Pick of the Day: The Diviners (Audiobook)

SLJ — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:00:24 +0000

The Diviners. By Libba Bray. 15 CDs. 15:15 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-449-80875-7. $60.
Gr 10 Up–Printz winner Libba Bray’s latest literary masterpiece (Little, Brown, 2012) is stunning, suspenseful, and sure to leave listeners utterly breathless. Thoroughly modern flapper Evie O’Neill’s psychic ability to divine secrets from inanimate objects gets her exiled from her stuffy Ohio town. Sent to stay with her Uncle Will in Prohibition-era New York City, the last thing Evie expects is to be thrown headlong into a terrifying, and seemingly paranormal, serial murder mystery. Crime scene evidence leads Evie to believe the killer is John Hobbes, a religious leader and madman who was hanged for murder 50 years ago. It seems “Naughty John” has returned from the grave to complete a deadly ritual to bring about the apocalypse. Evie believes her abilities can help stop this killer. But there are others with unique powers as well, including a clairvoyant child and a man with healing powers. Circumstances gradually draw these Diviners together. Are they strong enough to stop the evil that’s been unleashed? Not for the faint of heart, this spellbindingly creepy ghost story will keep listeners enthralled long into the night—preferably with the lights on. Bray’s writing is brilliant. Intricately detailed storylines interweave perfectly with a cast of richly drawn characters. Period slang and historical details help set the scene. January LaVoy’s exceptional narration skyrockets an already outstanding story to the next level. Characters live and breathe through distinctive voices, complete with accents and dialects. Perfect pacing bestows the story with a constant edge-of-the-seat ambiance. A must-have.–Alissa Bach, Oxford Public Library, MI

Pick of the Day: Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington

SLJ — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:57:46 +0000

ASIM, Jabari. Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington. illus. by Bryan Collier. 48p. bibliog. chron. Little, Brown. Dec. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-08657-8.
Gr 2-4–Here sits a barefooted boy leaning against a tree trunk, eyes closed, dreaming about reading. Here he is following his master’s daughter to school, carrying her books, feeling their “magic seeping into his hands.” Booker was born a slave, and slaves were forbidden to read. Emancipation came while he was still young. He worked with the men in his family, first shoveling salt, then in a coal mine. He learned to read from a spelling book his mother gave him. He attended the school for Negroes after work and dreamed of Hampton Institute, where he could study writing. He walked there–hundreds of miles through the mountains of Virginia, unloading ships in Richmond when his food money ran out. A janitor job at Hampton paid his room and board. Written in simply stated narrative, in a font that looks hand-printed, this story covers more of Washington’s life and offers more detail than Marie Bradby’s More Than Anything Else (Orchard, 1995), a brief, movingly told, beautifully rendered introduction to Washington for younger children. Collier’s patterned and textured watercolor and paper collage paintings perfectly mirror the narrative, reiterating details and settings in handsomely constructed glimpses of the young Booker at school and at work; the teen-aged Booker traveling on foot toward a better education; the student dreaming of great things to come. His dreams are shown as luminescent bubbles or rays of light that reach toward the sky; his shirt is map-patterned. Two pages of biographical endnotes include a time line of his significant accomplishments. An inspirational life, memorably presented.–Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

School Library Journal» Little Brown

Pick of the Day: The Diviners (Audiobook)

Pick of the Day: Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington