Around the Interwebs

Mary GrandPré

Scholastic is auctioning off original works by twelve awesome children's book illustrators to benefit Reading is Fundamental and Reach Out and Read! This is your chance to own original art by Mary GrandPré (illustrator of the Harry Potter series in the US), Norman Bridwell, David Shannon, Jeff Smith (author of the Bone series), and more! Visit Scholastic's Read Every Day site for more info or to bid.

Follow The Hunger Games on Facebook to get the latest updates on casting!

Do you have a teen non-fiction section? Check out what Katie of Book Blather did with hers to update it and increase the teen appeal! Fabulous!

Travis of 100 Scope Notes has a nice little preview of some great books coming out this summer! (Ahh, summer, when the school media folk and teachers have lots of time for reading and for pointing and laughing at us poor public librarians for whom it's crunch time. :) These are some books to make time for!) What books are you looking forward to this summer?

What have you been reading on the web this week?

A Colorful Storytime

Yes, our spring storytimes are over, but last week I went to visit one of our local preschools and I brought along a colorful storytime to share with them! Colors is one of those themes that is infinitely flexible, but here's what I did:

Opening Song: My Hands Say Hello

(To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")
My hands say hello, my hands say hello
Every time I see my friends, my hands say hello!

Repeat with different body parts.

Book: Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh - None of the classes I visited had seen this book before and they loved it! It's simply enough to read with young children, but older children get a kick out of guessing which colors the mice are going to make when they combine red and yellow, yellow and blue, and blue and red.

Felt Story: Dog's Colorful Day - This was a great choice for my preschool visits because I could shorten it for the younger classes or if the kids weren't into it. Dog is white with one black spot and as he goes through his day, he collects other colored spots as he gets messier and messier. For some of the spots, I asked the kids to predict which color the spot would be (Ex. "Dog rolled in the grass! What color spot will he get from that?")

Song: If You're Wearing Red Today

(To the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")
If you're wearing red today, red today, red today
If you're wearing red today, please stand up!

Repeat with different colors and motions.

This is a simple song/activity to do and the kids love looking all over their clothing for different colors. When I've done several colors and everyone's had the opportunity to stand up at least once, I ask the kids if I got all the colors, are there other colors we should do? They can always think of one I haven't done!

Big Book: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox - I love this book and I was so happy that the kids loved it, too! The funniest was the first class. Every time I got to the part that asked "Where is the green sheep?" they chorused, "We don't KNOW!!!"

Activity: Colorful scarves. I passed out the scarves and asked kids to:

Wave your scarves HIGH!
Wave your scarves LOW!
Wave your scarves in the MIDDLE!
Then I asked kids with particular colors to wave. After I called each color, I asked them all to wave their scarves fast, slow, high, low, in front, behind, in a circle, up and down... And for the grand finale, we counted to three and then threw our scarves up in the air and watched them all come down in a big rainbow.

Book: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont - I love to sing this book. I emphasize the rhymes and usually the kids can guess which body part the boy's going to paint next.

Closing Rhyme: 10 Little Fingers

10 little fingers, we raise them up to the sky!
10 little fingers, we wave them all goodbye!

I don't do a craft with these outreach storytimes, so then it was time to pack up and go back to the library!

If you don't like or don't have any of these books, there are tons of alternate books available. When I go on an outreach visit, I always bring a few extra books just in case one flops or I run through everything and have time left.

Alternate Books:

There are color storytimes available at Storytime Katie (actually Katie's posted another color storytime, too), Mel's Desk, Storytime Source Page, and many others! Or if you don't like or don't have some of the books above, try one of these:

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry
Freight Train by Donald Crews
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Kid Tea by Elizabeth Ficocelli
Lemons are Not Red by Laura Seeger
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood

Blood Red Road

Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Grades 8+ Margaret K. McElderry Books, June 2011. 448 pages. Reviewed from ARC snagged at ALA.

Hot.  Dry.  This is what Saba knows on her homestead in the middle of the desert.  It hasn't rained for months.  Her father has been slowly losing it since her mother died nine years ago and he's just about around the bend.  The only bright spot in Saba's life is her twin brother Lugh.  The two are as close as siblings can be and Saba knows that Lugh's thinking about leaving, setting off in search of a better life.  When he goes, she'll follow him.  That's what she does.  Lugh leads and she follows.

But after a violent dust storm springs up, strange men in black coats take Lugh away.  Saba's world is breaking in two, but she's determined to find Lugh and bring him back.  What she finds when she leaves the homestead is a complicated world she has no idea how to navigate, but Saba will stop at nothing to bring back the brother she loves so dearly.  No matter who she has to kill to do it.

Okay, so I'm at ALA Midwinter, right?  And I'm stopping by the Simon & Schuster booth to chat with the reps and editors and I'm asking them what books they're particularly excited about for the spring.  And one of them says, "Oh, Blood Red Road!  It's like our Hunger Games!"  And I'm thinking "Hmm... yeah, right, okay.  Of course you're going to say that because you know it'll sell the book."  And then she says, "And the main character Saba?  She could kick Katniss's ass*!"  And then I'm really thinking "Hmm... yeah, right! And also, how dare you!"

But later that day, I'm at the S&S preview lunch and I'm hearing all about how they were so excited about this book that they're publishing it only months after receiving the manuscript.  And I start thinking that if they're this excited about the book, I am going to have to get my hands on it.  I stop by the booth again and ask for it and they hand me a bound manuscript (no cover image, even) and tell me that it'll make a great read for the plane.

So, in the airport on my way home from San Diego, I actually do crack it open.

And holy cats.  I could not put it down.  I am not the biggest fan of being crammed onto an airplane with a bunch of other people, but I actually wanted my flight to be longer so that I would have more uninterrupted time to read.  I am totally serious.

I was first drawn in by the writing.  Moira Young seriously knows how to show and not tell.  And she writes in this dialect that she's concocted and it gives Saba a voice right off, but I didn't find it difficult to read.  She doesn't even use quotation marks for dialog, which normally I don't like, but in this case it felt totally right for the character.

Saba's mother died from complications after giving birth to Saba's little sister Emmi.  And Saba described her as "A ugly little red scrap with a heartbeat like a whisper" (pg 11)**.  I sat up and took notice.  A bit later, Moira Young perfectly shows us the relationship between Saba and her brother:

His necklace catches the light.  I found the little ring of shiny green glass in the landfill a while back.  I threaded it on a piece of leather an hid it away till I could give it to him fer our eighteen year birthday.  That was five days ago an he ain't took it off since.  What did he give me?  Nuthin.  Like always. (pg 17-18)**


I love how that one slight paragraph instantly gives you the picture of Saba and Lugh's relationship.  He's precious to her and she found him something precious and rare for his birthday, hiding it away until it was time.  She's precious to him and he treasures the gift she gave him, not wanting to take the necklace off.  But he's also still a boy and a brother, so he doesn't get Saba anything.  Him treasuring the necklace so much is gift enough for her.

I have felt that same way about my brother.  Moira Young gets it. 


So, the writing drew me in and I knew I was in for something special.  But THEN.  THEN the action started and it did NOT let up!  Moira Young's got a good sense of pacing and the action ebbs and flows, allowing the reader to catch her breath now and then.  When the action's high, I was glued to the page, breathless, heart pounding.  And even though the book's 400+ pages long, it did not feel that long.  It was a quick read because I just couldn't put it down.

I will say that a LOT happened in the book and I'm not quite sure that everything that happened was completely necessary to the story.  Parts of the book felt like the author was trying to encompass everything you could ever want in a YA book, which was maybe not necessary.  But I will also say that I enjoyed reading every bit of it, so who cares if the story wasn't perfectly streamlined?

The ending definitely paves the way for a sequel and, though there's nothing huge left unresolved, there are definitely some things I'm wondering about that I hope will be addressed in the next book.  Blood Red Road has the kind of ending where I'm definitely looking forward to the next book, but I don't feel like I might die if I can't read it right this second (which is good since, y'know, I can't).

Of course, this is an excellent Hunger Games readalike, although instead of straight up speculative science fiction, there are some elements of fantasy in Blood Red Road.  They have the same fast pace and similar scrappy female characters having to make it in an unfair and incredibly violent world.  I'd also hand it to fans of The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and anyone who has jumped on the dystopian bandwagon (and doesn't mind violence - there is a lot of violence).

Do not walk, but RUN to your nearest bookseller and preorder this book.  You may also want to buy a copy for, oh, every Hunger Games and/or dystopian fan that you know.

Blood Red Road will be on shelves June 7!

* Probably the rep did not actually say "ass" to me, but I'm saying it here anyway. 
** Quotes are from ARC and may not appear the same in the final copy

Surviving the Angel of Death

Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri. Grades 7+ Tanglewood Press. 141 pages. Review copy provided by publisher for Young Hoosier Book Award consideration. **This review reflects only my own opinion, not necessarily the opinion of the YHBA Committee!!**


...[B]ecause we were identical twins so easily spotted in the crowd of grimy, exhausted Jewish prisoners, Miriam and I had been chosen. Soon we would come face to face with Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor known as the Angel of Death. It was he who selected those on the platform who were to live and those would die. But we did not know that yet. All we knew was that we were abruptly alone. We were only ten years old. 


And we never saw Papa, Mama, Edit, or Aliz again... (Introduction, iii-iv)

So begins Eva Mozes Kor's account of her journey through the Auschwitz concentration camp, Dr. Mengele's experiments on her twin and herself, and their determination to survive even when all hope seemed lost. Identical twins Eva and Miriam Kor were ten years old when they arrived at Auschwitz. Separated from the rest of their family, they clung to each other for survival.

A survivor's story is a precious resource and this is one that shouldn't be missed. The book strikes a delicate balance between providing details of Eva's experience and keeping it age-appropriate. Although the book doesn't go into great detail about all of Mengele's experiments (understandably, since 10-year-old Eva would have had no idea what was going on), this is a story told from a unique perspective. Even teens who have read widely on this subject may find new information here.

The writing is functional and gets out of the way of the story, which is perfectly appropriate. Lisa Rojany Buccieri helps Eva Kor get her story across to its audience.

Photos of Eva's family and of Auschwitz are included, as well as an author's note. Eva Kor started the CANDLES Holocaust Museum in Terre Haute, IN to commemorate her experience and the experiences of other Holocaust and Mengele survivors.

Hand this one to your teens who are fascinated by Anne Frank or the Holocaust.

Surviving the Angel of Death is on shelves now!

48-Hour Book Challenge, Comin' Right Up!

Pam at MotherReader has opened sign-up for the 6th annual 48-Hour Book Challenge, which will be happening the weekend of June 3-5, 2011.

Pam's challenging us to read and blog as much as we can for 48 hours straight in an attempt to whittle down our towering TBR piles (and possibly win prizes AND possibly raise money for a charity of your choice).

I love the 48-Hour Book Challenge because it gives us all an excuse to make reading a priority like we may not be able to do typically. On a scale of one to 1337, how geeky is it that I consider this challenge when planning my summer programs so I can make sure to participate? :)

And it will be more fun if YOU do it, TOO! That's right, my friends. One of the best things about this challenge is reading along with a whole community of bloggers, sharing what you're reading, and cheering each other on. So if you're considering it, please sign up!

Learn more about the 48-Hour Book Challenge and sign up now over at MotherReader.com!

The C-Word

Pam at Bookalicio.us thinks authors should keep their political opinions to themselves.

Vinaya at The Book Lantern thinks that authors are entitled to expressing their opinions, just like anyone else.

I have made a conscious effort to keep my own political opinions off this blog. Why? Because I never wanted to alienate readers. And that's my choice. As a librarian, I have to put my own political and religious beliefs aside when I'm building our collection because it's my job to build a balanced collection, not a collection that centers around my personal beliefs.

I think it's Jackson Pearce's own business if she wants to get political on her blog. She is by no means the only author doing so.

And as for this (quoted from Pam's post, emphasis mine):

I want to be the one to teach my children my own morality code. YA authors are becoming more popular with teens. If Stephanie Meyer wrote a book that Satanism was the new black, we would have our own little cult of Satanists here in America. Teens are impressionable, I was at least when I was a teen. So what gives anyone the right to undermine at home teachings and spout their morality code publicly?

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights give anyone the right to spout their morality code publicly.

To say otherwise is to advocate censorship. And THAT'S one reason we need librarians: to stand up in the face of censorship and shout it down.

What do you think?
(And I promise not to censor YOU by closing comments.)

Crossover: Girl in Translation

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, narrated by Grayce Wey. Grades 9+ [adult, with high crossover appeal]. Riverhead [a division of Penguin Group], April 2010. 293 pages, 9 hours on 8 discs. Audiobook provided by my local library.

Chang Ah-Kim immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong, becoming Kimberly Chang, when she was 12 years old. And suddenly everything was different. Instead of a nice house, she and her mother live in a tiny, bug-infested apartment with no heat. Instead of working as a music teacher, her mother works in a clothing factory, slaving away for as little as one or two dollars an hour. And, perhaps most devastating to Kimberly, instead of being one of the top students in her class, Kimberly is failing her classes because she doesn't speak English and her teacher won't take the time to try and understand her.

But Kimberly is strong, brave, and so smart that she's a certifiable genius. And this is the story of how she overcame all the obstacles in her path and navigated all life's twists and turns to pull herself and her mother out of crushing poverty.

This is a novel that grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Even now, weeks after finishing it, I'm still raving about it to anyone who will listen! The fact that it's loosely based on author Jean Kwok's own childhood makes it all the more riveting. As I was listening to the story, I felt like Kimberly was sitting across from me and telling me everything that had happened to her. Kimberly's voice instantly drew me in to the story and I cared about her like I actually knew her. I was rooting for her the entire time.

Some of the descriptions of the poverty Kimberly and her mother endured were hard to listen to, but they still exist today. How could the school expect Kimberly to get her projects done when 1) she didn't speak English, 2) she had to help her mother work in the factory for hours after school every day, 3) when she finally did get home their apartment was unheated and crawling with bugs, and 4) there was no money to spare for fancy supplies like markers, poster board, or magazines to cut up. This is certainly an eye-opening story that may inspire empathy towards immigrants and those living in poverty.

As I listened, Grayce Wey's narration grew on me and I appreciate the subtle changes in voice that she used when reading different characters. It was enough of a change for me to keep the characters straight and not a lot else, which let the fine writing shine through. This is one of those books that had me looking forward to the commute because I needed to know what happened next. This was Jean Kwok's debut novel and you can bet I'll be looking forward to more from her.

I am a huge fan of Amy Tan and I'd quickly hand this book to other Amy Tan fans. The coming-of-age in New York aspect also reminded me of another favorite from my teen years - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I'd also recommend it to teens and adults interested in books about the immigrant experience, like maybe Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix or Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Girl in Translation was a 2011 Alex Award winner. Check out more reviews at Book Nut, GreenBean TeenQueen and A Patchwork of Books.

Girl in Translation is on shelves now!

Creating a Tradition at Your Library

I'm over at the ALSC Blog today, talking about our annual Egg Decorating Workshop, a tradition that's been going on since 1985 at my library! Be sure and click through and let me know what traditions you have at your library! Here's a little preview:

Discovery of Witches Winner!

The random number generator picked lucky number 24, which happened to be Meredith M.! Congratulations and thanks to all for playing!

What to Read at Baby Storytime #3

Last week, our spring session of Mother Goose on the Loose came to a close. I will miss my babies, some of whom are sure to have graduated to Toddler Time by the time we start back up in June. Here are some of my favorite books that I've shared with my babies this time around:

Five Little Ducks by Ivan Bates (Orchard Books, 2006). I love to share books that I can sing and "Five Little Ducks" is one of my favorite songs, so of course this lends itself nicely to my baby storytime. Ask parents to sing along with you (though many will automatically tune in with this familiar song).

Jump! by Scott M. Fischer (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010). This was an unexpected hit! I might not have chosen to use this one for babies, but I saw it mentioned at Mel's Desk and I decided to give it a try. Not only did the kids LOVE it, but I had one mom report that they had an unread copy at home (I think they got it in a cereal box) and after I read it with the group, her little boy started asking for it at home! The text is nice and rhythmic and then whenever it gets to the word "Jump!" I asked parents to lift up babies or lift up their arms.

Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2009). In this book, a little owl decides to stay up during the day and he is wowed by all the beautiful colors he sees. I ask the parents to join in on each "Wow!" as we turn the page.

Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee (Boxer Books, 2006). As Horse clip clops along, all the other animals ask him for a ride. They want to go faster and faster until suddenly they're going too fast and Horse stops, causing all the animals to fly off into the haystack. Of course they all cry out, "Again!" just like your little ones will! I ask the parents to "clip-clop" along with me by hitting their hands on their knees. This book would also make for a great bounce with babies on knees, bouncing faster and faster as the horse picks up speed.

Red Light, Green Light by Anastasia Suen (Gulliver Books, 2005). Many of the little ones who attend my baby storytime love cars and things that go, so this is a great book to share with them. The rhythmic text lends itself to being sung and I sang it to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Many rhyming picture books lend themselves easily to common tunes and singing will often keep a very young child's interest longer than straight reading in a group setting. If you can't carry a tune, don't worry about it - the babies don't care!

Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood (Blue Sky Press, 2004). Something about these colorful computer illustrations is just mesmerizing to kids and the rhyming counting text makes it a good book to share with babies. I have the adults count along with me as we count from ten little fish all the way down to one (and then quickly back to 10 again!).

The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton Juvenile, 1990). Everyone loves to sing along with The Wheels on the Bus! The moveable parts in this book will capture the attention of older siblings and parents while the babies will be captivated by the singing.

Be sure to check out my previous posts:

What to Read at Baby Storytime and
What to Read at Baby Storytime #2

What books do you love to do with very young children? What do you do to get kids and parents involved and interested when you're reading?