See You at Harry's

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles. Grades 6-8. Candlewick, May 2012. 310 pages. Reviewed from purchased copy.

For twelve-year-old Fern, starting middle school has its own challenges. Her dad forced the family to appear in a commercial for their restaurant, which is now being aired on TV all the time. And her older brother has a secret that he's intent on keeping, even though everyone knows. Facing bullies on the bus and dealing with her changing feelings for her best guy friend are nothing, though, when tragedy strikes the family and they all must figure out how to go on from there.

This is a book that packs an emotional punch and it didn't turn out to be the book I thought it was going to be.

Above anything else, this is a book about family. It's about relationships between siblings and about finding your place in your own family unit. It's about figuring out when your family members each need to get through life's tragedies, big or small.

Fern has a special relationship with each of her brothers. For her older brother Holden she's a confidante, the only one with whom he trusts his secret. You see, he's gay. Fern knows the rest of the family won't care, but Holden's not convinced yet. She's fiercely protective of him, even when it causes trouble for her. She's the one sent out to find him when he's run off because she's the one he'll come back for.

Things happen in See You at Harry's, just like things happen in real life.

Jo Knowles has created a family that readers will care about. And she's created a book that doesn't shy away from presenting Big Life Things to a middle-grade audience. Readers will root for Fern and they will ache alongside her as she struggles to help Holden find his way.

This is definitely a book to open up some dialog and it would make for a great family book discussion. I've been hearing some Newbery buzz for this one, so make sure you check it out for yourself!

Read more reviews at Fat Girl Reading, Galleysmith, The Goddess of YA Literature, The Reading Zone, and STACKED.

See You at Harry's is on shelves now.

Summer Marches On

And so summer marches on... I got busy last week and I meant to post this, but it didn't happen. I just wanted to check in with how our summer's going.

We officially surpassed last year's total for Summer Reading Club signups last week. We have 2231 kids signed up in the Children's and Read-to-Me (under-2) clubs and we have 447 teens. Last year at the end of the summer, we "only" had 2119 kids in the Children's and Read-to-Me (not sure what the teen total was last year). And we have a good 5 weeks to go!

True, things slow down for us in July when many of our families take vacations. And we've had great daycare participation this year. Every year, we have some daycares wanting to get their kids involved in Summer Reading Club, but it seems like we have had ALL THE DAYCARES this year. Later in July, I'm going to try to touch base with as many of those daycares as I can to see if we can encourage them to finish the club with their kids. As much as I love having so many children participating, I'd really love to see at least 50% finish (last year, 45% of the kids finished). I know that there are probably many families who do read enough to complete the requirements, but things come up and they forget to come back to the library or they lose their materials or any number of things... 

Last week, we had a great visit from one of our daycamp groups. They brought about 30 kids and we did a storytime for the younger kids and booktalks for the older kids. I was in charge of booktalks for the older kids and they were truly a great group. I booktalked the following titles: 

Hidden by Helen Frost

How Big Is It? by Ben Hillman **This was the runaway hit of the program and I was glad I saved it for last!**

How to Grow Up and Rule the World (Vordak the Incomprehensible) by Scott Seegert

Kampung Boy by Lat

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale

Savvy by Ingrid Law

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson

They checked out almost everything I booktalked, although the daycamp leader was a little unsure about a couple of the titles I talked (notably A Tale Dark and Grimm, which she felt was not appropriate for their church facility). Nobody was upset. I had printed out lists for all the kids with all the titles so the girl who had wanted to check that title out could ask her parents to bring her back in later if she wants to check it out. Also, lesson learned for me: I'll be sure to evaluate my choices more closely for the next booktalking session I'm doing for them in a couple of weeks! 

We'll take a little break from programming for the week of July 4. That's partially because the holiday makes scheduling our programs hard and we figure many families may be going out of town, and it's partially because we all need a little bit of a break in the middle of summer.

Hey, I loved Marge's post about some of the things she's done in her department to make Summer Reading LESS stressful for herself and her staff. We've done many of these same things in my department this year and last year. Having signups for the SRC going on for a couple of weeks before we start programming has made an amazing difference and this year we don't have a lot of programming scheduled during the last week of SRC either so we can accommodate all the kids coming in to collect prizes and enter the drawings for the last time.

And that's how my summer's marching on... How's yours going? 

The Many Faces of George Washington

The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon by Carla Killough McClafferty. Grades 6-10. Carolrhoda Books, 2011. 120 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

It's all about image.

Millions of people only know George Washington's image from the portrait printed on an American one-dollar bill, but is that really how he looked?

When the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association (the folks who own and operate George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Museum, and Gardens) did some research, they found out that many people viewing that portrait of Washington described Washington as "stiff", "old", "grumpy" or "boring". This surprised the site's president, who said:

"Boring is not a word anyone in the eighteenth century would have used to describe George Washington. He was the most robust, athletic, outdoorsy, and adventurous of all the founding fathers. He was the 'man of action' of the eighteenth century. The real Washington made heads turn." (pp 8-9)

What to do? The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association decided to create life-size figures showing George Washington at the ages of 19, 45, and 57. Uncovering the real George Washington would prove to be a real challenge, from researching his bone structure without disturbing his bones to hand-sewing authentic clothing and even recreating his horse.

Interspersing passages about important events in George Washington's life with passages about the research and artistry behind creating the figures, this well-crafted book will appeal to young historians. Full color photos show artifacts from Washington's life and the artists and historians researching and building the figurines. If anyone picks up this book expecting to find dry information about a stodgy dead president, they will be pleasantly surprised to find a thrilling account of the adventurous, take-charge patriot.

This is not your dollar-bill president.

The back matter included in the book is excellent, including an index, timeline, selected bibliography, and many resources for further reading.

Pair this book with Jim Murphy's excellent book The Crossing: How George Washington Saved the American Revolution for riveting reading on one of our founding fathers.

Check out more reviews from Jennie at Biblio File and The Nonfiction Detectives.

The Many Faces of George Washington is on shelves now.

And Happy Nonfiction Monday! This week's roundup is at Simply Science, so head on over there and check it out!

The Fourth Stall

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander. Grades 4-7. Walden Pond Press, 2011. 314 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.

Christian "Mac" (short for MacGuyver) Barrett is the kid who can get you what you need. From his office in the East Wing boys' bathroom, he deals in favors and cold, hard cash, helping kids with their problems, even if it means violating the school's code of conduct. But everything changes when Fred shows up: a scared third grader who's gotten in way over his head with a high school bookie named Staples. As Mac tries to help Fred, he learns just how deeply Staples has infiltrated his school. He's gotta shut Staples down, but when you factor in snitches, hit men, and ultimate betrayal, things get complicated really fast.

This humorous mystery story has a lot of guy appeal and plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. Mac and his best friend/right hand man Vince aren't sure who they can trust. And when Vince starts acting a little fishy about the money that they're saving up for tickets to a World Series game, Mac's not even sure he can trust his best friend.

One of my favorite things about this book was Mac and Vince's friendship. They've been best friends since living in the same trailer park in kindergarten. Since then, Mac's family has moved out of the trailer park, but Vince is still there. Mac trusts Vince implicitly and the business truly belongs to both of them. Yes, Mac's the one sitting in the big chair, but Vince keeps all the books and offers guidance when Mac's not sure what to do. With such close friends being in business together, you'd expect some tension and that's something that Chris Rylander gets exactly right. When Mac starts to doubt Vince's loyalty, you see all the conflict he's going through. It's all done in a guy-friendly way, though, among the baseball trivia and dodging hit men and hiring spies.

The writing is a little uneven. Sometimes it's spot-on and hilarious, but other times it's a little repetitive and I think the book would have been stronger if the writing had been a little tighter. The mystery is well-crafted and definitely kept me guessing. I liked that Rylander gives us some peeks into Staples's life; he's not a stock Bad Guy, and the reader gets some of the reasons behind his evil deeds.

Hand this to fans of Swindle by Gordon Korman, Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip, or Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer.

Check out Sarah's review at GreenBean TeenQueen. And be aware that  a sequel is also on shelves: The Fourth Stall Part II (Walden Pond Press, February 2012).

Mark Your Calendars for ILF!

I'm happy to announce that Kate Conklin (Head of Teen Services at the Charlestown-Clark Co. Library) and I will be presenting a session at the Indiana Library Federation's 2012 Conference!

Striking Gold: Teen Readers' Advisory for Reference Staff is slated for Tuesday, November 13 from 4-5:35pm (time and date is subject to change). Our presentation aims to help reference/adult services staff with readers' advisory for teens, i.e. what do you recommend when a teen asks you and your teen librarian has the day off. We'll be booktalking some great readalikes for some of the most popular teen books and series, as well as pointing librarians to great readers' advisory resources. 

The ILF Conference will be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN from November 12-14, 2012. If you're coming to the conference, I hope you will come hear our presentation!!

#48HBC Wrap-Up

And the 48-Hour Book Challenge draws to a close...

I actually have more time left in my 48 hours, but I have to get up early tomorrow for a 12-hour work day, so I'm not logging any more hours tonight.

All told:

Challenge time logged: 21.75 hours
Books finished: 5
Pages read: 1288
Amount donated to Reading is Fundamental: $25.00

The five books I finished were:

 See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles

Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery

Laugh With the Moon by Shana Burg

The Letter Q, edited by Sarah Moon

Every Day by David Levithan

My favorite book read for the challenge was Every Day, followed closely by Temple Grandin. I had a huge stack of books to choose from, which really makes a difference as I was able to read what my mood called for at the time. 

My goals this year were a little more modest than in previous years and I think that served me well. I was getting over a cold this weekend, so setting more modest goals allowed me to take it a little bit easy and still get lots of reading done. I read excellent books and I think they have inspired me to make reading and blogging a priority (life's been getting in the way, as of late). Let's cross our fingers and hope that's the case...!

As always, I'm sending a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to Pam at MotherReader for organizing this challenge. It's truly a weekend I look forward to all year and I know she puts a lot of effort into making it fun and organizing everything. Thank you, thank you, thank you for starting this wonderful tradition, Pam!

It was a lovely year for the challenge, although it looks like participation was down quite a bit from what it was last year. Ah, well. That'll happen some years. I had a great time. And next year I won't forget to buy Oreos... :) 

#48HBC: Every Day

Finished:

Every Day by David Levithan. A wakes up every day in a different body... but every day he's in love with the same girl... Longer review definitely to come. An intriguing premise in the hands of wordsmith David Levithan just kinda blew my mind and broke my heart. I didn't want it to end (which is saying something because I am the type of person who loves to finish a book and add it to my list like pearls on a necklace).

48-Hour Book Challenge Update:


Time spent reading/blogging: 20.25 hours (Yay! I've met my goal! My time goes through 7am tomorrow, so anything else I read at this point is gravy!)
Books completed: 5 (Yay! I've met my goal! I might be able to finish another book tonight... we shall see...)
Pages read: 1288

#48HBC: The Letter Q

Finished:

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon. An impressive and necessary collection of letters, essential for all public libraries. Personally, I think I most enjoyed reading the authors with whom I was already familiar (David Levithan, Bruce Coville, Malinda Lo, etc.), but this is the type of book that's going to mean something different to every reader. A diverse range of contributors is included. 

48-Hour Book Challenge Update:

Time spent reading/blogging: Just about 18.5 hours

Books completed: 4 (and nearly done with another)

Pages read: 984

I've also listened to about 2 hours of the audiobook The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, narrated by Orlagh Cassidy and Bahni Turpin. I love having the option of including an audiobook in my time. I won't finish this one, but it's given me a chance to get some around-the-house stuff done: laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. 

#48HBC Halfway Update

Well, I'm a little over halfway through my 48-hour period and going strong. I've read/blogged for 12 hours of the past 24 and it should be no problem for me to read and blog for over 8 hours today. So far, I've finished 3 books and I'm partway through two others. I've also logged a little bit of audiobook time (listening to The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, read by Orlagh Cassidy and Bahni Turpin) I still have some great books on my pile and I have through 7am tomorrow to read, read, read! I have to work Monday morning, so I don't think I'll stay up into the night.

Also, Boyfriend has been unofficially participating in the challenge with me. I picked out a stack of books that I thought he might like and so far he's read:

Pedro and Me by Judd Winick
Laika by Nick Abadzis
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (I've got to get him the sequel... he was bummed I didn't have it here for him!)
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Bad Island by Doug TenNapel
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (another one he was bummed I didn't have the sequel!)
and
The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian

And on that note, I'm off for some more reading! If you're doing the challenge, go, go, go! You can do it!

#48HBC: Laugh With the Moon

Finished:

Laugh With the Moon by Shana Burg. Perfect for armchair travelers, this solid middle-grade novel tells the story of 13-year-old Clare who is forced to spend two months in Malawi while her father works for the Global Health Project after the death of Clare's mother. A spot-on 13-year-old character and rich details of the Malawian bush village and culture are highlights of this book for me. Full review to come. 

48-Hour Book Challenge Update: 

Time spent reading/blogging: Just about 11 hours

Books completed: 3 (and part of The Letter Q; I'm reading that one in pieces when I need a break from longer narratives because as a collection of letters, it's quite easy to pick up and put down)

Pages read: 703 (plus some of The Letter Q, which I'll add to the count once I've finished it)

I think some nonfiction next... I'm on track to meet my time goal. I had a Cherry Coke Zero about 2 hours ago, so I should be up for some time tonight... Hmm... ;)