This Librarian's Quick Picks: Frogkisser!

Frogkisser!
by Garth Nix
Scholastic (2017)
Fantasy Chapter Book

Summary:

Poor Princess Anya. Forced to live with her evil stepmother's new husband, her evil stepstepfather. Plagued with an unfortunate ability to break curses with a magic-assisted kiss. And forced to go on the run when her stepstepfather decides to make the kingdom entirely his own.

Aided by a loyal talking dog, a boy thief trapped in the body of a newt, and some extraordinarily mischievous wizards, Anya sets off on a Quest that, if she plays it right, will ultimately free her land-and teach her a thing or two about the use of power, the effectiveness of a well-placed pucker, and the finding of friends in places both high and low.

Why You'll Love It:

• This line: “I don’t expect to need rescuing. I’m not that kind of princess.”
• Refreshingly, there’s no romance plot here, and just as refreshingly, the two dark-skinned women are both beautiful and benevolent. 
• Playing on fairy tale tropes and conventions, Nix delivers a delightful adventure stuffed with absurdity, magic, and a spirited young heroine.

Who Should Read It:

Great for 6th-10th graders.



What Else You Should Read:

• Newt's Emerald (also by Garth Nix)
• The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

This Librarian's Quick Picks: Snow White by Matt Phelan

Snow White
by Matt Phelan
Candlewick Press, 2016
Graphic Novel

Summary:

The scene: New York City. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words "Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL."

Why You'll Love It:

• Phelan punctuates his fittingly noirish palette of smoky, shadowy grays with bursts of pink and red—soft, aqueous patches for cheeks and lips with more saturated tones for apples.
• Phelan masterfully shifts a tale heavily reliant on magic and fantasy into a realistic and historical setting without compromising plausibility. 
• Themes of class are also explored here, making this a title worth sharing and studying at multiple levels.

Who Should Read It:

Great for 5th-8th graders...and here's the teacher guide!

What Else You Should Read:

• Fairy Tale Comics ed. by Chris Duffy
• Golden Compass: The Graphic Novel by Philip Pullman
• Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola

What they're (really) reading: September 2015

photo by Toby Neal

By keeping a pulse on what my kiddos are checking out and keeping a close eye on which books are circulating heavily, I feel that I can spend the small budget I have more wisely by choosing books I know will have a greater likelihood of circulating widely.

Each month I'll feature a few fiction and a few nonfiction books that are on the "heavy rotation" list at our elementary library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.

This Month's Selections:

A Big Guy Took My Ball!
by Mo Willems
Early Reader Picture Book

Piggie is upset because a whale took the ball she found, but Gerald finds a solution that pleases all of them. 





Million Dollar Throw
by Mike Lupica
Sports Fiction Chapter Book

Eighth-grade star quarterback Nate Brodie's family is feeling the stress of the troubled economy, and Nate is frantic because his best friend Abby is going blind, so when he gets a chance to win a million dollars if he can complete a pass during the halftime of a New England Patriot's game, he is nearly overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed. 


Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
by Rachel Renee Russell
Realistic Fiction Chapter Book

Fourteen-year-old Nikki Maxwell writes and sketches in her diary about her struggle to be popular at her exclusive new private school, and about giving up on being part of the elite group, before figuring out a way to simply be herself. 



Amelia's longest, biggest, most-fights-ever family reunion
by Marissa Moss
Realistic Fiction Chapter Book

A fictional, illustrated journal in which eleven-year-old Amelia records her hopes, fears, and impressions while attending a family reunion with her long-estranged dad, and meeting many of his relatives for the first time. 



Greatest rivalries in sports
by Tony Lee
Nonfiction

Sports are unpredictable. They're wacky. They can be totally off-the-wall! This book highlights some of the most memorable tales and traditions from sports history and is brought to life with exciting detail. Informative sidebars offer even more stories.




Fairy Tale Comics
edited by Chris Duffy 
Graphic Novel

From favorites like "Puss in Boots" and "Goldilocks" to obscure gems like "The Boy Who Drew Cats," Fairy Tale Comics has something to offer every reader. Seventeen fairy tales are wonderfully adapted and illustrated in comics format by seventeen different cartoonists, including Raina Telgemeier, Brett Helquist, Cherise Harper, and more.

Books By Theme: Fairy Tale-ish Fiction

"The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in."

 -W. H. Auden

Come Fall

by A. C. E. Bauer

Foster kid Salman Page is starting seventh grade in yet another new school when he's assigned a "designated buddy," eighth-grader Lu-Ellen Zimmer. Past experience has made him distrustful, so he tries to avoid Lu at first, but Salman eventually becomes friends with her and another kid on the fringes, Blos Pease. The three of them deal with the ups and downs at Riverfalls Junior High together, little suspecting that the fairy Puck (who narrates many chapters of the book) is meddling in their affairs. Based loosely on Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, this absorbing mix of realistic fiction and fantasy "makes middle school feel like a trip through a dark and scary forest" (Publishers Weekly), but it has a triumphant, feel-good ending.

Reckless 

by Cornelia Funke

After his father goes missing, 12-year-old Jacob discovers that a mirror in his house is a portal to another realm -- the dark and magical Mirrorworld. For many years after discovering the portal, Jacob visits Mirrorworld and retrieves enchanted fairy-tale objects (such as locks of Rapunzel's hair) for profit, but when his younger brother, Will, follows him into the mirror, disaster looms. Reckless is sure to make fans of somewhat sinister, action-packed fantasy adventures (like Chris Wooding's Malice) shiver with glee. 

A Tale Dark & Grimm

by Adam Gidwitz

If you think of fairy tales as nice, pretty little stories to bore children to sleep with, A Tale Dark & Grimm will make you think again. Weaving the disturbing bits of several Brothers Grimm tales and plenty of his own mischief into a single story, author Adam Gidwitz tells his own version of the (often gruesome) adventures of Hansel and Gretel. Readers who enjoy wry humor, grisly horror, and interrupting narrators (à la Lemony Snicket) will be thrilled with this book -- and might also like the dark but less bloody stories in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's collection Troll's Eye View.

Which fairy tale adaptations are your favorites?

Books By Theme: Retell it to me

The times may change, but the tales remain eternal. Classic literature and folktales are given a makeover in these retellings.

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
by Jody Gehrman
Retelling of: Much Ado About Nothing

Sixteen-year-olds Geena, Hero, and Amber spend the summer working at a Sonoma, California coffee shop, where they experience romance, identity crises, and newfound friendships.

Read the Reviews:

The YA YA YAs | Reader Rabbit | The Book Muncher

Saving Juliet 
by Suzanne Selfors
Retelling of: Romeo & Juliet

Seventeen-year-old Mimi Wallingford's stage fright and fight with her mother on the closing night of Romeo and Juliet are nothing compared to the troubles she faces when she and her leading man are transported to Shakespeare's Verona, where she decides to give the real Juliet a happy ending.

Read the Reviews:

Teacher Girl's Book Blog | Read This Book! | The Magic of Ink

My Fair Godmother
by Janette Rallison
Retelling of: Cinderella

High school sophomore Savannah wants to find the perfect prom date after her boyfriend breaks up with her to date her older sister, but when a godmother who is only fair becomes involved, Savannah finds herself in trouble in the Middle Ages, along with a boy who would like to be her charming prince.

Read the Reviews:

Deliciously Clean Reads | Presenting Lenore | Book Nut

Into The Wild
by Sarah Beth Durst
Retelling of: Rapunzel

Having escaped from the Wild and the preordained fairy tale plots it imposes, Rapunzel, along with her daughter Julie Marchen, tries to live a fairly normal life, but when the Wild breaks free and takes over their town, it is Julie who has to prevent everyone from being trapped in the events of a story.

Read the Reviews:

Teen Book Review | And Another Book Read... | Jen Robinson

This Librarian's Quick Picks: Middle School Edition

Cloaked in Red

by Vivian Vande Velde
Genre: Re-imagined fairy tale

Summary:

A kidnapping woodcutter; a werewolf grandmother; a sentient cloak: all these and more are characters in eight variations on Little Red Riding Hood.

Why you'll love it:

• Vivian Vande Velde imbues each story with originality, humor, and creepiness. Despite the tales' shared elements—and their origins in the classic Little Red Riding Hood—they are all fresh and unique.
• The diverse perspectives from which the fairy tale is retold are fascinating and surprising. For instance, Red Riding Hood's cloak narrates the story in one version, and in another, Vande Velde casts the woodcutter as the villain.
• Perfectly exemplifies just how interesting and distinct variations on a theme can be.

The Scorch Trials

by James Dashner
Genre: Mystery/Adventure

Summary:

The Gladers have survived the Maze. Now they must cross the Scorch, a dangerous wasteland, in the second installment of the Maze Runner trilogy.

Why you'll love it:

• Fans of The Maze Runner will find themselves captivated by the second, even darker, installment of the series. James Dashner introduces new, terrifying creatures, impossible-seeming challenges, and surprising twists.
• The characters’ constant life-or-death decisions will keep readers on the edge of their seats.
• While Thomas recovers memories of life before the Maze, some questions are answered even as the central mystery deepens.

Summary:

As children in southern Sudan, John and Martha faced violence, hunger, disease, and exhausti

Score!: The Action and Artistry of Hockey's Magnificent Moment

by Mark Stewart and Mike Kennedy
Genre: Sports nonfiction

Summary:

How did the Stanley Cup become hockey's greatest prize? Which team's fans sometimes toss an octopus on the ice? Text and photographs describe some of the greatest goals in the history of professional hockey, profile top players, and provide facts about the sport.

Why you'll love it:

• As with their previous entries in this compelling series, the authors focus on a game's most exciting moment—in this case, the hockey goal—making it fun to read about the sport.
• List-based chapters, including "Power Plays—10 Unforgettable Goals" and "Tickling the Twine—The Most Remarkable Scoring Plays," keep historical accounts lively and succinct.
• The book's clean layout includes plenty of full-color, game-action photographs as well as fascinating images from hockey's earliest years.
• Score! will appeal to both hockey novices and devoted fans.

Review: Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Fairest 
by Gail Carson Levine
Publisher: Harper Collins, 2008
Young Adult Fantasy


Summary in a Sentence:

In the Kingdom of Ayortha, Aza, an unattractive woman with a magical voice, learns to balance her appearance with her talent, meanwhile, her singing attracts both Prince Ijori, who cannot resist it, and Queen Ivi, who plots to use it to benefit herself.

My Opinion:

"I was born singing. Most babies cry. I sang an aria."

What a stellar first line. What follows is Levine's tale loosely based on the fairy tale Snow White. All the basic elements of the ancient tale appear in some form or fashion in the novel: apples, fair skin juxtaposed with jet black hair, dwarves (or gnomes in this case), a charming prince, and a cleverly disguised wicked queen. I would definitely recommend reading Ella Enchanted first before reading this one; this book has some characters connected to Ella. It's not imperative that you do so; just helpful.

Song is an important concept in the book; the Ayorthaians value singing as their main form of expression. This fact leads to my only complaint for the book: lengthy passages of sung poems or verses are included in the novel and I confess I began to skip over them. I found the songs to be annoying after the first 8 or so. Perhaps others wouldn't find them to be as distracting as I did. I understand the need for them to be there; I just did not like the vast amount included.

One of the main themes of Fairest is an important one for the book's target audience: accept the way you look. You're unique and beautiful just as you are. Aza was just like any other teenage girl - insecure and too hard on herself. I think many YA readers could relate to the way she feels. This aspect of the novel is very applicable in today's appearance-driven society.


You might also like:

• Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
• The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler
• Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley
• Mira, Mirror by Mette Ivie Harrison

For author information, visit Gail Carson Levine's blog.