Intermediate – Page 42

Get Smart About Sharks!

Posted on June 1, 2016May 16, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Smart About Sharks, by Owen Davey (Aug. 2016, Nobrow Ltd), $19.95, ISBN: 9781909263918

Recommended for ages 5-10

Kids love sharks. Owen Davey’s Smart About Sharks is going to jump off the shelves and demand to go home with these kids. What’s not to love? There are great infographics giving out wild information (wait until you see all the different kinds of teeth found in sharks across the world), bright, brilliant artwork with a retro feel to it, and tons of facts about sharks, including a debunking of their status as maneaters: if you’re on a surfboard, you look like a seal, and the book has the artwork to prove it.

I love Nobrow/Flying Eye books. They produce beautiful art books that appeal to kids. They manage to find amazing authors and illustrators who know how to attract a reader’s attention and provide facts in a way that is exciting, interesting, and fun. I’ll add this to my nonfiction collection, and I’m buying one for my own home. My 3 year old can’t get enough of this book, and can tell me which shark is a basking shark, and that a megalodon tooth is as big as a person’s head. No, he didn’t read that by himself, but he remembers it every time he sees the basking shark picture, and the infographic that shows the sizes of a great white shark and human being in proportion to a megalodon. Like I said: kids love sharks, and this book knows it.

Add this to collections where animal books are popular.

Pippa Morgan returns in Love and Chicken Nuggets

Posted on May 27, 2016May 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Pippa Morgan’s Diary: Love and Chicken Nuggets, by Annie Kelsey (June 2016, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $12.99, ISBN: 9781492631415

Recommended for ages 8-12

Pippa’s back, and she’s still BFFs with Catie, despite The Voice Factor debacle from her first book! This time around, Pippa’s got two missions: to find her newly single mom a boyfriend, and to get Catie to discover the joy of chicken nuggets. Oh, and she has a school project about “love” – gross.

Pippa’s second outing is just as much fun as her first one. She’s funny, unexpectedly introspective, and I laughed with her more than at her, because she’s so likable. Written in journal format, with black and white illustrations, this fits very nicely on series shelves with Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rachael Renee Russo’s Dork Diaries, and Jim Benton’s Dear Dumb Diary. These books appeal to kids because they’re so relatable: they all have their own family wackiness to deal with, but they win at the end of the day. Pippa’s big imagination is sweet and well-intentioned, if sometimes a bit off radar, and that’s what makes her work so well.

Get this series on your shelves: it won’t be there long.

Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

Knit, Hook, and Spin teaches kids the fun of making

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Knit, Hook and Spin, by Laurie Carlson, (June 2016, Chicago Review Press), $14.99, ISBN: 9781613734001

Recommended for ages 8+

If the kids in your life – or you – want to be crafty but aren’t sure where to start, this is a great book to have handy. Knit, Hook, and Spin is an easy-to-follow primer that includes over 70 projects for beginners. Clear instructions and illustrations teach you how to knit, crochet, spin yarn, tie dye, weave, and even make your own plarn (yarn from plastic bags). Big on making and recycling, there are instructions and invitations to repurpose clothes; unravel an old sweater to get some yarn for a new project, or tie dye a t-shirt to give it a new look. Weave a rug out of brightly colored plastic bags that you brought your groceries home in last week.

Fiber facts and tidbits about fiber art and crafting history are included throughout, giving kids an understanding of the long-standing history of handmade clothes and everyday accessories that they’ve now become part of. The emphasis is on practice and developing a love of the craft, rather than unnecessary, expensive gadgets: Carlson teaches readers to make weaving looms from sticks or paper plates; knitting needles from chopticks, if that’s what you have around. She notes when adult supervision is suggested, and I hope this gets parents and kids crafting together. There’s no downside to together time or crafting time.

This is a great book for kids and adults, who want to learn to craft but aren’t sure where to go. When I first learned to knit and crochet, I went straight to the children’s section of my library, because I wanted simple, step by step instructions. The wealth of different crafts here makes this a valuable addition to collections where there’s an interest in crafting.

Laurie Carlson’s blog is rather new at the moment, but does include a nice post on the benefits of kids crafting.

Early Reader, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Preschool Reads

Kooky Crumbs is loaded with wacky poems for wacky days

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Kooky Crumbs: Poems in Praise of Dizzy Days, by J. Patrick Lewis/Illustrated by Mary Uhles (Jan. 2016, Kane Miller), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-61067-371

Recommended for ages 4+

I know we’re out of National Poetry Month, but I just discovered this book and had to talk it up. You know those wacky holidays that come up, and leave you scratching your head? Holidays like International Museum Day (it’s legit, and pretty cool, actually), or National Bike to Work Day? Some of these holidays lend themselves to a pretty fun storytime, like these two, and some of them leave me scratching my head. But Kooky Crumbs, by former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, is loaded with poems that salute tons of these “holidays”. Take, for instance, “First Ever Idea for Arithmetic”, written in honor of World Math Day (October 15): “Add two numbers together/and you’ll get sumthing else”. “When Should We Meat?”, observing World Vegetarian Day on October 1, is more traditional in its rhyme scheme: “If vegetarians have trouble/ finding tasty lip-smackers/Aren’t they allowed to cheat a bit/By eating animal crackers?”

The poems are fun, short, and perfect to punch up a storytime. You can build a theme around one – National Pancake Day begs for a reading of Eric Carle’s Pancakes! Pancakes!, and World Toilet Day would be even livelier with a reading of Once Upon a Potty – or you can just add a poem to your normal storytime, mentioning a funny holiday and giving the kids and parents a good laugh. Mary Uhles’ cartoony illustrations add to the fun of the poems. The only things missing are the actual dates of the holidays – some may shift, so that’s understandable, but a month by month guide would be great. No worries, though; Google has all of these holidays listed.

A fun addition to poetry collections and storytime reference collections – I’m going to have a lot of fun for next year’s Poem in Your Pocket Day with this book!

J. Patrick Lewis is the former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate and the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the NCTE award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry and the Cybils Award for Poetry. Mary Uhles is an award-winning illustrator and former animator for Warner Brothers and Fisher Price Interactive.

Guide, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction, Tween Reads

Sleepover Party is a great guide to a fun girls’ nights in!

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Sleepover Party, by DK Publishing, (May 2016, DK Children), $14.99, ISBN: 9781465450975

Recommended for ages 8-12

Sleepovers are a part of life for tweens, especially tween girls. It’s socializing, it’s girl time, it’s just fun. DK’s new guide to sleepover parties is going to be a hit with the tween set: it’s got everything to plan sleepovers with five great themes: Pamper Party (aka, spa night), Campout, Fashion, Pop Star, and Movie Night. Loaded with games, activities, and craft ideas, this book is a hit for girls who want to kick their sleepover game up a notch.

I love DK books. I’ll say it a hundred times, and then, a hundred times more. I love their step-by-step guides to crafts, their detailed photos for everything, and their uncanny ability to make books that kids want to grab off the shelves. I love that I can use some of these ideas for my own Summer Reading programs (I am ALL over Fashion and Pop Star activities for the kids here). There are templates, recipes, and quizzes galore to get everyone talking, too – no lonely girl sitting on the bed with a cat while the others are chattering away and doing each other’s nails this time!

There are exclamation points throughout the book, used as callouts to let kids and parents know when cutting or use of sharps (like a needle, to thread candy for bracelets – YUM) is necessary and adult supervision may be required.

Add this one to your collection where you have tween girls who want some fun and crafty activities.

Early Reader, Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate

Imelda and the Goblin King: This ain’t Labyrinth.

Posted on May 10, 2016August 24, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Imelda and the Goblin King, by Briony May Smith (Oct. 2015, Nobrow), $17.95, ISBN: 9781909263659

Recommended for ages 5-8

Imelda is a young girl living in an enchanted forest, surrounded by the local fairies she calls friends. But the awful Goblin King appears to kidnap the Fairy Queen, and the fairies ask Imelda for her help. Now, it’s up to Imelda to get rid of the Goblin King for good!

Another winner from Nobrow! This debut by Briony May Smith is a fun fairy tale with a strong female main character and eye-catching, bright art that fills each spread with movement and interest. The Goblin King is suitably dour and fierce looking, and his little minions look just as distasteful. Imelda is a great fairy tale heroine, rosy-cheeked and pink-dressed, but she’s no passive princess locked in a tower, waiting for a prince – she’s got a plan to turn the Goblin King into a worm, and she enlists the fairies to do it.

I also love the great fairy tale font. It’s very bold, with emphasis on the “stomps” and exclamations of “Goblin King!” It’s a different font that makes the story as interesting for a reader as it does for the audience in a read-aloud.

A fun fairy tale for school-age kids, this one will be a fun addition to collections where fairy tales do well. I’d pair this one with Kate Beaton’s Princess and the Pony for a read-aloud on princesses who can save themselves, thank you very much. Put this on a shelf with Luke Pearson’s Hilda series, too – the kids will love it.

Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Science, Mystery, and Magic: The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee

Posted on May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee, by Erin Petti/Illustrated by Kris Aro McLeod, (Sept. 2016, Mighty Media), $16.99, ISBN: 9781938063725

Recommended for ages 9-13

Eleven year-old Thelma Bee is always doing something. She’s reading, she’s working on science experiments, she’s hanging out with her best friend – a guy! – Alexander. Her father runs an antique shop in town and her mother is always off on some kind of adventure, exploring and searching for different animals, so she’s got adventuring and imagination in her blood. When a dour woman shows up at her father’s shop with a small box, things start going very, very wrong: her father is kidnapped by a ghost that very night, and it’s up to Thelma, Alexander, and a local group of ghost hunters to get him back safely. It’s a scary mission, but one Thelma has to undertake – and she’ll learn a lot about herself in the process.

The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee is so much fun! Middle graders are going to love the smart, spunky middle grader that doesn’t care about the mean girls and their dopey fashion choices – she has better things to do. When her dad is kidnapped by a ghost, right in front of her, she charges into action, amassing the facts she knows and researching what she needs to fill in the gaps of her knowledge and save her dad. She’s a great heroine for middle graders, girls and boys alike, because she shows that science, facts, and a clear path of reasoning will get you through some tough times.

The book is fast-paced, leading us into action pretty quickly, and not letting any lag set in. I’ll be booktalking this one hard, and pairing her with Hermione (Harry Potter) and Annabeth (Percy Jackson) for my fantasy-loving readers. Put this one right next to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, Sally Gardner’s Wings & Co. series, and Karen Foxlee’s Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy to create a solid girl-power reading display.

The book trailer is below, and you can visit Mighty Media’s Thelma Bee page here. Erin Petti’s author page is here.

If you’re going to be at BEA/Book Con this week, I am SO envious! Have a great time, and visit Mighty Media at Booth 2170 when you get a chance! They’ll be at BookCon from 10am-6pm, and Erin Petti will be signing ARC’s of The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee at 1PM, with a bookstore event to follow at 5pm at (Uncharted Books).

Animal Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate

The Great Mouse Detective returns!

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Basil of Baker Street (The Great Mouse Detective), by Eve Titus/Illustrated by Paul Galdone, (May 2016, Aladdin), $5.95, ISBN: 9781481464017

Recommended for ages 6-9

When I was growing up, I loved The Great Mouse Detective. He was a gateway to Sherlock Holmes, I later realized, and I’m sure other people in my age group (Generation X, can I get a holler?) agree. I am thrilled that Aladdin is bringing The Great Mouse Detective series back and introducing Basil and Dawkins to a new audience of readers!

Basil of Baker Street is a mouse detective, and Dr. David Q. Dawson is his faithful sidekick and chronicler. Living in late 19th-century London, Basil is the Sherlock Holmes of the Mouseworld and Dawson is his Watson. Together, the duo learn at the feet of the great Sherlock Holmes, as he recounts his adventures, further fueling Basil’s desire to be the greatest mouse detective ever. In Basil of Baker Street, the two have helped establish the community of Holmestead, a small mouse village located comfortably in the basement of 221B Baker Street – they live in Sherlock Holmes’s basement. One night, as Basil and Dawkins are leaving Holmes’ apartments upstairs, their mousekeeper, Mrs. Judson (yes!! Mrs. Judson!), comes to them in distress: the Proudfoot mouse twin sisters have been mousenapped! Basil and Dawkins are on the case, and every turn of the page is a delight.

I read this on my lunch hour and had a huge smile on my face the entire time. Grownups, re-read this book. Read this book to your kids, your nieces and nephews, your students, your friends’ kids – just read it and read it to kids. It’s such a great little adventure, with adorable, well-written, smart characters and a fun whodunit that ends safely for all. This is a great read for first and second graders who are ready to take the leap from beginner chapter books like Scholastic’ Branches series, and it’s a book so many parents and grandparents (the book was first published in 1958). Paul Galdone’s black and white illustrations will bring you back and keep your little one’s attention: Galdone’s illustrated fairy tales are still being published, so show your kids those books and ask them if the art looks familiar!

When you’re done enjoying the book together, pull up the movie (1986) and curl up together. It’s available on Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and GooglePlay. Seriously, it’s a classic: Basil Rathbone, the Sherlock Holmes I grew up with, voices Sherlock Holmes and Vincent Price voices the evil Professor Ratigan. And then enjoy this BuzzFeed article, because they’re big fans, too.

Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 11 Cover Reveal!

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I know I’m late to the party, but the latest Wimpy Kid cover reveal took place last week via webcast with Scholastic Reading and author Jeff Kinney. Double Down will be the eleventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and hits shelves on November 1.

You can pre-order the book and find things to do and read at the Wimpy Kid website, and you can check out the Wimpy Kid islands on Poptropica, Jeff Kinney’s kid-friendly website. Most of the website is free, but members get access to the Wimpy Islands. Enjoy!

Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Little Knight is back in Ogres Awake!

Posted on May 1, 2016August 24, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ogres Awake!, by James Sturm, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold (July 2016, First Second), $14.99, ISBN: 9781596436534

Recommended for ages 5-10

Little Knight and her faithful steed, Edward, are back for another installment! This time, the two discover that ogres are sleeping in the castle courtyard! Knight rushes to the castle’s defense, but finds out that there’s already an army assembled, and they’re wielding potato peelers and spoons instead of swords and shields. Knight and the gnome army have a LOT of stew to make before the ogres wake up… HUNGRY.

This is the fourth outing for the Drawn and Quarterly gang; the third Little Knight Adventure. I love this series: it’s a great way to introduce graphic novels to young readers and they’re fun stories that have a little bit of drawing instruction, a la Ed Emberley’s old step by step books, that I used to love when I was a kid.

Little Knight is a kid that kids will recognize: she’s excited, she wants to jump right in and be in the center of the action, and learns a valuable lesson in each outing. This time around, she learns that not every confrontation needs to be handled the rough way. Sometimes, an act of kindness is all you need to avoid things getting ugly. It’s a great message, communicated with fun, bold, cartoony art and witty writing. Add this series to your shelves; your kids will love you for it. I read this with my 3 year-old, who thoroughly enjoyed it; if you’ve got preschoolers in your life, curl up with them and read it! It’s a great opportunity illustrate sequencing and talk about doing nice things for people: even ogres.

Make sure to check out Gryphons Aren’t So Great and Sleepless Knight, the other Little Knight books by Sturm, Frederick-Frost, and Arnold, as well as Adventures in Cartooning, where we first meet Little Knight and Edward. Don’t forget to check out Drawn and Quarterly, too! Take a look at a few pages from Ogres Awake right here: