The Book Search

There's some great new middle great fiction coming out in the next few months.  I've been SOOO lucky to get to read them as advanced readers copies!  I can't wait to get these into the hands of kids. The first one is a sequel to a book I read last year called "Serafina and the Black Cloak" by Robert Beatty.  I was lucky enough to get to hear Robert speak at the NCRA meeting in Raleigh in March and he's just as charming and interesting and you would imagine him to be.  The new one that's coming out in July (I think) is called "Serafina and the Twisted Staff".  What's great about both of these books is that they weave historical fiction (they are both set at the turn of the 19th century in Asheville, NC at the Biltmore House) and folkloric fantasy.  I can't tell you too much of the story without completely giving a way the plot, but let me tell you, the story is exciting and fast paced and well written.  Everything you'd want in a mid...

The new Sunshine State Young Reader list is out and I'm really excited to get started reading them! There are a few titles I've ready read but lots of them that I'd never heard of, so I've got a great list ahead of me!  Just in time for summer vacation! The first one I read is called "All Four Stars" by Tara Dairman.  It's about a girl named Gladys Gatsby who lives in a small town in NY, famous for it's landfill.  Gladys doesn't really have any friends, but she does have a big passion for cooking.  Her parents think this is a bad idea and encourage her to make friends, watch TV, play on the computer, but Gladys really wants to cook.  She resorts to cooking when they aren't home and one day, things go rather badly.  Gladys is trying to make creme brûlée and uses a blow torch she finds in the garage rather than one that's approved for culinary use and accidentally sets the curtains on fire, just as her parents walk into the house.  Her pare...

Gees... more new stuff?  Who writes these books?  How can anyone possibly keep up?  Well, I'm here to help! Do you have to teach your students about text features?  Well, I found a book today that your boys (and probably some of the girls) will be falling over themselves to get a look at.  It's called "Super Basketball Infographics" by Jeff Savage.  Each two page spread has a different kind of graphical element with facts about basketball.  The graphs are visually interesting (using size to relate proportion) as well as being vibrantly colorful but the information was also very compelling.  And the variety of graphical presentation was staggering!  This is going to be a great addition to your classroom library (although it will probably disappear pretty fast.  Better buy two!). The second one I read is by Louis Sachar, (famous as the writer of "Holes" and "The Wayside School" series).  This one is science fiction and it has...