School Library Journal» Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine

Pictures of the Week: New Book Cover Unveiled for Harry Potter 7

SLJ — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:55:44 +0000

Send your pictures of the week to sdiaz@mediasourceinc.com

On July 31, 2013 (Harry Potter and author J. K . Rowling’s birthday), Scholastic unveiled a new look for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi created new covers for each of the titles in beloved series. The book covers were revamped in time for the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Rowling’s series opener.

Kazu Kibuishi in front of the newly revealed cover that he illustrated for the new edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Photos by Mark Tuchman.

For more photos of the Harry Potter birthday/cover reveal celebration, check out the slideshow below.

Pick of the Day: A Corner of White

SLJ — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:00:19 +0000

MORIARTY, Jaclyn. A Corner of White. Bk. 1. 372p. (The Colors of Madeleine Series). Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-545-39736-0; ebook $17.99. ISBN 978-0-545-51021-9. LC 2012016582.
Gr 6-9–In this lovely fantasy, two stories run parallel. Fourteen-year-old Madeleine lives in Cambridge, England, where she is adjusting to life without her dad. Elliot lives in the Kingdom of Cello, where his search for his dad is postponed by the deplorable state of crops at home. If it were not for the tiny portal in a parking meter, Madeleine and Elliot would not have started writing letters back and forth. The story is told through the teens’ communications and an omniscient narrator. This mix allows readers to know Madeleine and Elliot and their problems intimately, but it also gives them an aerial view of events, helps them meet the richly drawn secondary characters, and allows them to see the ingenious way in which the protagonists’ lives ultimately combine. Attacks by “Colors,” “living organisms: a kind of rogue subclass of the colors that we see when we look at a red apple or blue sky” keep the townspeople on edge, and Elliot wonders if his dad were killed during one of them. Mysteries abound. Is Madeleine’s mom’s strange behavior due to her inability to cope with poverty, or is something else going on? Why doesn’t Madeleine’s dad answer her letter, and is she somehow to blame for his absence? Ultimately, this is a story of two teenagers helping each other figure out their places in their respective worlds.–Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

Pick of the Day: The Highway Rat

SLJ — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:00:33 +0000

DONALDSON, Julia. The Highway Rat. illus. by Axel Scheffler. 32p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. Apr. 2013. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-47758-1.
PreS-Gr 2–Inspired by Alfred Noyes’s “The Highwayman,” Donaldson tells the tale of a swashbuckling rat with mask and cape who stops hapless travelers and takes their food at sword point. While he prefers chocolates, puddings, and cakes, he steals clover from a rabbit, nuts from a squirrel, and even hay from his own horse. “The creatures who traveled the highway/grew thinner and thinner and thinner,/While the Highway Rat grew horribly fat/from eating up everyone’s dinner.” A brave duck in a red kerchief lures the thief to a distant cave, supposedly full of biscuits and buns. While he follows the echoes of his own voice deeper and deeper into the dark, the duck jumps on Rat’s horse and takes the stolen food back to her hungry friends. Eventually he emerges on the other side of the hill, becomes a reformed rodent, and finds work sweeping the floor at a cake shop. Scheffler’s rich, dark palette creates a brooding atmosphere just right for the Highway Rat’s dastardly deeds, and his cartoon-style characters are a wonderful tongue-in-cheek contrast. Humorous details abound, including Gruffalo cookies in the cake shop from this British duo’s The Gruffalo (Puffin, 2006). This well-paced, rollicking tale is a guaranteed storytime treat.–Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

Pick of the Day: The Savage Fortress

SLJ — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:00:23 +0000

CHADDA, Sarwat. The Savage Fortress. 292p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-38516-9; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-46996-8. LC 2011046291
Gr 8 Up–On vacation in India with his aunt, uncle, and younger sister, pudgy Ash Mistry can’t wait to get back home to his video games and London friends. But when his uncle is offered a million pounds to assist mysterious Lord Savage with translations from an archaeological find, Ash becomes embroiled in an overwhelming and deadly real-life battle. He realizes that Lord Savage is not an ordinary mortal and that his minions are rakshasas (demons). Determined to save his uncle, Ash unwittingly betrays himself and becomes the rakshasas’s target. When he falls into a collapsing pit, he discovers a golden arrowhead–the aastra (weapon) of the ancient goddess Kali. With a splinter of it lodged in his thumb, Ash is able to channel Kali’s power. But it is not enough to save his uncle and aunt, and, when they are killed, he sets out to save his sister–and the world–from Ravana, the all-powerful demon king, and his gruesome forces of evil. Chadda weaves Hindu mythology into an engrossing story of a shy, overweight gamer who becomes transformed into one of his own comic-book superheroes. Plot-driven, fast paced, exciting, and sometimes terrifying, The Savage Fortress is the ideal next step for readers who loved Rick Riordan’s books about the Olympian heroes and Anthony Horowitz’s “Gatekeepers” series (Scholastic). Vivid descriptions of contemporary India and flashbacks to the mythological battles of Rama and Ravana enrich this tale of a nerd’s metamorphosis. Make time for this novel, because it is very hard to put down.–Jane Barrer, United Nations International School, New York City

Pick of the Day: The Encyclopedia of Me

SLJ — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:00:41 +0000

RIVERS, Karen. The Encyclopedia of Me. 248p. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-31028-4; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-46951-7. LC 2011046292.
Gr 5-8–Diminutive, biracial, freckled Isadora “Tink” Aaron-Martin is grounded for most of the summer after an incident with her best friend. She decides to write an encyclopedia, and in spite of the artificiality of the alphabetical format, Rivers has created a warm, funny, fast-paced story about an endearing middle schooler who keeps her cool and sense of humor when events spin out of control. Tink explains her role as the “Peacemaker” in a dysfunctional family whose lives tiptoe around the moods and rages of Tink’s autistic older brother, Seb. As the summer progresses she finds friendship and a tender and diffident love interest in the boy next door, is humiliated in a disastrous photo shoot for a magazine article about families living with autistic children, and becomes good at skateboarding, an activity that replaces the detested ballet classes she has been taking at her mother’s behest. When Seb becomes violent, leaving his twin brother badly hurt, Tink finally decides she has had enough of her peacemaking role. “Z” finds her in the arms of her boyfriend at the Zetroc Prom. Rivers delivers an appealingly heroine in Tink. She is original and authentic, and her story flows easily in spite of the tricky format.–Jane Barrer, Steinway Intermediate School, Long Island City, NY