siblings – Page 14 – Mom Read It

The Oodlethunks – prehistory’s newest family series!

Posted on January 15, 2016January 15, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Oona Finds an Egg (The Oodlethunks, #1), by Adele Griffin/Illustrated by Mike Wu, (Jan. 2016, Scholastic), $12.99, ISBN: 9780545732796

Recommended for ages 7-10

Oona is a Stone Age girl whose father stays home and bakes kind of weird health food, like newt fingers; her mom works at an advertising agency where they’re trying to sell consumers on the wheel; and her little brother, Bonk, is just annoying. She really, really wants a pet, so when she finds an egg while she’s out wandering, she’s so excited! Her parents let her keep it until it hatches – they’re worried that she may be eaten by what’s in the egg! – but Oona is convinced that Something Cute is in that egg just waiting for Oona to love it. She cares for the egg until one day, it disappears – and Bonk is acting awfully guilty.

Oona finds an egg is a new intermediate series for readers growing out of easier chapter books like Scholastic’s Branch series, and ready to tackle a little more. Oona is a good protagonist: she loves her family, she doesn’t always get along with her little brother, and she shows,The Oodlethunks are a pretty modern stone-age family (apologies to The Flintstones), with a working mom and stay at home dad; kids will recognize the family structure and relate, either having friends with working moms, or having working moms/stay at home dads of their own.

It’s a fun new series that kids will enjoy, with prehistoric animals that kids may not have heard of before – Ms. Griffin provides an explanation on a few of them at the end of the book – and fills the gap between more challenging fiction and easy readers. There are illustrations and text, and plenty of opportunities for a good book discussion.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen

Love and conflict: Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood

Posted on December 7, 2015December 1, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Inherit the Stars, by Tessa Elwood (Dec. 2015, Running Press), $9.95, ISBN: 9780762458400

Recommended for ages 13+

Three interplanetary systems ruled by three royal families: Fane, Westlet, and Galton. Each family wants something the other families have, be it fuel, food, or other resources. Wren, the eldest daughter of the House of Fane, is on life support after a tragic accident off-world; Asa, the youngest daughter, scrambling to keep Wren on life support, takes her middle sister’s place in marriage to the House of Westlet.

There is political and familial intrigue aplenty in this story, with a budding romance set against this sci-fi tale. I kept thinking of Frank Herbert’s Dune, which seems to have influenced the familial/political plotting and counter-plotting. While this is the first part in a new science fiction duology, readers are dropped into the story without much origin or background, and it took me a little bit to get my sea legs as I read and tried to work my way into the story. I hope to see some richer background information in the next book.

Inherit the Stars takes place in a feudal society, with the view that marriage is primarily an arrangement. The main characters’ parents vacillate between apathy and concern for their children, but more likely, concern for their own standing. Asa meets her husband, Eagle, at their arranged wedding, but sees something in him that appeals to her, and their love develops fairly quickly. For this first book, eldest sister Wren exists primarily to set Asa’s plot in motion, but I hope that we learn more about her in future stories.

Inherit the Stars is a good example of the conflicts that arise when politics invades families’ personal lives. It’s light science fiction for readers who want to dip a toe into the sci-fi pool, but want something heavier on relationships and lighter on spaceships. Collections that could use some lighter sci-fi should add this one to their shelves.

Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

The Poe Estate: Like Warehouse 13, for tweens!

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Poe Estate, by Polly Shulman (Sept. 2015, Nancy Paulsen Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9780399166143

Recommended for ages 10-14

Sukie’s not having an easy time of it these days. Her older sister, Kitty, has passed away but has vowed to always protect her – often to the point of scaring away potential new friends. Now, she’s living in some huge, creepy mansion with her distant cousin, an elderly woman named Hepzibah, and she’s dreaming about ghosts that look like her and her classmate, Cole. She’s hearing all sorts of wacky stories about magic brooms and doorknobs, and when two employees from the New-York Circulating Material Repository show up to her family’s flea market stand, she hears things she really can’t believe – but together with Cole, Hepzibah, and her new friends from the Repository, she’s off on an adventure full of adventure, pirates, possibly some romance, and maybe, just maybe, a hint of fiction – or not. Now, if only Kitty will give her some space to grow up…

The lines between fiction and reality blur in The Poe Estate, which makes it fantastic reading for tweens and young teens. It’s full of imagination and literary references, but first and foremost, it’s fun. Readers start off thinking they’re getting an interesting ghost story, but The Poe Estate becomes so much more – it’s an adventure tale heavily imbued with fantasy and book lovers won’t be able to help but think, “I knew it!” about literary artifacts they’ve always treasured. I don’t want to drop any spoilers, so I’ll just reiterate that any fans of Warehouse 13 will love this book, and fans of something new and exciting, with a light touch of reality, will enjoy. I enjoyed the characters and would love to see more tales from the Repository – after reading, so will you. Anyone unfamiliar with the SyFy Channel series Warehouse 13 can watch episodes here.

Need a good reading group activity to go with this book? Have your readers create their own Repositories, loaded with artifacts they’d track down and store there. And watch a couple of episodes of The Librarians while you’re at it.

Polly Shulman is also the author of The Grimm Legacy (a Bank Street Best Book and Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Finalist) and The Wells Bequest. Her author website includes a list of her books, a bio and FAQ, and social media links.

Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Uncategorized, Young Adult/New Adult

Blog Tour: Poet Anderson … Of Nightmares – and a Giveaway!

Posted on November 8, 2015November 8, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Jonas Anderson is a teenager who’s had a recent run of hard luck. His parents are dead, recently killed in a plane crash, and his older brother, Alan, is in a coma after a car crash. Jonas is no ordinary teen, though – he’s also Poet Anderson, a Lucid Dreamer – someone who can walk around in dreams and interact with other dreamers – who’s on the run from REM, an evil being who lives in the Dreamscape. Poets like Jonas are special dreamers; they can guide lost dreamers who accidentally find themselves in the Dreamscape. And REM wants to use Jonas to gain entry into the Waking World, where he can spread his terror net even wider, controlling everyone’s dreams and trapping them in a world of nightmares.

Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares is the first book in a new YA/New Adult series by musician Tom DeLonge, who you may remember from Blink 182, and New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young. Conceived of by DeLonge as a multimedia experience, there’s also a soundtrack, a comic book series, and an prequel animated film, Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker, which won Best Animation at the Toronto International Short Film Festival last year. And the animation is truly gorgeous, just take a look:

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares is kind of like The Matrix, but with dreams. We live in two separate realms, but a handful of people can move between the Dreamscape and the Waking World, fighting evil and protecting the rest of us regular dreamers here in the Waking World. Jonas, despite having a brutal run of it recently, deals with his grief, knuckles down to stay in school and hold down a job while learning more about his talents. Jarabec, a Dream Walker who becomes Jonas’ mentor in the Dreamscape, helps keep him safe while educating him and training him for battles to come. Jonas is a likable character who you want to root for; you want this poor kid to catch a break for once.

The characters surrounding Jonas are also vivid, coming off the page and taking up space in your imagination. Jarabec is a gritty, curmudgeonly mentor that you respect and ultimately love. The Dream Walkers – the foot soldiers in this battle – will both irritate and impress, like the antiheroes they kind of are. Night Terrors will make you think about all the crazy times you thought of the monsters in your closet or under your bed and wonder whether you were maybe just a little right after all.

I thoroughly enjoyed this first book, and was very happy with the way DeLonge and Young left a thread for the next book hanging there, dangling, waiting for readers to take the bait.

The first book is available right now, and for more information about the graphic novels, music, and full animated video, check out Tom DeLonge’s website, To the Stars Media. To join the book club community, find out about the director’s cut of the book with rich media content, visit the Eden Hotel Book Club.

Want your own copy of Poet Anderson? There’s a giveaway! Good luck!

Just click here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!

Poet Anderson …Of Nightmares, by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young
Hardcover, 368 pages, $17.99
ISBN: 978-1-943272-00-06
Publication Date: November 1, 2015
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

Fiction, Horror, Middle Grade, Middle School, Tween Reads

Took – You’ll never look at your dolls the same way again

Posted on November 2, 2015November 1, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Took, by Mary Downing Hahn (Sept. 2015, Clarion Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9780544551534

Recommended for ages 10-14

Local legend says that Old Auntie takes a new girl every 50 years to slave for the old witch. Once she’s worn out, she lets her go and takes another. And the girl let go never lives for long after.

Daniel and his sister Erica are new to West Virginia when they hear this story. It sounds ridiculous, right? And Daniel has more on his mind than worrying about some crazy old fairy tale. His family has relocated from Connecticut to this ramshackle house with a history in West Virginia after his father’s layoff. The kids at school are awful, and Erica withdraws further into herself and her doll, Little Erica. But when Erica disappears one night, word is that she’s been “took” – especially when a girl who looks like the one who disappeared 50 years before shows up wearing Erica’s clothes. His family is falling apart, and Daniel knows it’s up to him to get his sister back and make things right.

This book wraps itself around you like a fall chill. You can feel it creeping through you, but you can’t quite get it out of your bones until you finish it. Ms. Hahn creates a tale that had me searching the Web to find out if this was an actual local legend, it’s so fleshed out and believable. She gives us solid characters with issues we can certainly understand, possibly even empathize with – unemployment, underemployment, being bullied for being the new kid at school, and watching the cracks in one family threaten to tear it apart. It’s a very human story set within a paranormal thriller, and it’s a great read for kids who have aged out of Goosebumps and are ready for a little something more.

Mary Downing Hahn is an award-winning children’s book author and former children’s librarian (whoo hoo!). You can check out her author page and see a complete list of her books and read an FAQ with Ms. Hahn.

Fantasy, Horror, Teen, Tween Reads

Once Upon a Zombie – these aren’t the fairy tales you’re used to!

Posted on October 11, 2015October 11, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Once Upon a Zombie: Book One – The Color of Fear, by Billy Phillips and Jenny Nissenson (Oct. 2015, The Toon Studio Press), $17.95, ISBN: 9781935668343

Recommended for ages 12+

Caitlin Fletcher and her wonderkid sister, Natalie, have moved to London with their dad to try and start their lives over. Caitlin’s and Natalie’s mom disappeared four years ago, and Caitlin suffers from severe anxiety, and starting over at a new school, where the mean girls have no qualms about letting Caitlin know she doesn’t measure up, is causing more anxiety than ever. The one bright spot is Jack, the super-cute boy at school who’s been friendly to her and invites her to a school dance, but a phone mixup lands Caitlin alone, in a cemetery, where she falls down the proverbial rabbit hole and lands in a fairy tale universe! The only drawback is, in this universe, all of the inhabitants are blood-eyed zombies, living under a strange curse. The fairy tale princesses we all know and love – Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty – have been sent to find Caitlin, because she holds the key to restoring order in their world and saving her own. But how is Caitlin, who’s two steps away from a panic attack, supposed to save an entire world, let alone herself?

Where do kids go after Goosebumps? Right here. This first book in a new series is a great way to ease younger horror fans into the zombie genre. The horror is slightly ramped up, with gorier descriptions of the living dead princesses and inhabitants of the fairy tale world, and there are allusions to zombies doing what zombies do best – Cinderella has to be yelled at to stop sniffing at Caitlin on a few occasions – but we’re not leaping into full-on gore and horror just yet. The secondary characters are familiar; we’ve grown up with them and heard about them for generations, so readers will get a kick out of this latest twist on the fractured fairy tale genre. There’s just enough romance to keep middle school girls happy, especially if they like their adventure light on the romance and heavy on the action.

Related to the book and mentioned in the story is the site, UnexplainableNews.com, a tabloid site the kids love checking out and aspire writing for. Direct your readers here (and check it out yourself) for some fun “news videos” on the zombie sightings happening all over the world that garner mention in the book.

Once Upon a Zombie is good fun for readers who love things that go bump in the night, but are ready to be just slightly more scared. Shelve it with a display of Monster High books!

Uncategorized

The Secret Mission of William Tuck – A Revolutionary Adventure!

Posted on September 18, 2015August 23, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Secret Mission of William Tuck, by Eric Pierpont (Sept. 2015, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $7.99, ISBN: 9781402281747

William Tuck is a young teen who watches helplessly as his older brother, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, is cut down by a firing squad. In his anger and desire for payback, he runs away to join the Revolutionary Army as a drummer boy and work his way up to fighter. After his first battle, a dying soldier gives him a watch and sends him on a mission that will take him straight to George Washington’s side – and make him a target for the British army.

I enjoyed this book. I’ve been a Revolutionary War buff since I was a kid, and there just aren’t many good middle grade fiction pieces about this era in history, with a younger character at the forefront. We’ve got the classics, My Brother Sam is Dead and Johnny Tremain, and another one of my favorites, Phoebe the Spy, but there hasn’t been much recently.

This should please the Common Core diehards out there – there is a lot of history packed into this book, with actual historical figures getting page time, including Peter Francisco, the Virginia Giant, who is brought to four-color, 3-D life here. Mr. Pierpont has put a lot of research into this book, make no mistake, but he also gives each character a vibrant personality to appeal to readers.

We’ve got an interesting female supporting lead character, a stint on one of the infamous prison ships, and a tremendous battle at Yorktown wrapped around a mission that has more layers to it than poor William ever counted on. Add this to your shelves, consider enhancing your social studies/American history unit by assigning it.

Sourcebooks has a great section for librarians and educators on their website, separated by imprint. Keep your eye on the Jabberwocky space for additional materials on William Tuck.

Early Reader, Fiction

Olive & Beatrix – a fun Easy Reader chapter series!

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Not-So Itty-Bitty Spiders (Olive & Beatrix #1),by Amy Marie Stadelmann (Aug. 2015, Scholastic), $4.99, ISBN:9780545814805

Recommended for ages 5-8

Olive and Beatrix are twin sisters, but they’ve got one thing that makes them very different – Beatrix is a witch, and Olive is more of a scientist. To get back at prankster Beatrix, Olive and her best friend, Eddie try to play a prank on Beatrix involving spiders, which backfires in a BIG way!

This is a fun, new Easy Reader chapter book series; part of Scholastic’s Branches line for newly independent readers. There are bright, colorful pictures on every page, bold, easy to read text, and an interesting, fast-paced story loaded with excitement and humor. There are even discussion questions at the end fo the book, to spur some conversation. Scholastic is offering a nice PDF excerpt of Olive & Beatrix on their Branches website, so you can check it out for yourself before you buy.

I really like the Branches books. I’ve got a few of the series on my library shelves, including Eerie Elementary, The Notebook of Doom, and Lotus Lane. The kids love them, and the fact that they’re easy chapter books really helps bridge that Easy Reader-Intermediate gap I sometimes find my readers experiencing. Plus, I’ve got kids coming in, younger and younger, asking for “spooky stories”. This will be a big addition to my Easy Reader shelves for those brave little readers!

This is the first series for author Amy Marie Stadelmann, but she’s got a great resume – she works on Nick Jr. preschool programming! She’s worked on shows like The Wonder Pets and Team Umizoomi, so she knows what kids like and she knows how important learning and literacy is. Check out her author website for a look at her illustration portfolio.

Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Uncategorized, Young Adult/New Adult

What do you NEED and what are you willing to do to have it?

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Need, by Joelle Charbonneau (Nov. 2015, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s), $17.99, ISBN: 9780544416697

Recommended for ages 13+

A social network promises you whatever you need – but nothing comes for free, and the teens at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School discover just how far they are willing to go for concert tickets, gym equipment, or just the thrill of a mission. Kaylee Dunham, social outcast at Nottawa, needs a kidney for her sick brother, but she discovers pretty quickly that the site is causing havoc around her. When things turn deadly, Kaylee starts digging to find out who’s behind NEED, but what happens when you’re up against a social network that can send someone to kill you in exchange for someone’s greatest wish?

NEED is a fast-paced thriller that teens – boys and girls – will enjoy. Everyone’s life seems to revolve around a multitude of social networks, so joining one more – that promises to give you free stuff for just one little task – will click. The tasks start off almost innocuously – more like pranks, really – but as the situations escalate and everything starts falling into place, the book becomes tense and unputdownable. The pervasiveness of social media and a seemingly invisible antagonist who can contact you anywhere, anytime – and can assemble your own classmates against you – is truly unsettling.

NEED is a good addition to collections for fans of tech fiction and a good thriller. It also lends itself to a good discussion on wants versus needs.

Joelle Charbonneau is a New York Times bestselling author of the Testing trilogy. Her author website offers links to social media, information about her books and appearances, and a section dedicated to authors united in support of Ferguson, Missouri’s youth by supporting their library, which stayed open and provided a safe space for the community during the riots. NEED will be available in November 2015, but you can pre-order a signed copy from Ms. Charbonneau’s site.

Possible booktalk: Kaylee signs up for NEED because she wants a kidney for her sick brother. Other classmates sign up for NEED because they want material possessions like concert tickets and gym equipment. What is a want versus a need? If someone offered you the chance to have something you really wanted, but you had to complete an anonymous task, would you blindly do it? Would you question it at all? Is there always a price to pay for something that appears to be free?

Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Middle School, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Part Judy Blume, Part Dork Diaries: Dream On, Amber

Posted on August 29, 2015August 27, 2015 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dream On, Amber, by Emma Shevah (Oct. 2015, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $12.99, ISBN: 9781492622505

Recommended for ages 8-12

Ambra Alessandra Leola Kimiko Miyamoto is half Japanese, half Italian, and things are not molto bene (very good) for her at the moment. She thinks her name is ridiculous; she’s managed to put herself in the sights of a bully at school; she’s doing her best to take care of her little sister, Bella, who really feels the absence of a dad in their lives, and she doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere.

Her dad left when she was six and Bella was one, and he hasn’t even tried to get in touch. She feels like a whole half of herself is missing: she knows nothing about her Japanese side, but she doesn’t look like her Italian mother. And to top things off, she’s been trying to keep up a charade for Bella’s benefit, writing letters to her as their father, explaining why he’s not able to come home in time for her birthday party.

It’s such a relief to find realistic fiction that looks at big ticket items with sensitivity and humor. Amber tackles some tough questions and issues that middle graders face, and she does it with Judy Blume-esque humor, with a touch of Dork Diaries/Diary of a Wimpy Kid slapstick. The book is told in the first person, from Amber’s point of view, complete with illustrations and chapters headed by numbers in English, Italian, and Japanese.

True to life, there are no easy answers waiting for Amber, but she makes some big moves and grows up during the course of the novel. I loved this book and how it uses humor to take the sting out stressful situations facing kids these days. I’d love to read more of Amber’s adventures in the future – I hope we get some!