By: bookkm,
on 11/29/2016
The Best Possible Answer by E. Katherine Kottaras - just out this month - looks like a teen romance - right?
By: bookkm,
on 11/27/2016
Florian Bates is new in Washington, D.C. - new to the United States, for that matter. His father designs security systems for museums. His mother works in the National Gallery as an art conservator. When he meets a girl from his neighborhood, Margaret, he finds someone that he can share his system for sorting out people's small mysteries. Florian calls it the Theory Of All Small Things, or T.O.A.S.T.
There you have the set-up for what I hope will be a whole series of mystery/spy novels. This first book, Framed!: a T.O.A.S.T Mystery by James Ponti, starts with Florian's abduction by a Romanian thug. Since that's in the very first chapter, I'm not giving much away.
By: bookkm,
on 11/23/2016
Tomorrow, we celebrate all the things we have. We gather, with people we love, to give thanks. Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a National Holiday during the Civil War. The tradition has continued through the invention of the automobile, the telephone and manned flight; two World Wars; the Great Depression; the Civil Rights movement; The Cold war; peaceniks and hippies (Me! Me!); the Space Race; the invention of the Internet; 9/11; reality TV. No matter what is happening, we all set aside a moment or two to appreciate what we have.
By: bookkm,
on 11/18/2016
By: bookkm,
on 11/17/2016
By: bookkm,
on 11/16/2016
I need my button box. TODAY is National Button Day and the craft I plan for tonight's storytime uses buttons. When I went upstairs to the attic yesterday, the button box was not where I thought it was. Our attic is, ahem, less than neat. I shoved things around and looked on shelves and opened bins. Nope.
So, today, I gave myself one hour to clean the main attic room and find that button box. I threw things away! (It was painful but I hope to be fine in a few days.) I filled THREE huge black garbage bags with junk. I stacked bins and reorganized my crafty items and THEN, when I was 99.7% done, I looked at the bottom of a shelf unit in the corner. There was my button box. Not lost at all, really.
I have an organized attic room with neatly stacked and labeled bins. I got rid of junk. I found my buttons! Losing things is a gift.
Books about Buttons:
Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean. Pete loses his buttons, one by one, but never loses his cool. The publisher's website features a video and Pete the Cat songs.
Three Little Firefighters by Stuart Murphy. Three little firefighters have to get dressed for the parade but they don't have any buttons on their coats!! This is a great book about sorting.
The Button Box by Margaret S. Reid. A little boy loves looking through his grandmother's button box. The book introduces sorting concepts.
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. Joseph, the tailor, loves his overcoat so much he recycles it into every smaller items until all he has a button. And, then??? Based on a yiddish folk song, this book has wonderfully colorful pictures.
Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail by Elvira Woodruff. This wonderful historical fiction book features an orphan boy traveling across the country. The wagon train's cook collects buttons - (I am not alone!) - as a way to remember the people he meets.
By: bookkm,
on 11/14/2016
America - the Melting Pot! That image is sort of wrong. I don't want the Mediterranean part of me melted into the Germanic part of me - not entirely! I want to own the Mangia! and the Gesundheit! both - to say nothing of the Pip Pip Cheerio! and Top o' the morning! I am proud of every single patch in my patchwork DNA.
At the same time, America as a Cooking Pot is sort of right. I love soups and stews - foods where different ingredients blend together but keep their individual flavors. America is more like a hearty soup.
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| Hey! We're all people! We all share the same home, the Earth. |
By: bookkm,
on 11/11/2016
My sister teaches music in an elementary school. Half of one of her early elementary classes is made up of first generation Americans. In explaining the words of "My Country 'Tis of Thee", my sister told those children that they were today's pilgrims.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let's remember those who come here to find sanctuary from persecution, poverty, and discrimination. We all came from somewhere else, no matter what some people want to believe.
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| Right now, this is my favorite Thanksgiving book. Puppets, balloons and pageants - the birth of an American tradition. |
By: bookkm,
on 11/8/2016
The election returns are trickling in and I can't even...
Sigh. No matter what happens, tomorrow some people will be relieved and others - possibly - horrified at the turn of events. If, in the morning, you wonder what just happened, Lerner Books have posted about some of their titles that deal with the elections, government, the media and propaganda behind politics and other good stuff.
Save this post til then. Here's Lerner's blog on election day titles.
By: bookkm,
on 11/5/2016
She's five now and tomorrow is her party. I went to the bookstore and I was appalled to realize that my obsession with middle grade fiction has left me unfamiliar with current picture books. I managed. I bought Mo Willems' The Thank You Book. We are big Mo Willems fans, she and I. And then, because she is my granddaughter and I don't have to care about protecting her from commercialism quite as much, I bought her an I Can Read book about one of her favorite TV shows.
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| No, Mo, thank YOU!! |
By: bookkm,
on 11/2/2016
The complete title of Adam Gidwitz's new book is, The Inquisitor's Tale: Or The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog. Set in the 13th century, Gidwitz starts his story in an inn. The narrator is trying to find all he can about the three children - and dog - that King Louis IX is hunting down.
Various customers tell the stories; first of Gwenforte, a loyal dog who is wrongly killed and then revered; then of Jeanne, a girl who suffers fits and can see the future. When Jeanne needs her loyal dog the most, Gwenforte comes back from the dead; then of William, a monk-in-training, bigger then anyone in the abbey, dark brown, the son of a Lord and a Saracen woman, and as strong as Samson; and last but not least, Jacob, who knows all about herbs but uses them with miraculous success. Jacob is a Jew. Through a tragedy, he loses his home.
By: bookkm,
on 10/29/2016
By: bookkm,
on 10/28/2016
Pixie Piper lives in a house that looks like an acorn. Rhymes pop into her head unbidden. Things that used to feel cozy and fun, like her Mom's job planning fun events at the senior residence, or her father's job as caretaker for a toilet museum, have become embarrassing and awkward.
Then a series of odd things happen;
1. Her Mom tells her a secret about her family history.
2. She hurts her very best friend's feelings, because a classmate thinks they are a "couple".
3. She meets a most annoying fortune-teller
4. She finds a goose egg in the woods.
Now, Pixie Piper has an enemy, a secret, and worse, someone is trying to hurt her pet goose!
The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper by Annabelle Fisher is a fun, fantastic read for kids in grades 4 and up.
By: bookkm,
on 10/27/2016
We hop straight from the Quaker Craft Fair to Scary Stories around the Fire!!! So much hopping. Check out our Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild's newsletter about Saturday night's event at Jordan UCC, 1837 Church Road, Allentown, PA 18102. They have a nice big fire circle in their Peace Garden.
Dress warmly. Bring a donation of non-perishable food for Second Harvest Food Bank or the Pennsylvania Avenue Interfaith Food Pantry. (You get $3 off the admission price if you donate.) Bring blankets. There are benches around the circle.
Here's a link to MORE information about this stellar (hopefully) event. If it rains,...please check The Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild's website before heading out.
By: bookkm,
on 10/21/2016
I am busy preparing for the Quaker Craft Fair tomorrow. (Oct. 22nd, 2016 from 10 am to 3 pm). So I have not posted this week.
This does not mean that I stopped reading. I continue to revisit cozy mysteries from my past with Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity series.
I read Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. I owe you a review. Til then, click through to see what Goodreads folks have to say about this historical middle grade fiction. My opinion? Good read.
Well I have to open up the Meeting House at 7 am. So good night!
By: bookkm,
on 10/16/2016
In The Excutioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff, Moss is almost 12. She has lived her whole life in the Tower of London where her father is King Henry VIII's executioner. Moss's father told her that they must stay in the Tower as punishment for a crime he committed years ago.
Moss is the basket girl. She carries the newly chopped off heads from the block to the gates of the Tower where they will be on display. When she is pressed into service in the kitchen ,she makes friends with the King's latest enemy, an abbot. The day of the abbot's death, Moss runs away.
In her debut novel, Jane Hardstaff paints a realistic picture of the Tower and the river that flows by it during King Henry VIII's reign. The jacket blurb hints at a touch of fantasy in this otherwise historically accurate book. The touch of fantasy adds suspense and terror to the sotry of Moss's coming of age.
Moss learns about the flawed nature of people who must struggle to survive. She also learns about acceptance, love and forgiveness.
The Executioner's Daughter by Jane Hardstaff is a fine book.
By: bookkm,
on 10/15/2016
A little girl "reads" to her father at bedtime. "One mouse, two mouses, three mouses."
So begins my friend's new picture book, "Once, Twice, Thrice" by Kim Chatel. Like parents everywhere in the English speaking world, the father explains that when you add one mouse to another mouse, you get two mice. Are two houses called hice, then?
By: bookkm,
on 10/12/2016
By: bookkm,
on 10/10/2016
Jennifer L. Holm returns to Key West during the Depression - the Great One, not the recent turn of the 21st century bank blow-up - just clarifying - in Full of Beans.
Grown-ups lie. There you have it. It's a fact and Beans can give you example after example of how this works. But as Beans tries to survive a sweltering summer in down and out Key West, he discovers that kids can be deceitful, too. Even stand-up kids like himself.
Holm did her homework in verifying the New Deal program that turned a worn-out Florida village into a tourist attraction. Beans calls the government agent a Crazy Man, and lampoons his "underwear" - bermuda shorts - in between marble tournaments and running errands for a shady businessman. Everyone in town thinks the house paint they are given is ridiculous.
When Bean's plans put his friends in danger, he has to make amends. He rallies his band of kids to help save Key West. In an unrelated subplot, Holm reintroduces the miracle diaper rash remedy - somewhat modified - that she mentioned in Turtle in Paradise.
Oh and there's an adorable dog. Can't lose with a dog in the book.
By: bookkm,
on 10/9/2016
My first "real" job was working as a shelver (page) at the Bethlehem Area Public Library. I was almost 16. I worked in the Children's room.
It is 50 years later. I have worked in public libraries (and an academic library and a high school library but those were substitute positions) for 30+ years- and counting. I have always worked in Children's Departments. That's where I belong.
This video speaks to the importance of libraries - the importance of reading - the importance of books and most of all, the importance of making access to all three available to everyone.
By: bookkm,
on 10/6/2016
After 7 years of blogging, I am thinking about "monetizing". The easiest way is to sign up with Adsense.
This is not the most popular blog out there. I write when I want. Sometimes every day for a week. Sometimes not at all for a month. So, monetizing might not work for me.
Still, a little extra money would be nice. They claim that I would have control on the ads they run, etc.
What say you, my eclectic mix of readers? Do you have experience with this Adsense they speak of?
Should I continue to write this blog for the fun of it?
I await your reply.
By: bookkm,
on 10/5/2016
From my inbox to yours! Candlewick's Classroom Guide for October includes an annotated book list on immigration stories - about families moving here from far away. (Oh and other cool stuff, as well.)
Find books to share with classes, storytimes and your favorite small listener. Maybe, you will get a chance to share your own family's story of arrival.
By: bookkm,
on 10/4/2016
Some people are lucky. I received an ARC of this book several months ago. I will never part with it. Melissa Sweet has put together a masterpiece about a masterful writer, E. B. White.
By: bookkm,
on 10/1/2016
STEM, STEAM and girls who do experiments - hearken! A new scientist is on the block.
By: bookkm,
on 9/30/2016
The Evil Wizard Smallbone has some competition in the evil department in this book by Delia Sherman. But Nick, the runaway who takes refuge with the old, smelly, grumpy and wicked wizard, has to do some heavy duty sleuthing - and endless chores - to get to the bottom of Smallbone's dastardly behavior.
The setting is backwoods Maine where the coyotes are numerous and the wolves rule the forest - some on motorcycle. The small village of Smallbone Cove depends on the evil wizard for their protection against, what, exactly? Here is part of the mystery. Another part is why so many of Smallbone Cove's residents look so similar and how some of the residents can be as old as they say they are.
An odd mix of werepeople, selkie legends, the reversing of spells, and ancient badness come together in a delightful fantasy. I loved the ending. And I thoroughly enjoyed the ride there. I also liked the smart alecky books that plague Nick as he searches for answers. That boy is too curious.
