48HBC: Rumors

Rumors by Anna Godbersen. (Grades 9+)

The Hollands, Hayeses, and Schoonmakers are back in this sequel to The Luxe. Again, the story is told through the eyes of many characters, allowing us a complete picture of socialite life in 1899 New York City. Rumors begins with the wedding of Mr. Henry Schoonmaker... but the identity of his bride is not revealed until much later in the book. Rumors start to fly as people suspect that Miss Elizabeth Holland might still be alive and the appearance of a new young face, Miss Carolina Broad, is intriguing to some.

If you liked The Luxe, you'll like this sequel. It ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger and I know from the jacket flap that Anna Godbersen is working on a third Luxe book.

Reading/Blogging Time (so far): 9 hours
Books Read: 3
Pages: 829

48HBC: Zlata's Diary

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic. (Grades 6+)

In 1991 Zlata was living a normal life. She went to school, she had friends over for a birthday party, she watched MTV and sitcoms.

When war broke out in Sarajevo, Zlata's life changed forever. Suddenly she was thrust into a world where bombs pummeled her city every day. Innocent people were shot by snipers, so it was unsafe to leave the house. Schools were closed. Electricity, gas, and water only came on intermittently. Zlata and her family had done nothing wrong. They were like thousands of other Bosnians, caught in the crossfires of a war, trying their hardest just to survive.

One thing that really hit home for me is that Zlata is just about my age. On the very day that I was throwing my 10th birthday party, Zlata was carrying water from wells because they had no running water. She was receiving packages from the UN with "luxuries" like soap and cheese.

Zlata's descriptions are amazing. She writes about when springtime comes, but you can't tell because they've cut down all the trees. There are no trees to blossom, no birds to burst into song. This is a sobering book and an inspiring one.

Not appropriate for kids, but adult readers might also be interested in the graphic novel Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert, which gives another perspective of the war.

Time reading/blogging: About 6 hours
Books: 2 (and part of a third)
Pages: 406 (and about 120 from another book which hopefully will be the next one finished/reviewed)

48HBC: Model Spy

Model Spy by Shannon Greenland. (Grades 5-8.)

Kelly is a certified computer genius. At age 16 she's about to graduate from college. And that's when she's contacted by The Specialists. The Specialists is a group of teenages with extraordinary abilities. They want Kelly to join their ranks. At first Kelly has her doubts, but as she gets to know the other kids she realizes that they really are the family she's never had. So Kelly becomes GiGi (short for Genius Girl) and before she knows it, she's off on her first mission. But how will klutzy, nervous Kelly ever pull off posing as the fabulous model Jade January?

This is a great summer vacation book, light and fluffy with enough action to keep your interest. I have to say that while I liked the character of GiGi/Kelly, she wasn't nearly fleshed out enough for me. I found all the characters to be pretty two-dimensional, but the premise was enough to hold my attention, especially after they start the mission. It read like an episode of Alias.

Hand this one to fans of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You who need a book for a plane ride this summer.

Time Reading: 2.5 hours
Books Finished: 1
Pages: 206

48 Hour Book Challenge: Ready, Set... GO!

Alrighty. This is my official kicking-off-the-48HBC post! I've been looking forward to this for weeks and I'm ready to give it all I have! I have nothing else planned for the weekend except an outing to see the Sex and the City movie with a friend on Saturday evening.

I don't have a booklist, but I've been checking tons of books out of various libraries, so I've got plenty to choose from:

There are a few that I definitely want to finish this weekend. Model Spy by Shannon Greenland, Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori, one of the Students Across the Seven Seas books (I've always wanted to try that series... here's my chance!). My goal for the weekend is at least 10 books and at least 2500 pages. So... we'll see what happens!

Be sure and check back here periodically over the next 48 hours. I'm not planning on writing full reviews of all the titles, but there will be short reviews of each title I finish.

Good luck to all the challenge partakers! And without further ado, I will get started...!

Family Reading Night

On Wednesday evening I went with a coworker to a local elementary school for their Family Reading Night. Though the school has done other kick-off-the-summer-type events, I believe this was the first time it's been literacy oriented. A fun time was had by kids, parents, and librarians alike!

The evening started off with 15 minutes of silent reading in the school's gym. Families were asked to bring books, and books were provided for those who forgot. I think this is a simple activity that says a lot. It's important for kids to view reading as a pleasurable activity. Kids look up to their parents and caregivers and if they see grownups who love to read, they'll want to join in the fun.

After this introductory activity, families were broken down into three groups - preschoolers & kindergarteners, 1st/2nd graders, and 3rd-6th graders. There were two craft activities run by school staff members and my coworker and I were set up in a classroom to do our thing. Each group rotated through the stations, spending approximately 20 minutes at each station.

For the preschool/kindergarten crowd we did a storytime. We read some of our very favorite books:

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman
Who is Driving? by Leo Timmers (a very interactive book that encourages lots of guessing)

One thing I love about doing outreach like this is that we can pick stories that we love and want to read over and over again. Leonardo is a particular favorite of mine. I've yet to meet a crowd of kids who don't love this book and I think it's a really fun one to read. Plus, it's a bit oversized which makes it great for sharing with a group.

For the 1st/2nd graders we read a few picture books and briefly booktalked a few books. We read Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks, How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz (one of my favorites), and Sausages by Jessica Souhami. Then we had a few minutes left before we switched, so I booktalked Medusa Jones by Ross Collins and J booktalked Nic Bishop Frogs by Nic Bishop.

Again, How Much is a Million? is a particular favorite of mine. We have it in a big book format and I think kids and parents alike were dazzled by it. I love any opportunity to share some nonfiction in a storytime and this book definitely fits the bill.

For the 3rd-6th graders we just did booktalks. J did How Big is It? by Ben Hillman and No Talking by Andrew Clements. I did Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver and Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns. We would have been happy to go on all night and we had brought tons of books to talk about, but we ran out of time. The kids had a few minutes to look through the books we'd brought and then they were off to their last activity of the night.

The last activity brought all the families together in the gym for the principal to end the night with some readalouds. Families brought blankets and cuddled up in the darkened gym and the pictures were projected onto a big screen as the principal read. She may have read more before we got there, but we caught the end of The Napping House by Audrey Wood and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. It was a great way to end a great night!

I'm thrilled that this school is showing everyone how much they value literacy. The school really put a lot of effort into making this a great night and I think everyone had a great time. Our library had a table near the entrance where people could sign up for the summer reading club and many did so. It was great seeing all those smiling faces and sharing our love of books. I hope to see much more of those smiling faces at the library this summer!

In fact, I did see one of those smiling faces later that evening at the library... He stopped in to get Medusa Jones after hearing my booktalk. If there's a better feeling than that for a librarian, I'm sure I don't know what it is. :)

Summer Reading Club: Day 1

8:20a - Arrive at library, return a CD I had checked out, go upstairs and put lunch away, turn on lights/computers/printers, go into the office and discover that my boss brought in yummy cookies!

8:30a - Help with Summer Reading Club prep. Organize folders and materials for the SRC table, go over the SRC procedures, etc.

9:00a - Off desk. Check email. Pull books for Family Reading Night (books for storytime and booktalking to groups ranging from preschool to 6th grade).

9:40a - Run downstairs to circulation to get a brief tutorial on how to sign people up for library cards. Bring library card sign-up materials up to the Young People's office.

9:50a - Back upstairs. Continue pulling materials. Check in with the people on desk - they've signed up 11 kids for the SRC!

10:30a - Print a huge stack of weeding slips and settle down with a stack of book-and-tape kits to do some weeding.

12:00p - Check in with desk people - we've signed up 23 kids!

12:05p - Clean toys for tomorrow's Nursery Rhyme Time program. Go over the NRT materials. Sit backup on desk as coworker signs up some kids at the SRC table. Check PUBYAC emails.

1:00p - We're up to 30 kids and now it's lunch time! I eat outside while reading Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. It's kind of too hot to eat outside.

2:00-5:00p - On desk. I work on planning stuff for the Family Reading Night and I work on a preschool loan. In between signing up kids for the SRC, I help a lady find The Three Little Javelinas and I recommend books to a different lady who has a going-into-kindergartener and is looking for some new books for him. By the time I leave at 5 we have 53 kids signed up!

5:00p - Coworker who's going to Family Reading Night arrives and we go over the plans a little bit.

5:20p - Leave work and head home. Whew!

(I checked Tuesday morning and we had 103 kids sign up on the first day of the SRC... and the public school kids aren't even out of school yet!)

And so the Summer Reading Club starts! It's a crazy time, but a great time!

It's the little things...

We're trying out a couple of new things with the Summer Reading Club this year and I think they're going to be really neat. Our theme this summer is Master the Art of Reading and it's all about art. Last year we covered one wall in the children's department with blue paper and cut out Ellison shapes that the kids wrote their names on and then glued up on the paper. This year our super awesome graphic artist created this picture frame paper:


Instead of putting up a shape, anyone who signs up for our Summer Reading Club may choose a shape and decorate it however they like. Many have written their names in their frame, some have drawn pictures, some have colored in the entire frame. The kids are having a great time being creative and it looks great. It's so colorful and it's going to keep looking better and better as more kids sign up!

We're also trying out a couple of non-prize incentives, one of which is our gong. Yes, that's right. We have a gong. Actually, we have two gongs, both brought in by staff members. Whenever a kid completes the Summer Reading Club, they get the chance to hit the gong. We brought it with us on our visits to the schools and preschools and the kids seemed pretty wowed by it. They can hit it one time, as loud or as soft as they would like, and that way the whole library (and possibly the whole town depending on how hard they hit it...) will know what an awesome job they did finishing the Summer Reading Club. Nobody's finished quite yet, so I can't tell you for sure that it's awesome, but I'm betting it will be. I'll report back later in the summer when, hopefully, the library will be ringing with GONNNGGG after GONNNGGG.

Little things can make a big splash and hopefully that will be the case this summer!

Book Review: Outcast

Outcast by Michelle Paver. (Grades 5-8.)

Torak has a secret. It's a terrible secret. A secret that he's kept even from his best friend Renn of the Raven Clan. It's a secret that could get him banned from the clan. And the worst part is that it's not Torak's fault. In fact, he'd do anything to get rid of it.

Torak's been branded with the mark of the Soul Eaters. It happened to him against his will, done by the evil Viper Mage Seshru. When the leader of the Raven Clan finds out, he is obligated to follow clan law and Torak is cast out. Now Torak is dead to the clan members. He has one day to get as far away as possible because any person who spots him must try to kill him.

And still the Viper Mage runs free.

Torak's wanderings take him to the lake where the Otter Clan resides and he can tell there is some serious evil going on. The lake is sick, the people protecting themselves any way possible. And Torak is soul-sick, feverish and confused. He knows he has to find and defeat Seshru. But how can he do it alone? And how can he accept help knowing it's against clan law, that his best friends might become outcasts for helping him?

This is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series and, like the others, it is packed with non-stop action. You'll definitely want to read the first three because this book picks up right where the third leaves off. I actually wish I had gone back and reread the first three before I picked this one up because I was a tiny bit hazy on the details from the previous books.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not a series person. However, I find the world of Torak and Wolf and Renn to be so absorbing and detailed that it's hard to put it down. One of the first things I noticed is that Michelle Paver continues with her very detailed, lush descriptions of the forest and all the wildlife. Her descriptions really make this ancient forest come to life. I felt like I was running right alongside Torak the whole time whether he was hunting, running with Wolf, or getting a shelter together. This book is obviously meticulously researched just as her others have been.

We get several different perspectives throughout the book - Torak, Renn, and Wolf. I've always loved Wolf's sections because I find them absolutely believable. Though he's a wolf, he's a real character in this series. He feels emotions and reasons things out, but he doesn't do it like a human would. His voice has always felt very real to me. We're also getting some pretty heavy emotional content from Torak and Renn. They're starting to grow up and there are hints of the strengthening bond between them. Throughout the course of the book each one feels betrayed by the other, complicating their feelings for one another.

I thought Outcast was a great addition to the series and I'm already looking forward to whatever Michelle Paver will add next! Y'all know that the first book in the series is Wolf Brother, which is nominated for a Caudill this year. I've met some kids this year who are very into these books and I'm hoping that the book being nominated will encourage other kids to pick it up and discover this awesome series.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Series:
1. Wolf Brother
2. Spirit Walker
3. Soul Eater
4. Outcast

Book Review: Mysteries of the Mummy Kids

Mysteries of the Mummy Kids by Kelly Milner Halls. (Grades 5-8.)

**Happy Nonfiction Monday! Be sure and check out the roundup over at Picture Book of the Day!**

When you head the word "mummy", what do you think of? For me, the first thing that comes to mind is Ancient Egypt. But did you know that the oldest mummies found were in South America, not Egypt? In Kelly Milner Halls's informative (and kind of creepy) book, I learned about mummies from all over the globe.

Some people were mummified "accidentally" on cold mountains or arid deserts that dried out the bodies. Some people were mummified on purpose and different cultures had different processes for mummifying bodies. Halls concentrates on child mummies and these children died in many different ways. Some ancient Incan children were sacrificed to the gods. Some children may have been killed because of their physical disabilities and some children died of diseases.

The book is divided by location and describes mummies found in South America, Egypt, Europe, Asia, and North America. Each mummy has its own story and Halls describes how it was discovered, the scientific process of preserving and studying it, and what scientists have learned from the mummies. Each mummy found gives us a glimpse into ancient life (or, as in at least once case, American life in the Civil War...). Color photos accompany each mummy.

Halls includes an extensive bibliography of books, articles, websites, interviews, and more. She also includes a glossary, list for further reading, and a list of US museums that house mummies. This would be a great book for kids doing projects on mummies (especially non-Egyptian mummies) and it's high-interest enough to be recreational reading for those that favor books that are a little gross.

Although it creeped me out more than a little, I enjoyed this title (and I suspect kids will enjoy it, too). I'll definitely be checking out more of Kelly Milner Halls's work.

And we're off...

Deep breaths, everyone.

My library's Summer Reading Club starts tomorrow. It's a day we've been planning for since shortly after the end of last summer. We've been to eight elementary schools in our district, seven preschools, and one middle school talking to students about the club and about our programs this summer. We've designed clubs and folders for kids of all ages. Our adult services department has been busy developing the high school and adult clubs. We've all been planning, scheduling, and ordering supplies for our programs.

I think we're ready.

We'd better be ready. Because ready or not, June 2nd is coming...!

Look for updates on our programs and reading clubs as the summer progresses. There are several things I'm particularly looking forward to, including a High School Musical 2 singalong, a redesign-a-book-cover art contest, and a giant Lego train set that will be filling our entire meeting room for a weekend in July.

Happy Summer Reading, everyone!