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Feel free to give me a virtual smack upside the head. I'm late. Someone drop me an email, better yet join me by blogging about your new crayons (books in the mail) and we can keep this party on schedule. We need a cool icon, too. Any volunteers to make us a button? Below are new colors in my box. Leave us a link if you got books you want to brag about.

First, thanks to Don Tate, illustrator and team member at The Brown Bookshelf. I won a book illustrated Don's, Ron's Big Mission by Corinne Nadine. Do read the review at Muddy Puddle Musings. Don was gracious enough to also send The Legend of the Valentine by Katherine Grace Bond which he illustrated. The former is an early look at the life of Ron McNair. If you're not familiar with BBS, I strongly encouraged you to check those folks out. They do a fantastic job connecting all readers with books by African Americans.

If you haven't visited Doret at the HappyNappy Bookseller, you are denying yourself a great resource for children and YA reviews. I picked up two of Doret's previously reviewed titles: The Making of Dr. Truelove by Derrick Barnes, a 2006 ALA quick pick for reluctant readers which describes the majority of community of readers, and Rattlebone by Maxine Claire. Doret writes, Rattlebone is 1950’s Kansas City. It’s 11 interrelated short stories about the Wilson family and their neighbors.

From Paperback Swap, I got A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, The Other Side, a collection of poems by Angela Johnson and iCarly:I Wanna Stay! a huge request title for our library. I got a brand new, hardcover edition of The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele. This book has been on my wish list and tbr forever. This memoir according to one reviewer, is [a] new, fresh perspective has been presented by Asha Bandele. It is the poetic voice of a spouse, a companion of the prison sentence and of the offender.

What did you get in the mail?

I'm in a bit of funk about the mail. Over the last couple of months there seems to be a rash of gremlin activity with my mail. I sent one book to requestor, she never got it. I got in return a cut, empty envelope with a stamp, "media inspected." No explanation. I requested a book. Got a note to mark receive. I wrote the sender that the book didn't arrive. I sent three books; the recipient only got one. Two books, separate orders came crushed by machines. Thankfully not so badly they couldn't be read but I was miffed. Over the weekend, I went to my local used bookstore to make myself feel better. Do you trade books at book trading sites, buy books online? What was in your mailbox last week?

I bought one book, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. I lurve Georgia with all my heart! No one can make the pain of being a teenager seem more funny than the characters of this book. If your looking for good, silly humor, this is THE thing to read. Some of the best bits involve Angus, the most obnoxious "house-cat" ever.

From the library:


The Fold by An Na will have a reader laughing, while considering what beauty is and what they're willing to change for it. Joyce is a very likeable and real character. An Na surrounds her with a wonderful caring family and a great best friend in Gina.


The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor- Mbachu Niger, West Africa, 2070: After a nuclear fallout in the early twenty-first century, the earth's civilization has been completely transformed. Magic, mysticism, and mind-blowing technology now rule the world. In West Africa, fourteen-year old Ejii struggles to master her own magical powers. When her world is completely upended after she witnesses her father's death, Ejii faces a unique opportunity to explore her power and realize her destiny. But is she ready for the responsibility that comes along with that? ... Fast-paced and full of tender friendships and thrilling action, this futuristic adventure heralds a bright new talent in young adult science fiction.


Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris is no string bean, but comfy sweatpants and a daily chocolate cookie suit her just fine. Her under-the-radar lifestyle could have continued too, if her aunt hadn’t entered her in the HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge. To get out of it, she’s forced to launch Operation Skinny Celeste—because, after all, a thin girl can’t be a fat model! What Celeste never imagined .

*all titles link to reviews.

Every Sunday, I'll share what books I acquired for the week. Okay, the following are not crayons, but I am as excited about new books as I was about new crayons when I was five. Feel free to comment. If you'd like to share your what received for the week, create a post on your blog on Sunday or close to it, and leave us a link in the comment section. Check here to see what others have added to their box of crayolas.

The Skin I'm In By Sharon Flake. Can't keep enough of these in the library. This undoubtly will become a classic in YA literature.

Shanghai Messenger by Andrea Chenge. This will be shelved at our library.
In this picture book for older children, 11-year-old Xiao Mei, the child of an American father and a Chinese mother, is persuaded by Grandma Nai Nai in America to take up the invitation from Uncle Hai Tao to spend the summer in Shanghai. Cheng's free-verse story, illustrated with Young's small, expressive line-and-watercolor pictures, shows the child's initial doubts, the plane journey and the arrival, and the welcoming young cousins and adults...

A Cool Moonlight by Angela Johnson. This children's title was reviewed here recently by Alessandra. After reading her review I publicly pined for a copy. I gleefully did a happy dance when I opened this package.

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, a book well-received by our readers. Saving this copy when the current one needs to be replaced. LaVaughn has plans to go to college. What she doesn't have is the money. To earn money, she takes a job babysitting for a teen mom. Together, both girls struggle to make their lives better.

Bird by Zetta Elliot, an award winning book. Can't wait to share it with our younger visitors. Mehkai's nickname is Bird. Both Bird and his brother, Marcus are gifted artists. The story beautifully unfolds in both words and watercolor, gouache, charcoal and ink drawings. Through image and words the reader witnesses how Bird copes with the loss of his brother and grandfather. Bird uses art to heal.

Autobiography of My Dead Brother, a collaboration between fathter and son, author Walter Dean Myers and illustrator, Christopher Myers. Very excited to read this illustrated novel.

It's going to be a very busy Wednesday for me. I've got a lot of work to do and will most likely spend the vast majority of my day hunched over my drawing table in my dark studio with the blinds drawn. I won't take a shower until well after lunch which will make my hair slimy, and my skin greasy, and my teeth still covered with that pasty morning tooth film for most of the day.

That's right...I'm a bridge troll.

I'd tell you to "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS THREE" before you continue reading, but I'm much to busy to come up with three questions, so instead I'll just wave you through.

The above sketch is yet another rough from the very same recent project the last rough was produced for.

Steve

PaperTigers.org is part of the Pacific Rim Voices family of websites which includes The Kiriyama Prize and WaterBridge Review. The Kiriyama Prize was established in 1996 to recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region. The Prize consists of a cash award of US $30,000, which is split equally between the fiction and nonfiction winners. On February 26th the finalists for the 2008 Kiriyama Prize were announced on the website. Winners will be announced on April 1, 2008.