The Book Search

I've been reading a TON of children's literature this summer (if you enjoy data, I've read 212 books since school got out).  However, it's been quite some time since I picked up a chapter book and finished it in ONE DAY and then kept talking about it to everyone I meet.  It's called "Ban this Book" by Alan Gratz.   It's about a girl named Amy Anne.  She lives in Raleigh, NC with her mom and dad, two little sisters, and her big dogs named Flotsam and Jetsam.  Amy Anne loves to read and has strong opinions but often feels too embarrassed to share her opinions with anyone.  One day she goes to the library to re-check out her favorite book, "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg, only to find that a parent has challenged this book (along with several others) and so it has been removed from the library.  Amy Anne is outraged and the librarian, Mrs. Jones, invites Amy Anne to come to the school board meeti...

So my husband says to me this morning "We only have one more Monday off school."  Um, what???!!!  Wait!!!  How did THAT happen?  As I often say to people when they ask, "Are you ready to go back to school?"  "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not, the kids are coming anyway!"  I've been meaning to read all the Sunshine State Young Reader nominees for this year.  I tried downloading them from Mackin Via and I ended up with a spinning rainbow wheel of death, both on the iPad and on my laptop.  FINE.  So today I made a trip to the public library and happily, they had most of the titles I hadn't read yet.  YAY for public libraries!  I can't think why I waited so long to read this one, because it was terrific!  It's called "Save Me A Seat" by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan.  It's told from two different boys' perspectives.  Ravi and Joe are both in the same fifth grade class.  Ravi's family just moved from Banga...

My students LOVE non-fiction books.  In fact, I'm always surprised when school librarians lament the fact that their students don't check out non-fiction books, because my kids check out at least as many non-fiction as fiction books, maybe more.  I'm really excited about some of these new titles that are coming out soon. The first one is called "Her Right Foot" by Dave Eggers.  I'm a big fan of Dave Eggers work for adults and I really love his voice, so I was very intrigued his new book, which is a picture book.  The artwork is terrific-the first part has collages that have a very art deco period feel to them.  The second part is also collage, but more modern.  The text is amazing.  It's about the Statue of Liberty and the first part of the book has background information about the Statue of Liberty-how it was a gift from France, the architect Bartholdi, Eiffel's role, how it was put together in France and then taken apart, shipped to America, and pu...

I'm taking a break from reading picture books.  I've been visiting my parents and my brother in NC and the picture books are too heavy to bring along!  Thank goodness I have my iPad loaded with middle grade fiction.  There are some great ones coming soon! The first one is called "The Shadow Weaver" by Marcykate Connolly.  It's about a girl named Emmeline who can weave shadows using magic.  What that means is that she can use her magic to get the shadows to do what she wants them to do.  It's a very cool power to have but her parents think it's creepy and scary.  Emmeline also has a shadow friend who encourages her to use her power and kind of helps her along with the magic.  Dar has been her friend since she was little and really, Emmeline's only friend.  One day some people come to Emmeline's home and offer to take Emmeline to cure her of her magic.  Emmeline's parents think this is a great idea, since they think the whole shadow weav...

I just looked at my Goodreads profile and it says I'm 62 books behind schedule for reading 400 books this year.  Rats.  I guess I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit.  Thank goodness summer's here so I can have some time to read!  Through Goodreads, I belong to a group called Mock Newbery and they try to pick which book might win the Newbery  and although we don't seem to have guess correctly yet, they have THE BEST suggestions for books.  This month we voted on 5 titles (See You In the Cosmos by Jack Cheng was the consensus for this month) but I read them all.  My new favorite is called "Crack in the Sea" by H. M. Bouwman. This is Bouwman's second novel and I missed her first one.  This one is so big that it's a bit hard to describe.  It starts with two main characters, a brother and sister-Pip and Kinchen.  They are orphans but live with a kind old man named Ren who has adopted them and cared for them on an island that is quite...

So we've got the new list for the Sunshine State Young Readers for the middle grades.  I'm starting with the 3rd to 5th grade, because those are for my students, but I'm hoping I'll have time to read the 6-8 as well, because some of my favorites are on there too! The first one I read this summer is called "Castle Hangnail" by Ursula Vernon.  I just got a series of books by Ursula Vernon for my school library about Harriet the Hamster Princess which is hilarious so I was looking forward to "Castle Hangnail" and I was NOT disappointed.  Castle Hangnail belongs to a witches guild and is in transition.  The old witch is gone and they are looking for a new witch.  There is a cast of minions that includes the caretaker (who has no name), a haunted suit of armor, a stuffed doll named Pins who takes care of wardrobe and furnishings, a minotaur that is the cook, and the cleaner, Serenissima, who is a water spirit that steams every thing clean.  They are a b...