Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac by Anita Silvey - ADVISABLE

Silvey, Anita Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac, 366 p. Roaring Book Press, 2012.  $20.  Content: G.  

Anita Silvey is my new hero.  The next time I am at ALA Annual, I am going to have to hunt her down and kiss her feet.  Or maybe I can just restrain myself to a heartfelt message of admiration.  Maybe.  She has a gorgeous book that not only tells you a few significant happenings, like any almanac does, but she also has written a thoughtful essay about a book or a series – EVERY SINGLE DAY since October 2010.  This particular book is a compilation of all of the essays for 2011.  Yes, I know you could go read it all on the website (http://childrensbookalmanac.com/), but I think I will have to buy the book every single year (hopefully), because I really want to own these essays, not just read them once.  What a GREAT gift for a librarians, children’s teacher, book enthusiast!  

GIFT – ADVISABLE. 

Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristin Bailey - ADVISABLE

Bailey, Kristin Legacy of the Clockwork Key, 416 p. Simon and Schuster, MARCH 2013.  $18.  

Language: PG (9 swears, 0 ‘f’); Other Content: G.  

Meg is an orphan and lives a very hard life at the mansion of an obsessed millionaire, who only desires everything to remain exactly the way it was the day his beloved wife died.  Meg’s only legacy from her parents is her grandfather’s watch and a keen mind.  When she makes friends with Will, the stable boy in order to get the watch repaired, she is thrown out for fraternization – and she and Will must embark upon an elaborate journey to unravel a series of puzzles to stop a crazy man and prevent murder.  

Ok – it sounds a little lame when I write the summary, but really, for girls who like gothic romance, a little steampunk and a lot of danger, this is a good call.  It looks like there is already a sequel planned, but I was happy with how this one ended.  

MS, HS – ADVISABLE. Cindy, Library Teacher

Trick or Treat by Leo Landry - OPTIONAL

Landry, Leo  Trick or Treat, PICTURE BOOK. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2012. $12.99. Content: G. 

Oliver the ghost is having his special Halloween party on his favorite day of the year.  On his way home after delivering invitations, he drops one.  It is picked up by some trick or treaters that decide to show up for Oliver’s party unannounced.  When they arrive they are asked to join in on all the Halloween fun and Oliver ends up making some new friends.  This was a very basic, sweet story with a focus on making new friends.  There were some creative Halloween aspects included like when Oliver decorated for his party by adding dust.  It was fun for a quick Halloween read, but wasn’t something that knocked me off my feet. 

EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL.  Reviewed by: Shay, Library Media Specialist

Show Me a Story! by Leonard Marcus - OPTIONAL

Marcus, Leonard S.  Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter: Conversations with 21 of the world’s most celebrated illustrators, 293 p. Candlewick, 2012.  $23.  Content: G.  NON-FICTION.  

For teavhers, librarians and lovers of picture books who want to know about the history’s career paths and inner workings of the minds of these particular illustrators, there is much information to be gleaned from its pages.  Anyone else – not particularly.  I was hoping it was more a look at the role of the picture book and picture book art in general, but there isn’t even enough here for a student to write a biography from its pages.  Great gift idea, though, for a very particular clientele.  

GIFT – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

Noni the Pony by Alison Lester - OPTIONAL

Lester, Alison Noni the Pony, PICTURE BOOK.  Beach Lane Books, 2010. $15.99. 

This is a simple story about a pleasant pony.  It tells about where she lives, what she likes to do, and who her friends are. It finishes up with a good cuddle with friends to keep her frights away.  The rhyming in this story is very well done (and this is coming from someone who isn’t super fond of rhyming books.) Definitely not a complex tale, but the illustrations are sweet and it will be appealing to younger children and horse-loving readers. 

 Pre-K, EL (K-3) –OPTIONAL. Reviewed by: Shay, Library Media Specialist

Losers in Space by John Barnes - OPTIONAL

Barnes, John Losers in Space, 433 p. Viking (Penguin), 2012.  $19.  Language: R (30+ swears, 10+ ‘f’); Mature Content: PG-13 (undescribed sex; body parts); Violence: G.  

In a world where being a professional celebrity is really the only way to “have it all”, a group of spoiled misfits decide to make themselves famous by stowing away on a Mars-bound ship.  When everyone on board is killed except for the kids, the situation becomes desperate.  If they don’t actually access their brainpower for once, they are also as good as dead. 

If you can it past the self-centered first 80 pages of this book, you will find a very good hard-core science fiction novel.  You will find science, danger, intelligence, treachery and bravery – but the beginning makes this a hardsell to the true SF lover and I have a hard time believing that a person who really likes the beginning will have any chance of liking the rest of it.  This will be a hand-seller to exactly the right reader – who that is in a school, I have NO idea.  Personally, I enjoyed it after page 80 and was glad that I had read it.  

HS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library teacher

Stuck with the Blooz by Caron Levis - ADVISABLE

Levis, Caron Stuck with the Blooz, PICTURE BOOK. Harcourt Children’s Books, 2012.  $16.99. 

What do you do when you feel down in the dumps and “the Blooz” comes to visit you?  When one little girl gets a visit she does her best to figure out why the Blooz is so sad and together they come up with multiple ways to make the Blooz cheer up and go away.  

I wasn’t immediately drawn to this book because the cover wasn’t particularly appealing, but I ended up really enjoying it. It was a really fun way to demonstrate a fairly abstract concept.  It gave strong examples of how to pull yourself up when you get sad.  Sometimes it takes a long time to find the thing that will work, but you just have to keep trying. It also helps to have a friend who is willing to give support for you find a way to make it through to a beautiful, sunny day. 

EL - ADVISABLE.  Reviewed by: Shay, Library Media Specialist

Same Sun as Here by House and Vaswani - ADVISABLE

House, Silas and Neela Vaswani Same Sun as Here, 296 p. Candlewick, 2012.  $16.  Content: G.  

As part of a summer school project, Meena, an immigrant girl living in New York City, and River, a boy from a coal mining town in Kentucky, have started exchanging letters.  Both if them chose letters instead of email.  In order to make ends meet, both of their fathers spend long hours away from home and both of their mothers have issues from their past that force the children to take care of themselves most of the time.  Luckily, both of them also have strong older female role models to help and guide them.  A mining company is stripping the forest around River’s home and causes an accident that spurs River to take a stand in defense of his community.  

Written in letter form, this is a sweet novel with a strong environmental message and also a piercing look at the lives of immigrants.  There is much to talk about, much to empathize with, in this book.  I don’t think it will spread like wild fire, but hand it to a teacher to look at a possible classroom book.  

EL, MS – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library teacher

Those Darn Squirrels Fly South by Adam Rubin - ADVISABLE

Rubin, Adam Those Darn Squirrels Fly South. Clarion Books, 2012. $16.99. Content: G.  PICTURE BOOK. 

 Those darn squirrels are curious about where the birds go when they fly south for the winter.  They construct some flying machines and follow the birds through all sorts of weather until they get to the beach.  They enjoy their time there, but miss old, grumpy Mr. Fookwire so they call him up on the phone.  He misses the birds (and the squirrels too) so he slowly makes his way to the beach to paint.  

I haven’t read the first Those Darn Squirrels book, but this one was well written and funny.  The pictures are enjoyably unique and matched the text very well.  It was a silly book, but also very clever.

 EL – ADVISABLE. Reviewed by: Shay, Library Media Specialist

Curse of the Thirteenth Fey by Jane Yolen -

Yolen, Jane Curse of the Thirteenth Fey: The true tale of Sleeping Beauty, 290 p. Philomel (Penguin), 2012.  $17.  Content: G.  

Gorse’s family of Fey are required by oath to do whatever they are Bid by a member of royalty.  On the new princess’s christening day, Gorse is sick, but she is still required to attend and in her race to the palace, she finds herself somewhere very different indeed.  Now she is stuck underground with two stranger Fae, but their strange demands may actually be the key to the family problem.  

The reference to Sleeping Beauty on the cover of the book is really misleading and completely unnecessary. This story is a stand alone home run all by itself and doesn't need the fairy tale reference.  Yolen's tale brings familiar and brand new tale elements together into a wonderful tale.  Yes, you know I am partial to fairy tales, but you can not deny Yolen's magic!  

EL, MS, HS - ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher.

Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis - NO

Willis, Jeanne Hippospotamus, PICTURE BOOK. Anderson Press USA, 2012. $16.95. Content: G. 

Hippopotamus has a spot on his rump and he can’t figure out what it is or how to get rid of it.  All of the animals in the jungle try to contribute to cure his pesky spot.  In the end, the spot turns out to be a piece of bubble gum. 

I opened this book expecting a really fun and creative story.  I was disappointed at the strange rhyming attempts. So many things had to rhyme with hippopotamus and the story wasn’t quite organized into a solid enough pattern, so it got a little old. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the illustrations because they seemed somewhat rushed.  There was an attempt at a surprise ending with the bubble gum. I realize it’s just a picture book, but the idea of a boy eating gum from the bum of a hippo wasn’t as humorous as I think it was intended to be. 

NOT RECOMMENDED. Reviewed by: Shay, Library Media Specialist

This is Not a Drill by Beck McDowell - OPTIONAL

McDowell, Beck This is Not a Drill, 216 p. Penguin, 2012.  $18.  Language: R (85 swears, 2 ‘f’, boys parts mentioned by name); Violence: PG-13; Mature Content: G.  

Emery and Jake are high school volunteers teaching French to first graders.  Bad enough that they had a really bad break up after Emery caught Jake two-timing her with another girl.  Then an angry father with a custody battle, a nasty divorce, PTSD, a gun and an attitude comes to steal away his son and the situation spirals out of control.  

Sure I understand this is a book for teens and the they usually respond better to books with teens as the main characters and the heroes, but after the real life school shooting in Connecticut, I think it is kind of ridiculous that the author would portray the trained adults as useless and the teens as the only heroes.  Ok, ok – I know the shooting hadn’t happened yet when she wrote this, but I can’t help but compare.  It is very well written – sucking you right in – and it does have very good advice for how to behave should you be caught in such a situation, but Jake’s prolific swearing just ruins it for me.  

HS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

Swords by Ben Boos - ADVISABLE

Boos, Ben Swords, 83 p. Candlewick, 2008, 2012.  $13.00.  Content: G.  

A combination of gorgeous drawings and lots of historic information make for a heady, intriguing book about swords and the history of swordcraft around the world.  The illustrations will draw many boys to this book, but it is chock full of facts to fill them with good information.  My only problem with this book is that too many of the swords are drawn with nicks in them - from everything I know (I admit it is not much), I believe that a decent swordsman would grind out nicks or replace their sword at that point, because that nick is a dangerous weakness in battle.  But anyway - if you have a teenage boy, a LARP-er or just a weapons enthusiastic around, this would very much appeal to them.  

MS, HS - ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher

The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron - ESSENTIAL

 Pyron, Bobbie The Dogs of Winter, 320 pgs. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2012. 16.99 Language G; Mature Content PG: Violence PG  

When 5-year-old Mishka’s Babushka Ina dies and his mother is suddenly gone, the bad man takes him to The City. Mishka runs away and joins a gang of street kids who sleep in the train stations, steal and beg.  As winter approaches, the gangs become more violent, as do the police who try to rid the underground of the homeless children.  Mishka befriends a dog, Lucky, and his pack who let the small boy share their food and keep him warm.  Soon, he is known as Dog Boy.  These wild dogs protect him and he helps care for them and their puppies, but the people in the city want to send him to an orphanage.  

This beautifully written book is both sad and hopeful; a moving story about the plight of the homeless children in Moscow.  

EL, MS - ESSENTIAL Lisa Media Specialist

Molly, By Golly by Dianne Ochiltree - ADVISABLE

Ochiltree, Dianne Molly, By Golly: the legend of Molly Williams, America's First Female Firefighter, Kathleen Kemly.  Calkins Creek, 2012.  $17.  Content: G.  PICTURE BOOK.  

Molly was the cook for Fire Company No. 11 in New York City.  One night in the deep of winter, many of the firefighters were sick with influenza.  When the fire alarm sounded, Molly went to work with the rest of them and earned the right to call herself a fireman.  

This picture books fleshes out the few details known about Molly Williams and is a reminder to girls that women of all times and places did work wherever they were needed.  A solid addition to a picture book collection.  

EL - ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher.

The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef - ADVISABLE

Reef, Catherine The Bronte Sisters: The brief lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, 190 p. Content : G.  NON-FICTION

In 1821, Patrick Bronte was left with six children younger than 7 when his wife died.  A poor clergyman, he sent some of his children away to boarding school, where they contracted consumption (tuberculosis) and died.  Thus begins the history of the family which produced Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Bramwell Bronte.  Any library where any of these books or taught or the students do any kind of biographical research can use this book.  Very detailed, very easy to read – a new hallmark in biography standards.  

MS, HS – ADVISABLE. Cindy, Library Teacher

Bedtime for Boo by Mickie Matheis - OPTIONAL

Matheis, Mickie Bedtime for Boo, illustrated by Bonnie Leick.  Golden Book (Random), New York, 2012.  Content: G.  Picture Book.  

Boo is a little ghost in a deserted house at the top of a lonely hill.  As his momma puts him to sleep, she has him listen to all of the sounds around him.  

At first I thought this was just a Casper the Friendly Ghost rip off, but when the onomatopoeia of the last few pages arrives, then the book takes off. For that reason alone I would suggest adding it to an elementary collection for teachers to use during October for a fun lesson on onomatopoeia - and a little spookiness.  

EL (K-3) - OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher.

Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass by Freedman - ESSENTIAL

Freedman, Russell Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass: The story behind an American friendship, 103 p. Clarion, 2012.  $19.  Content: G.  NON-FICTION.  

Born ten years apart, two young men, one black slave, one white sharecropper were influenced by the same slim volume: The Columbian Orator.  The black slave became Frederick Douglass, the most famous black person of his time, in America and in Europe.  The white man became Abraham Lincoln, the president of the Emancipation Proclamation, which permanently freed Douglass.  The two never met, until the midst of the Civil War, when Douglass came to scold Lincoln for his lack of support for the black soldiers of the war – and the two became friends, enjoying each other’s company. They only met but a few times before Lincoln’s assassination, though.  For the rest of his life, Douglass talked often about Lincoln.  

Sorry – I was so taken up by Freedman’s narrative that I shared way too much with you.  But you and your students will also enjoy the reading.  I love the high caliber of non-fiction available for students.  

MS, HS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

Glamorous Glasses by Barbara Newman - OPTIONAL

Newman, Barbara Johansen Glamorous Glasses.  Boyds Mill Press, 2012.  $17.  Content: G.  PICTURE BOOK.  

Bobbie's best friend Joanie needs glasses and Bobbie is a little jealous.  She pretends that she needs glasses and even exchanges her purse for Joanie's glasses, but both girls realize that they might need just what they have.  

If you are married to an optometrist, as I am, you will probably buy this book for him to put in his office waiting room.  And if you are an elementary librarian you probably need this book to convince all those new glasses wearers at your school that they really are a good thing!  

EL (K-3) - OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher.

The Toy Story Films by Charles Solomon - ADVISABLE

Solomon, Charles The Toy Story Films: An Animated Journey, 185 p. Disney Editions, 2012.  $60.  

With the first little tests in the 1980's to the third Toy Story movie in 2010, the story of computer animation is as much the story of John Lassiter, Pixar and Disney as it is the story of our love affair with Woody and his friends.  Gorgeous drawings and photographs combined with extensive text give a rich picture of the films.  And who didn't cling to their seat in the theater in #3 when the toys were headed to the fire???  It is an expensive book, but well worth every penny.  I you have any kind of graphics class or film-making, this would be a great addition.  And of course kids are going to pick it up just for fun.  

MS, HS - OPTIONAL, GIFT - ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher