The Book Search

I just finished the book fair at my school and there were some great new books there but there are    are also some amazing new picture books coming out in the next few months.  Here are a few you might want to look for! The first one is called "Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist" by Jess Keating.  I was already a big fan of Jess Keating's work (you know, Pink is for Blobfish?) AND a big fan of Eugenie Clark.  I can remember reading Ann Martin's version of "Shark Lady" with a group of second graders and having one of my little girls hug the book to her chest and say "When I grow up, I'm going to be an ichthyologist".  So a picture book version of this one is bound to be awesome and it is.  The pictures (in my e-book advanced reader's copy version) are a bit cartoon-y but in a friendly way.  You can completely feel Eugenie's energy and curiosity shining through them.  The text...

I've been trying to read more non fiction.  The students at my school love non fiction, which is fairly unusual according to the other librarians in my district, but my kids check out more non fiction than fiction.  I personally tend to read more fiction so I have to work at looking for non fiction.  These new ones are so good, that everyone will enjoy them. The first one is a title I've been trying to get a hold of for quite some time.  It comes up often on lists of great non fiction books this year.  It's called "Pink is for Blowfish" by Jess Keating.  This is an informational  picture book about different animals.  They were chosen for the book because of their color-pink.  Each animal has a full page picture and the facing page has a text box with facts like their scientific name, diet, habitat and predators.  The facing page also has a cartoony picture of the animal along with a couple of facts about the animal.  The book is ...

The books I picked this week seem all have very strong, modern girl main characters.  I worry that these will not be appealing to boys, but their voices are very fresh and very fun. This first one was just adorable.  It's called "Dream On Amber" by Emma Shevah.  It's about 11 year old Amber who lives with her mother and little sister Bella.  Her nonna lives close by but her dad is just gone (and without an explanation, Amber makes up her own stories about why he isn't there).  As they are walking home through the park, Amber and Bella see a dad and his daughter and Bella is reminded how much SHE misses their dad.  So when Bella writes a letter to her dad inviting him to her birthday party, Amber knows how sad it will make her mom, so she writes back to Bella.  But Bella either misinterprets the letter or doesn't read it properly, because she believes their dad is coming to the party.  Additionally, Amber is starting middle school and doesn't rea...