The Book Search

 It's so exciting to find new books to read!  This week had some terrific ones-check these out! The first one is called The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill.  I love Kelly Barnhill's work.  I loved Iron Hearted Violet and I loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon.  I might love this one even more.  The narrator in this story at first appears to be an omniscient third person and tells the story of very different characters.  A group of orphans living with kind but poor and elderly caretakers.  An ogress who has been chased from her home by an evil dragon.  A murder of crows.  The mayor of a small village called Stone-in-the-Glen.  The story unfolds a little at a time-the orphans are very different from each other but each one has a strength that supports the family.  The Ogress is just trying to live her best life, in spite of the prejudice of the humans around her.  The mayor is trying to gather as much treasure as he po...

Even as the school year is winding down, teachers are starting to put things away for the summer and I'm starting to think about getting ALL THOSE BOOKS BACK (how awesome that people have been using them!), there are still some great new reads to look for!  Check these out... The first one is called "I am Drums" by Mike Grosso.  It's about a girl named Sam and she loves to drum.  Her family is struggling a bit-her parents are fighting, her dad is having trouble keeping a job and her mom is working long hours to try to keep things together.  Her little brother is a pain and her best friend is finding other things that are interesting.  Sam knows her family can't afford a drum kit, so she makes one herself out of books and her desk.  She knows her family can't afford drum lessons so she hatches a plan to cut grass to earn money and then asks a neighbor to teach her.  She makes some really bad choices but I really admire her determination.  The boo...

I think I've made it pretty clear, that I am a person who likes fairy tales.  I'm not sure if this makes me a "fairy tale" person but if I can choose a genre, fairy tales rate right up there.  So I was thinking today I would remind you about some completely awesome fairy tales, because I'll bet I'm not the only one who likes them (especially if you check the network TV listings... they have all kinds of fairy tale adaptations there!). The first one is one that was new to me.  It's one of the Sunshine State Young Reader nominees for grades 3-5 for next year, but I already ordered the books (thanks Reading Warehouse !) and so far, my favorite one is called "A Hero's Guide to Saving your Kingdom" by Christopher Healy.  It starts off explaining that the real problem with some of the fairy tales is that what we really remember is written by bards and really, what do they know?  All the princes are named Charming and are they really charming?  Th...

Of course it is a cliche to talk about the power of love, but it's sort of surprising how it comes up as a unifying theme in literature. I read a couple of books this week that made me think about how powerful love is. The first one was called "Iron Hearted Violet" by Kelly Barnhill.  It's about a princess named Violet who is not at all beautiful.  The storyteller describes how in all the stories, the princess is ALWAYS beautiful.  Since Violet is not beautiful (but IS the only daughter of the king and the queen) she starts to question if she REALLY is a princess.  Exciting and bad things happen and Violet figures out who she really wants to be, all based on the power of love.. the love of her father and mother, the love of her people she serves, the love of her friends.  It's a really great story.   It has some interesting artwork... it's almost anime, which I found a bit distracting.  It didn't seem to match the story to me... the story is sort ...