The Book Search

This week I'm reviewing mystery books for Young Adults.  I was able to read some brand new ones (advance readers copies!) from Netgalley.  This week my website also went live-YAY!!!  In case you didn't know, it allows you to search for books based on title or level, but this one also lets you search by the skill you want to teach.  Here's the web address in case you're interested...   www.thebooksearch.net  On to the books...  So it was a big week for mysteries for me.  Nothing remotely mysterious here on the home front... I must be craving some danger...  Anyway, I got it in spades with the books I chose. The first one is the latest in a series about an English girl named Flavia DeLuce.  It's somewhat historical fiction although I never really figured out exactly when the stories take place, they are in the late Victorian period because Flavia pushes a lot of boundaries.  She is wonderful character who loves science and asking questions and finding out answers.  

Starting back to work after a two week vacation can be a challenge, but a challenge that was met and conquered (albeit with going to bed at 8:30 a couple of nights this week... and struggling to stay awake until 9 pm on Friday  night, pathetic).  I even got to read some really great books! The first one is a graphic novel called Dogs of War.  It has three chapters, each focusing on a different dog in a different war.  The first one is in World War 1, the second in World War 2, and the third actually deals with a Viet Nam war veteran in flashbacks to the war (also touching on post traumatic stress syndrome).  The art work, by Nathan Fox, is amazing and really evocative.  The stories are emotional and I think this would be a great book to spark the interest of some of the boys to get them interested in reading more about history.  Here's a book trailer about it. I read two other books this week and could barely put them down.  They are the second and third installment of a s

Today I went to my local Barnes and Noble in search of some of the books that people have been thinking might be contenders for the Caldecott award in 2015.  When I think about what makes a great picture book it is apparently COMPLETELY different than the criteria for what the committee actually considers because my favorites NEVER win.  But ok.  I'm not bitter (yet) and I can still love the books I love and recommend them lavishly, even if they don't have that shiny gold medallion on the front.  Fine.  But here are some of the awesome ones I saw today. The first one has been getting a lot of buzz.  It's called Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio.  It's an adorable little book about a puppy named Gaston.  Gaston lives with his family who are all super high class poodles who daintily nibble their kibble.  Gaston doesn't really look like the rest of the family and he's a lot more boisterous than they are.  One day they go to the park and meet a family of bulldogs.  One of