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Greetings, reader guys, it's Carl once again. Our faithful friend and reviewer cyber kid 303 has told us about another good read:

I just finished reading Orphan Train Rider by Andrea Warren. It is a biography about a boy named Lee Nailing and his family. It is 1926 and America is in a recession, a lot like today. One family in particular is having a hard time. They are the Nailings and their mom has just died. They had 7 kids and their dad alone could not feed and take care of them all. The three oldest, Fred, Ross, and Evelyn had to live on the streets. The baby went to live with family friends. Their dad kept the toddler. But the two other kids named Lee and Leo went to an orphanage. Since their dad was not dead, he would sometimes come and visit them in the orphanage. Lee had always wanted to be a train engineer. When he was told he would ride a train through the country all the way to Texas, he was excited. When they were boarding the train, he and his brother found out that their little brother, Gerald, going with them because their dad did not have enough money to take care of him after all.


The train was full of orphans traveling from town to town. Whenever they stopped at a town, the orphans would have to line up so people could look at them and decide if they wanted to adopt any of the children. Lee, Leo and Gerald get separated and go to live with different families. Read this amazing true story. Do they ever see each other again? Do they live happily ever after? Read and find out.


Cyber Kid 303 out!!!!!!

Thanks, cyber kid! I'm really glad you told us about a biography because they are some of the best books out there--and the amazing thing is that the stories are true!!



We also have a picture of cyber kid with his prizes from the March Madness Author Shoot-out:





He's wearing his Deadwood Jones T-shirt (generously donated by Helen Hemphill) and holding his bag of Deadwood Jones salt water taffy and the signed copy of Erec Rex:The Dragon's Eye. Well done, cyber kid!

PS--let us know how you like Erec Rex!

Heigh-ho, bold readers, the valiant dragonslayer 1191812 came to Imaginon to claim his prizes for winning the March Madness Authoer Shoot-out contest by sending the most reviews. Here he is, proudly displaying his trophies:
He hath chosen a signed T-shirt from Kaza Kingsley, as well as two signed copies of her Erec Rex books. Well done, dragonslayer!! Let us hear how you like those books. In fact, feel to write to us anytime!!

All right, everyone, you all have voted and decided who would move from the Final Four to the Championship Round and again we have a major upset!! Take a look and see:


J.K. Rowling 14 online votes///////////////Jeff Kinney 10 votes
Jay Piscopo 40 votes/////////////////////Neil Gaiman 14 votes

Jay Piscopo trounces J.K. Rowling for the major upset of the year! Therefore the authors that move on to the Championship Round are:




Jay Piscopo, author of The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli

Hey, reader guys, It's Carl and we had a great time last Saturday at the first Boys' Book Club meeting. We read The City of Ember and had some fun discussion. Then my good friend John Austin, Discovery Place volunteer, talked to us about the science of electricity. John really likes to tinker with things and find out how they work or think of new things to do with them. So he found this old DVD player and was about to throw it out when he started thinking, "Hmmmm, what if I...." and took the motors out to show us how a generator worked. (He showed us that, by turning that motor backward, you could generate a current) Here are some photos:

John and the guys and cool stuff with meters (he's showing us how to measure current)

John and the reader guys

The guys and me. This book rocks, btw. Go read it if you haven't read it already. We'll read the second, The People of Sparks, next. The meeting for that book may be the first Saturday in June. Watch this blog to find out.

The voting continues for The Final Four in the March Madness Author Shoot-out. Take a look and see. And send in your reviews for a chance to win the ultra-cool prizes. Look at the post under this one to see what they are)

AAAANNNDDD--it looked like we would have another mystery on our hands!! Just as we have a Sacred Shrine of Guyhood, the girls have their own book display at Imaginon. Normally this manly man is too busy keeping the guys' display stocked to notice what the girls do. But on this day, something called out to me from that spot. I turned and saw--There were signs advertising the Boys Rule Boys Read blog all over the girls' spot!! Well, you'd think I'd be glad to see signs about the awesome greatness of boys in the girls' display! But then I heard maniacal laughter--and then, out of thin air, appeared--

CYBER KID 303!!!

"Behold my terrible revenge!!" he said. "This is my payment for declaring Evil Ellen innocent of defacing the Sacred Shrine of Guyhood. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!" Well, I had to grab him before he could teleport back and remind him that Evi...I mean, Ellen was fairly tried and acquitted in a Cosmic Court of Justice and that he couldn't take out his frustration on the girls' display. He took his chastisement like a true man, went humbly to the book club, and is a wiser man today. This shows how a true guy can change his behavior and is more proof, if any be needed, of the awesome greatness of boys!!!

The first round is over and, boy, did we have a couple of close ones! I'll show the results in just a minute but let me tell you something first. I made some paper brackets here at Imaginon so that guys could vote while in the library. It's really handy, especially when school groups come. Well, last week we had 3 guys use those paper ballots and those three guys made a difference. Here you go:

Yes, guys, this is definitely the most exciting contest we've ever held! The J.K. Rowling/Kurtis Scaletta and the Helen Hemphill/Jeanne DuPrau brackets are still so close that no one can tell how they'll turn out! Meanwhile Kaza Kingsley has a lead over Jon Scieszka, but he has made a run since yesterday and picked up a few more votes. And that can happen with any of the brackets! You have until 6:00 PM Saturday to vote, so send them in! Remeber, you CAN vote for more than one author with each ballot!

Don't forget that we'll have the Boys Afternoon with Roald Dahl, Dr. West, and A Giant Peach at 2 pm tomorrow! Dr. West, English prof and very cool guy, will talk about Roald Dahl and the day he spent with the author! After that, we'll take a snack break and then show the animated movie James and the Giant Peach. Still time to sign up. If you're between 9-12 years old, call 704-973-2720 to register. (or have your parents call) And----this is a BOYS ONLY event!!!!! Yippeee!

See you there!

Carl