tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61591288272506262852024-02-07T00:38:13.884-06:00A Bookshelf MonstrosityBecause life's too short to read bad books! A Bookshelf Monstrosity is the place to be for reviews about the best adult and children's fiction and nonfiction around.A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.comBlogger447125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-63512526574142540322019-01-21T11:13:00.001-06:002019-01-21T11:13:35.035-06:00This Librarian's Quick Pick: And Again <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7K9jmLlhbGcx9wzQxy9d7NGLRPvFVkRkImEEH-Zne_48Y82NL7VWcJArchEGJWB9AWlLiWLlhaw-AXQhdLsNoJUHp2-QJv08y1N4e4HDsJXlL5PfaQpeGgjnDOxKxdG6SeRV0bRbS_ZQ/s1600/and+again.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="336" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7K9jmLlhbGcx9wzQxy9d7NGLRPvFVkRkImEEH-Zne_48Y82NL7VWcJArchEGJWB9AWlLiWLlhaw-AXQhdLsNoJUHp2-QJv08y1N4e4HDsJXlL5PfaQpeGgjnDOxKxdG6SeRV0bRbS_ZQ/s320/and+again.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25110965-and-again?from_search=true">And Again</a> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Jessica Chiarella</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Science Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Touchstone, 2016</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What It's All About:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A sick, faded actress, a young art student with lung cancer, a mother who's been paralyzed for eight years, and an arrogant congressman with an aggressive brain tumor form an unlikely cohort whose alternating perspectives reveal what they now have in common. All newly emerged into physically healed versions of themselves following a memory "transfer," these four are prototypes of SUBlife, a cloning-based alternative to untimely death that provides new and improved substitute bodies. The problem is that no one is the same afterward, or even what other people expect them to be. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Read-Alikes:</b></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6334.Never_Let_Me_Go?from_search=true">Never Let Me Go</a> by Kazuo Ishiguro</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24493717-we-are-all-made-of-stars?from_search=true">We Are All Made of Stars</a> by Rowan Coleman</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Similar Authors:</b></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kazuo Ishiguro</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dan Chaon</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Read it if you like books that are:</b></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Character-driven</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Haunting</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Engaging</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<br />A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-72080255605141558532017-11-22T10:38:00.000-06:002017-11-22T10:38:22.368-06:00My Top 10 books of 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTy-H6Rjb3i1fYU7uisF_IzP0L4-Yatk8FIQN-ssMz4_epawJaTlamTvokt9Er5QBiqkbxzQUeiNr_CnHpOa1uw9DU5G1are1qLeKXEBbkCVBiac-RK2e-3gNjxG72drWocSMjL_umO8/s1600/Best+of+2017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="501" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTy-H6Rjb3i1fYU7uisF_IzP0L4-Yatk8FIQN-ssMz4_epawJaTlamTvokt9Er5QBiqkbxzQUeiNr_CnHpOa1uw9DU5G1are1qLeKXEBbkCVBiac-RK2e-3gNjxG72drWocSMjL_umO8/s640/Best+of+2017.png" width="448" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's been a great year of reading for me! I can't believe it's already time to wrap it up, but here we go. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My top 10 in no particular order...</span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4374400-if-i-stay?from_search=true">If I Stay</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Gayle Forman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954126-ghost?from_search=true">Ghost</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Jason Reynolds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18584855-heartless?from_search=true">Heartless</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Marissa Meyer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. </span></div>
<div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.</span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075671-the-hate-u-give?from_search=true">The Hate U Give</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Angie Thomas</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28954189-scythe?from_search=true">Scythe</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Neal Shusterman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25852870-eligible?from_search=true">Eligible</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Curtis Sittenfeld</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18144053-the-museum-of-extraordinary-things?from_search=true">The Museum of Extraordinary Things</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Alice Hoffman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman and the Butterfly Girl. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25781157-the-nest?from_search=true">The Nest</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs' joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28925266-the-perfect-girl?from_search=true">The Perfect Girl</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Gilly MacMillan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zoe Maisey is a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ. Three years ago, she was involved in a tragic incident that left three classmates dead. She served her time, and now her mother, Maria, is resolved to keep that devastating fact tucked far away from their new beginning, hiding the past even from her new husband and demanding Zoe do the same. </span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23492669-after-the-parade?from_search=true">After the Parade</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Lori </span>Ostend<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sensitive, bighearted, and achingly self-conscious, forty-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confinements of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After twenty years under the Pygmalion-like care of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to take control of his own fate. But soon after establishing himself in San Francisco, Aaron sees that real freedom will not come until he has made peace with his memories of Mortonville, Minnesota: a cramped town whose four hundred souls form a constellation of Aaron’s childhood heartbreaks and hopes.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33118312-refugee?from_search=true">Refugee</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by Alan Gratz (ok, I cheated with 11-but I can't leave this one off!!!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of </span><span style="color: #333333; font-style: italic;">tomorrow</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.</span></span></div>
</div>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-30527928649358475762017-11-01T12:05:00.000-05:002017-11-01T13:38:15.799-05:00What they're (really) reading: October 2017<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s1600/Book-face-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s640/Book-face-cover.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">By keeping a pulse on what our students are checking out at our middle school library 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.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Each month I'll feature some books that are on the "heavy rotation" list in our library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjtd1Ntzw8geO8cMt5Hs1g7hN1wxhEe8LO2naWqs8y2ofimAdDAd67LtKWQjl5sjhCH2JAmp0qtCju3i4MINbMk4OnOEP5WoH10317vxDJXHgY-ia5p6wZcZXcqG6RcNOo8GRdsp2YuM/s1600/october+post.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="999" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjtd1Ntzw8geO8cMt5Hs1g7hN1wxhEe8LO2naWqs8y2ofimAdDAd67LtKWQjl5sjhCH2JAmp0qtCju3i4MINbMk4OnOEP5WoH10317vxDJXHgY-ia5p6wZcZXcqG6RcNOo8GRdsp2YuM/s640/october+post.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Ripley's Believe It Or Not 2018</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Nonfiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">A collection of bizarre facts, stories, and photographs featuring unusual creatures, people, places, and adventures from around the world. Can't go wrong with Ripley's...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Fullmetal Alchemist</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">by Hiromu Arakawa</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Manga/Anime</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Manga and anime are white hot in our library! I'm building a collection as quickly as possible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Edward Elric, having lost his arm and leg in a botched alchemical ritual that left his brother Alphonse a soul in a suit of armor, continues his quest for the Philosopher's Stone which will restore their bodies, but the mission is jeopardized when Elric and Prince Lin of Xing are swallowed by the homunculus Gluttony.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>Star Wars: Incredible Cross Sections</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">by David West Reynolds</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Nonfiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Uses cross-section illustrations to reveal the interior layouts of fourteen vehicles and spacecraft featured in the "Star Wars" series of movies. We've seen a slight increase in Star Wars interest due to the upcoming movie release.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><b>The Gathering</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">by Dan Poblocki</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Horror Fiction</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Poppy Caldwell is an orphan who keeps seeing a figure standing behind her in the mirror at the group home where she lives, but she does not associate this ghost with the letter that mysteriously appears in her file, claiming to be from a long-lost aunt, and inviting her to Larkspur House--and she is just one of five children who find themselves gathered in this strange house with a deadly past, and apparently no intention of letting the children escape.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Roller Girl</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Victoria Jamieson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Astrid, about to begin junior high, heads to summer roller derby camp while best friend Nicole opts for ballet camp, their relationship is jeopardized by opposing interests.</span></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-2305684120386041012017-10-16T15:00:00.000-05:002017-10-16T15:00:20.762-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: All's Faire in Middle School<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33517044-all-s-faire-in-middle-school?ac=1&from_search=true">All's Faire in Middle School</a></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIfjhjDgyNiZDJB6F_zIlVxIxq_qrKmTrplaTxwKxzNjFfH_6NMSlwZe10lpj6jHNjpJbAqecBWe7XNF4LQNb_vTQMjJvmh6IEr_WA3gaKf6EFEx0RVoanLbCtK2QzMa74YyqeUIao9c/s1600/faire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIfjhjDgyNiZDJB6F_zIlVxIxq_qrKmTrplaTxwKxzNjFfH_6NMSlwZe10lpj6jHNjpJbAqecBWe7XNF4LQNb_vTQMjJvmh6IEr_WA3gaKf6EFEx0RVoanLbCtK2QzMa74YyqeUIao9c/s320/faire.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/JamiesonV">Victoria Jamieson</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/penguinusa">Dial Books</a> (2017)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's All About:</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Homeschooled by Renaissance Fair enthusiasts, eleven-year-old Imogene has a hard time fitting in when her wish to enroll in public school is granted.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamieson masterfully taps into the voice and concerns of middle-schoolers, and the offbeat setting of the Renaissance faire adds some lively texture.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamieson’s appealing, naturalistic artwork, full of warm tones, realistic-looking characters, and saturated colors, playfully incorporates medieval imagery along with Imogene’s more mundane homelife, particularly when Imogene fears that her misbehavior at home, thanks to frustrations at school, makes her more of a dragon than a knight.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamieson portrays a diverse cast of expressive, naturally posed figures occupying two equally immersive worlds.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who Should Read It:</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perfect for 4th-8th graders...and here's the book trailer!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZjxTjBaBK3A?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Else You Should Read:</span></b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Drama by Raina Telgemeier</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chiggers by Hope Larson</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunny Side Up by Jennifer Holm</span></li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-47739793587194077762017-10-03T07:55:00.000-05:002017-10-03T07:55:59.922-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: The Stars Beneath Our Feet<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzpZnNH9wfKyNaidL910xbm-J54jDhFKXkMsC07KQaB-PI1t-C7gGpl4C9OeW7Glpk_sTQ6oDYmiGwwoBmB8c-wbHNAnHQXm5XiMgqmz_2UTxs0_SxeTTPPumzU7gZ4DntK7dVM3QRdk/s1600/stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmzpZnNH9wfKyNaidL910xbm-J54jDhFKXkMsC07KQaB-PI1t-C7gGpl4C9OeW7Glpk_sTQ6oDYmiGwwoBmB8c-wbHNAnHQXm5XiMgqmz_2UTxs0_SxeTTPPumzU7gZ4DntK7dVM3QRdk/s1600/stars.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34057229-the-stars-beneath-our-feet?ac=1&from_search=true">The Stars Beneath Our Feet</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/dbarclaymoore">David Barclay Moore</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/penguinrandom">Knopf</a> (2017)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Realistic Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's About:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s Christmas Eve in Harlem, but twelve-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren’t celebrating. They’re still reeling from his older brother’s death in a gang-related shooting just a few months earlier.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why You'll Love It:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These characters are vibrantly alive, reconstituting the realness that is needed to bring diverse, complicated stories to the forefront of our shelves.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moore delivers a realistic and at times brutal portrait of life for young people of color who are living on the edge of poverty, while at the same time infuses the story with hope and aspiration, giving Lolly the chance to find salvation through creativity.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cover art. Seriously.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who Should Read It:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Great for 6th-8th graders. Also, here's an interview with author <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/09/16/551457577/a-boy-grows-up-in-harlem-in-the-stars-beneath-our-feet">Moore</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Else You Should Read:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Into the Dangerous World by Julie Chibbaro</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-74028718743657463652017-09-30T05:51:00.001-05:002017-09-30T06:03:54.055-05:00What they're (really) reading: September 2017<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s1600/Book-face-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s640/Book-face-cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">By keeping a pulse on what our students are checking out at our middle school library 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.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Each month I'll feature some books that are on the "heavy rotation" list in our library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiz2IRnQyZyXfOtD0E6GI1IDuisE7uxVBkn1ySkYNs_bYJrMQr9TIjYYQ-2wT6isbnitAgBVkCjpcyWL2MLVq8NpN65JfIfz8ynQntUV4wtvHbQPgj4fme5HV0HFiA_efFgE5yDrSJBZA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-09-30+at+5.46.56+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="1112" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiz2IRnQyZyXfOtD0E6GI1IDuisE7uxVBkn1ySkYNs_bYJrMQr9TIjYYQ-2wT6isbnitAgBVkCjpcyWL2MLVq8NpN65JfIfz8ynQntUV4wtvHbQPgj4fme5HV0HFiA_efFgE5yDrSJBZA/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-09-30+at+5.46.56+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><b>Secret Coders </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/geneluenyang">Gene Luen Yang</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Welcome to Stately Academy, a school which is just crawling with mysteries to be solved! The founder of the school left many clues and puzzles to challenge his enterprising students. Using their wits and their growing prowess with coding, Hopper and her friend Eni are going to solve the mystery of Stately Academy no matter what it takes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>A Bad Case of Stripes</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by David Shannon</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Picture Book</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">In order to ensure her popularity, Camilla Cream always does what is expected, until the day arrives when she no longer recognizes herself. (We recently visited an elementary school and our middle school students read a picture book to an elementary classroom. This was one of their picks!)</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Kristy's Great Idea</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by Ann M. Martin/<a href="https://twitter.com/goraina">Raina Telegemeier</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Follows the adventures of Kristy and the other members of the Baby-sitters Club as they deal with crank calls, uncontrollable two-year-olds, wild pets, and parents who do not always tell the truth.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Homework Machine</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/dangutmanbooks">Dan Gutman</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Humor Fiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Four fifth-grade students--a geek, a class clown, a teacher's pet, and a slacker--as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complet</span><span style="background-color: white;">e </span><span class="Highlight" style="background-color: white;">homework</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">assignments</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>There's a Fungus Among Us: True Stories of Killer Molds</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by John DiConsiglio</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Nonfiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Explains how fungi can help and harm people; discusses cases of deadly fungi found in Utah, Ohio, and British Columbia; and includes an interview with a mycologist.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Wake</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann">Lisa McMann</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Mystery/Fantasy Fiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-85445757174976754302017-09-24T11:18:00.002-05:002017-09-24T11:18:43.124-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Posted by John David Anderson<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31371228-posted?ac=1&from_search=true"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Posted</span></a></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhohF2D5IsrQX7UfWZHKNW1kHtcQ9vVIUcllyfH9GAtmBvF-0dEHDANouuE-IHo7iV9aRP50HDEorW2GhQ31osd7WrUP6HxqTJG5u18oNjlgGJmYAAJ-enQoEEziwzJxNfzenykjeqzN6M/s1600/posted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhohF2D5IsrQX7UfWZHKNW1kHtcQ9vVIUcllyfH9GAtmBvF-0dEHDANouuE-IHo7iV9aRP50HDEorW2GhQ31osd7WrUP6HxqTJG5u18oNjlgGJmYAAJ-enQoEEziwzJxNfzenykjeqzN6M/s320/posted.jpg" width="211" /></span></a></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/anderson_author">John David Anderson</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/waldenpondpress">Walden Pond</a>, 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Realistic Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's All About:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">In middle school, words aren't just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends, or make you enemies. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why You'll Love It:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acute observations about social media and school life and a smart, engaging narrator make this a journey well worth taking.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Anderson reminds us that bullying takes place in many forms: when cellphones are banned from Branton Middle School, the student population is thrown into a frenzy, which only increases when kids find a new way of communicating throughout the day—Post-it notes.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The characters, both adult and teen, are vivid, flawed, and approachable. Anderson dives into the world of middle school with a clear sense of how it works and what it needs.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who Should Read It:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Great for grades 5-8...and here's the <a href="https://b0f646cfbd7462424f7a-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/teaching-guides/TG-9780062338204.pdf">teaching guide</a>!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Else You Should Read:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mr. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Best Man by Richard Peck</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Restart by Gordon Korman</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-80095279353074356442017-08-31T14:32:00.000-05:002017-08-31T14:32:10.469-05:00What They're Really Reading : August 2017<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">By keeping a pulse on what our students are checking out at our middle school library 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.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Each month I'll feature some books that are on the "heavy rotation" list in our middle school library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws8dZ92jCxAV-g3rpnCexG_AO3sypo19KH7M0s6JitT6v-_6RZuOp4CU_gLiEjBicUbg9gHeUYEnLb9GWhsUZf3oLALRjW6Qarl2hBS4umHZzbzW_azxOjmUZdcXkgAZPZ7GaWzRTRA8/s1600/really+reading+August+17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws8dZ92jCxAV-g3rpnCexG_AO3sypo19KH7M0s6JitT6v-_6RZuOp4CU_gLiEjBicUbg9gHeUYEnLb9GWhsUZf3oLALRjW6Qarl2hBS4umHZzbzW_azxOjmUZdcXkgAZPZ7GaWzRTRA8/s400/really+reading+August+17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Just Listen</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by Sarah Dessen</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Realistic Fiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honestly and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Allegiant</b> (Bk. 3)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by Victoria Roth</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Dystopian Fiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered--fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Fablehaven </b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by Brandon Mull</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Fantasy Fiction</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents' estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil is looming.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><b>Rey Mysterio: High Flying Luchador</b> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">by Raatma</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;">Biography</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Describes the life and career of pro wrestler </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Highlight">Rey</span> <span class="Highlight">Mysterio.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Project Princess </span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Meg Cabot</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Humor/Realistic Fiction</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Presents an episode between volumes four and five of <i>The</i></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><i> </i></span><span class="Highlight" style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><i>Princess</i></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><i> </i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Diaries</i> in which Mia, a New York City teen who is becoming accustomed to being heir to the small European principality of Genovia, sets off with her friends from school to build homes for the less fortunate.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-2122279421197816052017-06-12T09:30:00.000-05:002017-06-12T09:30:38.230-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: The Sand Warrior (5 Worlds)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHxBYrtLZrdYX7eusz5gUMmGLWrb-lGfE2XvAIqHiNaZlzIKdqBgKDPZqAKjVJ0U39duBWkC2s_mUgjy90C33vAGLmLRxiaKSNWKo1rcF3RKUbEhBh6qMbJqDADNaUMpzQrzTHWGVkXM/s1600/sand+warrior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHxBYrtLZrdYX7eusz5gUMmGLWrb-lGfE2XvAIqHiNaZlzIKdqBgKDPZqAKjVJ0U39duBWkC2s_mUgjy90C33vAGLmLRxiaKSNWKo1rcF3RKUbEhBh6qMbJqDADNaUMpzQrzTHWGVkXM/s400/sand+warrior.jpg" width="266" /></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Sand Warrior</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/sailortwain">Mark Siegel</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">illustrated by </span><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>Ianthe</u></span><a href="https://twitter.com/xoxobouma" style="font-family: inherit;"> Boume</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/randomhousekids">Random House</a> (2017)<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's All About:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Five Worlds are on the brink of extinction unless five ancient and mysterious beacons are lit. When war erupts, three unlikely heroes will discover there's more to themselves--and more to their worlds--than meets the eye...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The three illustrators work seamlessly together to place Oona, a thick-bodied but graceful, pale-skinned strawberry blonde, in exotic, elaborately envisioned settings and surround her with a notably variegated cast of green-, blue-, brown-, black-, and pink-skinned allies and adversaries. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Adorable, cartoonish illustrations bring color and life to this action-packed story that's reminiscent of the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With sensitive writing, gorgeous artwork, and a riveting plot, this is a series to keep an eye on.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who Should Read It:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perfect for 4th-7th graders.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w82iiaMTmbI" width="560"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Else You Should Read:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26240657-red-s-planet?from_search=true">Red's Planet</a> by Eddie Pittman</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32829340-time-shifters?from_search=true">Time Shifter</a> by Chris Grine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32273165-future-quest-vol-1?ac=1&from_search=true">Future Quest</a> by Jeff Parker</span></li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-52876863236888121302017-05-15T10:00:00.000-05:002017-05-15T10:00:21.694-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Armstrong & Charlie<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYh8LD4k7x7-6c50jf4cnbwGH8gUNxTKlss_U_2F56lCB701wOHu2hZezPz-dqb4EJPoIVqLi5yYKRrxZpINX6Y6zv16M0Y32xisEk4QboyHUWfEYDfCIZW0kSMkUVN2_uvABJPuf2Y8/s1600/armstrong+and+charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYh8LD4k7x7-6c50jf4cnbwGH8gUNxTKlss_U_2F56lCB701wOHu2hZezPz-dqb4EJPoIVqLi5yYKRrxZpINX6Y6zv16M0Y32xisEk4QboyHUWfEYDfCIZW0kSMkUVN2_uvABJPuf2Y8/s320/armstrong+and+charlie.jpg" width="212" /></a><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28107411-armstrong-charlie?from_search=true">Armstrong & Charlie</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/stevenbfrank">Steven B. Frank</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/HMHCo">Houghton Mifflin Harcourt</a> (2017)<br />
Historical Fiction<br />
<br />
<b>What It's All About:</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Charlie isn't looking forward to sixth grade. If he starts sixth grade, chances are he'll finish it. And when he does, he'll grow older than the brother he recently lost. Armstrong isn't looking forward to sixth grade, either. When his parents sign him up for Opportunity Busing to a white school in the Hollywood Hills, all he wants to know is "What time in the morning will my alarm clock have the </span><span style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">opportunity</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> to ring?" When these two land at the same desk, it's the Rules Boy next to the Rebel, a boy who lost a brother elbow-to-elbow with a boy who longs for one.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b>Why You'll Love It:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Period details from the ’70s and hilarious dialogue will draw readers in from the very first pages.</span></span></li>
<li>Armstrong and Charlie is a must read for middle grade students who are trying to figure out their own place in the world, since that's exactly what these characters are trying to do. </li>
</ul>
<b>Who Should Read It:</b><br />
<br />
Great for 5th-8th graders...also check out this <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-e2daE0hoOBaVpyMmF2MXp4cjQ/view">activity kit</a> from the publisher.<br />
<br />
<b>What Else You Should Read:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821284-brown-girl-dreaming?from_search=true">Brown Girl Dreaming</a> by Jacqueline Woodson</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7192385-countdown">Countdown</a> by Deborah Wiles</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11699349-the-lions-of-little-rock?ac=1&from_search=true">Lions of Little Rock</a> by Kristin Levine</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-82322269847078729062017-05-12T10:00:00.000-05:002017-05-12T10:00:01.067-05:00I Tried It: Kicking Off Research With Costumes!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmeAP9rPLkd-3AzVz_eXndWNuHZy-K3pkCZS3z1qEr9OVXOKTau99bivFW25T_eOxQDZiKO7mTttqF7wf7uHlJzwMKOcFYcznqfcInkoNxWHkAf7xo1AiI1VOILq3aZqEHRNRW5vQp-W0/s1600/60s+research.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmeAP9rPLkd-3AzVz_eXndWNuHZy-K3pkCZS3z1qEr9OVXOKTau99bivFW25T_eOxQDZiKO7mTttqF7wf7uHlJzwMKOcFYcznqfcInkoNxWHkAf7xo1AiI1VOILq3aZqEHRNRW5vQp-W0/s640/60s+research.jpg" width="547" /></a></div>
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Seventh grade writing teachers at my middle school recruited me to dress up in order to kick off their research projects -- all about the 1960s! Students were able to pick a topic they were interested in and also pick the ways in which they presented the information. I love projects that support student choice.<br />
<br />
I also snuck in some handy tips about navigating our state's amazing online database resource, <a href="http://tntel.tnsos.org/">Tennessee Electronic Library</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTpFq7NeNmx8O7c5RzYoWyRo244wUmzINqL75IosKv3vuMLoihH2uyRzpFJR1twyytSSGuuYfBiOmwTmu3qIRv_JGZnZA-2h42E1w6WOW2DcGDCRsKH0wLZry2oOmkI9f9md10fvwIZw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-05-05+at+7.05.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzTpFq7NeNmx8O7c5RzYoWyRo244wUmzINqL75IosKv3vuMLoihH2uyRzpFJR1twyytSSGuuYfBiOmwTmu3qIRv_JGZnZA-2h42E1w6WOW2DcGDCRsKH0wLZry2oOmkI9f9md10fvwIZw/s400/Screen+Shot+2017-05-05+at+7.05.02+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
I showed them how to find primary sources on the databases as well as the nifty feature that automatically generates their citations for them. They were pretty pumped about that one.<br />
<br />
It's been so interesting to check in with the students as they discover more about their topics as they research.<br />
<br />
Happy teaching!A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-60231412199165463472017-05-08T07:00:00.000-05:002017-05-08T07:00:39.904-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Strong Inside<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqcYq_2NfuWDOQrpbyMKDiubBCbc0AvBtAr0dDxBZojeShcUzambtNUk91uGhCnpfrnZL3Xil2gk-jwtbwNp5TRoqoxLGdxAtr1oxX-KT4Q1rW7itKkWSMWiZsDI2B3GiViZl8GHzkvc/s1600/strong+inside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqcYq_2NfuWDOQrpbyMKDiubBCbc0AvBtAr0dDxBZojeShcUzambtNUk91uGhCnpfrnZL3Xil2gk-jwtbwNp5TRoqoxLGdxAtr1oxX-KT4Q1rW7itKkWSMWiZsDI2B3GiViZl8GHzkvc/s1600/strong+inside.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Strong Inside</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/trublu24">Andrew Maraniss</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/PhilomelBooks">Philomel</a> (2017)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nonfiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What It's All About:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Perry Wallace was born at an historic crossroads in U.S. history. He entered kindergarten the year that the Brown v. Board of Education decision led to integrated schools, allowing blacks and whites to learn side by side. A week after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Wallace enrolled in high school and his sensational jumping, dunking, and rebounding abilities quickly earned him the attention of college basketball recruiters from top schools across the nation.</span><br style="color: #333333;" /><br style="color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">The world seemed to be opening up at just the right time, and when Vanderbilt University recruited Wallace to play basketball, he courageously accepted the assignment to desegregate the Southeastern Conference. The hateful experiences he would endure on campus and in the hostile gymnasiums of the Deep South turned out to be the stuff of nightmares. Yet Wallace persisted, endured, and met this unthinkable challenge head on.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Author Maraniss doesn’t shy away from the difficulties, not wanting to whitewash history by editing away the ugly epithets that plagued Wallace throughout his career.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">The bibliography is packed with primary sources, offering ample research opportunities for those compelled to dig deeper into the civil rights struggle of Wallace and other black athletes.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maraniss writes in a way that would draw in reluctant readers. His writing is smooth and vivid. The smoothness makes the book fly by, while the vividness make the encounters Wallace face that much more damning.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Who Should Read It:</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perfect for 7th grade and up.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What Else You Should Read:</b></span></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Legends by Howard Bryant</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">On the Court with LeBron James by Matt Christopher</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Hoop Dreams by Ben Joravsky</span></li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-15351096086404645342017-05-05T07:00:00.000-05:002017-05-05T07:00:38.229-05:00Books By Theme: Positively Presidential<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTM5pxP-PKd2bSvSKx9wfcxJh9FBFFgp9GJzNwHWzeS5HabgCJh4MLIf5QsCZzRIMLggWyRvOf7yZZpIVbVaUBfywWqAcvWNbxx5T1UF1qzWZpRds0LwPa9nhEyBLoE9OFHRNzldtVRs/s1600/Positively+Presidential.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTM5pxP-PKd2bSvSKx9wfcxJh9FBFFgp9GJzNwHWzeS5HabgCJh4MLIf5QsCZzRIMLggWyRvOf7yZZpIVbVaUBfywWqAcvWNbxx5T1UF1qzWZpRds0LwPa9nhEyBLoE9OFHRNzldtVRs/s640/Positively+Presidential.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With presidents and politics garnering lots of media attention (in the U.S. and elsewhere), children may be curious. No matter where you live, these presidential-themed picture books -- some funny, some serious -- can serve as discussion starters.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25066584-one-today?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">One Today</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/rblancopoet" target="_blank">Richard Blanco</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">illustrated by Dav Pilkey</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From dawn till dusk, the rays of the sun touch all kinds of people as they go about their daily lives. Amid this bustling crowd, young readers can track one family and their cat across the pages of luminous, jewel-toned illustrations. (Older kids may be interested to note that the art is by Dav Pilkey of Captain Underpants fame.) Originally written for the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama, this graceful poem-turned-picture book features American points of reference, but its message of inclusiveness and hope will resonate with readers worldwide.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12127455-looking-at-lincoln?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Looking at Lincoln</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/MairaKalman" target="_blank">Maira Kalman</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fearlessly quirky author and illustrator Maira Kalman has made a book about Abraham Lincoln that is probably not like any others you may have read. Instead of presenting a specific story from Lincoln's life or providing a textbook-style biography, she creates a character (a girl) who becomes fascinated with the 16th U.S. president and learns everything she can about him. The girl isn't bashful about her emotions, either -- she really loves Lincoln and asks herself all kinds of questions about him. With bright, fun illustrations and a casual feel, </span><span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Looking at Lincoln</span><span style="background-color: white;"> is a sweet story about making personal connections with historical figures.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25777454-president-squid?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">President Squid</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/areynoldsbooks" target="_blank">Aaron Reynolds</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">illustrated by <a href="https://twitter.com/saravaron1" target="_blank">Sara Varon</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With many-armed abandon, a hot pink squid throws himself into a presidential campaign. He's sure he's right for the job: he's famous, he lives in a big house, he's loud and bossy ("Hey Jellyfish! Comb your tentacles! You look terrible!"), and he even wears a necktie! It takes one of the smallest voters under the sea to point out that perhaps Squid might add "helping people" to the list of presidential qualities. Though Squid utterly fails to learn a valuable lesson, his over-the-top antics may prompt giggling kids to chime in with their own ideas about leadership. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3017992-madam-president?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Madam President</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Lane Smith</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this witty book, a little girl imagines that she is President of the United States. After making an executive order for "more waffles, please," Madam President dons a smart pantsuit and makes her way through a busy day of photo ops, treaty negotiation (between a baffled cat and dog), vigorous veto-ing, and a "press conference" (her oral report). This chief executive's cabinet is populated with toy box residents -- Ms. Piggy Bank is Secretary of the Treasury, for example -- in just one of the many visual gags that complement the book's tongue-in-cheek formal text.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif , "lucida sans unicode"; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif , "lucida sans unicode"; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-31442480063736307872017-05-01T07:00:00.000-05:002017-05-01T07:00:00.168-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Real Friends<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VBsYsE8vC00SqUS1Bzn_x33rZA00SUADD-OM3b5QBgLXb_Ar3902-ZOhiIsHqUb-5cvITW6JeLMZ87H4y7WirFfvAGgtUYWBwQ_3fKdH2J09MPn3Gtz3Vi8XQpkJ5Di0SbdTp8KZyDk/s1600/real+friends+hale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9VBsYsE8vC00SqUS1Bzn_x33rZA00SUADD-OM3b5QBgLXb_Ar3902-ZOhiIsHqUb-5cvITW6JeLMZ87H4y7WirFfvAGgtUYWBwQ_3fKdH2J09MPn3Gtz3Vi8XQpkJ5Di0SbdTp8KZyDk/s400/real+friends+hale.jpg" width="275" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31145178-real-friends?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Real Friends</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/haleshannon" target="_blank">Shannon Hale</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Illustrations by LeUyen Pham</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/01FirstSecond" target="_blank">First Second Books</a> (2017)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel (Memoir)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What It's All About:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shannon and Adrienne have been best friends ever since they were little. But one day, Adrienne starts hanging out with Jen, the most popular girl in class and the leader of a circle of friends called The Group. Everyone in The Group wants to be Jen's #1, and some girls would do anything to stay on top . . . even if it means bullying others.</span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pham’s brightly colored panels are the perfect complement to Hale’s nuanced story, particularly when she zooms in on reactions, subtle gestures, and facial expressions that add captivating emotional depth.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's bound to resonate with most readers, especially kids struggling with the often turbulent waters of friendships and cliques.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Who Should Read It:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perfect for 3rd-6th graders...and here's the book trailer!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X9e__cBliAw" width="560"></iframe><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What Else You Should Read:</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6393631-smile?from_search=true">Smile</a> by Raina Telgemeier</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20701984-el-deafo?ac=1&from_search=true">El Deafo</a> by Cece Bell</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-4133413756532127382017-04-28T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-28T07:00:14.892-05:00What They're (Really) Reading: April 2017<div class="separator" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-family: 'Work Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">By keeping a pulse on what our students are checking out at our middle school library 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.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Each month I'll feature some books that are on the "heavy rotation" list in our middle school library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVF0jsE1_OnGOSWrXesm1e0wKbRy4tBv5pS3ZjRlsvkbNr0_CKEk-W92dZenf7jp3ORi99DilshMDfGn4iCtohtHLwauwSj5sTYV_mVQjNiUWsFwL3sR7owQ3E3xmB0vnIy0pP5tYftM/s1600/What+they%2527re+Really+Reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVF0jsE1_OnGOSWrXesm1e0wKbRy4tBv5pS3ZjRlsvkbNr0_CKEk-W92dZenf7jp3ORi99DilshMDfGn4iCtohtHLwauwSj5sTYV_mVQjNiUWsFwL3sR7owQ3E3xmB0vnIy0pP5tYftM/s640/What+they%2527re+Really+Reading.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13513205-a-wrinkle-in-time?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel</a></b><br />
adapted by <a href="https://twitter.com/hopelarson" target="_blank">Hope Larson</a><br />
<br />
I love that this graphic novel exists! So many students are introduced to a great book they might never pick up otherwise. I always lead them to the original novel when they turn the graphic novel in.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29844228-thirteen-reasons-why?from_search=true" target="_blank">Thirteen Reasons Why</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/jayasherguy" target="_blank">Jay Asher</a><br />
<br />
Netflix is to thank for bringing this book back into high circulation. There's definitely been some <a href="http://wtnh.com/2017/04/21/controversial-netflix-show-13-reasons-why-gaining-traction-with-teens-and-tweens/" target="_blank">controversy over the series' treatment of the novel</a>, but students are clamoring for it.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15756277-prisoner-b-3087?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Prisoner B-3087</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/AlanGratz" target="_blank">Alan Gratz</a><br />
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Gratz is wildly popular with our middle schoolers, especially after I did a WWII-themed book talk with one of my classes in February.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30117284-carve-the-mark?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Carve the Mark</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/VeronicaRoth" target="_blank">Veronica Roth</a><br />
<br />
I just grabbed this one off our book fair in March and it's already moving! Not surprising considering the popularity of the <i>Divergent</i> series.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/42069-a-series-of-unfortunate-events" target="_blank">Series of Unfortunate Events</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/lemonysnicket" target="_blank">Lemony Snicket</a><br />
<br />
Once again, Netflix has come into play and reawakened the love of an "older" book! <i>Series of Unfortunate Events</i> also almost won our March Book Madness school wide tournament in March. I love seeing this series fly off the shelves again thanks to Netflix's new adaptation.A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-38568639936324088752017-04-24T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-24T07:00:05.512-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Unbound<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5zb-M40nldVA1ePQaAVdy4grMcafTT12w8JkaMEbUghZJC0JtqRuJP180GN8p6hwNBvNf1jku6xnRPO99vIbXSSGvhOl97ihB-BcGuXIFq_Q42aHgy9bKKLoPmcWxJV_rz5fdtEem1M/s1600/unbound.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5zb-M40nldVA1ePQaAVdy4grMcafTT12w8JkaMEbUghZJC0JtqRuJP180GN8p6hwNBvNf1jku6xnRPO99vIbXSSGvhOl97ihB-BcGuXIFq_Q42aHgy9bKKLoPmcWxJV_rz5fdtEem1M/s400/unbound.jpg" width="248" /></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29230725-unbound?from_search=true" target="_blank">Unbound</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Ann E. Burg</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Scholastic" target="_blank">Scholastic</a> (2017)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Novel in Verse/Historical Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's All About:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The day nine-year-old Grace is called to work in the kitchen in the Big House, everyone warns her to to keep her head down and her thoughts to herself, but the more she sees of the oppressive Master and his hateful wife, the more she questions things until one day her thoughts escape--and to avoid being separated she and her family flee into the Dismal Swamp, to join the other escaped slaves who live there.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Why You'll Love It:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've discovered that there's a big niche for novels in verse at my school. Kids love the format and the quick pace of the writing. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cadences offer excellent choral reading possibilities and a glimpse into the little-known existence of covert slave communities in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina during slavery years.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Providing strong suspense and vivid imagery, the survival tale conveys the terror and dehumanization of slavery, a girl’s courage and growing sense of self amid terrible odds, and a family’s binding love and unyielding spirit. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who Should Read It:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Great for 4th-8th graders.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Else You Should Read:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17270515-serafina-s-promise?from_search=true" target="_blank">Serafina's Promise</a> by Ann Burg</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23167768-nathan-hale-s-hazardous-tales?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: The Underground Abductor</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23617200-full-cicada-moon?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Full Cicada Moon</a> by Marilyn Hilton</span></li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-44886344715015498042017-04-21T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-21T19:15:09.524-05:00Books by Theme: If You Like Wonder...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfwUJPDRSjBTrz6-ztDk23FFUgu2wE0q27mRK0DfcjA3mp3pGe4ABhwBkmlhcmzUhfJGbTk0sudzX9sQgqM1WwZzRcm_qv2t-CgHJgnR7TkCL6RdCKtRLiXBL7tScmK1zP7paIXRzvxs/s1600/wonder+and+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfwUJPDRSjBTrz6-ztDk23FFUgu2wE0q27mRK0DfcjA3mp3pGe4ABhwBkmlhcmzUhfJGbTk0sudzX9sQgqM1WwZzRcm_qv2t-CgHJgnR7TkCL6RdCKtRLiXBL7tScmK1zP7paIXRzvxs/s640/wonder+and+quote.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard all about <i>Wonder</i>. If you've been under said rock, learn more about this excellent book and the <a href="http://choosekind.tumblr.com/resources" target="_blank">"Choose Kind" movement here</a>. Then read these other books that also showcase empathy, kindness, and accepting differences.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcOZkCaPBEAllCy2tUKUZ4-KxZ1aE9fnMv9SvsUcaCLe0FrfE419QRrOFOMjgG0HZGzH8qbmQ9bAEQHdEReJ-_E8OO3eidSm0eQrQ1CxEpJPDGFkgYHuiWH_BLmVp2LNmN_1D3sRiK88/s1600/If+You+Like+Wonder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcOZkCaPBEAllCy2tUKUZ4-KxZ1aE9fnMv9SvsUcaCLe0FrfE419QRrOFOMjgG0HZGzH8qbmQ9bAEQHdEReJ-_E8OO3eidSm0eQrQ1CxEpJPDGFkgYHuiWH_BLmVp2LNmN_1D3sRiK88/s400/If+You+Like+Wonder.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20701984-el-deafo?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">El Deafo</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/CeceBellBooks" target="_blank">Cece Bell</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Starting at a new school is scary, even more so with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece's class was deaf. Here she is different. She is sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom, but anywhere her teacher is in school--in the hallway...in the teacher's lounge...in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6609765-out-of-my-mind?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Out of My Mind</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/sharonmdraper" target="_blank">Sharon Draper</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom - the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she's determined to let everyone know it - somehow.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87220.Loser?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Loser</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Jerry Spinelli</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip." Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15797693-paperboy?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Paperboy</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/VVAWTER" target="_blank">Vince Vawter</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">An 11-year-old boy living in Memphis in 1959 throws the meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering, not even his own name. So when he takes over his best friend's paper route for the month of July, he knows he'll be forced to communicate with the different customers, including a housewife who drinks too much and a retired merchant marine who seems to know just about everything. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The paper route poses challenges, but it's a run-in with the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, that stirs up real trouble--and puts the boy's life, as well as that of his family's devoted housekeeper, in danger.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15937108-counting-by-7s?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Counting by 7s</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/HGoldbergSloan" target="_blank">Holly Goldberg Sloan</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22232.Stargirl?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stargirl</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Jerry Spinelli</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-84966972597294349152017-04-17T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-17T07:00:24.170-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Legends by Howard Bryant<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwQGxZXYSeKFkF2BzBsxCGUea7zMpMUCO3PlouxKp2tcM4yEHevkYj3rACePOtJ4txvvwTtVeMpmTFoTxZd-kbh6tUSHo5X5Svnh0iMHy1eR5WmhYVwcRQfcZb2CH8OJFYDufGSolDSQ/s1600/legends+bryant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwQGxZXYSeKFkF2BzBsxCGUea7zMpMUCO3PlouxKp2tcM4yEHevkYj3rACePOtJ4txvvwTtVeMpmTFoTxZd-kbh6tUSHo5X5Svnh0iMHy1eR5WmhYVwcRQfcZb2CH8OJFYDufGSolDSQ/s320/legends+bryant.jpg" width="212" /></a><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30008711-legends?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Legends: The Best Players, Games, and Teams in Basketball</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/hbryant42" target="_blank">Howard Bryant </a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/philomelbooks" target="_blank">Philomel Books</a> (2017)<br />
Sports Nonfiction<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>What It's All About:</b><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Giants of the game like Steph Curry, LeBron, and Michael Jordan have transcended the sport to become cultural icons and role models to young fans. From the cornfields of Indiana and the hills of North Carolina, to the urban sprawl of New York City, Chicago and L.A., love of the game stretches from coast to coast. Featuring Top Ten Lists to chew on and debate, and a Top 40-style Timeline of Key Moments in Basektball History, this comprehensive collection includes the greatest dynasties, from the Bill Russell-era Celtics, to the Magic Jonson-led Lakers, to the Jordan-led Bulls, right up to the Tim Duncan-led Spurs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is<span style="background-color: white;"> an easy hook for serious sports fans seeking an exploration of the history of basketball.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alternates among overviews of each decade since the 1960s, profiles of particular players or accounts of high-profile matches, themed “Top 10” lists, and lends itself well to browsing.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rather than present a rigidly systematic chronicle or an indigestible barrage of names and statistics, he begins chapters with highlight reels of each era’s leading players and teams.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<b>Who Should Read It:</b><br />
<br />
Great for 5th grade and up.<br />
<br />
<b>What Else You Should Read:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>The rest of the <i>Legends</i> series, also by Howard Bryant</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26618956-the-final-four?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">The Final Four: The Pursuit of College Basketball Glory</a> by Matt Doeden</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18263725-the-crossover?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Crossover</a> by Kwame Alexander</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-28830074111446365762017-04-14T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-14T07:00:17.002-05:00Books By Theme: You're In Luck...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3681hTghPZTBDvun7ZPpQy5SL-xNzhY44Olx89ZdjZb8n3mftrkgaOedDUiA07UEbYayjGxmpfI6cQIWeOrJ2KaVvCCNMwG3zgQ5BEc0eE7_CkhTjzBYeq0aYK5p0KzWq6QPBkx8Q2d4/s1600/youreinluck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3681hTghPZTBDvun7ZPpQy5SL-xNzhY44Olx89ZdjZb8n3mftrkgaOedDUiA07UEbYayjGxmpfI6cQIWeOrJ2KaVvCCNMwG3zgQ5BEc0eE7_CkhTjzBYeq0aYK5p0KzWq6QPBkx8Q2d4/s640/youreinluck.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18635085-the-luck-uglies?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Luck Uglies </a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/pauldurhambooks" target="_blank">Paul Durham</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Strange things are happening in Village Drowning, and a terrifying encounter has Rye O'Chanter convinced that the monstrous, supposedly extinct Bog Noblins have returned. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Now Rye's only hope is an exiled secret society so notorious its name can't be spoken aloud: the Luck Uglies. As Rye dives into Village Drowning's maze of secrets, rules, and lies, she'll discover the truth behind the village's legends of outlaws and beasts...and that it may take a villain to save them from the monsters.</span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13513408-a-whole-lot-of-lucky?from_search=true" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">A Whole Lot of Lucky</span></b></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/danettehaworth" target="_blank">Danette Haworth</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hailee Richardson never realized how much she hated her Salvation Army life and Goodwill accessories until the night her family wins the lottery. All of a sudden she's no longer the only girl at school without a cell phone or a brand-new bike! And the newfound popularity that comes with being a lottery winner is just what she's always dreamed of. But the glow of her smartphone and fancy new clothes wears off when Hailee is transferred to Magnolia Academy, a private school. All of a sudden, her best friend and parents seem shabby compared to the beautiful Magnolia moms and the popular bad-girl Nikki, who seems to want to be her friend.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22749530-lucky-strike?from_search=true" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lucky Strike</span></b></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/bobbiepyron?lang=en" target="_blank">Bobbie Pyron</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Nate Harlow would love to be lucky, just once! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">He'd like to win a prize, get picked first, call a coin toss right, even! But his best friend, Genesis Beam (aka Gen), believes in science and logic, and she doesn't think for one second that there's such a thing as luck, good or bad. She doesn't care what names the other kids call them. She cares about being right, about saving the turtles of Paradise Beach, and she cares about Nate.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079564-the-junction-of-sunshine-and-lucky?from_search=true" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky</span></b></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/holly_schindler?lang=en" target="_blank">Holly Schindler</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">August “Auggie” Jones lives with her Grandpa Gus, a trash hauler, in a poor part of town. So when her wealthy classmate’s father starts the House Beautification Committee, it’s homes like Auggie’s that are deemed “in violation.” Auggie is determined to prove that she is not as run-down as the outside of her house might suggest. Using the kind of items Gus usually hauls to the scrap heap, a broken toaster becomes a flower; church windows turn into a rainbow walkway; and an old car gets new life as spinning whirligigs. What starts out as a home renovation project becomes much more as Auggie and her grandpa discover a talent they never knew they had—and redefine a whole town’s perception of beauty, one recycled sculpture at a time.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11737313-three-times-lucky?from_search=true" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Three Times Lucky</span></b></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Sheila Turnage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.</span></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-9427725045453400972017-04-10T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-24T07:57:06.485-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Overturned<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XIgNUcDMczqzQF1w28TRIACe37A87zMvQnu8fnwsoQhGjSqHsgOjw9MGDvaIF3DWp6FmimSHxIRtgzap1MR0_dcFqM0eDOc9tSsV-NI8AGqngMexhLxjE-UfTrGRku4gd4Ef3W_Wszo/s1600/overturned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XIgNUcDMczqzQF1w28TRIACe37A87zMvQnu8fnwsoQhGjSqHsgOjw9MGDvaIF3DWp6FmimSHxIRtgzap1MR0_dcFqM0eDOc9tSsV-NI8AGqngMexhLxjE-UfTrGRku4gd4Ef3W_Wszo/s400/overturned.jpg" width="263" /></a><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30363231-overturned?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Overturned</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/LRGiles" target="_blank">Lamar Giles</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/Scholastic" target="_blank">Scholastic</a> (2017)<br />
Mystery Fiction<br />
<br />
<b>What It's All About:</b><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nikki Tate's father has been on death row for killing his best friend in a gambling dispute, but he has always maintained his innocence, and now his conviction has been overturned and he is back at the casino, where high school junior Nikki has been operating illegal poker games in the hopes of saving enough money to get out of Vegas after graduation--and now he is determined to find the real killer, and Nikki is inevitably drawn into his dangerous search for the truth.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b>Why You'll Love It:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A fast-paced, compelling mystery and memorable characters and relationships make this selection a first choice.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The mystery never feels forced and seems to flow naturally, gaining momentum as Nikki peels away each layer until everything is ultimately revealed.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Racial elements at play - the Tates are black while their rivals, the Carlinos, are white - hover in the background, adding another layer to Giles's murder mystery.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<b>Who Should Read It:</b><br />
<br />
Perfect for 7th grade and up.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zuJS5k5JsjM" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>What Else You Should Read:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713041-endangered?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Endangered</a> by Lamar Giles</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22749775-con-academy?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Con Academy</a> by Joe Schreiber</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713071-scarlett-undercover?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Scarlett Undercover</a> by Jennifer Latham</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-48696049951992055042017-04-07T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-07T07:00:23.431-05:00Books by Theme: If You Like Dork Diaries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfnbh9ibGhHZj2TUot93lCPHib7JMlNpXtOuhCqLma2bjHuORYTnS8wTGHu3O86Ttg-Ws2noy46sRRw0VSFgyVpxOoS689viWnjkZpORcIRr2JEG-oCEfiBVbc-W4F8OjeTUfAm4xHZ0/s1600/dork+diaries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfnbh9ibGhHZj2TUot93lCPHib7JMlNpXtOuhCqLma2bjHuORYTnS8wTGHu3O86Ttg-Ws2noy46sRRw0VSFgyVpxOoS689viWnjkZpORcIRr2JEG-oCEfiBVbc-W4F8OjeTUfAm4xHZ0/s640/dork+diaries.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't know about you, but I find that <i>Dork Diaries</i> is even more popular than <i>Wimpy Kid</i> at our middle school! I'm constantly directing readers to other great books to read after they've finished Russell's series. Here are the books and series I point to over and over again to whet readers' appetites.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzr3tmz2PorRQE03TUlDCbCniSFxODJEgWZ3wEGBZdYFZV8hWjX4eQasgNGXpJ2AC4kV8ZdXsC_rupcii5361bP7v39_7D6dUoX-z07dgpIyHUDU51bEizl1FvT-BjIOf9M8S5oy1Mm1g/s1600/PicMonkey+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzr3tmz2PorRQE03TUlDCbCniSFxODJEgWZ3wEGBZdYFZV8hWjX4eQasgNGXpJ2AC4kV8ZdXsC_rupcii5361bP7v39_7D6dUoX-z07dgpIyHUDU51bEizl1FvT-BjIOf9M8S5oy1Mm1g/s640/PicMonkey+Image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/138998-the-popularity-papers" target="_blank">Popularity Papers</a> </b>(series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/amyignatow" target="_blank">Amy Ignatow</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang are best friends with one goal: to crack the code of popularity. Lydia’s the bold one: aspiring theater star, stick-fighting enthusiast, human guinea pig. Julie’s the shy one: observer and artist, accidental field hockey star, faithful recorder. In this notebook they write down their observations and carry out experiments to try to determine what makes the popular girls tick. But somehow, when Lydia and Julie try to imitate the popular girls, their efforts don’t translate into instant popularity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/55802-dear-dumb-diary" target="_blank"><b>Dear Dumb Diary</b></a> (series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/JimBenton" target="_blank">Jim Benton</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">School was okay today. Actually, it was better than okay. Angeline got her long, beautiful hair tangled in one of the jillion things she has dangling from her backpack, and the school nurse -- who is now one of my main heroes -- took a pair of scissors and snipped two feet of silky blond hair from the left side of her head, so now Angeline only looks like The Prettiest Girl in the World if you're standing on her right. (Although personally, I think she would look better if I was standing on her neck.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/72086-amelia-s-notebooks" target="_blank"><b>Amelia's Notebooks</b></a> (series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/marissawriter" target="_blank">Marissa Moss</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"> Moss may have her name on the title page, but this is really Amelia's book. The feisty, make-believe nine-year-old takes on a life of her own as she writes and draws her feelings about moving, starting a new school, and making new friends (some antagonism toward her older sister, Cleo, who "picks her nose with her little finger," sneaks in as well). A colorful riot of childlike drawings and lots of hand-printed text spill every which way across the pages. Both the language and the art style are on target for the age group--Amelia is droll and funny and not too sophisticated for her years; she's also poignant and real as she longs for her "far-away" friend and takes tentative steps to find one close by.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21469059-katie-friedman-gives-up-texting-and-lives-to-tell-about-it?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><b><br /></b></a>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21469059-katie-friedman-gives-up-texting-and-lives-to-tell-about-it?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><b>Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/tommygreenwald" target="_blank">Tommy Greenwald</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Here are a few things you need to know about Katie Friedman:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">1. Katie is swearing off phones for life! (No, seriously. She just sent the wrong text to the wrong person!)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">2. She wants to break up with her boyfriend. (Until, that is, he surprises her with front row tickets to her favorite band, Plain Jane. Now what!?)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">3. She wants to be a rock star (It's true. She has a band and everything.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">4. Her best friend is Charlie Joe Jackson. (Yeah, you know the guy.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">5. And most importantly, Katie's been offered the deal of a lifetime—get ten of her friends to give up their phones for one week and everyone can have backstage passes to Plain Jane. (A whole week!? Is that even possible?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/124351-pearl-littlefield" target="_blank"><b>Ten Rules For Living With My Sister</b></a> (series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by<a href="https://twitter.com/authorannmartin" target="_blank"> Ann M. Martin</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Pearl's older sister Lexie is in eighth grade and has a boyfriend. Pearl's only boyfriend is the family's crabby cat, Bitey. Lexie is popular. Pearl is not, mostly because of the embarrassing Three Bad Things that happened in school and which no one has forgotten. Everything Pearl does seems to drive Lexie crazy. On top of that, their grandfather is moving into their family's apartment and taking over Pearl's room. How will these sisters share without driving one another crazy?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/61442-willow-falls" target="_blank"><b>11 Birthdays</b> </a>(series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/wenmass" target="_blank">Wendy Mass</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">GROUNDHOG DAY meets FLIPPED in this tale of a girl stuck in her birthday.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited -- after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/characters/96680-ginny-davis" target="_blank"><b>Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf</b></a> (series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/jenniholm" target="_blank">Jennifer Holm</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: inherit;">Ginny has ten items on her big to-do list for seventh grade. None of them, however, include accidentally turning her hair pink. Or getting sent to detention for throwing frogs in class. Or losing the lead role in the ballet recital to her ex-best friend. Or the thousand other things that can go wrong between September and June. But it looks like it's shaping up to be that kind of a year! Here's the story of one girl's worst school year ever -- told completely through her stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/87320-blogtastic" target="_blank"><b>Gossip From the Girls' Room</b></a> (series)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/rosecooper" target="_blank">Rose Cooper</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Gossip from the Girls’ Room</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> fills readers in on all there is to learn about middle school life at Middlebrooke, where Sofia has her very own blog and discusses all the juicy gossip that comes out of the Girls’ room; read along to find out just what happens when class is not in session.</span></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-89027171077150380392017-04-03T07:00:00.000-05:002017-04-03T07:00:21.600-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Well, That Was Awkward...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi0B4agRDX-l3htY4Sa8WEAjsOYf1HftB8IvAOJVQFtIUZ_yA2hlvyMApmIGBxJ36k9_E3snQmi3fjZSbFZXaZo_lNyl2o7LgHpkFfcGQYSsyV4eiYVeh9URKcMPJSwdpu_M44jmI8Rk/s1600/well+that+was+awkward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimi0B4agRDX-l3htY4Sa8WEAjsOYf1HftB8IvAOJVQFtIUZ_yA2hlvyMApmIGBxJ36k9_E3snQmi3fjZSbFZXaZo_lNyl2o7LgHpkFfcGQYSsyV4eiYVeh9URKcMPJSwdpu_M44jmI8Rk/s400/well+that+was+awkward.jpg" width="265" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32311770-well-that-was-awkward" target="_blank"><b>Well, That Was Awkward</b></a><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/rachelvailbooks" target="_blank">Rachel Vail</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/VikingChildrens" target="_blank">Viking</a> (2017)<br />
Middle Grade Fiction<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What It's All About:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Gracie has never felt like this before. One day, she suddenly can't breathe, can't walk, can't </span><i style="color: #181818;">anything</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> and the reason is standing right there in front of her, all tall and weirdly good-looking: A.J. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">It turns out A.J. likes not Gracie but Gracie's beautiful best friend, Sienna. Obviously Gracie is happy for Sienna. Super happy! She helps Sienna compose the best texts, responding to A.J. s surprisingly funny and appealing texts, just as if </span><i style="color: #181818;">she </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">were Sienna. Because Gracie is fine. Always! She's had lots of practice being the sidekick, second-best. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">It s all good. Well, almost all. She's trying.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why You'll Love It:</b></span><br />
<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This modern, middle-school retelling of <i>Cyrano de Bergerac</i> is heartwarming, funny, and tender, offering a story of young love and loyalty, friendship and family.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This tween romance proves that some stories stand the test of time, even with modernization.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gracie's breakneck narration is presented in and out of text messages, folding in an effortlessly diverse cast, including Latina Sienna and Filipino-Israeli Emmett.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Readers will see themselves in Gracie and her friends, root for them, and likely figure out who is actually texting whom before the characters do, even if they haven't read the source material.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<b>Who Should Read It:</b><br />
<br />
Great for 5th-8th graders.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dcWl8rrygW0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>What Else You Should Read:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23615709-goodbye-stranger?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Goodbye Stranger</a> by Rebecca Stead</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20578954-finding-ruby-starling?from_search=true" target="_blank">Finding Ruby Starling</a> by Karen Rivers</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28179947-a-year-in-the-life-of-a-complete-and-total-genius" target="_blank">A Year in the Life of a Complete and Total Genius</a> by Stacey Matson</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-88919448222992084772017-03-31T07:00:00.000-05:002017-03-31T07:00:10.254-05:00What they're (really) reading: March 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s1600/Book-face-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yB9Ak1lJuUwR9gnUS4tP_KCYzaqd2RhCmaBaxVvUKDcTIjiArAIHo-pKObWVDso-a3Z-MA2GlUrLS1i03CIFZuLqKPT218P4EfDUBHn-vVd5xRnQLY8NJ4SrmnK5j6R2CuM_-RW0O0/s640/Book-face-cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">By keeping a pulse on what our students are checking out at our middle school library 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.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">Each month I'll feature some books that are on the "heavy rotation" list in our middle school library. They're not necessarily new, shiny, or covered with awards -- they're just what the kids want.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>This Month's Selections:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19561918-school-for-sidekicks?from_search=true" target="_blank">School For Sidekicks</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/KellyDMcC" target="_blank">Kelly McCullough</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fantasy/Adventure Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Superhero geek Evan survives a supervillian's death ray, and is sent to the Academy for Metahuman Operatives. Unfortunately, instead of fighting bad guys, Evan finds himself blacklisted, and on the wrong side of the school's director. Can he convince his semi-retired has-been mentor to become a real hero once again?</span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/253043.Sir_Cumference_and_the_Dragon_of_Pi?from_search=true" target="_blank">Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi : a math adventure</a></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Cindy Neuschwander</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nonfiction </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Radius, son of Sir Cumference, embarks on a quest to find the magic number known as pi in order to restore his father--who has been turned into a dragon--to his original shape. Glad to see this title get some love from <a href="http://www.piday.org/2008/2008-pi-day-activities-for-teachers/" target="_blank">Pi Day </a>:)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24727085-baba-yaga-s-assistant?from_search=true" target="_blank">Baba Yaga's Assistant</a></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/marikamccoola" target="_blank">Marika McCoola</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Graphic Novel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most children think twice before braving a haunted wood filled with terrifying beasties to match wits with a witch, but not Masha. Her beloved grandma taught her many useful things: that stories are useful, that magic is fickle, and that nothing is too difficult or too dirty to clean. The fearsome witch of folklore needs an assistant, and Masha needs an adventure. This book was featured in <a href="http://bookshelfmonstrosity.blogspot.com/2017/02/i-tried-it-book-tastingbook-speed-dating.html" target="_blank">February's book tasting activity</a> I did with students. I think it was a success!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8235178-across-the-universe?from_search=true" target="_blank">Across the Universe</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/bethrevis" target="_blank">Beth Revis</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dystopian Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Amy, having been cryogenically frozen and placed onboard a spaceship which was supposed to land on a distant planet three hundred years in the future, is unplugged fifty years too early and finds herself stuck inside an enclosed world ruled by a tyrannical leader and his rebellious teenage heir and confused about who to trust and why someone is trying to kill her. Revis was a featured author at the <a href="http://bookshelfmonstrosity.blogspot.com/2017/03/i-tried-it-young-adult-book-festival.html" target="_blank">SE-YA Book Fest</a> we attended this month, so I was glad to see that this book got a circulation bump. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17453187-mark-of-the-thief?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Mark of the Thief</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/nielsenwriter" target="_blank">Jennifer Nielsen</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Historical/Adventure Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Nic, a slave in the mines outside of Rome, is forced to enter a sealed cavern containing lost treasures of Julius Caesar, he finds himself in possession of an ancient amulet filled with magic once reserved for the Gods, and becomes the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and destroy Rome. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19542841-more-happy-than-not?from_search=true" target="_blank">More Happy Than Not</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/adamsilvera" target="_blank">Adam Silvera</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Speculative Fiction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After enduring his father's suicide, his own suicide attempt, broken friendships, and more in the Bronx projects, Aaron Soto, sixteen, is already considering the Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure when his new friendship with Thomas turns to unrequited love. This one also got a bump in interest from the <a href="http://bookshelfmonstrosity.blogspot.com/2017/03/i-tried-it-young-adult-book-festival.html" target="_blank">SE-YA Book Festival</a> we attended this month.</span></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-26502555267806487312017-03-27T07:00:00.000-05:002017-03-27T07:00:19.443-05:00This Librarian's Quick Picks: Hidden Figures<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5PG0adjl0nqmJZSpTlD6A2YY3rEK8OOxEMgnyCanY9rGGlPPu8vF2Et5BX51QHIUr9YzXZ78D6s9p6kckPMbdzf8Lua5eFJcrg0ib25UZgbcHBXivjLH9kLAYC9AfNiEQ9q8p7Mo2YU/s1600/hidden+figures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5PG0adjl0nqmJZSpTlD6A2YY3rEK8OOxEMgnyCanY9rGGlPPu8vF2Et5BX51QHIUr9YzXZ78D6s9p6kckPMbdzf8Lua5eFJcrg0ib25UZgbcHBXivjLH9kLAYC9AfNiEQ9q8p7Mo2YU/s400/hidden+figures.jpg" width="268" /></a><b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30840370-hidden-figures?from_search=true" target="_blank">Hidden Figures</a></b><br />
by <a href="https://twitter.com/margotshetterly" target="_blank">Margot Lee Shetterly</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/HarperCollins" target="_blank">Harper</a> (Nov. 2016)<br />
Narrative Nonfiction<br />
<br />
<b>What It's All About:</b><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women who lived through the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b>Why You'll Love It:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In any context, these women’s contributions to science and aerospace technology would be impressive, but the obstacles imposed by the norms of their society make their achievements all the more impressive.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There's already lots of interest generated from the movie in theaters right now.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shetterly's book offers up a crucial history that had previously and unforgivably been lost. We'd do well to put this book into the hands of young women who have long since been told that there's no room for them at the scientific table.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<b>Who Should Read It:</b><br />
<br />
Great for 5th-8th graders.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F843P5qpN1E" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>What Else You Should Read:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23719239-breakthrough?from_search=true" target="_blank">Breakthrough! How 3 People Saved "Blue Babies" & Changed Medicine Forever</a> by Jim Murphy</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24886042-radioactive?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Radioactive! How Irene Curie & Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World</a> by Winifred Conkling</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23310703-sally-ride?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America's Pioneering Woman in Space</a> by Tam O'Shaughnessy</li>
</ul>
A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6159128827250626285.post-58971160438091118712017-03-24T16:32:00.000-05:002017-04-03T19:20:06.711-05:00Spring Book Fair Top Ten Titles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXF31HjWtYAF19tlFpOXRnhngi_P0blocXrDxxKkd5DiMLpOBSB2sF3ZzzgksHCd2PRKlH8AmhQGePNlU_0FJoLtFRDFpuVU8JkXsTSAICqVqJG0lQ50_Qcjl2RKGLPZRRXMzr5yYipPU/s1600/Spring+book+fair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXF31HjWtYAF19tlFpOXRnhngi_P0blocXrDxxKkd5DiMLpOBSB2sF3ZzzgksHCd2PRKlH8AmhQGePNlU_0FJoLtFRDFpuVU8JkXsTSAICqVqJG0lQ50_Qcjl2RKGLPZRRXMzr5yYipPU/s640/Spring+book+fair.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We're just finishing up our Spring Book Fair, and I've been so impressed with this season's titles!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's also my first middle school book fair and I have to say I like the selection better than the elementary fairs. I feel like there's more quality books here in middle school land -- at least as far as book fairs are concerned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Listed below are the top best-sellers at my middle school this time around. I'm pleasantly surprised by many of the books that were consistently selected -- also note that perennial favorites like Wimpy Kid are not to be found anywhere on the list. I believe this is because they KNOW they can find those titles at our library. They went for the books we don't have in the collection to purchase at the book fair. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Smart cookies ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 10: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18938070-surrounded-by-sharks?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Surrounded By Sharks</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/mdnorthrop" target="_blank">Michael Northrop</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="freeText12414326520112616373" style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">When Davey wakes, just as the sun is rising, he can't wait to slip out of the crammed hotel room he's sharing with his family. Leave it to his parents and kid brother to waste an entire day of vacation sleeping in! Davey heads straight for the beach, book and glasses in hand, not bothering to leave a note. As the sparkling ocean entices him, he decides to test the water, never mind that "No Swimming" sign. But as the waves pull him farther from shore, Davey finds himself surrounded by water -- and something else, too. Something circling below the surface, watching, waiting. It's just a matter of time.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 9: </span></b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28221004-guinness-world-records-2017-gamer-s-edition?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2017 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Get an inside look at the indie game scene, the big-money world of eSports, and a celebration of 25 years of </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Mario Kart</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">. There’s everything from space shooters such as </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Destiny</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">, to RPGs such as </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Fallout 4</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">, to the hit sport series </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">FIFA</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Madden</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">. We’ve got sims, strategy games, and horror titles, and we also take a look at the toys-to-life phenomenon.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 8: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23657454-awkward?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Awkward</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/svetlania" target="_blank">Svetlana Chmakova</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don't get noticed by the mean kids.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">On her first day at her new school, Penelope--Peppi--Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she's already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the "nerder girlfriend." How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can't help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he's a member of her own club's archrivals--the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 7: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25903764-ghosts?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Ghosts</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/goraina" target="_blank">Raina Telgemeier</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Catrina and her family are moving to the coast of Northern California because her little sister, Maya, is sick. Cat isn't happy about leaving her friends for Bahía de la Luna, but Maya has cystic fibrosis and will benefit from the cool, salty air that blows in from the sea. As the girls explore their new home, a neighbor lets them in on a secret: There are ghosts in Bahía de la Luna. Maya is determined to meet one, but Cat wants nothing to do with them. As the time of year when ghosts reunite with their loved ones approaches, Cat must figure out how to put aside her fears for her sister's sake - and her own.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 6: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18594549-how-they-choked?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">How They Choked</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Georgia Bragg & Kevin O'Malley</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Over the course of history, famous people made mistakes that were so monumental they could never escape them, no matter how brilliant their successes! Ferdinand Magellan is credited as the first man to sail around the world . . . but he only actually made it halfway. His terrible treatment of everyone he met cut his life journey short. Queen Isabella of Spain is remembered for financing Columbus’s expeditions—and for creating the Spanish Inquisition. J. Bruce Ismay commissioned the unsinkable marvel of the sea, the </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Titanic</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">—and then jumped the line of women and children to escape death on a lifeboat. Readers will be fascinated well past the final curtain and will empathize with the flawed humanity of these achievers.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 5: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32660122-naruto?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Naruto: Itachi's Story</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Masachi Kishimoto & Takashi Yano</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Uchiha Itachi, four years of age. With the hell of war burned into his eyes, the boy makes a resolution: he will rid this world of all violence. The birth of Sasuke, meeting his friend Shisui, the academy, genin, chunin, and then the Anbu—Itachi races down the path of glory toward his dream of becoming the first Uchiha Hokage, unaware of the darkness that lies ahead…</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 4: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28691917-last-descendants?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Assassin's Creed Last Descendants</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/writerMattKirby" target="_blank">Matthew J. Kirby</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nothing in Owen’s life has been right since his father died in prison, accused of a crime Owen is certain he didn't commit. Monroe, the IT guy at school, might finally bring Owen the means to clear his father’s name by letting him use an Animus—a device that lets users explore the genetic memories buried within their own DNA. The experience brings Owen more than he bargained for. During a simulation, Owen uncovers the existence of an ancient and powerful relic long considered legend—the Trident of Eden. Now two secret organizations will stop at nothing to take possession of this artifact—the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order. It soon becomes clear to Owen that the only way to save himself is to find the Trident first.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 3: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31213713-making-bombs-for-hitler" target="_blank">Making Bombs for Hitler</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaSkrypuch" target="_blank">Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Lida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won't she? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">But she cannot escape the horrors of World War II. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Lida's parents are ripped away from her and she is separated from her beloved sister, Larissa. The Nazis take Lida to a brutal work camp, where she and other Ukrainian children are forced into backbreaking labor. Starving and terrified, Lida bonds with her fellow prisoners, but none of them know if they'll live to see tomorrow.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 2: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6476709-the-legend-of-zelda?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Akira Himekawa</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the day of the Picori Festival, Link and Princess Zelda go to watch the sword-fighting tournament. The winner is a strange man named Vaati, who has come to claim the Light Force which is sealed within the Bound Chest. When the Light Force turns up missing, Vaati turns Princess Zelda to stone! To save his friend, Link needs the power of the Picori Blade, but only a certain master swordsmith can reforge it. Can Link find the pieces of the broken sword before Vaati does?</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Number 1: </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156990-a-dog-s-purpose" target="_blank">Dog's Purpose</a> by </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">W. Bruce Cameron</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8 year old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog. But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders, will he ever find his purpose? </span></span>A Bookshelf Monstrosityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14674115889348650429noreply@blogger.com1