A few things on Saturday morning...

Have you seen the new cover for Breaking Dawn?

I am suitably intrigued.

(Thanks to my Borders Rewards account for sending me an email with the cover.)

Speaking of things that intrigue me, Lisa's got a rather intriguing post up: What Would You Buy with $50K? A friend of hers has $50,000 to buy materials for a new elementary school library. Head over to Lisa's blog to check out Lisa's list and add your own suggestions.

And I'd like to point out a blog that I've recently discovered and love. The Crafty Crow is a great, great collection of children's craft ideas. It's updated very frequently with craft ideas for all ages. Each post contains a photo of the craft in question and a link to the instructions. I've already bookmarked a whole bunch of posts with crafts I might use for our fall session of After School Adventures. The posts are all tagged with age groups and may other helpful tags which makes the site a really valuable resource. If you're a crafty librarian or a non-crafty librarian in desperate need of easy, interesting crafts (*raises hand*), you won't want to miss this site.

Happy Saturday, everyone! My parents are in town, so I'm off to the city for lunch and a show!

Book Review: The Patron Saint of Butterflies

The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante. (Grades 7+)

Mount Blessing is the only home Agnes has ever known. She was born on this religious commune and has lived there for all of her fourteen years. She's a Believer. She strives to behave as a saint would, even going so far as to fast and wear a tight rope around her middle to atone for her sins. She lives the way Emmanuel, the leader of their commune, wants her to, even if it means being punished by him when she's done wrong.

Honey is Agnes's best friend. She's also lived her whole life at Mount Blessing, but her take on it is a bit different than Agnes's. Maybe it's because her mother abandoned her there to be raised by Emmanuel and the other Believers, but Honey hates Mount Blessing. She won't stand for the punishments Emmanuel doles out and she skips services whenever she can get away with it.

Life goes on at Mount Blessing much as it always has... until Agnes's grandmother stops by for a surprise visit and discovers the awful truth of Emmanuel's punishments. Nana Pete decides then and there that she's taking Agnes and Honey out of that place. But it won't be so easy to adjust to life on the outside. And both Agnes and Honey will discover answers to questions they didn't even know they had.

I was immediately drawn in to this story, which is told in alternating chapters by both Agnes and Honey. They're two very different characters with very different views on their life at Mount Blessing. Although I found the character of Honey to be more likeable (she's so spunky and stands up for herself and her own beliefs), I was more intrigued by Agnes. I loved Agnes's transition as she starts to see things in the real world and starts to question everything she's always been taught. It felt so real. There's one particular scene where they attend Sunday services at a Southern Baptist church in North Carolina that really put me right into the moment. I felt like I was there happy and sad and mixed up right alongside Agnes.

That's the other thing I really loved about this book. Besides the intriguing characters, the writing made me feel like I was there. When Honey was working in the butterfly garden at the commune, I could feel the sun on my face and smell the fresh earth all around me. I've never been to a religious commune (or a Southern Baptist church service, for that matter) and Ms. Galante made me feel like I was walking beside the characters in everything they did.

Don't take my word for it. Check out Becky's review and Sarah's review and Melissa's review. Also, Little Willow's got an interview with Cecilia Galante that you won't want to miss. Ms. Galante's also got another book that just came out, Hershey Herself, and I assure you it's been added to my TBR list.

Audiobook Roundup: More Picture Books

I've had the pleasure of listening to some more excellent picture book recordings lately. Here are some more of my favorites:

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble. Narrated by Lance White Magpie. Live Oak Media. (K-2nd.)

Okay, take a story that will already appeal to young horse fans. Add excellent narration and awesome sound effects. What do you have? You have the perfect recording to hand to young readers. In this Caldecott-winning picture book, a young Native American girl takes care of her people's horses. When a thunderstorm scares the herd, the young girl is whisked away with them. The lead stallion welcomes her and the girl becomes part of the herd, happier with the horses than with her own family. Realistic sound effects like thunder and hoof beats make the story come to life.

Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall. Narrated by Kathy Bates. Weston Woods. (Preschool-2nd.)

One thing I really love about Weston Woods recordings is that they have such great music. Hansel and Gretel is no exception. A lively score plays under the narrator during the whole story and it really adds a lot. This familiar fairy tale features brother and sister team Hansel and Gretel. When their mom leads them into the woods in the hopes of getting rid of them (how did she find her way back home, I ask you?), they end up eating pieces of the witch's candy house. The story might be a bit disturbing to younger preschoolers, but kids who know the story will delight in this wonderful recording.

Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin. Narrated by Randy Travis. Weston Woods. (Preschool-K.)

Speaking of wonderful Weston Woods recordings, I can't recommend the Duck books enough. Lively banjos and fiddles accompany much of this farm story and it's punctuated with animal sound effects (including a very Donald-Duck-esque duck snicker). This sequel to Click Click Moo, Cows That Type has Farmer Brown leaving the farm in the care of his brother. "Just follow my instructions and everything will be fine," Brown says. But when Duck gets his wings on those instructions, some very funny things start to happen at the farm. This is a surefire hit with the preschool crowd.

Book Review: Outbreak!

Outbreak!: Plagues that Changed History by Bryn Barnard. (Grades 5-8.)

Happy Nonfiction Monday! Check out Picture Book of the Day for the roundup!

Some diseases have changed the course of history. Did you know that the Black Plague helped break down the peasant-crushing feudal system of Europe? That smallpox paved the way for the European colonization of the Americas? That yellow fever might have helped end slavery?

Bryn Barnard has examined six pandemic-causing diseases and how they affected history. He talks about the Black Plague, smallpox, yellow fever, cholera, tuberculosis, and influenza. He maps the spread of the diseases over continents and/or the world and talks about how each disease was perceived, how it was treated at the time, discoveries connected with the disease, and how all of these things affected the people of the time. I found it it be utterly fascinating and a great book for anyone interested in medical science or history.

This book has been criticized for its political slant and it's true that Barnard writes in a fairly candid manner and definitely lets his opinion in. I did notice Barnard's political jibes, but they didn't bother me. Although a pretty extensive list of sources is included, I wouldn't consider this title to be a reference work but rather an appealing recreational nonfiction read.

My only real problem with this book is its format. It's been published as a fairly large picture book, 48 pages long. The large pages are mostly covered with text with few breaks. For each of the diseases there are a couple of lovely paintings depicting some aspect of the disease. I think this book would have worked better as a smaller book. I think that would make it more appealing to the middle schoolers to whom the text is aimed and that would make the text-heavy pages smaller and more manageable.

Although I would have preferred a smaller volume, that didn't deter me from picking it up and devouring it. It might take some booktalking to bring it to their attention, but definitely consider this one for those science-minded kids and history buffs looking for a great read.

Unputdownable

Who else is excited about MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge? *raises hand*

I've been plotting my reading pile for weeks now, determined to have on hand a variety of books from which to choose. The colorful pile is currently teetering on my kitchen table and I can't wait to dig in. But there are always room for more...

So here's my question for you: What books have you read lately that were utterly un-put-down-able? Long or short, they were so engrossing that you couldn't help but read them in one or two sittings because you just didn't want to stop.

Books that fell into that category for me include Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor, Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial by Jen Bryant (it's a novel in verse, is that cheating for the challenge?), Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Good Enough by Paula Yoo, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman.

What are yours? What books should I add to my pile for the 48HBC??

Master the ART of Reading

Our theme for the Summer Reading Club this summer is Master the Art of Reading. Our programs and reading clubs this summer are all centered around different kinds of art. Drawing, painting, dancing, singing...

Oh, wait. I must stop myself before I go into the whole Summer Reading Club spiel.

That's right.
It's that time again. Time for our visits to the local schools to pass out fliers and talk about the Summer Reading Club. To be honest, it's one of my favorite things to do! We go to all the elementary schools in our district, send fliers to the middle schools, and I've been scheduling our visits to local preschools as well.

Now, when we go to the elementary schools we do the spiel. We tell them about the Summer Reading Club: how to join, what they have to do, what fabulous prizes they will earn. We also tell them about some of the cool programs we have going on this summer. But when we go to the preschools we do things a little bit differently. We start each visit with a story and then go into a brief spiel about the read-to-me club and a couple of the most appealing programs for preschoolers.

So, my challenge is to find picture book readalouds appropriate for all preschool ages (generally from 2 to 5 or 6 years old) that tie in to our summer reading theme. Last year we did Get a Clue and we brought books that had to do with solving mysteries. This year I needed to find books about art. A couple of favorites jumped to mind, but I turned to the good people at PUBYAC for some more suggestions and, as usual, they did not let me down. I'd like to share a few of our favorite art-related books for preschoolers.

The first book that jumped to my mind was Karen Beaumont's fabulous I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! This catchy picture book can be sung (to the tune of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More) or read and the bright, silly pictures are a surefire hit with the preschool crowd. A boy gets caught painting up his house and vows not to paint anything else... but temptation gets the better of him and he just has to take some red and paint his... head. The rhyming verses encourage kids to guess which body part he will paint next. One teensy red flag is the use of the word "heck". I read this to a Methodist preschool class and one little boy whispered "It said a bad word, it said heck!" So... something to be aware of.

Another hit with our older preschoolers has been Art by Patrick McDonnell. Art is the name of our main character here and Art loves to do art. He paints, draws, doodles, and even his blotches and squiggles all come together in a beautiful, colorful spread that elicits "Ooohs" and "Aaahs". And at the end, Art's art ends up on the refrigerator because mother loves A(a)rt.


For the younger crowd, you really can't go wrong with Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh. It starts with three white mice on a white piece of paper. Why are they on a white piece of paper? They're hiding from the cat, of course. Well, one day the three mice find three jars of paint. They think it is mouse paint. So they dive right in. This starts our colorful story as the mice discover what different colors they can make by combining red, yellow, and blue. This is a great, simple story for younger preschoolers and they can name the colors that come up on every page. I've yet to meet anyone who is not a fan of Mouse Paint.

Museum 1 2 3 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a really cool way for little kids to look at art. It goes through the numbers 1-10 and invites readers to count objects in art. Although the book is a little small for group readalouds, it would be a great book to peruse one on one. It's an interesting way to expose kids to art. Kids will love to search the pictures to find the objects.

One of the books that jumped immediately to mind is a personal favorite of mine: Micawber by John Lithgow. Upon inspection, this book seemed a little too much for the preschool crowd, but I think it would work great with lower elementary kids. Micawber is a squirrel who loves to sneak into the art museum every day and watch the people copying the great masterpieces. One day he hitches a ride home with an unwitting artist and that night he borrows some of her paints to create his own masterpiece. Micawber continues painting until he has enough art to start his own animal art museum. I love the great rhyming text which has a really rich vocabulary and the sweet story with colorful pictures. I won't forget this one when we start up our elementary storytimes in the fall.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to point out two new favorites that were suggested by PUBYAC members. Art Is and Artful Reading, both by Bob Raczka. In Art Is, Raczka takes famous words of art and creates a rhyming text that points out all the different forms art can take. The rhyming text is simple enough to use with younger kids and Raczka includes additional information about each piece, making the book appealing to older readers as well. In Artful Reading, Raczka has collected art that features readers, again with a rhyming text that presents the art in an interesting way.

These wonderful art-related books are helping us kick off what is sure to be a very colorful summer at the library!

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

What fun was had at the library this Friday! I hosted a Stuffed Animal Sleepover and I think it was great fun for all involved. Here's what we did:

On Friday at 4:00 we had a storytime and invited kids to bring their stuffed animal for a sleepover at the library. We read books about toys and bedtime, then the kids made name tags for their toys (just to ensure that no one's got mixed up), and then they tucked them in for the night.

What did we read for our Stuffed Animal Sleepover? We read Corduroy by Don Freeman, Where's My Teddy? by Jez Alborough, and How Will I Ever Sleep in This Bed? by Della Ross Ferreri. We also did Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed with finger puppets, Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around, and a felt story about the first teddy bear. The storytime lasted about 25 minutes and then we had the kids make name tags. I had cut out a teddy bear Ellison shape, punched a hole through it, and threaded some yarn through the hole to make name tags the kids could put on their stuffed animals. We asked them to write the toy's name on one side and the kid's name on the other side. (I had visions of things getting horribly mixed up and people taking the wrong toys home, but all went smoothly, thank goodness.)

Once everyone was gone, we librarians got out the stuffed animals and took photos of them "playing" around the library. On Saturday, the kids came to pick up their toy. We printed out one picture for each child to take home and showed them all the other pictures. I wasn't there for the pickup, but from what I hear the photos were a big hit and we got some great feedback. This was a fun, inexpensive program that I will definitely do again in the future. I don't think we even really needed to print out a picture for them. Most kids seemed to be thrilled with looking at the pictures on the computer and I emailed the pictures to any interested families.

Summer Blog Blast Tour

Today's the kick-off for the 2008 Summer Blog Blast Tour and you won't want to miss it. Colleen over at Chasing Ray is organizing and it looks to be fabulous. Already I've learned about R.L. LaFevers's new Theodosia book due out in November (yay!) and Adam Rex's sequel to Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich: Frankenstein Takes the Cake (also yay!). (And I know one coworker's daughter who will be Very Happy to hear about the new Adam Rex.) Different interviews will be up all week long, so make sure you stop by.

Annnd to flesh out this post, I'm doing a meme that Melissa tagged me for awhile ago. I will present 6 incredibly random things about myself:

1. I started my first website when I was in high school. It was on Angelfire and it was called Abby's Place. A guy from the local newspaper wrote an article about kids with websites and he interviewed me for it, but the day the article came out Angelfire crashed and I lost my entire site. It was a bummer.

2. I wrote my first book in Kindergarten for the Young Author's contest. It was about an owl and my teacher helped me cut out pages in the shape of an owl's head.

3. When I worked for a major corporate bookstore chain, I got to dress up in the book character costumes that came to the store. I was Spot, Miss Spider, Froggy, and Clifford. It's not that it's so hot in there, really, but more that it's hard to breathe and it smells bad. It's worth it, though, for how excited the kids get.

4. When my brother and I were little, the whole family would read Richard Scarry books at bedtime and we'd all try to find Lowly Worm and Goldbug on the pages.

5. I totally had a literary crush on Johnny Tremain in the fifth grade.

6. When I was in middle school, I had over 70 pen pals from all around the world. I had a map in my room with pins that showed each pal's location and I would get up to 10 letters a day. It was awesome getting so much mail, but somewhere along the line I lost touch with every single one of them. I think I still have folders full of their letters at my parents' house, though.

There. Now you know some incredibly random things about me. I'm not so into the tagging people thing, so if you want to do this meme, consider yourself tagged. If not, no harm, no foul.

Book Review: In Our Village

In Our Village: Kambi ya Simba Through the Eyes of Its Youth edited by Barbara Cervone. (Grades 3-7.)

(As usual, happy Nonfiction Monday and be sure to head over to Picture Book of the Day for the roundup!)

I stumbled upon this title while I was weeding the 900s section. It's a project created by Awet Secondary School in Tanzania and an organization called What Kids Can Do. This book gives us a look inside a small village in Tanzania.

In Kambi ya Simba life is much different than it is here in the States. Nearly half the people in Tanzania live under the poverty line, which is $180 a year. Access to electricity is scare in some places, in particular rural areas. Farming is the livelihood of many people, tying their lives to the whims of nature. Although education is improving, only one in ten kids continues on to secondary school which they have to pay tuition for.

This book was created by students at the Awet Secondary School and many of the photos were taken by them. They chose what they wanted to share with the world, what they would want the world to know about their village. And it's an enlightening look into the dreams and realities of one small African village. Some information is added by Tanzanian professionals such as doctors and agricultural experts who comment on some of the problems faced in the village. But the book is not all about problems. The children of Kambi ya Simba are friendly and ambitious. Some dream of being doctors, lawyers, and presidents. Here's a chance to look at the world through someone else's eyes.

The preface gives information about how Cervone came to start this project and how she met the kids at Awet Secondary School. The bulk of the book contains short chapters about many aspects of village life: cooking, farming, raising livestock, going to school, riding bicycles, singing, building houses, making clothing, etc. A section at the end gives additional information on Tanzania, including a map and a fairly lengthy glossary of Swahili words.

I thought it was a wonderful book, though not perfect. I wished the photos had captions. I'd like to know which were taken by students and which weren't. The text is edited together rather than presented as separate essays. Although Cervone gives a reason for doing this (wanting to make the book as coherent as possible and avoid communication breakdowns because of differences in English), it would have been neat to at least see some excerpts of essays from the kids to get a sense of their voices and get to know them.

Still, I think it's a great idea for a book and I think it would be interesting to use it as a class project. If kids in Illinois (or Hawaii or New York or wherever) could create a book to show other kids the important things about where they lived, what information would they include? What pictures would they take to show the world their hometown?

Book Review: Larklight

Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Philip Reeve. (Grades 4-8.)

I'm a bit late to the bandwagon on this title. Larklight's gotten rave reviews all over the place, it was nominated for a 2006 Cybil, and now it's being turned into a movie. But better late than never, eh?

This book is fabulous.

It's set in space... kinda.

In the world of Larklight, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the secrets to space travel and Britain has colonized many of Earth's surrounding planets and moons. Arthur and Myrtle Mumby live with their father in a ramshackle, space-traveling house called Larklight. Mother has died and Arthur is concerned about his father who's withdrawn into his study and only seems to care about collecting specimens for the Royal Xenological Society.

And then the spiders show up.

These aren't just any spiders. They are huge white spiders that travel in a spiny black ship and seem intent on capturing the Mumbys and spinning Larklight into a cocoon. Arthur doesn't know why they've come, he just knows they've got to get out of there, so he grabs Myrtle and they take off in the escape hatch. They end up on the moon where they meet Jack Havock and his roving band of pirates, a mish-mash collection of space creatures from all over the galaxy. And their adventures only get wilder from there.

Things you should know about Larklight:

1. It's funny.

2. It's set in an intricately developed alternate Victorian world where there is most definitely life on other planets and creatures travel through the aether to reach said other planets.

3. It has great, great illustrations.

4. There is a sequel out now - Starcross: A Stirring Adventure of Spies, Time Travel, and Curious Hats. And there is a third book due out in the fall - Mothstorm.

Larklight reminded me of a cross between Alice in Wonderland and the TV show Firefly. If you like fantasy with wonderfully crafted worlds (a la His Dark Materials), you should pick up this book. If you like your fantasy funny and with lots of adventure (a la Peter and the Starcatchers), you should pick up this book. I don't think you'll regret it.