Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano: But She Does Love Being in Recitals Peggy Gifford
Moxy's back! She's playing a "Heart and Soul" duet with her sister Pansy at the big piano recital. Of course, first she has to put fake ermine trim on the cape she's wearing and practice bowing with her crown on, and she should probably warm up in case she's also asked to sing.
What Moxy *actually* needs to do is practice stopping with the song is done instead of continuing on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...
While it retains much of the spirit and humor of the previous Moxy books, this one falls a little short. Moxy's schemes are a little less madcap and the crazier ones (like wearing a cape) aren't really hers at all (yes, Moxy comes up with how to add the fake fur trim, but Granny George was the one making the capes in the first place.) Most of the craziness isn't Moxy's special brand of craziness, but kinda standard for precocious 10-year-olds.
What I did really like was the way Gifford uses text as illustration, such as when talking about how the dog keeps barking and barking and barking and barking and barking and barking and barking and barking (and on and on) all of those "and barking"s are arranged to look like a dog.
While it's not the strongest title in the series, I do think fans will like it.
Book Provided by... my local library
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I just finished two new middle grade books, by two of my favorite authors, each just as good as I was hoping. Andrew Clements and Peggy Gifford are almost always crowd pleasers and both of these will appeal to your kiddos and yourself!
In Extra Credit, readers meet Abby and Saheed, two typical kids with families, schooling, friends, and hobbies, but they live across the world from each other. Abby lives in Illinois and Saheed lives in Afghanistan. When an extra credit project brings the two kids together as pen pals, each has the ability to learn more about the other's culture, country, and families, and share in a bit of a secret as well.
Written by Andrew Clements, this one takes current events and realistic characters and blends them together in an entertaining novel. Boys will like this just as much as girls, which is one of my favorite things about Clements and his manner of producing novels. He is a go-to author for parents looking for realistic fiction for their boys and girls.
If you haven't yet picked up a Moxy Maxwell book, go do so now! These are just such fun books and author Peggy Gifford makes each one funny (or funnier) than the last. We're now on the third book featuring the lively and precocious, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano (But She Does Love Being in Recitals). Ah Moxy.
In this hilarious edition to the series, Moxy wants to do every BUT practice for her piano recital. She wants to make fur trim for the cape she's going to wear, try on her crown, practice singing just in case someone decides they want her to sing to really wow the crowd, you know, the usual. She gets into lots of trouble, has a starnge incident with dots on her sister's face, and of course, involves her best friend, Max, in all the antics.
Middle grade readers will really love Moxy, if they haven't met her all ready. She's fun, innocent in the way that she really doesn't know what she's doing is wacky, and so, so funny! If I've learned anything from these books, it's to never give children scissors!
Both of these books are great for that transitional stage between young readers and the middle grade reading level. Though they are chapter books, the content is perfect for younger kids reading above their age level. Nice choices for family or classroom ongoing read alouds.
To learn more or to purchase either book, click on the book covers above to link to Amazon.
Extra Credit
Andrew Clements
192 pages
Middle Grade
Atheneum
9781416949299
June 2009
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing Piano (But She Does Love Being In Recitals)
Peggy Gifford
192 pages
Middle Grade
Schwartz & Wade
9780375844881
August 2009
Well, some big changes here at Biblio File. Well, not here at Biblio File, but in my life. After three years I am no longer a "Counterfeit Librarian, Beltway Bandit and Femme Fatale Extroidinarie" and am instead a "Coffee addict, torch singer, and librarian ninja."
2 years ago, we moved and I stopped driving 1/2 around the beltway to get to work, but I still had to do large amounts of beltway driving to get to school, but, my dears, last Sunday, I finally graduated from University of Maryland's iSchool, so I'm now a big L Librarian. The only real change this makes in my day-to-day life at this point is that I no longer have to drive 1/2 way across the metro area to get to class 2 nights a week, no more papers to write, and I have to start paying full price ALA dues. I'm already working as a children's librarian, so I'm saved a job search. Yay!
Although, I will point out that is NOT my diploma. They will mail that to me next month. That is a poster of the University of Maryland, because well... I don't know why they gave me that. But they did.
In the mean time, my family was all here for graduation/Hanukkah/Christmas but they have all gone home now and the house is quiet and I'm wondering what to do tonight, as our box of Hanukkah candles was 1 candle so there will be some sort of improvisation.
Cybils short lists are coming out next week, which has me VERY excited, because I'm on the judging committee for middle grade/YA non-fiction and I can't wait to see what's nominated.
AND! I got a most fantastic handmade book from my secret santa. (My camera's being weird, so there are no pictures.) BUT! Secret Santa! You did not tell me what blog you blog on! I would love to know! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
In the mean time, let's talk books, ok?
First up, as it's time for such things, is
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes Peggy Gifford
Moxy's back! It's after Christmas and Moxy has to write 12 Thank You notes before she can go to California to see her father, whom she hasn't seen in years. Moxy does not want to write her thank you notes and 12 seems like a huge number. Luckily, she has an amazing beyond amazing plan to churn out her thank you notes lickity split and then she will be off to Hollywood to see her dad and be discovered.
Of course, it involves her step-father's brand new photocopier that she's been forbidden to touch. And some spray paint. Of course, it doesn't go to plan and unbelievable hilarity ensues.
Even better than
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little! This has some bigger issues and a little more meat, without getting bogged down or depressing. It's still hilarious and kids (and maybe some adults) will identify with writing Thank You notes as being the most horrendous chore ever assigned. Plus, there's spray paint. You can only imagine Moxy and spray paint...
Also, I spent Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day reading
Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle
Do you know how unfair it is that 98% of the country had a huge blizzard and there was a huge blizzard in my book and it was like, 65 degrees out? Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it!
Anyway, enough of my whining about the weather. This books is three stories that all take place in the same town during the blizzard of the century. Jubilee's parents are arrested and she's shipped off to spend Christmas with her grandparents, only to have the train get stuck. She gets off, wanders into the Waffle House across the highway and meets Stuart, who takes her home. Normally she wouldn't go, but a bunch of cheerleaders ALSO got off the train with her and are also at the Waffle House.
Meanwhile, Tobin and his friends are having a James Bond-a-thon when their friend who works at Waffle House calls and says there are cheerleaders demanding Twister. So they are off into the blizzard, trying to beat other guys to bring Twister to the cheerleaders.
And then, finally, Addie messed up with her boyfriend Jeb, and he stood her up when she tried to apologize. (BUT! the reader knows Jeb. He was on the train with Jubilee and is trapped at the cheerleading Waffle House) It's the day after Christmas and she's at work at Starbucks, trying to figure out how to fix things with Jeb, how to not be so self-centered, and trying to get a pig for her best friend.
So while we have three seperate stories, they are entwined and main characters in one story become minor characters in another. Each author took a story, and I enjoyed them all. I wish I would have been at all the planning sessions for this, because that sounds like fun.
I liked all three stories. I can rank them in order of which I liked them, but I won't because I did really like all of them and think they worked really well together to make up the whole.
I'm working on my end-of-the-year retrospective--which books were my favorites, how much I read, and what I should try and read next year.
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes by Peggy Gifford (Schwartz & Wade, 2008).
How I love a book with plenty of white space, BIG chapter names but very short chapters, and at least a sprinkling of funny illustrations, and I think I'm not alone. Those who share my proclivities will embrace the new Moxy Maxwell book (following 2007's Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little).
All the action takes place within about an hour or so as 9-year-old Moxy struggles to write 13 thank-you notes, which she must accomplish (so her mother says) before she will be allowed to visit her long-absent dad in Hollywood. Being Moxy, nothing is simple, and soon her stepdad's favorite recliner is broken, his new copier has spewed out 473 identical fill-in-the-blanks thank-you notes, and the words "HANK YOU" have been spray painted in gold paint across the living room wall (the "T" ends up on young Sam's sweater). Luckily, Moxy's twin brother Mark captures the whole thing with his still camera, and we readers get to see the excellent photographs, all thoughtfully captioned for us.
All this does not faze Moxy for long (although it takes her mom and stepdad a bit longer to recover their equilibrium), and even the falling-through of her New Year's plans fail to keep her spirits down. Kids will love Moxy's resilience and her absolute resistance to doing things the easy or obvious (or sensible) way.
Grades 2 - 4.
I agree with "not the strongest title in the series" and also with the barking dog made with the barkings of the dog!