Mom Read It

Talk to Me – What did Maddie See?

Posted on March 31, 2015March 30, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Talk to Me, by Sonia Ellis/illus. by Evanleigh Davis (2014, FastPencil) $16.99, ISBN: 9781619338821

Recommended for ages 9-14

Seven year-old Maddie Reyes is a selective mute. She can talk up a storm around her mom, dad, and older sister, Sadina. She tells all of her secrets to Bella, her robotic cat. But get her outside of her family circle, and she cannot speak. Sadina, her older sister, protects her and takes care of her as much as she can, but she can’t be with Maddie all the time.

One night, Maddie discovers an intruder in the house – an intruder who knows about Maddie. When Maddie and Sadina’s mother is accused of a corporate crime, Sadina thinks her friend Rio is behind it, but Maddie knows the truth. And now, she’s not talking at all. To find out what Maddie knows, Sadina will have to team up with her friends and find a way to make Bella, the one friend that Maddie will still speak to, talk back to Maddie.

This book drew me in right away. I love there character diversity- let’s hear it for a Latina heroine!; I found it fascinating that Ms. Ellis made Maddie a selective mute, and how she worked that into the meat of the plot. The story’s pace will keep a middle grader’s attention, and there’s enough tension in the book to keep readers guessing and thinking overtime. This is a great book for discussion groups; there’s so much to cover here. From disabilities that aren’t readily visible to corporate espionage, to the reality of animating a robotic pet, this book would be a great collaborative reading assignment for English and Science classes.

There are frequent references to technology in the book – Maddie and Sadina’s mother is an engineer, working on a new cellphone battery; Sadina and her friends are very handy in the tech lab; Rio wants new design software – but I’m not sure that qualifies this as a STEM Mystery. It’s a good story with STEM references.

Evanleigh Davis’ illustrations bring a real innocence to Maddie’s character. Her large eyes, seemingly forever gazing upward, make her look small and bewildered. Every illustration is filled with character and adds another dimension to the storytelling.

I think this will be a good book to get on the shelves at my library this summer. It’s the first book in a new series, and anything to do with kids using technology to solve problems is a book I want to have at the kids’ fingertips.

Teen

The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters – an ’80s-style YA mystery

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters, by M.J. Beaufrand (May 2015, Abrams) $16.95, ISBN: ISBN9781419714955

Recommended for ages 14+

Set in the punk rock scene in 1980s Portland, Oregon, The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters gives us a serial killer mystery with a supernatural touch, with a splash of David Bowie, for good measure.

You with me? Okay. Girls are going missing in Portland. One of them was found in the PfefferBrau Haus, a local brewery. Noah, a teen on the punk scene, swears the brothers running the brewery have something to do with it. A guy named Ziggy shows up – who just happens to bear a striking resemblance to David Bowie – and warns Noah about a creepy supernatural force called The Mar. Noah decides to resurrect his band, The Gallivanters, get into the battle of the bands at the PfefferBrau Haus, and bring the mystery of the missing girls to an end.

This book took a little bit to grow on me, but once it did, I committed to this story. We’ve got an unreliable narrator, which is always good for a page-turner. We’ve got a story of friendship, and a bit of a mystery that may involve the paranormal. And we have a story of loss that will sock you in the gut. Noah can be a frustrating narrator, but it’s in his character. The pacing can be a little bumpy, but overall, teens with an interest in the ’80s punk scene and whodunit fans will enjoy this one.

Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Tween Reads

Cuckoo Song is engrossing dark fantasy for the middle school set

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Cuckoo Song, by Frances Hardinge (Abrams, May 2015), $17.95, ISBN: 9781419714801

Recommended for ages 12+

Taking place in the post-World War I English countryside, Triss wakes up after an accident, her mother fawning over her and her father concerned about someone being responsible for it. Her younger sister, Pen, is afraid of her, shrieking that she’s “a fake”. Triss’ hunger is out of control; she can’t stop eating, and she can’t seem to be satisfied. She’s very afraid – this feels like something beyond her usual frailness and sickliness. Pen, meanwhile, is convinced that Triss is not who she claims to be – what does Pen know? The answers will lead the two sisters on a dark adventure that peels away the layers surrounding their lives, and brings unsettling answers to questions about their brother, who died in the War, and his fiancée, who can’t stay in one place, thanks to a secret of her own.

Cuckoo Song is one of those books that slowly builds – you start with a ping at the back of your neck, and gradually, your chest is tight, and the hairs on your arms are standing at full attention. There are horrible bargains struck, and the consequences will make readers wince and break their hearts. As a parent, reading this, I ached over the desperation of a parent who just wants to hear his or her child one more time. Thinking about this from a middle schooler’s point of view, this is skin-crawling: parents who don’t know how to parent, so lost in their despair over loss; not knowing who – or what – you are, and having your younger sibling keeping secrets that directly involve you; a never-ending hunger that horrifies you, once you realize what sates it. There are so many parallels to adolescence here, and that’s what will connect with readers.

Frances Hardinge writes beautiful dark fantasy. This was my first book by her, but I can see it won’t be my last. She knows how to weave a multilayered narrative that draws vivid pictures in the reader’s mind and even transcend the page – I felt cold, damp, and chilled in alternate parts of the book, and I couldn’t put it down.

Give this book to your Gaiman fans, your dark fantasy fans, and anyone who wants a good novel that will leave them unsettled for a long time after.

Uncategorized

The Urban Librarians Conference was GREAT!

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I went to my first professional librarians’ conference last week; the Urban Librarians Conference, at Central Brooklyn Library. It was such a great experience; I met some fellow librarians, sat in on some panels that sparked a lot of ideas, and enjoyed wandering around the gorgeous library.

Check-in was a breeze, and you have to love a conference that gives you Laffy Taffy in your goodie bag. And a yo-yo. Which my toddler commandeered as soon as I got home, but hey – I got a couple of yo-yo rotations in, at least.

I’m always that person that feels like hugging the wall at networking events, but everyone here was so amazing. I got to chat up the publishers, Melville House and Penguin Random House, that tabled the event, and check out some books for my YA readers. As for the other publishers out there, where were you? Come on, I worked in publishing for 15 years, you all have library marketing departments, and you’ve all got some kind of New York presence. You need to come out to this! We can’t all make it to PLA or ALA, after all; this is a great chance to really speak to librarians; a much smaller, more personal setting, without the frenetics of Book Expo or the bigger library conferences.

The keynote speaker, Lancelot Chase, from StartUp Box, talked about how his organization works to get people in the South Bronx working in the QA (Quality Assurance) sector of the gaming industry. People game for a living, and make a decent wage to do it. StartUp Box works to bring their community together through gaming, too, holding gaming competitions in conjunction with the local police precinct. He was inspirational, and I’m pretty sure the librarians are fighting over who gets to invite him to talk to our patrons first (ahem. Get in line.)

I loved the TeacherLab session, led by Amy Mikel from Brooklyn Public Library. I’ve been trying to reach out to the local schools and get in touch with the parent coordinators, to make the parents and children more aware of what we have to offer them here at Pomonok, but TeacherLab is a professional development session for teachers that will bring them into the libraries and show them what we can offer them in terms of resources and collection. I love this idea, and hope to get one up and running by the end of the summer. Fingers crossed!

I also enjoyed Eric Neuman’s session on working with digital natives – that would be kids these days – and the digital divide, which encompasses more than not having the access to technology (although that’s a huge part of the problem). For these kids, technology is ubiquitous – it’s always there, it’s always been there- so they never had to learn how to use it like we digital immigrants did/do. They need us to help them navigate the whys and wherefores of research and technology, and they need the access to technology in order to sharpen these skills. He also included a gratuitous cat slide in his presentation, so – bonus.

I’d love to see this conference stay small and personal, but have more exhibitors take advantage of this opportunity. And I’d like to see some children’s publishing featured here. I’m not the only children’s librarian that went to ULU2015, and I’d have liked the chance to talk about the state of children’s publishing and educational publishing and media. I’ll be going to BookExpo this year, but again – it’s huge, it’s frenetic in pace, and there’s bound to be lost opportunities on both my side and the publisher side. Who knows, maybe I’ll make that a goal for 2016- help get some children’s publishing exhibitors at ULU2016.

I came away from the day with a notepad full of exclamation points and scribbled thoughts, and a real feeling of excitement at having been part of this day. I can’t wait to some plans into action.

Fiction, Intermediate, Uncategorized

Top Ten Tuesday (Better Late Than Never Edition): Top 10 Intermediate Series for Kids

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’m a day late, but I wanted to get this Top Ten Tuesday out. Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, I’m spotlighting intermediate (grades 2-4) series for kids that go beyond the ones everyone knows. (Goosebumps, My Weird School, and Magic Tree House fans, don’t take offense!)

Alvin Ho series, by Lenore Look – Alvin Ho is afraid of everything – but when he’s home, he’s a superhero.

Lulu series, by Hilary McKay – Lulu loves animals – every story features a new animal adventure.

Mermaid Tales series, by Debbie Dadey – Join this group of mermaid friends on new adventures!

Goddess Girls series, by Joan Holub – Join the Goddess Girls at Mount Olympus Academy.

Heroes in Training series, by Joan Holub – Joan Holub’s got a companion series to Goddess Girls, focusing on a group of 10 year-old Olympians.

Zapato Power series, by Jacqueline Jules – A pair of shoes changes Freddie Ramos’ life by giving him Zapato Power!

Captain Awesome series, by Stan Kirby – Second grader Eugene McGillicuddy lives a secret life as superhero Captain Awesome!

Just Grace series by Charise Mercile Harper – Third grader Grace has a “teeny tiny superpower” – she can tell when people are unhappy.

EllRay Jakes series by Sally Warner – Third grader EllRay Jakes navigates real life – all the good and the bad – with funny and honest results.

Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg – The girls of The Nutcracker School of Ballet overcome stage fright and other hardships as a group.

Early Reader, Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction

We Dig Worms is a great intro to science for young readers!

Posted on March 23, 2015January 30, 2026 by Rosemary Kiladitis

wedigworms We Dig Worms, by Kevin McCloskey (Apr 2015, TOON Books), $12.95, ISBN: 978-1-935179-80-1

Recommended for ages 4-8

Worms are so much more than those squiggly things you pull out of the dirt and put on a fish hook. Kevin McCloskey has put together a great little graphic novel that appeals to a range of young readers, illustrating just how worms help us. There’s so much to appeal to kids here – a cartoon side story involving a bird that wants to say hello to a worm and invite him to lunch (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), a Q&A about worms that gives us answers involving worm poo (it’s good for the soil!), and a detailed map of a worm’s interior and exterior.

The illustrations – originally painted on recycled grocery bags, which give a great look and feel to the book – are cartoony and kid-friendly, with simple facts and explanations. The map of the worm can be made even simpler for the youngest readers by just explaining that it is a map of the worm – that’s how I read it to my toddler, who loves this book and demands it be read to him every night.

This is a great entry into graphic nonfiction, and a book that belongs on library, school, and children’s bookshelves. I’m making sure this one gets into my libraries; I’ve had great luck with TOON Books this far and look forward to adding to my collection.

Toddler Reads

Learn to Count with Dracula!

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Little Master Stoker: Dracula, A Counting Primer, by Jennifer Adams/illus. by Alison Oliver (Gibbs Smith, 2012), $9.99, ISBN: 978-1423624806

Recommended for ages 0-3

I was in a great little indie bookstore this weekend, when I came across this lovely. Seeing as how I like a little of the unusual in my board books, I fell instantly in love. BabyLit, in case you aren’t familiar with them, produces gorgeous board books, based on the classics, for babies. They drill down basic concepts in each classic, perfect for little ones.

Dracula is a counting book. Going from 1 to 10, we count different objects present in the famous classic: 1 castle, two friends (Mina and Lucy), 3 wolves, 4 ships, 5 heroes (Harker, Seward, Turnbull, Morris, and Van Helsing), and more. The pictures are rendered in the sweetest detail with just a touch of baby goth. The art is mainly black, gray, and white, with accents of red as necessary. There are little winks to the grownups who will read this book over and over again – Dracula’s face on the Demeter flag, well-known character names and locations, a rat wearing a bat shirt – that will make you smile and chuckle. There’s a wonderful sense of humor in the book, which is as perfect for grownups as it is for children.

This is now in my toddler’s short stack of favorites. He carries it around with him and asks to read it several times a day. I can’t wait to fill out his classics bookshelf with more BabyLit, and I know for sure that I’m buying some of these for my storytime toddlers. How often do you get to read babies Frankenstein and Dracula, where they learn about basic concepts?

Check out BabyLit’s webpage for more titles, but don’t blame me if you end up buying a Pride & Prejudice playset. They’ve also got one of the best Pinterest layouts going, and you can check out some of their videos on Google+.

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

Fairy Tale Reform School – but are the teachers scarier than the students?

Posted on March 13, 2015February 13, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked, by Jen Calonita (March 2015, Sourcebook Jabberwocky) $15.99, ISBN: 9781492601562

Recommended for ages 10-14

Gilly isn’t bad, really. She’s just a little light-fingered. But she’s doing it for her family – her father’s a shoemaker, and she’s got a LOT of brothers and sisters. (Sounding like a familiar tale yet?) Unfortunately for Gilly, she gets caught one too many times, and ends up at Fairy Tale Reform school, where Cinderella’s stepmother is the headmistress and faculty include the Evil Queen (Snow White’s stepmother) and the Big Bad Wolf. Gilly makes two friends, Kayla and Jax, who give her the inside scoop on FTRS; just as Gilly’s gut told her, there’s more going on than meets the eye. There’s one villain on the loose, and she’s bringing the fight to the school. Are the teachers really reformed, or is there someone on the inside helping the wrong side?

I’m a big fan of this flipped fairy tale trend happening in juvenile and YA fiction. It’s a great way of keeping a little spark of childhood wonder with us, and there really are some great stories to build on. Flunked – which reads, at points, like Scared Straight for fairy tales – is an interesting entry into this genre. We’ve got the big guns: Cinderella, Snow White, and their antagonists here, and we have one of the children of the old woman who lives in a shoe. We’re firmly rooted in the mythology, so we can slip right into the tale.

Gilly is a likable character; she’s the thief with a heart of gold, the maligned daughter who just wants to help her family. She’s the most developed character, but there are reasons for that which become clear as the book progresses. There were some good plot reveals and characters that you never quite trust – it’s a good suspense, where the reader is left to guess where loyalties truly lie. I’m interested in seeing where future stories take us, now that we’ve got an established storyline, characters, and plot.

Jen Calonita is a popular tween/YA author. Her Secrets of My Hollywood Life series is hugely popular at my library, and I’m super-excited, because I just found out that she will be speaking to my son’s middle school, Russell Sage JHS in Queens, on March 13th!

While you’re waiting for your copy of Flunked, check out the book’s website, and find your FTRS mentor. Professor Wolfington is mine, which makes me pretty happy. The book’s Facebook page offers fun shots of the “police blotter”- news clips that appear, along with newspaper articles about incidents taking place within the school and the village, in Flunked. This could lead to a fun program at a library or in class – create your own newspaper article with a modern-day spin on a fairy tale! There’s a great activity kit with some ideas that I may use in my own library for Summer Reading.

Fiction, Middle Grade, Puberty, Realistic Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Realistic Fiction Books for Middle Graders

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I’ve encountered some great Top Ten Tuesday lists on my fellow book bloggers websites; it’s a meme, courtesy of The Broke and The Bookish, so I thought I’d join the fun.

For this week’s Top 10, I’m featuring realistic fiction for middle graders. Having just served as a first round judge for the 2014 Cybils Middle Grade Realistic Fiction panel, I thought this would be a great place to spotlight some books I’ve read!

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg One of my all-time favorites. Kids run away, live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, unravel a mystery.

Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick Have a box of tissues ready. Beautiful story, with parallel narratives that come together over a span of decades.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume Another classic, this one tackles deep questions like religion, puberty, and family through a growing young woman’s eyes.

All Four Stars, by Tara Dairman I love this book! A young foodie being raised by convenience food junkies decides to take matters into her own hands, with hilarious results.

Amelia Rules series, by Jimmy Gormley This graphic novel series is great – Amelia lives with her mom and aunt, wishes her dad took a bigger role in her life, and hangs out with friends. There are hilarious and tear-jerking stories to be told here.

The Popularity Papers, by Amy Ignatow This hysterical series is written in journal format from the points of view of two best friends who conduct “research” into how to be popular (i.e., hanging around the popular kids to find out how to get in with the in crowd). I give this series to girls who love Dork Diaries and want more.

Bindi Babes, by Narinder Dhami This middle grade series about a group of sisters who have their father wrapped around their finger, when their Auntie shows up to rein things in, is light and fun, perfect summer reading.

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood, by Varsha Bajaj What would happen if you discovered, one day, that your dad is a Bollywood heartthrob! This emotional, feel-good story looks at families, fame, and life in the spotlight – even when you’re not the famous one.

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko Moving story about a family living on Alcatraz Island in the 1920s. Moose’s dad is a guard at Alcatraz, and all he wants to do is make new friends and play baseball – but he’s responsible for his sister, Natalie. He has to balance his love and desire to protect her with his frustration and desire for independence.

I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want To Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb Uproariously funny story about a real-life evil genius dealing with minions, middle school, and the insanity surrounding class elections.

Post-apocalyptic/Dystopian, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Post-Apocalypse New York, run by teens- Chris Weitz’s The Young World

Posted on March 5, 2015March 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Young World, by Chris Weitz (2014, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), $19.00, ISBN: 9780316226295

Recommended for ages 14+

The Young World takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York City. A sickness has wiped out young children and adults, leaving only teenagers to fend for themselves in this new world. When you turn 18, you develop the sickness and die, too. Jefferson, left in charge of the Washington Square tribe once his brother dies, sets out with key members of his group to find information on what caused the sickness, hoping to find a cure. The trip will take them throughout New York City – and other tribes that are dangerous in their own right – and beyond, as they discover secrets and experiments that lead to the rise of the Young World.

It’s an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre. Author Chris Weitz knows how to stage a teen story: he’s directed films like Twilight: New Moon, American Pie, and About a Boy. He has a good grasp on the teen voice, and the novel itself is told effectively in alternating first-person narratives between Jefferson and his childhood friend and would-be love interest, Donna. In a world where kids and adults are dead, teens – at a tumultuous time of life to begin with – are left to forge ahead on their own. We see different social classes and races handle things very differently, and the factioning of Manhattan, particularly Grand Central, is fascinating. The characters are well-developed, each with his or her own distinct voice. Secondary characters, particularly Brainbox – the brains of the Washington Square tribe – are nicely fleshed-out through Jefferson’s and Donna’s eyes. I felt that Donna struggled a bit to find her own voice, but hits her stride mid-novel.

The story reminds me of 12 Monkeys meets The Warriors. (This is a good thing; I love both of those movies.) I’m interested in seeing where the next book – The New Order, publishing this July – takes things.

Check out more about The Young World at Little Brown’s page.