Hold Fast By Blue Balliett Scholastic $17.99 ISBN: 978-0545299886 Ages 9-12 I honestly don’t think you can be a reviewer without being honest about your own personal prejudices first. When I pick up a book for children I have to cut through a thick swath of issues infecting my brain that may have little to [...]
Pick of the Day: Growing Up in Coal Country (Audio)
By on April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
In Growing Up in Coal Country, Susan Campbell Bartoletti recounts life in Northeastern Pennsylvania coal country around the turn of the 19th century utilizing oral history and archival documents and focusing primarily on the lives of children. Don’t miss the starred review of this audiobook narrated by Suzanne Toren.
Pick of the Day: Hold Fast
By on April 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
From the author of Chasing Vermeer, an engaging mystery in which books are the problem and the solution. Read SLJ’s starred review.
SLJ Giveaway: Signed ARC of Matt de la Peña’s Infinity Ring Bk. 4: ‘Curse of the Ancients’
By on April 12, 2013 30 Comments
SLJ is giving away 25 author-signed copies of the latest book in the format-bending “Infinity Ring” series (Scholastic). Written by Matt de la Peña, the middle grade novel Curse of the Ancients continues the adventures of Dak, Sera, and Riq, who are on a quest to set history back on course by traveling to different cataclysmic events in time. Leave comment to enter.
Sesame Street’s “Maria” Opens Girls Write Now’s Reading Series
By on March 26, 2013 Leave a Comment
Girls Write Now, a nonprofit organization that mentors budding female writers, opened its CHAPTERS Reading series with Sesame Street’s ‘Maria’ and YA author Sonia Manzano as the first guest speaker. The ongoing 4-part event will showcase the works of teen girls from all over NYC, and will feature female authors like Gayle Forman, Adele Griffin, and Marcia Ann Gillespie.
Pick of the Day: Exclamation Mark
By on February 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
A fun treatment of punctuation
YALSA Hub Challenge: Drama by Raina Telgemeier
By on February 12, 2013
Our first title to discuss from the YALSA Hub Reading Challenge is Raina Telgemeier’s Drama. Drama has been singled out as one of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Top Ten for 2013, and was also selected as a Stonewall Book Award Honor book. As a refresher, the Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection list [...]
10 to Note: Spring Preview 2013
By on February 12, 2013
It’s time to once again to look at the season before us and say “that looks good”. What follows are books coming out in March, April, and May that appear to have promise. Picture Book Giant Dance Party by Betsy Bird; illustrated by Brandon Dorman April 23 | Greenwillow | Grades K-2 Ever heard of [...]
Scholastic Plans ‘39 Clues’ Baldacci Webcast at Smithsonian American History Museum
By on January 24, 2013 2 Comments
Scholastic will offer a free, behind-the-scenes video tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History with author David Baldacci as a guide. The “Decoding History” virtual field trip coincides with the release of Baldacci’s new book, “The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Day of Doom,” the latest in the bestselling series.
Kids’ Ebook Reading Nearly Doubled Since 2010, Scholastic Reading Survey Finds
By on January 14, 2013
The number of kids reading ebooks has nearly doubled since 2010, according to Scholastic’s Kids & Family Reading Report, which was released today. The national survey of kids age 6–17 and their parents also found that half of kids age 9–17 say they would read more books for fun if they had greater access to ebooks—although 80 percent of kids who read ebooks say they still read books for fun primarily in print.
Review: Titanic
By on January 14, 2013
Titanic: Voices From The Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic 2012. Review copy from publisher. Finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award. It’s About: The sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic on April 15, 1912, resulting in the loss of over 1,400 men, women and children. The Good: I believe the first Titanic movie I [...]
Scholastic Launches New Multi-Platform Fantasy Series
By on January 10, 2013 1 Comment
Scholastic has announced it will release Spirit Animals, a new multi-platform, multi-author fantasy adventure series for readers ages 8–12, in September. The story arc of the seven-book series and online game will be established by New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull, with a second title launching next year from bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.
The Raven Boys, at Long Last
By on December 31, 2012
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater Scholastic Press, September 2012 Reviewed from ARC So, I’m ready to talk about The Raven Boys. I’ve read it twice. I really really like it. Maggie Stiefvater clearly grew up drinking from the same story well as I did, and this is one that hits pretty much all my buttons. [...]
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster (Is Not a Disaster)
By on December 14, 2012
Occasional guest blogger Joy Piedmont is back! She (unlike, say, Karyn) likes to read nonfiction, and has OPINIONS about it. Thoughtful, considered opinions. Making her a perfect candidate to guest write as we try to catch up on our nonfiction 2012 piles. So, with no further ado… Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, Deborah Hopkinson Scholastic [...]
Boise Librarian Wins SLJ/Scholastic Dav Pilkey Sweepstakes
By on December 11, 2012 2 Comments
Sarah Kelley-Chase, branch manager of the Boise Public Library, won a visit from author Dav PIlkey, a contest sponsored by School Library Journal and awarded by Scholastic.
News Bites: “YA for NJ” Auction for Sandy Relief
By on November 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Check out News Bites for the latest information on what authors are doing to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy, the latest changes at Random House, a literacy campaign for kids in need, and more.
Pick of the Day: Unspoken
By on November 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
COLE, Henry. Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad. illus. by author. 32p. CIP. Scholastic. Nov. 2012. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-39997-5. LC 2011043583.
Gr 3-8–Gorgeously rendered in soft, dark pencils, this wordless book is reminiscent of the naturalistic pencil artistry of Maurice Sendak and Brian Selznick, but unique in its accurate re-creation of a Civil War-era farm in northwestern Virginia. On the dedication page, readers see a star quilt on a split rail fence, symbolizing the North Star. Confederate soldiers [...]
Fusenews: You know what they say about the size of a man’s autograph, don’t you?
By on November 16, 2012
Okay, let’s do this thing. I’ve had a remarkably busy week and I’m itching to discuss it alongside all the other newsworthy schtoof floating about in the atmosphere. First up . . .
That Linda Epstein gal, that Linda Epstain gal, I do I LIKE that Linda Epstein gal (can you tell I’ve been reading [...]
Review: Endangered
By on November 12, 2012
Endangered by Eliot Schrefer. Scholastic. 2012. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Sophie, 14, is in Congo (the Democratic Republic of Congo) visiting her mother, who runs a sanctuary for bonobos. During the school year, she lives with her father in America.
Sophie saves a young bonobo who she names Otto; she cares for him, beginning to [...]
