The Book Search

Summer vacation just started and so has the blissfully un-pressured reading!  I don't usually read science fiction (although I'm always surprised that I like it more than I think I will!).    There are two that I read that I really enjoyed. The first one is not brand new.  It's one on the Sunshine State Young Reader Award List this year.  It's called "Enginerds" by Jarrett Lerner.  It's a short, fast read about Ken who is part of a group of kids that he's known since he was in kindergarten.  They all like science and engineering and each of them has a different strength.  One day, Ken comes home to find a box on his front step.  He often gets presents from his grandfather so it's not too big of a shock, but the box is really heavy.  So he calls his best friend, Dan, and Dan helps him lug the box and start putting the thing together. It turns out the thing is a robot, but the robot seems to have a pretty limited skill set.  All it ...

I just finished two more Sunshine State Young Reader award nominees and they were terrific!  I can't wait to get them into my library! The first one is called "Wedgie and Gizmo" by Suzanne Selfors.  Selfors is no stranger to the SSYRA list-her book "The Sasquatch Escape" and "Fortune's Magic Farm" made the lists in years past.  I know why this one made the list too!  This book is told from two perspectives - Wedgie, an exuberant corgi who believes he is a super hero (with a cape!) and Gizmo, a grumpy guinea pig who believes he is an evil genius and is looking for a plausible plot to take over the world.  They are living together in a newly blended family-Gizmo's owner/servant, Elliot, has moved with his dad in with Jasmine, Jackson, their mom, and her mom (Abuela).  Elliot is the least happy about the move and in the move, Gizmo's cage was damaged so for the moment, he's living in Jasmine's Barbie dream house, which he doesn't...

The new Sunshine State Young Reader Award list was released last week, YAY!  There are some terrific titles on the list and I know the kids are going to love them.  Several of them were new to me, so I've been busy reading! The first one is called "Sled Dog School" by Terri Lynn Johnson.  Her book "Overboard!" was on the list last year.  Her writing style is terrific - fast paced with characters that are easy to connect with.  This one has a main character named Matt.  His family lives off the grid in Michigan and some of the other kids have been teasing him about it.  He really loves the sled dogs that they have and is a really good musher.  He's also been struggling with math and when his teacher offers an extra credit project to create their own business, Matt jumps at the chance.  He decides to create a sled dog school.  He's meant to get at least three clients and show the math he uses to decide if the business is making money. ...

I'm reading all the Sunshine State Young Reader award nominees before we go back to school (I hope!).    It's always so awesome to see the books the committee chose-they're mindful of lots of different things but I love the variety of the kinds of books they choose.  The one I read last night is a good example of that-it's called "Overboard!" and it's part of the Survivor Diaries series by Terry Lynn Johnson.  This one is the first in the series, I know I'm going to need to order the whole series, because it's great.  It's about a boy named Travis who's struggling a bit.  He was injured last year in an accident (ok, a dare) at his gym.  In the past year of recovery, he's gained weight and feels a bit traumatized.  His parents take his family on a whale watching tour near the San Juan Islands and he's learning a lot about whales and wild life when he's plunged into the water.  Luckily, the captain's daughter Martina is close ...

So I totally HAVE been reading this summer, but we've been traveling, visiting family and far flung places.  It's been a blast, but I'm glad to get home to regroup and READ. So now that I'm home, I've had a chance to catch up on some of the Sunshine State Young Readers that I hadn't read before.  Let me tell you, the committee did a GREAT job of choosing books!  These are titles that hadn't been on my radar but they are terrific! The first one is called "The Great Treehouse War" by Lisa Graff.  I love her work-she has the most amazing ideas and characters in her stories and this one did not disappoint.  It's about a girl named Winnie who's parents have decided to separate in the most non-amicable fashion you can imagine.  Eventually they decide to buy adjoining houses with a treehouse in the middle so Winnie will spend three days with each parent and one day in the treehouse so each parent has equal time.  Unsurprisingly, Winnie ...

I'm a little late getting started on the SSYRA list for this year.  Someone tweeted out today that they'd finished the whole list, GAH!  I'd better get cracking! The first one I read is called "The First Rule of Punk" by Cecelia Perez.  It's about a girl, Marisa Luisa, who likes to be called MaLu.  Her mom is a professor and her dad owns a music store.  They've been amicably divorced for quite some time, but MaLu lives with her mom.  So when her mom gets a job offer to teach at a school in Chicago for two years, MaLu goes (unwillingly with her).  She's worried she won't find any friends or anyone who likes Punk as much as she does.  The story is fairly predictable- MaLu tries to fit in and stand out at the same time is unsurprisingly unhappy with the results.  But she finds a group of people who accept her and believe in her and having surprisingly similar values to her own.  It's a nice story about finding your own voice and appreciat...

So my husband says to me this morning "We only have one more Monday off school."  Um, what???!!!  Wait!!!  How did THAT happen?  As I often say to people when they ask, "Are you ready to go back to school?"  "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not, the kids are coming anyway!"  I've been meaning to read all the Sunshine State Young Reader nominees for this year.  I tried downloading them from Mackin Via and I ended up with a spinning rainbow wheel of death, both on the iPad and on my laptop.  FINE.  So today I made a trip to the public library and happily, they had most of the titles I hadn't read yet.  YAY for public libraries!  I can't think why I waited so long to read this one, because it was terrific!  It's called "Save Me A Seat" by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan.  It's told from two different boys' perspectives.  Ravi and Joe are both in the same fifth grade class.  Ravi's family just moved from Banga...

I'm digging through the Sunshine State Young Reader list for grades 3-5.  I hope I'll have the stamina to read the 6-8 list and maybe even the Teen Reads.  I've also started on the picture books.  Surely during the summer break I'll have more time (she said optimistically). This first one is called "Serafina's Promise" by Ann Burg.  This book is written in verse and it's about a girl named Serafina who lives with her parents and her grandmother.  Serafina also has a baby brother who is sick.  Serafina's family lives in Haiti (which is never stated but you can kind of figure it out.  The kids might need help though).  Her family is too poor for her to go to school but when they visit the doctor, Serafina is inspired to become a doctor, and so she starts trying to think of ways to convince her mother that it's a good idea to let her go to school.  Her mother has had a lot of trauma in her life (which you learn about as you read) and so lettin...

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...

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...

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...

The Florida Association of Media Educators (FAME) announced the winners of the Sunshine State Young Reader award this week.  It didn't come as a surprise to me, because the kids at my school also voted this one as being the best, it was Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein.  The kids loved the suspense, the cryptic puzzles, and the non-stop action, so if you haven't read it, by all means, get it and read it soon!  They also announced the nominees for next year and I was happy to see that not only have I read many of them, we already have several of them in our school library.  Here's a little video that shows them. This week, my favorite book was an older title that was recommended by the amazing Liesl Shurtliff when she came to speak at our school.  She said she had been reading "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull to her boys and that it was really good.  Really good was a big understatement!  I can't believe I hadn't read this befo...

If you don't live in Florida, you probably don't know about this award sponsored through the librarians association of Florida (FAME).  The committee picks 15 books for grades 3-5 and grades 6-8 from a list of about 250.  The limits are that the books have to be for pleasure reading, they have to be written within the last 4 years and they have to be written by an American author.  The kids of Florida read the books and vote on which one is their favorite.  So, since I'm a school librarian in Florida, I've been reading the new SSYRA books and like even a really great box of chocolates, there are some you like better than others. One that completely took me by surprise was 8 class pets + 1 squirrel divided by 1 dog = chaos by Vivian Vande Velde.  It's a pretty skinny little chapter book and has a funny cover but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it (really?  Judging a book by it's cover?  Shame on you!).  Well, wow, was I wrong. ...

Our kids started back to school this week.  The teachers started back the week before so it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks.  A lot of people don't really understand why teachers are so exhausted the first few weeks (months) of school so let me try to illuminate you. Imagine that you've just spent the last two months do whatever you like.  For many teachers, this involves another job (like working summer camp, tutoring, or painting houses).  Then you come back to your real job and for the last two months, people have been thinking about ways to make your job more efficient.  In the first week of school, they spend time explaining to you how to do that.  Then you have to completely unpack and re-arrange all of your work materials because in the two months you've been gone, they've come in and cleaned the floors (you may also have had to move your things from one room to another room, possibly on the other side of the campus).  There may also be n...