The Book Search

I'm getting a little jump on the Sunshine State Young Readers award.  Last year, I had a hard time getting all the books so this year, I was determined to get them into the library before we left for vacation and I have most of them already AND the kids have already started checking them out!  YAY!!!  It helps that some of the titles I've already read, we already owned, and I've already book talked!  But there were several that I hadn't heard of and I finished one I really liked today.  It's called Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman.  It's about Gabe who likes to read, likes science and math.  He likes to go to school.  His dream comes true right at the beginning of the book because his dad is remarrying and he is going to get a brother.  His new brother is also 10, is from California and likes surfing and is cool.  Gabe worries that Zach won't like him because Gabe isn't cool.  But Gabe gets accepted to go to sleep away camp, whi...

I was wallowing around in some grown up books last week.  It's amazing how I seem to have lost interest in grown up books... yikes!  Good thing summer is coming up so I can refresh my palate!  In the mean time, I'll just have to stick to kids books I've been enjoying so much! I just finished an advanced readers copy of a book that seems like it's going to be the beginning of series.  It's called "The Entirely True story of the Unbelievable FIB" by Adam Shaughnassey.  It's about a girl named Pru (short for Prudence) who has just lost her dad.  Her dad was a detective and she misses him terribly.  She doesn't have a lot of friends, but she notices a lot of things (a good thing in a detective).  A new kid moves to town and she ends up paired up with him which turns out to be a good thing, because he's super smart and he notices things too.  They go on a field trip to a local museum and start learning about Norse myths.  In this story, it ...

This week I've been reading some advanced readers copies from Netgalley again, and wow, was THIS a good crop. The first one is definitely middle grade fiction by Carol Weston.  It's a sequel to her fabulous book called "Ava and Pip" about two sisters struggling to fit in.   Here is the review of "Ava and Pip"  This one is called "Ava and Taco Cat" and it's just as good as the first one, but this one is a bit more girly than "Ava and Pip" so it may have a harder time finding wide spread appeal because although I liked it, there are a couple of things that will make middle grade boys squirm.  First, the good parts.  Ava is back as a prolific writer and lover of words.  She has decided she wants a cat and finds one at the local shelter.  She names him Taco Cat (a palindrome) because the shelter is near their favorite taco spot.  Ava writes a great story about Taco Cat and even ends up in the newspaper, which brings a whole new set of ...

I think I've made it pretty clear, that I am a person who likes fairy tales.  I'm not sure if this makes me a "fairy tale" person but if I can choose a genre, fairy tales rate right up there.  So I was thinking today I would remind you about some completely awesome fairy tales, because I'll bet I'm not the only one who likes them (especially if you check the network TV listings... they have all kinds of fairy tale adaptations there!). The first one is one that was new to me.  It's one of the Sunshine State Young Reader nominees for grades 3-5 for next year, but I already ordered the books (thanks Reading Warehouse !) and so far, my favorite one is called "A Hero's Guide to Saving your Kingdom" by Christopher Healy.  It starts off explaining that the real problem with some of the fairy tales is that what we really remember is written by bards and really, what do they know?  All the princes are named Charming and are they really charming?  Th...

I've been reading a lot of different things this week.  I ordered some new books from our book fair and those were awesome!  The first one was the Caldecott award winner this year (for best picture book) by Dan Santat.  It's about an island where imaginary friends live, waiting to be called.  One of the little guys gets impatient and decides to go and look for his friend.  It's not an easy journey, but he perseveres and becomes Beekle.  It's a great little story about friendship and persistence.  I'm planning to read it to my little kids this week and I can't wait.  Here's the book trailer: The second one was also highly rated by a number of people and I can totally see why.  It's called "How to read a story" by Kate Messner.  It's a picture book that describes in many steps, how to read a story and it gives great advice.  Lest you think it might be boring, let me disabuse of THAT right away.  I got my new box of books j...

I've been on a real reading jag this week.  The stars have aligned and I have had both time and opportunity so I have made the most of it. I started with "The Red Umbrella" by Christina Diaz Gonzalez.  I met Christina a few years ago at an April is for Author's event and I wanted to read her book then and something happened (something shiny!  Or maybe a squirrel!) and I completely forgot about it.  Until this week when I was wandering through the YA section at my local library and found it again.  What a treat this book is.  It's about a girl living a privileged life in Cuba just as the Revolution starts.  Her biggest worries are what her hair looks like and if her nails match her outfit.  Things change fast though and at first, Lucia just wants to play along.  She wants to go to parties with her friends (even if they are sponsored by the party), she wants to go shopping, she wants to read fashion magazines but her mom wants her stay in the...