February 16, 2013

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Pick of the Day: The Goldilocks Variations

By on February 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
bands of pastel colors

AHLBERG, Allan. The Goldilocks Variations. illus. by Jessica Ahlberg. 40p. Candlewick. 2012. RTE $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6268-4.
PreS-Gr 2–With whimsical illustrations and interactive features such as flaps, pop-ups, and pull tabs, the Ahlbergs showcase six silly variations on the classic tale. The standout of the bunch has the heroine wandering into the “trood (or spaceship) of The Three Bliim.” Full of silly alien words, the tale begs to be read aloud. In other adventures, Goldilocks takes on 33 bears, the furniture (chair, [...]

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Review of the Day – Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

By on January 31, 2013

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made By Stephan Pastis Candlewick Press $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-6050-5 Ages 9-12 On shelves February 26th Call it the attack of the syndicated cartoonists. For whatever reason, in the year 2013 we are seeing droves of escapees from the comic strip pages leaping from the burning remains of the newspaper industry into [...]

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Teaser: Quintana of Charyn

By on January 15, 2013

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick Press, 2013) will be published April 2013. My full review will appear then; in the meanwhile, my tease — and tease it is — is I loved Quintana and loved this conclusion to the Lumatere series. You’ll be seeing this as a Favorite Books Read in 2013. Reviewed from [...]

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Pick of the Day: Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers

By on January 14, 2013 Leave a Comment
courage has no color

STONE, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers. 160p. appendix. bibliog. chron. notes. photos. reprods. Candlewick. Jan. 2013. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5117-6; ebook $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6405-3.
Gr 5 Up–A moving, thoughtful history of the United States military’s first black paratrooper unit. During World War II, African American soldiers were mostly relegated to service and security jobs, generally denied the same training and active-combat positions that were available to their white counterparts. [...]

Filed Under: Books & Media, Featured, Grades 5 & Up, Nonfiction, Pick of the Day, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Pick of the Day: Splendors & Glooms (Audiobook)

By on January 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
Audiobook cover- kids on puppet strings with red background

Splendors & Glooms. By Laura Amy Schlitz. 10 cassettes or 10 CDs. 12 hrs. Recorded Books. 2012. cassette: ISBN 978-1-4498-3568-2, CD: ISBN 978-1-4498-3572-9. $108.75
Gr 4-8–Set in a Dickensian London, Davina Porter is the perfect narrator to capture the nuances of the characters and the time period in Schlitz’s exceptional Victorian fantasy (Candlewick, 2012). Listeners will ache for the orphan children, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, when they come up with money after pawning a watch. Should they have a proper meal [...]

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Beyond Courage

By on December 18, 2012

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport Candlewick, September 2012 Reviewed from an ARC With five starred reviews, this was an easy auto-contenda to spot. Rappaport looks at the active, heroic roles Jewish people played during the years of the Holocaust. She shares 21 stories — many involving [...]

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Pick of the Day: See You at Harry’s (Audiobook)

By on December 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
Finished milkshake on blue checkered tablecloth

See You at Harry’s. By Jo Knowles. 5 CDs. 5:49 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2012. ISBN 978-1-4558-8958-7. $49.97.
Gr 7 Up–Twelve-year-old Fern is quiet and conciliatory, and often taken for granted. Left to take care of whatever the rest of the family members are too busy to deal with, she feels alone and resentful. Dad is constantly trying to boost business for the family restaurant, Mom is always escaping to meditate, Sarah is spending an embarrassing post-high school gap year working in [...]

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December Blahs

By on December 16, 2012

One of the things I find frustrating about this blogging thing is the December blahs. At this point in the game, I have a sense of what the year has brought us. I’m not a seer, so I don’t know what books will take the RealPrintz (and judging by last year, don’t listen even if [...]

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Review of the Day: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

By on December 13, 2012

Splendors and Glooms
By Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press
$17.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5380-4
Ages 10 and up
On shelves now.
Do you remember that moment in the film version of The Princess Bride where the grandfather is trying to convince his stubborn grandson that the book he’s about to read is fantastic? He lures the kid in by saying the book [...]

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Review of the Day: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

By on December 13, 2012

Splendors and Glooms By Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick Press $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5380-4 Ages 10 and up On shelves now. Do you remember that moment in the film version of The Princess Bride where the grandfather is trying to convince his stubborn grandson that the book he’s about to read is fantastic? He lures the kid [...]

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Review of the Day – Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

By on November 14, 2012
Child-with-CellPhone_147274323

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover
By Cece Bell
Candlewick Press
$14.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5475-7
Ages 5-8
On shelves now
It would be simpler if kids read at exact levels at all times. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had a kid go strategically from easy books to early chapter books to older chapter books without so much as a glitch in [...]

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Review of the Day – Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover by Cece Bell

By on November 14, 2012
Child-with-CellPhone_147274323

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover
By Cece Bell
Candlewick Press
$14.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5475-7
Ages 5-8
On shelves now
It would be simpler if kids read at exact levels at all times. Wouldn’t it be grand if you had a kid go strategically from easy books to early chapter books to older chapter books without so much as a glitch in [...]

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Nonfiction roundup

By on November 11, 2012

Well, perhaps less of a round up than an offering of two books — two books that I don’t think will go the distance in PrintzLand (although of course only time will tell). We’re looking at the Freedman book on Lincoln and Douglass and the Aronson book on J. Edgar Hoover. My problems with each [...]

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News Bites: Help Hurricane Sandy’s Victims

By on November 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
newsbites

You can help provide books to schools and libraries devastated by Hurricane Sandy by making a donation to the organization First Book.

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Review: The Infects

By on October 23, 2012

The Infects by Sean Beaudoin. Candlewick Press. 2012. Review from ARC from publisher.
The Plot: So, Nick Sole is working at plant that produces fast food chicken. It’s a dead end job, but he’s not really a slacker — he has to help support his family, since his mom left, his dad doesn’t do much of [...]

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The Obsidian Blade

By on October 17, 2012

The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman
Candlewick, April 2012
Reviewed from an ARC
I have a feeling this is going to be a short review, in part at least because I didn’t finish reading this one. Yes, we’ve gotten to my first DNF of the year (at least, my first public blogging about a DNF title; rest assured, [...]

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The Children and the Wolves

By on October 11, 2012

The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp
Candlewick, February 2012
Reviewed from a final copy
I’ve never read an Adam Rapp book before, so I volunteered for this one. Volunteered! I said, sure, I will read it. Oh, you guys. I mean, I thought I was prepared. I tried to be ready. And this book was exactly [...]

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Froi of the Exiles

By on October 3, 2012

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
Candlewick, March 2012
Reviewed from ARC
Melina Marchetta! Chronicles of Lumatere! Part two! Froi! Yes, I was pretty excited to read this one. With three (? check my math on that) starred reviews, and a real affection for Finnikin of the Rock, I was ready for a fabulous read. And I [...]

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Pick of the Day: The Fairy Ring, Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World (CD)

By on September 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Audiobook cover with Girl staring at a fairy

The Fairy Ring, Or Elsie and Frances Fool the World. By Mary Losure. 2 CDs. 2:26 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2012. ISBN 978-1-4558-5194-2. $49.97.
Gr 4-8–This is the true tale of Elsie Wright, 15, and Frances Griffith, 9, who concocted a fairy hoax in the early 1900s that grew well beyond their expectations. Tired of being teased by their parents for their stories, Elsie painted and then cut out detailed illustrations of fairies. The girls photographed the “fairies” with themselves in the [...]

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Pick of the Day: This Is Not My Hat

By on September 24, 2012 Leave a Comment
Fish wearing a hat on a black background

KLASSEN, Jon. This Is Not My Hat. illus. by author. 40p. Candlewick. Oct. 2012. RTE $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5599-0.
PreS-Gr 1–With this new creation, Klassen repeats the theme from I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick, 2011), but with a twist. The narrator here is the thief–a small, self-confident fish who has pilfered a little blue bowler from a big sleeping fish. He wastes no time or words in confessing his crime as he swims across the page announcing, “This hat is not [...]

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