The Book Search

I've had a little time this weekend to dip back into Netgalley.  Boy, it feels like it's been a long time since I read something on a device!  The good news is, my devices still work and Netgalley has some great things to read!  This first one is SOOO much fun.  It's called "The Amazing Crafty Cat" by Charise Mericle Harper.  It's about a girl named Birdie who is exuberant and cheerful and loves to craft.  In fact, she loves to craft so much, that she has created an alternate ego, a super hero, named Crafty Cat, who can swoop in and save the day.  It's Birdie's birthday and Birdie (and Crafty Cat) have come together to create the greatest birthday break ever.  They've created panda cupcakes that are delicious and adorable and everyone, even the evil villain, Anya, will think it's the greatest birthday break in the history of the world.  Except that there is an accident on the way to school and series of mishaps that might get even the most ch...

I've been reading a lot of picture books lately so it felt good to read some books that are definitely meant for bigger kids from Netgalley.  Bigger themes, bigger ideas, I do love picture books, but it's good to read lots of different things, right? The first one is a dystopian future novel called "The List" by Patricia Forde.  It has a completely horrifying premise-in the future, a group of people survive an apocalyptic event and the leader decides the big thing that needs to change is language.  People use words carelessly or ineffectively and so the words must be eliminated.  The wordsmith, Benjamin has an apprentice, a girl named Letta who helps him craft the lists of words that people ARE allowed to use.  But one day Benjamin goes out on a word finding mission and doesn't come back.  Letta is frightened by his disappearance, but more alarmed by a handsome young man who turns up on her doorstep.  The young man is clearly fleeing from the local m...

I've been lucky enough to get my hands on some really terrific non-fiction lately, thanks to CYBILS and Netgalley!   My students really love non-fiction so it's great to get some new things for my library! The first one is called "Tortuga Squad: Kids Saving Sea Turtles in Costa Rica" by Cathleen Turnham.  It's about a group of kids who live on a small island just off the coast of Costa Rica.  It's a fairly poor island, but the kids and some of the adults are trying to help save the native animals.  It gives a really nice description of the strategies they use-protecting the eggs and the babies as well as advocating to the fishermen to try to change their nets to help keep turtles from drowning.  The text is fairly simple (it feels like it's aimed at 6-9 year olds) and has a somewhat narrative format.  There are some terrific diagrams that will help the reader understand some of the ways that people can keep fishing but still help turtles.  There is a...

This non fiction stuff I've been reading is AWESOME.  I can't wait to show these to my students and my teachers.  They are going to LOVE them. The first one is called "The Slowest Book Ever" by April Pulley Sayre.  I have to admit the title put me off a bit.  Slow?  Really?  We live in a really fast paced time, why would I want to read about something slow?  Because it's awesome, that's why!  April put together an entire book of fascinating facts about plants, animals, rocks, and people that are all slow.  The book is written in a very conversational style, so it's sort of like having a super interesting friend tell you about all these things.  There are lots of graphical elements, kind of cartoony pictures that make the book move very fast.  There's a terrific glossary in the back along with reference notes and a very thorough index.  I keep thinking of people who might enjoy this one-like my best friend, my dad, I guess I'd...

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 ...

Hoo boy, did it feel like a long slog to get to winter break.  In their wisdom, our district decided our kids should go to school until December 22 and we should have December 23 as a teacher workday.  It's so much fun to have special holiday events, concerts, tree lightings, parties, but wow, the level of excitement and anticipation (which has been building since OCTOBER) was pretty intense.  I was relieved to see at a local retail outlet that we have Valentine's day to look forward to, so thank goodness we have something to keep the crazy level high. But so now, we are back home after a wonderful visit with family and we have some time to relax and finish up projects and READ.  YAY!!!  I told the kids that my goal was to read a book a day all winter break, and frankly, I'm failing at that so far, but I'm hoping to catch up a bit now.  I did get to read a couple of brand new picture books on the plane and they are just terrific.  The first one is ca...

I found some great new titles on Netgalley this week.  This first one was a big surprise to me.  It's the second in a series by author Gene Swallow about a girl named Elspeth who is living between two worlds-the real world where she is a middle schooler adopted by two relentlessly boring people who love her very much and the other is a nursery rhyme world, where she is the daughter of Jack and Jill (the fetch a pail of water duo).  The nursery rhyme world, New Winkieland, is full of funny characters as well as danger-the evil Mary, Mary has taken Elspeth's best friend as a hostage and now it seems the only way to get Farrah back is to make a deal with the evil Krool, who nearly killed Elspeth in her last visit to New Winkieland.  This one is full of text references to lots of different nursery rhymes (I had to stop and do a little research half way through the book to find out about one of the nursery rhyme references and was fascinated to find that nursery rhymes ac...