Book Review: Horse Song

Horse Song: The Naadam of Mongolia by Ted and Betsy Lewin. (Grades 3-6.)

Fantastic art brings Naadam and the people of Mongolia to life in Horse Song. The story is told in a memoir-esque voice and illustrated with a combination of photograph-like paintings and cartoon-y illustrations. The paintings are stunning, giving the reader an inside glimpse of their trip as Ted and Betsy Lewin take readers along for the ride. The cartoon illustrations lighten the mood with a little humor.

About two-thirds of the population of Mongolia are nomads. There are twice as many horses as people in Mongolia. And every year there are sports festivals called Naadam. Naadam gives the isolated nomads of Mongolia a chance to congregate and celebrate their heritage with friendly competition.

Ted and Betsy Lewin traveled to Mongolia to witness Naadam and, in particular, a horse race. During Naadam, child jockeys speed across the desert on half-wild horses, each hoping to win the shiny gold medal for finishing first. Naadam dates back almost 1000 years and is the second-longest-running sports competition in the world (second to the Olympics).

You'll know Ted Lewin from his Caldecott-honor-winning illustrations of Peppe the Lamplighter. You'll know Betsy Lewin from her Caldecott-honor-winning illustrations of Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type. But if you're like me, you had no idea that Ted and Betsy Lewin have collaborated on a number of books about their travels. I sincerely look forward to perusing Gorilla Walk, Elephant Quest, and Top to Bottom Down Under.

Do check out Ted's website and Betsy's website. And, as always, check out Picture Book of the Day for your Non-Fiction Monday roundup.

Banned Books Week

Celebrate your intellectual freedom by reading a banned or challenged book this week! Need some suggestions? Check out the LibraryThing Banned Books Library. This project is a collection of books that have been banned or challenged... At the time of this posting they're up to almost 700 books.

...

Almost 700 books that someone somewhere has wanted pulled off of library shelves or out of schools.

It boggles the mind, really.

Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week* and I'd like to point you to a post written by Carlie Webber of Librarilly Blonde. Popular Paperbacks, Books About Sex, and Banned Books Week discusses ALA's Popular Paperbacks committee's decision to create a list of books about sex despite the certaintly that it would be controversial. Read about why they think it is an important list to create and what work went into creating it.

And then check out their list!

*Yay! I get to wear my bracelet this week! Er... not that I couldn't wear it any other time of the year.

Anderson's YA Lit Conference

On Saturday I had the good fortune to be able to attend the fifth annual Anderson's Bookshop YA Literature Conference.

Oh, my.

It was a BLAST!

A great, friendly group of people who love YA literature (including teachers, librarians, booksellers, and authors) gathered in Naperville. I attended sessions about writing fantasy, new voices in YA lit, and researching for novels. They were all fantastic, as were all the talks given by authors.

We had the privilege of hearing Suzanne Collins, Ellen Klages, Nancy Werlin, Holly Black, John Stokes, and Caroline B. Cooney speak. At the new voices panel I also heard Ingrid Law, Paula Yoo, and Cameron Tuttle. I bought tons of books and had them signed (woo!). All the authors were super nice, hilarious, and basically awesome. Paula Yoo played the violin for us. Suzanne Collins has a mockingbird necklace that a Naperville school had specially made for her (how sweet!). Nancy Werlin gave a quite touching talk about why her new book Impossible is close to her heart.

I even won a door prize!

It was an awesome, fun day and if you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. It was well worth the conference fee. Anderson's has a children's lit event in February and I'm already planning on attending!

Color me excited!

I got the news today that I'm on the YA Fiction panel for the Cybils this year! Wooohooo! Not only am I so excited about participating, I'm also super excited about working with such an awesome crew of bloggers:

Organizer Jackie Parker from Interactive Reader

Panelists:

Leila Roy from bookshelves of doom
Becky Laney from Becky's Book Reviews
Amanda Snow from A Patchwork of Books
Trisha Murakami from The YA YA YAs
Kate Fall from Author2Author
Jocelyn Pearce from Teen Book Review

And judges:

Jackie Parker from Interactive Reader
Sarah Stevenson from Finding Wonderland & Readers' Rants
Little Willow from Bildungsroman
Lili Wilkinson from Inside a Dog
Casey Titschinger from Avid Teen Reader

I'm so looking forward to working with everyone!

Remember, nominations for the Cybils open on October 1! Read an awesome book published between Jan. 1, 2008 and Oct. 15, 2008? Anyone can nominate a book (authors, publishers, teachers, development assistants, bloggers, non-bloggers, librarians, law students, construction workers, kids, marketing gurus at sign-making companies... anyone!). So get on over there sometime between October 1 and October 15 and make your voice heard!

And (completely unrelated) as if the Cybils news wasn't enough to make me positively giddy, I got a box of books from Houghton Mifflin today!

Today = best day ever!

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

9:00am - Leave apartment to drive to the NSLS office for meeting.

9:20a - Arrive at NSLS. NSLS is the North Suburban Library System, of which my library is a part. They offer professional development, meetings to share ideas and information, and a van service that allows patrons to return books at any NSLS library (along with a whole lot more).

9:30a - Preschool Partnerships meeting begins. The Preschool Partnerships group meets several times a year to share ideas about programming, early literacy, and other things relating to services for preschoolers and their teachers/parents/caregivers. At this particular session we share information and program ideas from our Summer Reading Clubs. It's a great way to get new ideas, share innovative services, and connect with fellow librarians.

12:00p - Meeting is over, I grab lunch on the way back home.

12:40p - Leave home and head to work.

1:00p - Arrive at work, check email.

1:10p - Go downstairs to Adult Services to meet with my grant co-writer about our final grant report. We've been working on it, so it's a quick meeting as we get everything ready to submit.

1:30p - Back in our office, I call local preschool to set up visits. We generally visit this group once a month and I set up visits for the fall.

1:45p - Fill out visit info forms for the librarians going on the visits, draft confirmation letter to send to the school.

2:00-5:00p - On desk. In between questions, I read Adam Rex's new book Frankenstein Takes the Cake (hilarious!) and read through PUBYAC emails. Here's a sampling of questions I was asked:

- Where are your CD-ROMS?
- Where are books by this author?
- Can you help me find books on this particular reading level?
- Can you help me with the copier?
- What is the first book in this series?
- Can I request a preschool loan bag?
- I have a new baby! Can I get a new baby bag?

(We have a Baby Book Bag program that was originally started with a grant. Any library card-holder who has a new baby gets a bag filled with library information, tips on reading to babies, a list of suggested books to share, a library card application, and they get to pick out a board book to keep.)

5:00p - Off desk, time to head home!

The Libs! They are Mad!

I did a storytime for grades 1-3 today and one of the stretchers I like to do for school age storytimes is Mad Libs. It's a neat way to play with stories, reinforce grammar, and create something silly and fun to share. And it's not hard to create a short Mad Libs activity for any book! Here's how:

Step 1: I like to read a story first and then bring out the Mad Libs version. I think the Mad Libs story is funnier if you've heard the original book. So pick out a book and then take a passage from it (this can be as long as you like, I usually do 4-7 sentences, whatever will fit on one sheet of paper). Type up the passage and select words to omit. In my experience, the more guidance you can give them the better (especially with younger kids), so ask for "a body part" or "a musical instrument" instead of "a noun". Verbs seem to be the hardest words for them to come up with, although you might make it easier by saying "something you might do in the park" or "something you might do at school".

**If you're doing Mad Libs on a large piece of paper for a whole group to see, you'll want to make a cover for your story so kids can't see the story while they're giving you answers. I also created covers for the smaller papers I bring on outreach storytimes. The following steps will show you how I create them, but there's no reason you couldn't just write the words on a separate sheet of paper and skip the cover if you prefer!

Step 2: Print out the passage you created and place a blank piece of paper on top of it. Trace the lines with a marker or pen.

Step 3: Paperclip your paper with the lines on it to a piece of construction paper. Make sure you get the papers lined up in the corner.

Step 4: Use an Exacto knife to cut through each line. Then take the top paper off and cut out boxes where each line is.

Step 5: Put the construction paper on top of your print-out of your Mad Libs story. The boxes should be cut out right where your omitted words are. Underneath each box, write down what kind of word you need for that box (verb, adjective, noun, etc.).

Voila! (Okay, I have no idea why this image is coming up sideways, but I can't seem to fix it no matter what I try. You get the idea anywa, right?)

Now, I use this for outreach storytimes, but you can also make a giant one to share with a group by writing the story on a giant piece of paper or using one of those giant pads of paper where you can flip the paper over. I also laminate the story sheet so you can use a dry erase marker and reuse the same sheet over and over.

I've done Mad Libs with several different school-age groups and it's always been a fun activity to include between books!

Book Review: Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. (Grades 7+)

Try as I might, I cannot write a better (or even equal) summary of Graceling than Leila already did. So I'm gonna send you over there to read her review.

I mean, when Leila "Super-duper-ultra-mega-uber recommend[s]" a book, um, how can you pass it up?

Here's what I loved about Graceling:

1. Super-intriguing premise. The whole concept of Graces really fascinated me. Skills that could be supremely useful or totally un-useful. The fact that even though they are "Graced", they are shunned by people in most of the kingdoms. I mean, the term "Graced" implies something good, no? But Gracelings make many people uncomfortable.

2. An intricately built world that was fleshed out more and more as the story continued. I wanted to spend more time in that world, to know its history and its people. Boy howdy has Kristin Cashore built a world.

3. A kick-butt herione who's still working on her personal demons. Katsa is by no means perfect. She sees herself as King Randa sees her and as others in the kingdoms see her: something to be feared (and yes, something and not someone). Throughout the book she challenges herself and really works on accepting who she is and getting to know herself and her Grace.

4. A bit of romance, but romance that's not necessarily easy or meant to be.

5. The twists and turns, oh my!

And I think that's about as much as I can go into without getting all spoiler-y. I agree with Leila that this is highly recommended for fans of fantasy like Tamora Pierce, or Cynthia Voigt's Kingdom series. It also reminded me of Northlander.

Graceling's on the ACPL Mock Printz list (and the Mock Newbery list, although I personally feel that it's more appropriate on the Printz). And you'll certainly want to check out Kristin Cashore's blog (where we learn that she's working on two more books set in this world! Hooray!).

Now, I am certainly not meaning to discount any of the other fine fantasy/sci-fi books published this year, but it would be interesting to see a Cybils showdown: Graceling vs. The Hunger Games. What do you think?

Book Review: Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning

Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning by Danette Haworth. (Grades 5-7.)

Violet plans to spend the summer with her best friend Lottie, hanging out in their small town of Mitchell Hammock, FL. Violet and Lottie have been best friends forever and as far as Violet's concerned, nothing should ever change between them. And when new girl Melissa arrives from Detroit, Violet dislikes her immediately. Melissa wears makeup, watches soap operas, and hates getting dirty. When Lottie starts to hang out with Melissa, Violet is jealous and tries to stop it. Why can't things be the way they've always been?

The first line of this book really hooked me:

When Eddie B. dared me to walk the net bridge over the Elijah Hatchett River where we'd seen an alligator and another kid got bit by a coral snake, I wasn't scared - I just didn't feel like doing it right then.

I wanted to know this sassy girl who may or may not be afraid to walk the net bridge over the Elijah Hatchett River. Violet is a girl clinging to childhood. Why not? Her childhood has been good to her. Eating dinner at her best friend Lottie's house. Hiking in the woods with Eddie. Reading books from the library's bookmobile. Watching the storms roll in and judging how far away the lightning strikes are.

But at some point, you have to grow up. And growing up is all about changing. When our story takes place it's the summer before junior high starts. The end of elementary school, the beginning of something new. Violet is only going to cross that bridge kicking and screaming, but she'll have to cross it eventually. And when she does, she might just find that she has a little help.

Besides Violet's spunky character, I really liked the setting of this novel. It's set in small town Florida, muggy and hot. Haworth's descriptions of the town and the neighborhoods and the wilderness really brought everything to life. I could taste the electricity in the air as a storm rolled in. I could feel the mud squishing under my shoes as the kids explored the creek and looked out for alligators.

As I was reading, Violet kept reminded me of Shug by Jenny Han. I suppose it's because it deals with that same time in a girl's life: entering junior high, that moment when a boy friend might possibly become a boyfriend, when everything seems to change over the course of a summer and you can't ever go back. I'd also hand Violet to fans of Heartbeat and Just as Long as We're Together (do girls still read that book? It was a favorite of mine when I was 11...).

Read more reviews at Literate Lives, Welcome to my Tweendom, The Reading Zone. And of course you want to know that Danette Haworth has her own blog and website (woohoo!).

Book Review: Love and Lies

Love & Lies: Marisol's Story by Ellen Wittlinger. (Grades 9+)

Did you love Ellen Wittlinger's book Hard Love? Me, too. And I also loved this companion novel which delves into Marisol's point of view.

You remember Marisol? Gio met her as he started getting more involved with creating zines and he fell for her even though she was gay. Well, it's the year after high school and Marisol has deferred her admittance to Stanford. She is spending the year living on her own (well, not completely on her own), working at a greasy spoon (possibly soon to be shut down), and writing a novel (trying to). Marisol also has another goall: to fall in love.

Marisol signs up for an adult education class on novel-writing expecting to get some tips and inspiration. What she's not expecting is her teacher Olivia. Glamorous, intelligent, beautiful Olivia... an older woman who miraculously shows an interest in her. Marisol quickly falls head over heels into an intense courtship. But first love isn't as easy as Marisol had imagined it would be...

I loved getting another visit to Marisol's and Gio's world. Although readers can tell that Marisol's relationship with Olivia is doomed from the start, I thought it was a spot-on portrayal of first love. Marisol feels that all-consuming passion, the pleasant surprise of discovery, even though this is a love that is not particularly healthy. What makes it even more interesting and realistic is Marisol's character. She's frank and self-confident to the point of arrogance sometimes. But somehow things are different with Olivia. And although I knew from the beginning who Marisol should end up with, Olivia was a character that I loved to hate.

Wittlinger absolutely made me feel like I was in Boston right there with all the characters. I howled with outrage at each new offense by Olivia (offenses that were, of course, overlooked by the smitten Marisol) and I was really rooting for Marisol to get things together at the end.

Read more reviews by Lisa, Kelly, and Lee, and do check out the Class of 2k8 interview with Ellen Wittlinger.