The Book Search

 In digging into the children's literature buffet, I found two very different, but equally wonderful stories!  Check these out! The first is called "To the Front" written by Claudia Fridell and illustrated by Christopher Cyr.  It's a picture book biography about Clara Barton at the Battle of Antietam.  I thought I was pretty well versed in Clara Barton, having read dozens of books about her in my youth, but this book was such an interesting take on her life.  The story is told in two ways-one is poetic text  and the other is quotes from Clara Barton's papers, so you have this amazing juxtaposition of information about Clara right next to her own words.  For elementary students.  Genius!  The information is immediate and so clearly written, you almost feel like you're right next to her.  And then there's the art work.  Luminous, clearly rendered art work with the most amazing light sources.  It gives you the feeling that you're ...

I got to venture down the non-fiction path this week!  Here are two great new titles. The first one is a biography.  It's called "The Escape of Robert Smalls" by Jehan Jones Radgowski.  It's about Robert Smalls, a slave in South Carolina during Civil War times.  He is a good worker and at 12, he's sent by his owner to find work in Charleston.  He finds work as crew member on a ship and learns all the skills he needs to be an excellent seaman, including navigation.  When the Civil War starts, he continues to work on the ship and then comes up with a daring plan to run to freedom.  His plan is to try to pass as the captain of the ship, and basically sail the Confederate ship into Union waters.  This is a really exciting book to read, with the tension building as the story moves on.  The art work is modern enough to look appealing to students and the color palette adds to the suspense and drama.  It's also a really compelling story about ...

School started last week and I just love this time of year... so full of possibilities and potential... the kids are so excited to see their friends and to consider all the promise a new year holds.  Books are like that too.  When you pick one up, you wonder "Am I going to completely fall in love with these characters and their situations?"  "Is this author going to take me places I didn't even know I wanted to go?"  These new picture books do just that. The first one is called "Lazy Cat Hero- The Rise of the Nap".  It's a folk tale about the laziest cat ever and it is hilarious.  If you've ever owned a cat, you know that they can certainly out-lazy any other animal on the planet.  My own cat, for example was too lazy to respond to her own name (although, in fairness, maybe we called her the wrong name).  The cat in THIS book is called Bubastis who calls himself Bub or sometimes just B, because really, Bubastis is SUCH a long name.  Bub sta...

Did I ever find some terrific biographies!  Check these out! The first one is called "Trombone Shorty" by Troy Andrews, which actually makes this one an autobiography.  Trombone Shorty is, unsurprisingly, a trombone player.  What is surprising is how young he started (when he was 4!) and how he got started, which is detailed in the book. The art work is awesome and really helps you feel the energy and affection for music and New Orleans.  I think the kids will like the story of his start and they will love to hear about his foundation that is helping to mentor high school students in the New Orleans area in the music business.  Here's a tiny desk concert from NPR with Trombone Shorty and his band. The second one is a biography of Jane Goodall called "Untamed- The Wild Life of Jane Goodall" by Anita Silvey.  This biography is stuffed full of photographs of Goodall during her entire life.  The story is told with lots of interesting details that a...

Today I went to the public library in our community and they are amazing! Today was the first day that many of the summer camps started and they were ROCKING it. They had at least three groups of kids doing lessons, getting books, reading, working on the computers, WOW! I was impressed! Thank goodness our community supports reading in this way! I was looking for books on some lists I've been looking at and although  I couldn't find any of the books that I was looking for (MAN!!),I did find several really great ones that I hadn't read before. I read two by Mo Willems, who you know is a big favorite of mine. I got to read "Listen to my trumpet" which is hilarious. Piggie has a new trumpet and she wants Gerald the Elephant to listen to her. She is making loud noises and Gerald tries hard to be positive. It has a really great ending. I also read "Time to say please" which we don't have at our media center, but I think we really need to get it...

Today I went to the new Boca Raton library.  It is a beautiful facility and they have a great selection of books.  It was a pleasure to go and do some reading there.  I got to read some biographies today and they had some I hadn't read before.  My favorite one was called "Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable life of Bass Reeves" by Vaunda Michaux Nelson.  It's about a law man named Bass Reeves who started his life as a slave but ended up a famous sheriff.  It was a great story with lots of interesting details about Bass (who could shoot straight with both hands and was pretty tricky about arresting bad guys).  Here's a book trailer about it. The second one I read was "To Dare Mighty Things: The Life of Theodore Roosevelt" by Doreen Rappaport.  I love the way Doreen Rappaport writes biographies.  She weaves together a story of the person's life, along with quotes from their own writing or spoken words in that is visually pleasing as well as ...

I've been reading biographies this week.  I got a few new ones in the media center and found a few more in the Ebook section of my local library (free books!  Delivered to my ipad!  What a deal!). The first one is called "On a Beam of Light" by Jennifer Berne is a picture book biography of Albert Einstein.  The pictures are exuberant and kind of primitive (in a good way) and it makes the life of Albert Einstein accessible to little kids (and bigger kids who might have thought that Albert Einstein was too smart for them to read about).  It explains some of Einstein's theories in very simple terms but it also talks about his persistence and his questioning attitude as well as his love of reading that took him to the places he wanted to go. The second biography I read was about Jane Goodall.  It's called "The Watcher: Jane Goodall's life with the chimps" by Jeanette Winter.  I'm a big fan of Jane Goodall, having heard her speak at a loca...

I got two great new picture book biographies last week. I hadn't read either one of them, instead relying on reviews from the School Library Journal and the Non-Fiction Detectives . It turns out, having someone give you a good recommendation can save you a lot of time and money. Here are three that I really loved.  The first one is called "Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table" by Jacqueline Briggs.  It's a beautiful and vibrantly illustrated story about Will Allen, an urban farmer who is trying to make sure that everyone gets fresh, healthy food.  Here's a short interview with him. The second biography is actually less of a biography (it doesn't tell her whole life story) but tells the story of a pivotal event.  It's called "Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist makers' Strike of 1909" by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.  It's the story of Clara Lemlich, who was an immigrant to NY in the early 1900s.  She was th...