The Book Search

We had our Scholastic book fair this week and there was a grand assortment of books.  There were two new ones I'd been hearing about but hadn't read, so I got to read this them this week! The first one is a picture book.  It's called "All Are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold.  It's a story told in rhyming verse about how school is a welcoming place.  The illustrations are warm and inviting and show a range of people who look different, sound different, and worship different from me.  This is going to be a terrific book for talking about classroom and school community.  I think it would be appropriate for little kids, but I think big kids, even middle or high schoolers, could appreciate it too.  Unfortunately, Scholastic only sent me three and when I tried to reorder, they were out of stock.  I think this shows that a LOT of people are enjoying and appreciating what a good book this is.  So you need to look for it too! The second one was...

Ahhh, a long weekend filled with rainy days.  A tropical disturbance that's dumping rain but no real drama?  I'm in.  And LOTS of good books to read.  So here are two that are coming to a book store near you soon! The first one is called "The Darkdeep" and it's written by Allie Condie and Brandon Reichs.  I loved Condie's work but haven't read any of Reichs (which I'm TOTALLY going to fix), but since it's the start of a brand new (what I assume will be) series, I'm not sure it matters.  "The Darkdeep" is about a group of kids who live in a small town in the Pacific Northwest.  There are three kids-Nico, Emma and Tyler who are solid friends.  Opal used to be their friend, but now appears to be friends with the town bully, Logan.  Logan is mad at Nico because Nico's dad is forest ranger and has made recommendations that have damaged Logan's family's business.  Nico, Emma, and Tyler are out flying a drone that Nico had been...

This week I read two books that are SO different from one another and yet both have big theme of courage. The first one is called "Storm Runner" by Jennifer Cervantes.  It's part of a series called 'Rick Riordan presents!'  that have titles by different authors, including Cervantes, Yoon Ha Lee, and Roshani Chokshi.  "Storm Runner" is the first in a series about a boy named Zane who lives with his mom and his mom's brother, Hondo.  They also have a dog that Zane is very attached to named Rosie.  Their house has a volcano in the backyard where Zane likes to go exploring.  Zane has one leg that is shorter than the other, so he gets bullied a lot.  Zane's mom has been working hard to get him into a different school, which Zane does not think will help with the bullying.  In fact, when he starts the new school, he gets into trouble almost right away.  When he gets sent to the principal's office, he's surprised that a very beautiful girl wan...