Mom Read It

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

Animal Crackers – a circus like you’ve never seen!

Posted on January 14, 2017January 13, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Animal Crackers: Circus Mayhem, by Scott Christian Sava/Illustrated by Mike Holmes, (March 2017, First Second), $15.99, ISBN: 9781626725041

Recommended for ages 7-11

Seven year-old Owen’s parents drop him off for a visit at Buffalo Bob’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Animal Circus. Uncle Bob’s his great-uncle, but he’s really not looking forward to this visit, no matter how cool these animals are supposed to be. A knife-throwing elephant? A jump-roping giraffe? They HAVE to be people dressed up as animals, right? Pfft. When Owen and his family arrive at the circus, they find chaos: Uncle Bob’s missing, and so are the animals. The number one suspect is Bob’s nemesis, Contorto, and his henchcreeps. Stuck in Uncle Bob’s office while the staff try to find Bob and calm the angry masses of circus-goers waiting to see animals, Owen discovers a box of magical animal crackers. Maybe this circus thing isn’t going to be so bad, after all, especially if he can help save the day with a little help from the magical cookies.

Animal Crackers is a fun story to give to younger readers. It’s a great way to turn kids onto graphic novels and sequential storytelling. Mike Holmes, the artist on Gene Luen Yang’s Secret Coders series, illustrates the wacky, fun hijinks going on in the circus. His characters, particularly Owen and his animals, have wonderfully exaggerated facial expressions and movements to match the story’s pacing. Scott Sava creates a fun intermediate tale that kids will enjoy, and with an Animal Crackers movie coming in March, this is going to be a hot book on shelves and on wish lists.

Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Enter a dream world with Nightlights

Posted on January 13, 2017December 27, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Nightlights, by Lorena Alvarez, (March 2017, Nobrow), $18.95, ISBN: 9781910620137

Recommended for ages 9+

Sandy loves the stars that appear out of the darkness in her bedroom each night. She plays with them, catches them, creates wonderful dreams with them, and in the morning, creates drawings that cover her room. A new girl named Morfie shows up at Sandy’s strict Catholic school and befriends her, but she also starts showing up in Sandy’s dreams, demanding Sandy’s time and drawings. Sandy’s exhausted, but Morfie is always there, always asking her to draw for her.

Nightlights is an unexpected, beautiful graphic novel that looks at fear, insecurity, and creativity. The colorwork is stunning and the dream sequences are breathtaking. Lorena Alvarez’s imagination runs free on the pages of her novel, and she invites readers to join her for the ride.

Nightlights is a very good addition to graphic novel collections and has received a starred review from Kirkus. See more of Lorena Alvarez Gomez’s beautiful and colorful illustration at her website.

Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade

Happy Warren the 13th!

Posted on January 13, 2017January 13, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

What better way to greet a Friday the 13th than with a specially created Warren the 13th story just for you?

Readers met Warren the 13th in his first adventure, Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, in late 2015. The story is a little bit steampunk and a lot of fun as we meet Warren, an orphan working in his family’s hotel and trying to thwart his evil aunt and clueless uncle. Warren’s second adventure, Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods, will be hitting shelves in March, but author Tania del Rio couldn’t let a Friday the 13th go by unnoticed! She’s created a special short story, celebrating Warren’s unlucky day on Friday the 13th, and you can enjoy it right now, along with additional activities! The booklet is available for download on Scribd, absolutely free.

friday-the-13th-image

Visit Quirk’s Warren website for previews, trailers, and activities, and find out more about Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye and the upcoming Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods at their Quirk pages.

Happy Warren the 13th!

Uncategorized

It’s Everyday Advocacy Challenge time again!

Posted on January 11, 2017January 11, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s Everyday Advocacy time again! I joined the ALSC’s Winter Challenge, because one of my professional goals this year is to increase my advocacy efforts. This first week’s challenge is to craft another elevator speech – a quick response to “what do you do?” that gets the point across and hopefully, generates some interest that could lead to some help, be it with donations of books, materials, or funding. This time, though, the elevator speech is aimed more at the folks involved in the decision process: an alderman, mayor, local government staff members – you get the drift.

I decided to address the 30 million word gap in my speech. That’s the difference in the number of words that children from lower-income families are exposed to, versus children from high-income families. This isn’t over the stretch of a lifetime, either. This isn’t even before Kindergarten. This is by AGE 3. Thirty million words. This is why reading to your kids, singing with your kids, TALKING to your kids, is crucial. Don’t know what to sing? Hell, I started singing ’80s ballads to my eldest when I ran blank on lullabies and nursery rhymes. Sing anything. Talk lovingly. Play. It matters.

So here’s my little elevator speech: “Hi there! I’m Rosemary, and I’m one of the children’s librarians at Queens Library. My colleagues and I are working toward closing that 30 million word gap by providing a chance for babies, toddlers, and their caregivers to sing, talk, play, and listen to stories together. Want to visit one of my storytimes?”

I’m hoping that the mention of a 30 million word gap will get whoever I’m speaking with to want to hear more. If I’ve only got 10 seconds, I want that in the other person’s head, so they can look it up, learn, and act.

Go read to your kids! Read to the neighbor’s kids! Just read!

Uncategorized

Operation 451

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

We live in interesting times, to paraphrase the Chinese curse. We’re in an age of fake news, an adversarial relationship between elected officials and the media, and attacks on our right to free speech. Sarah Houghton, whose Librarian in Black blog I’ve followed for several years now, and Andy Woodworth, of the Agnostic, Maybe blog, have joined forces to bring us Operation 451 (a nice reference to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451). Operation 451 directly opposes intolerance and ignorance and is here to remind librarians of our values, our Bill of Rights, the Five Laws of Library Science, and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

This year, I’m adding my voice to the dialogue. I’m taking part in 451 and promise to keep working at advocacy for the right to read, increasing information access for my patrons – and helping them learn the difference between valid and “fake” information sources, and working to keep my library a safe space for everyone. Period.

This will always be a book review/reader’s advisory blog, because that’s what I created this site for. I hope to make it more of an active library site, too; I hope to talk about more of my programs, conferences I attend, and my advocacy. Please stick around for the voyage.

Animal Fiction, Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

Join Porcupine’s Picnic!

Posted on January 9, 2017January 9, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Porcupine’s Picnic: Who Eats What?, by Betsy R. Rosenthal/Illustrated by Giusi Capizzi, (Feb. 2017, Millbrook Press), $19.99, ISBN: 9781467795197

Recommended for ages 4-6

Porcupine is going on a picnic! He packs a basket full of clover and settles into a perfect spot. Nearby animals ask to join him, and bring their own food: koala loves his eucalyptus, squireel enjoys his acorns, and giraffe nibbles on his leaves. When Tiger shows up, though, the picnic comes to a very quick end!

This is a cute introduction to different animals and what they eat. An explanation at the end of the book introduces readers to herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores, and points out which animals from the story belong to which group. The digital art is very cute, and the reptitive pattern of the story – animal asks to join, Porcupine offers clover, animal declines and eats his or her own food – will appeal to younger readers, who can predict what will happen next. The story does tend to go on a bit long, at 40 pages, and could have used a few less animals; I worry about younger readers’ interest as the story proceeds. This would be a good flannel story candidate: create animals and foods, and invite storytime audiences to match the animal with the food on the flannel board, or even make up a worksheet and/or memory game to hand out after the story. An additional purchase for animal collections.

Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

The Time Museum has something for everyone – no matter what time you’re from!

Posted on January 8, 2017August 29, 2019 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Time Museum, by Matthew Loux, (Feb. 2017, First Second), $14.99, ISBN: 9781596438491

Recommended for ages 8-12

Delia’s the class bookworm, the class nerd… you get the idea. When school’s out for the summer, all her brother wants to do is go swimming, but Delia has found something much more exciting: the possibility of an internship at The Time Museum, courtesy of her Uncle Lyndon! The Time Museum is kind of like the Natural History Museum, but on an Earth-wide basis. All time eras are welcome, as Delia learns when she meets some of the kids she’s competing against for the internship: Michiko, a Japanese girl from 2217; Titus Valerius Marianus, from Ancient Rome; Dex, who’s a Neanderthal, thank you very much, not a caveman; Reggie, a 51st century Canadian boy genius, and Greer, a prickly Scottish girl who’s already been time traveling. As they train for the internship, they must also go through time trials – going back – or forward – in time to find and collect anachronisms. They’ll also learn that working as a team is much harder, but more beneficial, than going it alone.

The Time Museum is a fun middle grade romp for every kid that wants to live Night at the Museum or catches every episode of The Librarians. Whether Delia and her friends are running away from dinosaurs or discovering a robot playing strip poker, there’s something here for everyone to laugh at. There’s a positive message about healthy competition and teamwork going hand in hand, there’s a giant, talking brain, and a super-cool android librarian that uses android cats to fetch books. If I had a library like that, I’d never leave; I’d just hang out at my reference desk, covered in robot kittens.

The Time Museum is a lot of fun, and maybe it’ll turn even reluctant readers into readers who see the fun in history. Add to your graphic novel shelves, and talk this one up with some good, tried and true Geronimo Stilton, our favorite time-traveling journalist mouse. Get out your Time Warp Trio series to create a fun display for everyone.

Fantasy, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Fire and Ice meet in Frostblood

Posted on January 8, 2017January 7, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Frostblood, by Elly Blake, (Jan. 2017, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), $17.99, ISBN: 9780316273251

Recommended for ages 12+

Ruby is a 17 year-old girl living with her mother, learning the healing arts, until the soldiers come to her village. Ruby’s also a Fireblood – she has power over heat and flame, however unrefined – and in Ruby’s world, ruled by the Frostbloods, Ruby’s kind is hunted down. Her mother is killed trying to protect her, and Ruby is imprisoned, shackled to a wall and tormented by her captors. Rescued by rebel Frostbloods, she’s trained to wield her power in the hopes that she can melt the Ice Throne that warps the king’s mind and increases her power, returning peace to the land. She has one chance to destroy the throne, or it will mean certain death for the monks who have sheltered her and the Frostblood she finds herself falling in love with.

Frost Blood is the first in a new fantasy series that pits ice wielders against fire users in an age-old conflict, and I’m on board for this. This first installment has solid world-building and creates a nice history of fire and frost for readers. I cared about the characters, I got angry at some characters, I was invested. Medieval-world fantasy fans will grab this one, for sure. Display and booktalk with Sarah Maas’ Throne of Glass series, Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, and Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha (Shadow & Bone) series.

Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Tween Reads

I’m a CYBILS Judge!

Posted on January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I can finally talk about it! I’m thrilled to be a CYBILS judge again, returning to the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. There have been SO many great books published, and I’ll be diving into the finalists this time around, as a second round judge. Wanna see who’s up for the award? Take a look, and adjust your TBRs accordingly.

When the Sea Turned to Silver, by Grace Lin, (Oct. 2016, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), $18.99, ISBN: 978-0316125925

Inspired by Chinese folklore, this companion to the Newbery Honor Winner, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, is the story of a girl on a mission to save her kidnapped grandmother.

The Voyage to Magical North, by Claire Fayers, (July 2016, Henry Holt & Co.), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1627794206

An orphan keeps house for an irritable magician and his equally obnoxious apprentice, and ends up accidentally becoming a pirate.

The Evil Wizard Smallbone, by Delia Sherman, (Sept. 2016, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 978-0763688059

A boy runs away from his uncle’s home, discovers a bookstore run by a self-proclaimed Evil Wizard who won’t let him leave, but calls him his apprentice.

Shadow Magic, by Joshua Khan, (April 2016, Disney-Hyperion), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1484732724

An outlaw’s son is sold into slavery. A girl is the last surviving member of her family, a line of dark sorcerers. Together, they’ll break the rules.

The Memory Thief, by Bryce Moore, (Sept. 2016, Adaptive Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9781945293030

This was published as a Barnes & Noble exclusive in 2016, but is being published in wide release this March.

Twins wander off at a county fair; Benji, the brother, wanders into a tent where he meets an old man who collects memories. He asks to train as a Memory Thief and ends up on an adventure.

The Goblin’s Puzzle: Being the Adventures of a Boy with No Name and Two Girls Called Alice, by Andrew Chilton, (Jan. 2016, Knopf Books for Young Readers), $16.99, ISBN: 978-0553520705

A fantasy adventure filled with dragons, goblins, and puzzles.

The Firefly Code, by Megan Frazer Blakemore, (May 2016, Bloomsbury USA), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1619636361

When a new girl moves to Firefly Lane, a girl and her friends start questioning everything they’ve known.

I’ll recap after we select a winner!

Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Sideshow Stalkers and Secrets: Freeks

Posted on January 7, 2017January 7, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Freeks, by Amanda Hocking, (Jan. 2017, St. Martin’s/Griffin), $18.99, ISBN: 9781250084774

Recommended for ages 14+

Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow isn’t your run of the mill carny act: the performers are all special. They have necromancers, firedancers who make their own fire, levitating trapeze artists, and supernaturally strong men. Nineteen year-old Mara travels with the sideshow, where her necromancer mother reads tarot cards, but she’s torn between the familiarity of the sideshow and the family atmosphere around her, and the desire to live in a real home. She worries for her mother, who’s showing fatigue from years of communicating with the dead. And when the sideshow pulls into Caudry, Louisiana, she meets Gabe, a townie who has secrets of his own, but embraces her despite knowing almost nothing about her. And then, the attacks start.

It starts when Blossom, a runaway who travels with the sideshow, disappears. Next, their strong man is mauled by a beast that no one seems to see. Is the town – not terribly friendly toward the “freeks” – up to no good, or is there something hunting the supernatural performers? Desperate to save her sideshow family and herself, Mara starts her own investigation and opens herself to the power that her mother has tried to keep at bay for most of her life.

Freeks is a slow build, with Hocking giving us little shakes and scares to start, but when things take off, hang onto something. There’s solid worldbuilding and great character development. The YA romance aspect of it takes over every now and then, but it’s a YA romance set in a carny/suspense universe. Paranormal romance fans will love this one for sure. Pair with Kate Ormand’s The Wanderers for more paranormal carnival storytelling (and its sequel, The Pack, to be published this year!).