Bonny Becker's latest Mouse and Bear book, The Sniffles for Bear (Candlewick, 2011), had me laughing the other day.
The very first page clues in the careful reader to the conflict:
Bear was sick, very, very sick.
His eyes were red. His snout was red.
His throat was sore and gruffly.
In fact, Bear was quite sure no one
had ever been as sick as he.
So the problem isn't that Bear is sick, it's that Bear is just a wee bit over-dramatic about it. The sly humor throughout will have kids and adults laughing and comparing Bear to people they know. Bear's expression as Mouse tries to "help" him up the stairs is priceless (illustrations by Kady MacDonald Denton). And I think the time for this book is right this second, since at least 70% of the world seems to have a cold or allergies right now.
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Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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A new anthology from Lee Bennett Hopkins is always cause for celebration. I Am the Book (Holiday House, 2011, illustrated by Yayo) is even more so because the poems are all about books! This anthology feels a little younger than many of his anthologies--partially because there are more rhyming poems than usual, I think. The great thing about the really accessible feel to the 13 poems here is that everyone from kindergartners on up will be able to love and understand them. |
I won't share a poem from the book, as much as I would love to, because each poet has just one poem. But the list of contributors features several LBH regulars, as well as lesser-known but spectacular poets, plus newer poets that you might recognize from the kidlitosphere. If you haven't already, get this book and settle in to celebrate books.
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Seriously, is there anything that J. Patrick Lewis can not write? The Children's Poet Laureate has plenty of non-poetry books, too. And Tugg and Teeny is his series of easy readers from Sleeping Bear Press. Tugg's a gorilla, Teeny's a monkey, and they're best friends. And they are adorable! In both Book One and Book Two (Jungle Surprises), three short stories will charm the pants off any new reader. Besides the great relationship between the characters and the wonderful illustrations (by Christopher Denise), what I love most about these books is that they deliver real stories. Not just anecdotes. Pat uses his poet's skill at condensing to give us actual plots within minimal word counts. Interesting, satisfying plots. Emerging readers deserve nothing less. |
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I met Kate Messner last year at ALA at (I think) a Toni Buzzeo event hosted by Esme Raji Codell. And it's taken me THIS long to get around to read the book she was promoting at that time! But it was worth the wait. The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. (Walker, 2009) is wonderful, and here's what I love most about it. Kate gave her main character, Gianna, two traits that drive me nuts: procrastination and disorganization. But she made Gianna so likable, so sympathetic, that I was rooting for her the entire book. Also, she took three conflicts--an overwhelmingly (to Gianna) huge leaf project that's due, cross-country sectionals she can't attend if that leaf project doesn't get done, and a grandmother who is showing signs of Alzheimer's--and wove them together seamlessly. Every conflict affects every other conflict. Every character, from her best guy friend (who might be more than that?) to the evil Bianca, who keeps sabotaging her, influences each plot thread. And besides all that, it's just a great read. One filled with heart. Lots of heart, lots of plot. My favorite kind of book! |
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Nikki Grimes' Dyamonde Daniel books (Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel is the first; Rich, the second, is out; and the third, Almost Zero, comes out in September) have gotten tons of great buzz, so maybe you're way ahead of me in reading them! Saturday morning, I got up early to grocery shop. I was having an English muffin before leaving, and I thought, "I'll just read the first chapter of this before I go." Instead, I tore through the whole book. It's not that it's action-packed or full of cliffhangers. It's just engaging. It was so easy to read, to stay there and hang out with zippy 3rd-grader Dyamonde--who wouldn't want to? Dyamonde has moved to a new neighborhood and a new school, and she's feeling kind of left out. She's not one to let others decide her fate, which I love about her. So she sets out to remedy the situation. |
This short chapter book (about 4200 words) covers a longer period of time than most--maybe a month or two? I don't have it in front of me to double-check. Anyway, that time span gives Dyamonde's adjustment and her growing friendship with Free, a new boy, a more genuine feeling than I usually get in chapter book friendships. There's plenty of humor and attitude here, and it's easy to see why this book is such a hit!
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Donna Gephart is a friend of a friend, and I've been meaning to check out her books for ages. I recently read two of her books. I started with As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President, which I really enjoyed. But then I moved on to How Survive Middle School (Delacorte, 2010), and I was blown away. I love this book! Take swirlies, fights with best friends, bullies, cute girls, videos on YouTube, a Jon Stewart obsession, and a hamster named Hammy, and spin them all around in a hormone-filled blender, and you've got David's life. David is funny, angry, and totally lovable, and I was rooting for him from that first day of summer on. Donna fills both books with the hobbies and minutae of the contemporary teen's life, but both also deal with the huge theme of parents who aren't able or aren't around to give their kids what they need. These two books are totally different and yet totally satisfying in mixing up engaging plots with deeper themes. Check 'em out! |
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I was excited to score a free ARC of Jody Feldman's new book, The Seventh Level (Greenwillow, 2010), which comes out tomorrow! I really liked The Gollywhopper Games, about a kind of modern-day Charlie and the Chocolate Factory contest full of puzzles and intrigue. I love puzzles and intrigue. The Seventh Level also delivers both, plus something I would have loved to have had in junior high--a secret club. Not a lame secret club, but one called The Legend that organizes cool school events and everyone wants to be part of. |
Travis, who's always getting into trouble, starts receiving envelopes with puzzles in them, puzzles he must solve to gain admittance to the club. But are ALL the envelopes actually from the club?
And is The Oaf really his enemy? Why is 23 the right answer? (I couldn't figure that one out either, Travis!)
Relationship dynamics, brainteasers, humor, and a main character I could really empathize with all made this a totally fun, smart book. I can't say too much without giving away spoilers. Let's just say I really want to know more about the inner workings of The Legend. And just maybe, in another book(?), I will.
Jody captures the middle school/junior high mind so well. This was a real treat. My only complaint is the cover, which seems odd to me. The avatar-style rendering of the main character and the streaming binary code definitely give the impression this is a high-tech adventure. But it's not. The brainteasers and tasks are almost all decidedly low-tech in this book, so I thought this cover was a weird choice.
But hey, if it gets kids to pick it up, great. They'll love it! And so do I.
Congratulations, Jody! I hope The Seventh Level has as much success as The Gollywhopper Games has enjoyed.
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While on the road in April, I read and/or listened to a number of mg or ya novels that I just loved. Quickly, here are four that have come up in my thoughts since then and that I really enjoyed.
If you read and loved Girls, Drums, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick, be sure to read his After Ever After, featuring one of the characters from that earlier book. I finished reading this in a Subway restaurant about 20 minutes before going on a school visit. Not the best idea, as I was still sniffling. This is just one of those books that changes you, I think. It deals with kids and the long-term aftereffects of cancer, but it's funny and makes your heart bigger. These two books are two of my favorites I've read over the past couple of years. | I wanted to read more of Helen Frost's amazing work, and Keesha's House, a novel in verse told by seven teens struggling with various problems (pregnancy, DUI, staying in the closet) was amazing. These kids could so easily become cardboard stereotypes, but they don't. They're real people, and these poems bring them to life. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I listened to Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, in the car, and it made my long travels so much more fun! It's a story of first love between a girl and a boy--and a wolf. The boy and the wolf are one and the same. This isn't a premise that would draw me in, but the voices of Grace and Sam and the yearning in this novel were mesmerizing. My only complaint was the pat ending, but overall, I loved this book. | Wow. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, is another one I listened to in the car. I found myself almost hoping my day's school was far away so that I'd have more time with this incredible novel. Mia, a 17-year-old girl, has been in a terrible car crash with her family, and she slowly realizes that the choice to live or die is hers. With heartbreaking detail and zero sappiness, we get to know her family through her memories. And as we really feel all that sh Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/22/2010
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, mary cummings, Add a tag
So I had my fingers crossed. And I was not disappointed. Both Eagan and Amelia are real people with real strengths and real faults. And the plotting and pacing are awesome. I couldn't wait to find out how everything would end, and I raced toward the end of the book. But then I was sad that the book was over. When I feel that way after the last chapter, I know it's a book I can recommend! I think this is the kind of book teenage girls are going to lend to their friends, saying, "You've gotta read this!" Congratulations, Loretta and Mary! Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/8/2010
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
But character studies in the form of verse novels work really well to me. Because everything is so stripped down, there's room for emotions and actions and that's about it. Not much background. Not a lot of daily living kind of stuff. All of that is telescoped into one or two mentions in poems. Instead the main characters (living and dead) interact with each other and spill themselves onto the page. And I was there to greedily mop up each poem, tumbling forward to find out what would happen next and how Brooklyn and Nico would feel about it. Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/2/2010
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
questions like self-sufficiency, life after death, deals with the devil, etc. I loved the main character, Bug. She doesn't waste a lot of time feeling sorry for herself--she just sets out to fix things (like the fact that her grandfather essentially traded her soul for a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz) the best she can, while accepting that some things might just be unfixable. She's got mad pizza delivery and basketball skills, her new boyfriend works for the International Supernatural Immigration Service, and she can mouth off like nobody's business. What's not to love? Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 12/14/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: nikki grimes, one book i love, Add a tag
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 12/8/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
Reading the book, I cared not only about Ed but about his friends and the people he helps, from the mom and daughter living with an abusive man, to the old lady with Alzheimer's, to the priest with the empty church. It's a mixture of humor, mystery, and melancholy. And somehow, Zusak drew me right into a character whose life is so unlike mine, but whom I identified with completely by the end of the book. And it takes a lot of skill to make me identify with a slacker 19-year-old guy. The smelly dog part is only natural, since Captain Jack Sparrow smells a little ripe some days! Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 11/23/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
He was such a minion! Meg made the kind of face usually reserved for three-week-old meat. "You've ruined him." p. 188 Great book for the 5th and 6th graders on your holiday list! Having a great time on vacation--hope you guys are doing well, too. Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 11/17/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
I think the thing I loved most about it was how recognizable the characters were. I mean, they were all well-developed and unique. But they also were the kids I knew in high school. They felt so real. If you're a fan of mystery/suspense books, I highly recommend this one for you. Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/27/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: poetry, one book i love, food hates you too, Add a tag
Mom I ate your father. Yes, it's true. That's what we praying mantids do. His last words to me were "Adieu. If only I could eat you, too." --Robert Weinstock, all rights reserved I think Weinstock does short poems the best. Some of the longer ones, like the title poem and "Monday," don't do so much for me. But what a fun, twisted collection overall! Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/6/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: sara lewis holmes, one book i love, Add a tag
1. It's about saying yes even when life sucks. 2. It's about the power of one person to make a difference, to change other people's lives, by connecting, joining, playing off of each other. 3. Bad things happen. This book acknowledges that, trusts kids with this knowledge (which they already have, anyway), and tells a story about what a particular few kids do with that knowledge. 4. It's about the amazing things can happen when someone is willing to say "Yes, and..." (a major tenet of improv comedy). It's about taking what life hands you and choosing to create a great life anyway. 5. It's also about the power of the plan. I love to plan, and the whole dichotomy of improv and planning in this book drew me in totally. 6. It's a dang good story. I'm drawing out the themes/philosophy of the book. And they resonated with me. But most of all, it's the story of Bo, a boy living on base, his cousin Gari, who comes to stay with Bo's family while her single-parent mom is deployed overseas, and their teacher, Miss Loupe--the most unusual teacher they've ever had (and, oh, how I would have loved to have had Miss Loupe for a teacher!). I wanted to know what happened to all of them and how they would possibly solve their big problems. And with humor, realism, and suspense, Holmes moves all their stories briskly forward to a conclusion that feels just right. I'm so glad I won a copy of this book from Sara! It was on my to read list anyway, of course. But the autograph from Sara, the personal connection I felt while reading it, that's what the book is all about. I nominated Operation Yes for the Cybils, and I hope you'll head over there and start nominating some books you loved this past year too. Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 9/15/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: heidi b. roemer, one book i love, Add a tag
Whose Nest is This? (2009) is a fun nonfiction companion book to What Kinds of Seeds are These? (2006). Both follow a kid-friendly riddles-in-rhyme format. Of course, the verses in Nest focus on the nests of various birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and insects, while the verses in Seeds describe various seeds and how they’re dispersed. I know this is a hard question, but which verse/poem is your favorite? Yes, it is terribly hard to single out one favorite stanza. It’s like asking a mother which child is her favorite. Perhaps the nest description that stands out to me is the one below because some readers may not think of insects as nest builders. A papery place that’s fit for a queen, What kind of nest is this? My favorite illustration? Honestly, all of Connie McLennan’s illustrations are fabulous. But one that really wows me is her colorful, vivid image of the Caribbean flamingo’s nest described as “a towering mud-mound that’s shaped like a cone.” You can’t ask for better! A hard-working papa, he won’t stop to rest. What's your favorite warmup for writing poetry? Reading is my I.V. cure for writer’s block. Before I begin writing, I ingest delicious words and pictures from children’s poetry books and magazines. They refresh and inspire me. At some point, I can’t read another word; I’m compelled to sit down and try to “capture the magic.” Have a clear idea of your message. Don’t let rhymes of convenience sidetrack you and muddle up the meaning of your poem. Check facts. Never submit a poem that makes false statements, such as penguins live in the North Pole or that the sun revolves around Pluto. Learn to revise. Rarely (never?) does a poem come out perfectly in the first draft. C. J. Cherryh says it best: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly." Be succinct. New poets often write poems that are overly long, fat, and sluggish. Learn how to trim the flab. After writing your poem, go on a “Search and Destroy” mission to eliminate weedy words and phrases. Trim, tweak, twist, toy, cut, maneuver, manipulate, revise, and sometimes— start over. This is word-crafting at its best! Read your poem aloud. Check it for clarity. Listen for alliteration, assonance, and a regular meter. Set it aside. In baker’s terms, “Let the dough rise.” Then roll up your sleeves and review the poem again—word by word. Use a dictionary. Check the thesaurus. Invest in a rhyming dictionary. Use these materials to help you select only the best words. Avoid trite, overused rhymes. Limit abstract words, as young readers may lose interest. Replace bland, colorless words with bright nouns and vivid verbs. Perk up your poem with kid-friendly language. Be concise and direct. Think pictures! A good children’s poem contains a focused topic, kid-friendly vocabulary, fresh rhyme, sometimes meter, and—always—a dash of originality!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 9/10/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: poetry, poetry friday, lee bennett hopkins, one book i love, Add a tag
Spinning, spinning, Spinning, spinning, Spinning, spinning, Spinning, spinning,
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 8/11/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, bobbi katz, Add a tag
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 7/16/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 6/17/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: one book i love, Add a tag
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By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 6/10/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: poetry, one book i love, Add a tag
Biography of a Beaver Bucktoothed Cleaver Tree Retriever Building Conceiver True Believer Waterproof Weaver Overachiever Roll-Up-Her-Sleever-- Hooray for the Beaver! --Deborah Ruddell, all rights reserved How wonderful is that? Waterproof Weaver/Overachiever are my two favorite lines there. I've been enjoying list poems a lot lately (check out Falling Down the Page), and this one puts me in mind of Douglas Florian's work. This simple set of identifiers for a beaver--so fun and clever! Here's another one I love: Ode to a Salamander Ponder yonder salamander, innocent and shy: a sensitive amphibian who wouldn't hurt a fly... especially if there should be a spider passing by, which she could sweetly gobble up and barely blink an eye. --Deborah Ruddell, all rights reserved Hope you enjoy this collection as much as I do! Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 6/3/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: georgia heard, one book i love, Add a tag
Luckily, there are some posted online already: You can see Sylvia Vardell's post here, which shares Georgia Heard's poem, "Recipe for Writing an Autumn Poem," as well as some terrific ideas for sharing the poems in the classroom. Check out Elaine Magliaro's wonderful "Things to Do If You Are a Pencil." Read "Ways to Greet a Friend," by Avis Harley. In this fabulous poetry resource for teachers, by J. Patrick Lewis, scroll to page 6 to read his "What Is Earth?" This is a truly terrific anthology. I love all the concrete nouns and images. Every poem feels stuffed to bursting with things--things kids will recognize, understand, relate to. But those things are now parts of larger ideas, and kids and grownups won't look at those things the same way ever again. Race out to grab this anthology--I hope you love it as much as I do! Add a Comment
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/24/2009
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap) JacketFlap tags: jordan sonnenblick, one book i love, Add a tag
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