris van Allsburg (Jumanji, The Polar Express, The Wreck of the Zephyr, and many more) published a collection of pencil and ink drawings with short captions. The premise of the book was the creator of the drawings, Harris Burdick, left the pictures with a publisher with the promise to return with the companion stories the next day. He never returns. Over the years these drawings have been used by teachers as starting points for creative writing assignments. Now some of the best authors for young adults have put their creative talents to work and created this collection of 14 short stories, with an introduction by Lemony Snicket, inspired by the van Allsburg drawings. Each story has its own "feel" some being sweet, others creepy, others indescribably sad. I encourage you to pick this up and discover the mysteries behind Harris Burdick.

Authors include: Sherman Alexie, Kate DiCamillo, M.T. Anderson, Cory Doctorow, Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, Lois Sachar, Jon Scieszka, and Chris van Allsburg.

And the Winner is...

It is that time of year again, award season! Just as the acting community is celebrating the best actors/actresses/movies of the year, the literary world is recognizing the best books published in the last year. Here are some for your future reading:

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2012 Newbery Award Winner
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore - typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels... and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air. (From the publisher)

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
2012 Printz Award Winner
In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter's senior year of high school, everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town vanishes. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears. As Cullen navigates a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young, disillusioned missionary in Africa searches for meaning wherever he can find it. Through masterful plotting, these two stories are brought face-to-face in a surprising and harrowing climax that is tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, and above all, hope. (From the publisher)

Hunger Games Triology

It has been a LONG time since I stayed awake most of the night because I didn't want to stop reading. Not since the final book of the Harry Potter series, have I put aside things I should have been doing, so I could finish a book. The Hunger Games books did this to me. My husband gave me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I decided to purchase the first book sort of on a whim to figure out how it worked. Once I started reading, there was not stopping. With in 2 weeks I had read all three books, and it took me another week to just process the whole experience. Many of you have read the books, and are recommending them to friends, and I will add my voice to that recommendation. Before you decide to read these books however, there are a couple of things you should know. The themes are upsetting. There is a tremendous amount of violence. The dystopian future that Suzanne Collins has created is full of suffering and oppression. It becomes clear while you are reading that the story is going to reach an ultimate climax, but that the ending may not be the happy one that you are hoping for. Below are full story descriptions. I truly enjoyed these books, and I am looking forward to the movie being released in the fall. Feel free to offer you comments in the comment section of this entry.

Reader beware...if you decide to start reading these, you won't be able to stop until you find out how they end!

Hunger Games
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the other districts in line by forcing them to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death on live TV. One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen are selected by lottery to play. The winner brings riches and favor to his or her district. But that is nothing compared to what the Capitol wins: one more year of fearful compliance with its rule. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her impoverished district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Catching Fire
(SPOILER ALERT - do not read the description of this book before you read the first book!!!)
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Mockingjay
(SPOILER ALERT #2)
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

Toys Come Home

The "Toy" series of books are proving to be one of my favorite of all time. Toys Come
Home : being the early experiences of an intelligent stingray, a brave buffalo, and a brand-new someone called Plastic is the prequel to Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party. Emily Jenkins answers the age old question of what our toys do while we are not there. Toys Come Home tells the back story of how StingRay, Lumphy, and Plastic come to live with the "Little Girl" (whose name we never learn). It also answers many questions, like what happened to One Eared Sheep's other ear? Told from the point of view of the toys, we learn about humans and our behavior, some of which is very funny and odd to the toys. At the heart of all the books however, is the love of the toys for the girl and for each other. Come check out any of the books in this series from the library!

School Library Journal (October 1, 2011)

In this follow-up to Toys Go Out (2006) and Toy Dance Party (2008, both Random), readers discover how the toys came to live with the Girl. StingRay arrives as a birthday gift and soon after meets Bobby Dot, a disagreeable stuffed walrus that makes her feel unwelcome. When the Girl becomes ill and vomits on him, Bobby Dot is thoroughly disgusted while StingRay feels it would be an honor to be "puked on" by the Girl. (The author devotes a whole chapter to this episode titled, "You Can Puke on Me.") An attempt to channel a common childhood anxiety about the dark through the toys may have adults answering some questions. StingRay loses her way in the dark (basement) and hears a scary rumbling noise (the clothes dryer); she imagines ghosts that "eat marine animals" or take them and make them slaves or an "axe murderer" who jumps around chopping things. The demise of the unpleasant Bobby Dot (he is accidently shredded in the dryer after the vomit incident) is taken in stride by most of the toys in the Girl's room, but StingRay is thoughtful about how quickly a life can be over. How Sheep came to lose her ear and the arrival of Lumphy and Plastic are also addressed in this story that shines with a message about the value of friendship.

Inheritance, or, The Vault of Souls

Christopher Paolini self published his first book Eragon in 2002, and all most 10 years later, the final book in the Inheritance cycle has been published. Inheritance is the longest book yet, as Paolini likes to write with excessive detail (think: J.R.R. Tolkien), but it does bring all of the story lines to a satisfying conclusion. These books are for those fans of pure fantasy, and you should not be intimidated by the length. For those who have read and enjoyed the first 3 books in the series, Inheritance will not disappoint.

Kirkus Review (December 1, 2011)

Capping the former Inheritance Trilogy, this fourth epic-length episode brings teenage Dragon Rider Eragon at last to a decisive faceoff with his greatest enemy. Beginning with the capture of the fortress city of Belatona, the rebellious Varden alliance wins multiple hard-fought victories before arriving at last before the iron gates of imperial Ur'baen, "wherein sits Galbatorix, proud, confident, and disdainful, for his is the strength of the dragons." Meanwhile, Eragon and his scaled companion Saphira fly off to the ruins of Doru Araeba in response to mysteriously delivered hints that something in a hidden "Vault of Souls" will help defeat their clever and overwhelmingly powerful adversary. Tucking in well-developed side plots, elaborate set pieces, internecine squabbles, extraneous characters, and piles of corpses, Paolini moves his tale along with all deliberate speed to its properly explosive, massively destructive climax. As in previous volumes, there are so many nods to Tolkien and other fantasists that authorial whiplash must have been a chronic hazard, but battle scenes are satisfyingly dramatic. Moreover, the act that leads to the thoroughly predictable outcome is just one of several ingenious twists, and before sailing off to lands unknown in a boat of Elvish make (sound familiar?), the young warrior/mage actually wages peace while methodically tying up loose ends over the final 90+ pages. Despite the long, anticlimactic wind-down, it is a strong conclusion to the crowd-pleasing series.

Mice!

Wow, what a busy start to the school year! Now we have snow on the ground, and our first snow day behind us. The two books that I have to write about this time happen to have mice as the main characters. This got me thinking about ALL of the books out there for middle school readers that have mice as their main characters. More on that in a minute...

Let's start with Bless this Mouse:
Lois Lowry is one of my all time favorite authors. I was so excited to find a new book by her in my library this summer. This is a fast read. Many of you will finish it quickly, but it is truly a funny and sweet story. Mouse Mistress Hildegarde is in charge of large family of church mice that live in Saint Bartholemew's church. She needs to lead her family to safety when the church decides to higher an exterminator, and then again during the feast of St. Francis, when the town can bring their pets to be blessed at the church (cats are a particular concern). Written with humor, this is a great read.

A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home
This book would almost qualify as a graphic novel. Henry Cole, the author and illustrator of this book, has illustrated a number of children's books, and now he turns his talent to a book for older readers. Celeste, a mouse, is being bullied by rats and the household cat. Her fortunes change with the arrival of John James Audubon and his assistant Joseph. Set in Louisiana in 1821, there are some wonderful historical references, and it is an interesting look at Mr. Audubon. Celeste turns into a rather heroic character, facing many fears, and she provides a great deal of inspiration for Joseph. This is another highly entertaining, and fast read.

Other books with mice as the main characters:

Ragweed and Poppy
The Tale of Despereax
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (Ralph S. Mouse)
Time Stops for No Mouse
Redwall Series
The Rescuers
The Secrets of Nihm Series
Tumtum and Nutmeg
The Rescuers
Stuart Little
Basil of Baker Street
*Can you think of others?*