The Book Search

I fell down into a well of grown up fiction that was just terrific but I'm finding my way back to middle grade fiction, because, well, because I can.  Here's some amazing books to look for! The first one is called Chirp by Kate Messner.  I was lucky enough to get to meet her in November at the FAME conference in Orlando and my friend David was brave enough to try the Chirp Challenge she describes in the book.  I'd been looking forward to reading it since November and I finally got to! It was totally worth the wait.  One of the things that Kate does so well is give you characters that are interesting and likable immediately, but there's always something bigger that comes as you read.  In this case, Mia and her family have moved back to Vermont to be closer to her grandmother.  Her grandmother had a small stroke and is recuperating well, but runs her own business, which Mia's parents would like her to sell.  Mia's grandmother sells crickets for food an...

School started and YAY!  It's so much fun to be back and start talking about some of the awesome books I've been reading!  The kids are glad to be back too, even though they complain about getting up early and the structure of the day.  Here are some of the amazing books I'm looking forward to! The first one is called "Vanished" by James Ponti.  It's the second in a series (and I hope there will be more!) about a middle schooler named Florian Bates who has developed a theory called T.O.A.S.T., the theory of all small things.  TOAST helps Florian to notice and put things together in ways that most people do not.  Florian's best friend is Margaret, a soccer player and musician who also like TOAST.  Together with a team from the FBI, they solve mysteries.  The mystery in this book revolves around a series of pranks played at an exclusive prep school in Washington, DC.  Florian and Margaret attend a slightly less prestigious school and are riva...

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...