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Meet Claude in the Country!

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Claude in the Country, by Alex T. Smith (Apr. 2016, Peachtree Publishers), $12.95, ISBN: 9781561459186

Recommended for ages 7-10

Claude is a beret-wearing housedog, living with his human family, Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes, and his best friend, a red striped sock named Mr. Bobblysock. One day, they decide to go on a walk in the country and find themselves at Woollybottom Farm. Spending the day helping Mrs. Cowpat, the farmer, turns into quite an education for Claude as he washes pigs (giving them quite the pampering), checks out competitive vegetable competitions, and his chased by a bull! Will Claude and Mr. Bobblysock go country, or will they go back home when the day is done?

The Claude books by Alex T. Smith were originally published in the UK; the first, Claude in the City, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2012. I’m always happy to see a good intermediate series hit bookshelves, so I’m thrilled that this series is coming to US audiences. I received my ARC from the Peachtree Publishers booth at PLA, where the rep talked the book up so much, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. Claude’s adorable, and seems to have a habit of meandering into situations where he happily dives into new experiences. Mr. Bobblysock is there as a companion, but tends to be pretty sleepy, so Claude takes the lead.

Animal fiction always does well for me, as does humor, so the combination of the two, with the adorably cartoony two-color art from Alex Smith, seals the deal. I just found out that Disney Junior UK has picked up Claude for an animated series, so let’s see how he fares on our shores, and maybe we’ll get some more Claude in our future. This is a fun beginner chapter book series for kids who are ready to start testing the waters beyond Easy Readers. Booktalk them and display them with your Mercy Watson and Leroy Ninker books; pit Claude against Bad Kitty to see whose adventures are more hilarious!

Check out more of Alex T. Smith’s art on his author webpage, including an adorable 90th birthday wish for the Queen of England.

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, mythology, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Zaria Fierce returns in the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes!

Posted on May 31, 2016May 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes, by Keira Gillett, (Jul. 2016, Keira Gillet Books), $14.99, ISBN: TK

Recommended for ages 10-13

Keira Gillet’s Zaria Fierce trilogy comes to a huge conclusion with the final book in her adventure, Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes. Picking up where Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword left off, Zaria and her friends need to rescue the Stag King’s son, Hart, stop Koll and his fellow dragons, and save Zaria’s birth mother, Queen Helena. No pressure, Zaria.

Zaria also feels the crushing weight of these responsibilities – and the part she played in them, when tricked by the dragon, Koll – and it’s taking its toll on her. Thankfully, her friends aren’t going to let her confidence flag; they’re there for an adventure, and they’re not going to let anyone, be it a dragon that personifies fear, or a fierce water-wyvern, stop them.

That’s the great thing about the Zaria Fierce trilogy: adventure is fast, furious, and loaded with Norse mythology, but the friendship between Zaria and her group of friends is the heart that drives this story. They won’t give up on Zaria, even when she’s ready to give up on herself; in turn, she will do anything to keep her friends safe. Even fight a dragon.

There are so many wonderful moments in this book, but to start talking about them would lead to spoilers. Suffice to say that Keira Gillett takes us on a hero’s journey, in the guise of a young girl whose entire life is upended one morning as she crosses a bridge to get to school. Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes brings us to the end of one story, and a wish to return to this universe soon.

Recommended for middle grade collections where fantasy is popular. I’d book talk this with other hero’s journey tales like CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson/Magnus Chase series; they’ll have a firmer frame of reference when you present the series with these popular fantasy tales. Talk up Zaria as a strong female character who overcomes her fears and self-doubts to outwit monsters, and save herself and her friends!

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Cuddle your kids all over the world with How Far Do You Love Me?

Posted on April 29, 2016April 29, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

How Far Do You Love Me?, by Lulu Delacre, (2013, Lee & Low Books), $11.95, 9781600608827

Recommended for ages 4-8

Based on a bedtime game the author played with her daughters, “How Far Do You Love Me” takes readers all over the world, comparing their love to the 13 breathtaking sights and locations in the modern world. “I love you… to the place where the eagle is lost gliding along the rim of the sky”, reads one spread, with a parent holding a child above her head, the Peruvian mountains of Maccu Picchu surrounding them. Each spread takes readers to a different locale and illustrates adults and children together, enjoying the natural beauty around them and each other’s company.

This is a great bedtime book, and paired with a similar “I love you” book like Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I Love You, gives kids a loving sense of security and a wink and nudge to their competitive nature. My little guy and I have extended our game to the planets these days: he loves me to Pluto and back, and I love him three times around the sun and back. We name the planets we encounter along the way, adding a little bit of science to our I Love You game. You can bring in a similar game here, going further around the world, naming famous places (“I love you to the Empire State Building… I love you to the Grand Canyon!”), states, or countries.

The art is colorful, with a spread for each location. The colors are bright but subdued, realistic, and with shadowing that gives each landscape a breathtaking depth. A nice addition to bedtime stories and books about the world around us.

Lee & Low offers a comprehensive teacher’s guide for How Far Do You Love Me?, including discussion questions, ELL activities, and ways to expand on the story.

Lulu Delacare also authors the Raffi y Rosi easy readers series. Her author webpage contains information about author visits, her books, and links to educator guides for several of her books.

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Spotlight On: Our Love Grows, by Anna Pignataro

Posted on April 28, 2016April 2, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I adore Our Love Grows; it’s a perfect read-aloud for growing boys and girls (who will never be too big for a loving lap, right?). Enjoy this spotlight from the publisher, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, and please wander over to my review if you want more info.

Our Love Grows, Written and Illustrated by Anna Pignataro (April 5, 2016; Hardcover, ISBN 9781492634188)

Title: Our Love Grows

Author: Anna Pignataro

Release date: April 5, 2016

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Praise for Our Love Grows

“[Pignataro] creates delicately ethereal landscapes for the pandas to traverse—forests dense with pine and bamboo, snowy hillscapes—while showcasing a playful tenderness in their explorations and interactions… Pitch perfect in its spirit of cozy reassurance.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review!

“A sweet story for parents to share with their young children. The theme is straightforward and told in rhyme. The book conveys a similar message to Sam McBratney’s Guess How Much I Love You, and the engaging artwork greatly enhances and complements the story. The pen and paint illustrations have a soft tone and will give readers a warm feeling.” —School Library Journal

About the Book

Like the sky, and the trees and the child she holds… A Mother’s Love Grows.

In the deep green forest, Pip asked,

“Mama, when will I be big?”

Pip is an adorable, roly-poly little panda who sees the world changing and growing. But Pip is feeling a bit left behind. Luckily Mama is there to show playful and curious Pip that, like the trees in the forest and the stars in the sky, he’s growing and changing too. And no matter how much Pip grows, the one thing that will never change is how much Mama loves him!

Our Love Grows on Goodreads

Buy the Book:

About the Author

Anna Pignataro is the creator of the bestselling books Mama, How Long Will You Love Me? and Mama, Will You Hold My Hand? Her works have been translated into eleven different languages, and she has won numerous awards including the Crichton Award for Illustration. She lives in Australia with her family.

Connect with Anna Pignataro:

Website: http://annapignataro.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annapignatarobooks/

Enter a Rafflecopter giveaway to win your own copy of Our Love Grows!

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Mr. King’s Machine needs to stop!

Posted on April 19, 2016April 18, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Mr. King’s Machine, by Geneviève Côté (Apr. 2016, Kids Can Press), $16.95, ISBN: 9781771380218

Recommended for ages 3-7

Mr. King loves flowers! He notices that a caterpillar has taken a munched on a flower, he is NOT happy, and takes it upon himself to construct a Caterpillar-Catcher. But Mr. King trades one small problem for much bigger ones: his Caterpillar-Catcher is making a mess of the environment! It’s trampling flowers and grass, it’s belching awful gray smoke into the air, and most importantly, it’s stopping the caterpillar from doing his work: becoming a butterfly that will help flowers grow as they fly from plant to plan! Mr. King’s friends confront him, and he listens; then, he decides on a new invention, and takes apart his Caterpillar-Catcher to create a much more environmentally friendly machine: the Flower-Fan!

This is the third book in the Mr. King series; the first one I’ve read. You don’t need to pick up any of the other books to know what’s going on, just dive into this fun Earth Day-friendly tale for our youngest learners! Mr. King is a sweet, well-meaning lion (but he’s got no mane – maybe he’s still young?) who has a knee-jerk reaction and tries to take action. Toddlers and preschoolers will understand this, and they’ll understand how Mr. King’s friends see what he’s doing wrong. Use this as an interactive read-aloud and ask your readers what Mr. King’s doing wrong, too – it’s a great learning opportunity, especially if you’re talking about Earth Day, conservation, and pollution.

The mixed media artwork is adorable, with Mr. King standing out as a crayon-drawn character, set into what looks like collage backgrounds. It’s a great read-aloud book that toddlers and preschoolers can enjoy, and allows for a lot of interactivity: talk about what we can do as a community to make our neighborhoods nicer; how we can make our world a better place as a global community (a better discussion for school-age readers).

Mr. King’s Machine has received a starred review from Kirkus.

Geneviève Côté is a Montreal artist whose illustrations have graced the pages of publications such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Her books have received three nominations for the Governor General’s Award for Illustration, one of which went on to win, and she has also won the the Elisabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award.

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May the Fourth Be With You

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’m starting to plan my May the 4th activities for the kidlings here at the library, and I am PSYCHED. I just got the go-ahead to request a visit from the Saber League, so fingers are crossed. Now, I need stuff for the kids to do. This post has some brilliant ideas, including the Death Star Maze. I’m excitedly twiddling my hands ala Mr. Burns…

the outreach librarian

You have a week to plan a Star Wars-themed event for your library. Whether you run a college, public, or school library, I feel pretty certain that your patrons would appreciate such an event. And it does not have to take a ton of work to make it special. You’re welcome!

That’s worth a buck.

Making it real: Find your local 501st Legion, an all-volunteer organization of awesome folks who dress up as Imperial Army crew (including Stormtroopers, Jawas, and Vader himself.) They are the preferred costuming group of Lucasfilms when Stormtroopers are needed for events. They LOVE doing community service and you can request an appearance. Plus, since they do this all of the time they are sources for what works and what does not.

Don’t forget the Rebels! See if your area has a Rebel Legion, recognized by Lucasfilms as a premier volunteering and costuming group. They might be…

View original post 572 more words

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The Last Boy at St. Edith’s wants OUT!

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Last Boy at St. Edith’s, by Lee Gjersten Malone (Feb. 2016, Aladdin), $16.99, ISBN: 9781481444354

Recommended for ages 8-12

Seventh-grader, Jeremy, is not thrilled. His school, St. Edith’s, was formerly an all-girls’ school that briefly admitted boys, but it never quite caught on. He’s been counting down the number of boys leaving the school, until Andrew – #2 on his list – announced he was leaving, making Jeremy the last boy at St. Edith’s. It’s embarrassing and it’s really annoying, but his mom, who works at the school so he and his sisters can go for free, will not even consider letting him go to the local public school. Desperate, Jeremy decides to take matters into his own hands: he’s going to get expelled.

Turning to his best friend, Claudia, the two come up with a series of pranks that should do the trick. Jeremy has rules: no one gets embarrassed or hurt, and no permanent damage gets done. But the mysterious prankster’s first gag gets huge laughs, and Jeremy finds himself caught in the snowballing effect of pranking; he’s got to up the ante, but things start getting out of control. How far will Jeremy go to get thrown out?

I LOVED this book. Jeremy has a distinct voice that comes through loud and clear, and he’s got some valid arguments: he’s the butt of other school’s jokes; his own school’s teachers refer to the student body as “ladies”, so he feels humiliated in his own environment; his mother, however valid her reasons are for keeping him at St. Edith’s, is too stressed out to really listen and understand Jeremy; and his flaky tree-hugging dad is not there for him at all. He still manages to keep a sense of humor about him, and he’s a likable kid. He’s a good kid from a good family who just wants one thing to go his way, and he’s got a conscience – whether he always listens to it remains to be seen.

There are plenty of social and family issues addressed in this seemingly light read: family relationships; divorce; social classes; gender roles; friendship, and consequences. The Last Boy at St. Edith’s deserves a spot on summer reading lists, for sure. I’ll be putting together some discussion questions and a booktalk to generate interest in this great debut.

The Last Boy at St. Edith’s has received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. You can visit Ms. Malone’s author website for more information about her, including links to social media and information on school and library visits.

Adventure, Animal Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Science Fiction, Uncategorized

Finally! Ricky Ricotta and the Naughty Nightcrawlers from Neptune!

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. the Naughty Nightcrawlers from Neptune, by Dav Pilkey/Illustrated by Dan Santat (Jan. 2016, Scholastic), $5.99, ISBN: 9780545631440

Recommended for ages 5-10

FINALLY, the last two books in the Ricky Ricotta series are here! You don’t understand; about a decade ago, my son – now a junior in high school – devoured the first seven Ricky Ricotta books. He loved them. I loved them. And then, there was nothing. We were down two planets! We waited. We watched. We hoped. We saw new Captain Underpants books hit the shelves, but Ricky remained silent. And then, a glimmer of hope: the entire line of existing Ricky Ricotta adventures were re-released, with Dan Santat’s amazing and colorful art taking the whole series up a notch. I ordered two sets for my library and booktalked this series like my rent depended on it (which, kinda, it does).

VINDICATION! In January, we got Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot and the Naughty Nightcrawlers from Neptune! Patience pays off!

Ricky and Robot are finally back, and trying to think of something fun to do that won’t cause a giant mess. They find an old building that they can use material from to make a giant fort, and it looks like they’re going to have a great, stress-free day after all. Nah, just kidding: grumpy Farmer Feta next door is annoyed about the noise the two friends are making, and lets the evil Neptunian scientist, Nimrod Nightcrawler, use his property to dig a tunnel over to Ricky’s property to wipe them out! With some help from Ricky’s cousin, Lucy, and the now-tame Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter, Ricky and Robot have to save the day again.

The adventure is laid out like the other Ricky adventures, with Dan Santat’s art really rebooting this whole series. He’s managed to leave in the most fun part of the books, though: the Flip-O-Rama fight sequence, where readers can flip the right hand page back and forth to make the picture look animated (and add their own sound effects). Nimrod ends up in jail with the seven previous bad guys, and we see one more cell waiting…

My son now considers himself too old for Ricky Ricotta. I, however, am just the right age; I’m also a completist – how could I not finish the series? I had a great time reading this book and revisiting a series that I enjoyed then and I still chuckle at now. Kids are drawn to Dan Santat’s art, and when I tell them that the same artist write and drew Sidekicks AND Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, they’re even more excited, because they love seeing how they can recognize his art and yet spot the subtle differences in a picture book, graphic novel, and a chapter book.

Bottom line: this is a great series for libraries and collections. If you’re familiar with the series, you’ll love it; if you’re not, and you like fun humor with over the top robot fights and villains, you’ll love it.

Be on the lookout for Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs. The Unpleasant Penguins from Pluto in May!

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Take Action Tuesday: Spreading the Everyday Advocacy Word!

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

My ALSC Everyday Advocacy challenge this week is to champion the efforts of school librarians. I have a lot of teacher and librarian friends; one very close friend is a teacher-librarian. Today, I had a class visit for a school that has no school librarian. As common as that’s sadly becoming, I can’t wrap my head around it. I had a fantastic school librarian in my elementary school; I can’t imagine a kid not having that now. She taught us how to use a library, how information is organized, and most importantly, how to respect books and the information in them. I see my friend, N, taking time from her vacations and breaks to decorate her library and get it ready for every school year; the love and yes, frustration, that goes into lesson planning when your position is considered disposable by elected officials and a lot of the population.

rotj

“You can find all that on the Internet now.” Riiight.

So for this Take Action Tuesday, I made sure to give the teachers at my class visit my contact information, and offered to come visit the school to booktalk, conduct storytimes, talk about citing sources and how to use library databases for their older students – anything they’d need. They seemed enthusiastic, so here’s hoping we can work together and show our community how vital libraries are INSIDE the schools as well as within the communities.

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Women’s History Month: Ten Days a Madwoman

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original “Girl” Reporter, Nellie Bly, by Deborah Noyes (Feb. 2016, Viking Books for Young Readers), $18.99, ISBN: 9780803740174

Recommended for ages 12+

In 1887, a 23 year-old woman decided to show her newspaper editor that she had the chops to write more captivating stories than the latest hat and dress styles of the season. Elizabeth Jane “Pink” Cochran, who went by the pen name Nellie Bly, managed to convince a battery of bystanders, doctors, and nurses that she needed to be admitted to Blackwell’s Island, home of an infamous insane asylum, so that she could write an exposé. Sure enough, she was admitted and spent 10 horrific days in the asylum, where she later wrote about the mistreatment she received and witnessed other patients endure. Her career, so she thought, was made.

Ten Days a Madwoman is a biography on Cochran and her investigative journalism. The Blackwell’s Island piece inspired other women to pursue “stunt journalism”, where they would take on often outrageous stunts like boxing the famed Gentleman Jim Corbett, rescuing a child from a burning building, or jumping in front of a trolley car. Bly worked hard at her journalism and championing women and children in particular, but struggled throughout her career with the idea of women being taken seriously as journalists. When she decided to travel around the world in 80 Days, hoping to beat the fictional record set by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days character, Phileas Fogg, a rival newspaper sent their female reporter on the same trip, setting up a race between the two. (Bly beat her rival and Fogg: she completed her trip in 72 days.)

Noyes explores Bly’s professional and personal life, focusing on her desire to care for her family and attain financial security in addition to gaining professional respect. Pictures and reprinted documents, with additional profiles of people, places, and events influencing or influenced by Bly, round out this must-read biography on a woman whose career may be overlooked in this age of Twitter and 24-hour news, when hard-hitting journalism tends to take a back seat to pop culture.

Ten Days a Madwoman has already received a starred School Library Journal review and includes a rich bibliography, source notes, and index. An important addition to any collection, and a great Women’s History Month spotlight.

Deborah Noyes is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. Her author webpage offers more information about her books and links to her social media. Check out an excerpt here!