Monthly Archives: May 2009

Children’s Book Week

Posted on May 11, 2009 | Leave a comment

Children's Book Week

There are a number of ways to celebrate Children’s Books Week, no matter if you are a parent, teacher or librarian. If you already read to your child, then you’re on the right path to promoting literacy and instilling a love of knowledge. This year the winners of the Children’s Choice Awards and the Teen’s Choice Awards will be announced May 13th. Although the voting period has already ended, there are still a lot of ways to participate next week.

Book Week Online has some amazing resources and ideas for celebrating this week.

Some ideas are:

- Make your own bookmarks

- Stage a read-in

- Donate books to a local family shelter or children’s hospital

- Go to Book Week Online to find some awesome children’s puzzles to work on in the classroom or at home

Just remember to making reading fun and not a chore. This year’s Children’s Choice Book Award finalists are as follows:

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year:
The Donut Chef written and illustrated by Bob Staake (Golden Books/Random House Children’s Books)
Katie Loves the Kittens written and illustrated by John Himmelman (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group)
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! written and illustrated by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Book Group)
Sort It Out! written by Barbara Mariconda, illustrated by Sherry Rogers (Sylvan Dell Publishing)
Those Darn Squirrels written by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (Clarion)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year
Babymouse: Puppy Love by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House Children’s Books)
One Million Things by Peter Chrisp (DK Publishing)
Spooky Cemeteries by Dinah Williams (Bearport Publishing)
Underwear: What We Wear Under There by Ruth Freeman Swain (Holiday House)
Willow written by Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan, illustrated by Cyd Moore (Sleeping Bear Press)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year
100 Most Dangerous Things On the Planet by Anna Claybourne (Scholastic Reference)
Amulet, Book One: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi (Graphix/Scholastic)
The Big Field by Mike Lupica (Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group)
Swords: An Artist’s Devotion by Ben Boos (Candlewick Press)
Thirteen by Lauren Myracle (Dutton/Penguin Young Readers Group)

Teen Choice Book Award
Airhead by Meg Cabot (Point/Scholastic)
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown and Company)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (Viking/Penguin Young Readers Group)
Paper Towns by John Green (Dutton/Penguin Young Readers Group)

Author of the Year
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Amulet Books/Abrams)
Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn (Little, Brown and Company)
Christopher Paolini, Brisingr (Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books)
James Patterson, Maximum Ride: The Final Warning (Little, Brown and Company)
Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Disney- Hyperion Books)

Illustrator of the Year
Laura Cornell, Big Words for Little People (Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Robin Preiss Glasser, Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly! (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Mo Willems, The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! (Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Book Group)
David Shannon, Loren Long and David Gordon, Smash! Crash! (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
Jon J Muth, Zen Ties (Scholastic Press)

The finalists for Book of the Year in the Kindergarten to Second Grade, Third Grade to Fourth Grade, and Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade categories were the books that received the highest number of votes in the IRA-CBC Children’s Choices program. This joint project of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the CBC began in 1975. Publishers submit hundreds of titles, all published in 2008, to be evaluated and voted on by 12,500 children.

For the Teen Choice Book Award, the CBC and the CBC Foundation enlisted the help of TeenReads.com to select the finalists. More than 2,200 teens voted for their favorite book of 2008 on the TeenReads website, part of The Book Report Network. The five books that received the highest number of votes are finalists for the Teen Choice Book Award.

The Author and Illustrator of the Year finalists were selected by the CBC and CBC Foundation from a review of bestseller lists. Only authors and illustrators associated with books published in 2008 were considered.

The Children’s Choice Book Awards program was launched last year with the announcement of 25 finalists in 5 categories. The Teen Choice Book Award was added this year. The Children’s Choice Book Awards program was created to provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them and to help develop a reading list that will motivate children to read more and cultivate a love of reading. (CBC Books)

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Anatomy of Deception – Review

Posted on May 10, 2009 | 1 Comment

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The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone
Age: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Location: Philadelphia

One of my favorite things about e-books is that you can still continue to browse books long after bookstores and libraries have shut down for the day. This is precisely how I across this title, Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone.

The book is set in late 19th century Philadelphia. We are given a brief head’s up of what’s in store by the narrator when he spends a good four pages talking about Sherlock Holmes and the use of forensic science in solving crimes. The novel is a fictional murder-mystery played around authentic scientific leaders of America’s past, namely William Halstead and Dr. Osler’s assembly of students.

Through a series of events, the young narrator is somehow shoved into the role of detective, trying to figure out what happened to a young woman, a young woman he saw a glimpse of at the “Dead House” where he and his fellow students study and practice autopsies.

What I found the most attractive about this book is the author’s writing style. I felt as if I was reading a book set and written in the late 19th Century, instead of the 21st Century. Goldstone is very skilled with his pen. The mood of the book is very dark, paranoid and full of deception. Nearly each scene takes place at night, or somewhere dark, so that there is always a shadow of doubt that follows the narrator. There are plenty of well placed twists to make the whodunit guessing game all that much more frustrating for the reader. The investigation itself uncovers a lot of provacative issues, such as the moral and ethical values of autopsies, of abortions, of women’s rights, and of the greater-good mentality to science.

Goldstone takes a few liberties with the chronology of inventions and some of the character histories, which he fully explains in his author’s note. This is otherwise a gripping and fantastic tale that any fan of historical fiction would enjoy.

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Anatomy of Deception
by Lawrence Goldstone
Delacorte Press, 2008
eISBN 9780440337423
353 pages

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Find this book at your local library

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What I Call Life – Review

Posted on May 7, 2009 | 1 Comment

Last week, I slightly overdosed on the written word. I had been living so much through characters in books that I was starting to not live my own life. No, that’s completely true. I was getting jealous of all the adventures and new experiences the characters in books had been living, and I wanted to revive some of that sense of adventure into my own life. I took a few days off, shunned all books and focused on my knitting and socializing. It worked well. I mean, as well as it can considering I work in a library and am surrounded by books for roughly 75% of my day.

During a routine scan of the teen’s room to monitor for misbehavior, I came across this book called What I Call Life by Jill Wolfsson. This was pretty much the perfect book to bridge me back to the book world.  The first line of the book is Everyone is living her story.

It is a wonderfully told tale of a group of young girls in a foster home. Its subject heading in the library system is noted as storytelling – fiction and knitting – fiction.

Carolina Agnes London Indiana Florence Ohio Renee Namoi Ida Alabama Lavendar, she goes by Cal, does not live the average life of an 11 year old. Cal is swept away and placed in a group home affectionately called The Pumpkin House due to its bright orange coat of paint. The supervisor of the house goes unnamed for the most part, but is called The Knitting Lady, and she looks like she’s 111 years old. Cal finds herself with a group of girls taken away from their families, rummaging through foster homes and just trying to cope with the negatives and emotional issues of their lives by forming a sisterhood. To Cal, living in this group home is not her real life. Its only a “short, temporary detour from what I call life.” She is only there in passing, waiting for her mother Betty to come pick her up. The Knitting Lady tells the girls stories nearly each day.  One particular story spans the entire novel of a little orphan named Lillian. As the Knitting Lady tells her stories, the girls begin to let down their guards and learn from the stories. The Knitting Lady has a unique way of blending in the past and present of these girls in her stories, so that each girl can recognize her tale and understand her situation just a little bit better.

Cal reminds me of young Clare from Love Walked In. Very reserved, with a face prepared for every situation. The group home reminded me of Girl Interrupted, but on a lesser insanity scale. There is the queen bee, Whitney, who gives Cal the run-down of the house rules as well as how to deal with the social worker, always cracking her sunflower seeds. The other girls create a colorful supporting cast that helps highlight Cal’s transition through this new world.

This book is best for girls ages 11-13, but I think adults and some teens will enjoy it too. Its a well written, mature account of family life gone awry, and how young girls cope with dysfunction in their lives.

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What I Call Life.

What I Call Life
by Jill Wolfson
Square Fish, 2005
ISBN 0312377525
270 pages

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Find this book at your local library

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Library Loot!

Posted on May 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’ve decided to get myself out of my reading funk by splurging on some YA books at the library, but going to the library is like going to Costco. You go in for 1 thing and leave with 20 others…

This week’s installment of Library includes:

The Uglies – Scott Westerfeld

The Gospel According to Larry – Janet Tashjian

What I Call Life – Jill Wolfson

Toe-Up Techniques – Janet Rehfelt

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith

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A different yarn

Posted on May 3, 2009 | 3 Comments

I thought I’d spend more time with yarn in its fiber form, than yarn in its storytelling form.  The latest Lion Brand catalog popped up in my mailbox this week, and I fell in love with this pattern. I had taken a break from knitting for the past few months, mostly because I could never really finish any project I started. But this is a simple little top that won’t take very long to do at all.

Picture 033

I’m already a little more than a fourth of the way done.  I’m using Cascade Sierra, which is seriously some of the softest wool I’ve worked with. So far, I think two skeins of this yarn will suffice for my project. I’m not sure if the wrap top on mine will have a lace pattern, I still have to figure out how to do the wrap in the first place, but I’m hopeful it will turn out alright.  I’m not following any pattern though, just using this picture as inspiration.

Image of Downloadable Pattern: Graceful Top

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Just because it happened in the book….

Posted on May 2, 2009 | 8 Comments

I’ve been reading since I was 4 years old in Kindergarten and first learned the alphabet. I’ve been an avid reader since 3rd grade, often seeking shelter in the school library during lunch time and devouring each new book that the librarian would send my way. This may seem normal for any typical book-nerd, but I had only been in the US for roughly 3 years. My family moved to the US when I was barely 5 years old. English was my third language and here I was going to a California public school. I can attest to the fact that young children soak up languages like sponges, myself included. Reading though, took me so much farther than anything I learned in school. I learned how to talk, how to think and how to write because of all the books I read. Grammar was hardly discussed in my schools until I was in 8th grade, even then, I only knew what I was doing because of what I had read all my life.

In 6th grade, I jumped ahead of myself and started reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, after that, I don’t think I picked up another YA book. I was reading about serial killers, Helter Skelter, or I was reading about punk rock, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Music was my second love after reading, a trait I find still in most avid readers, the two seem to go hand-in-hand.

I’ve lived 4/5ths of my life in books. At 25 years old, I can’t help but wonder, have I read too much and not lived enough? Sometimes I ask myself, why am I indoors reading when I should be outdoors exploring the world? Its not much about being in a reading funk, but its about wanting to develop my story. How often do readers rely on characters in a book for advice on personal decisions? Is it better or worse to make decisions based on what you’ve read versus what you’ve experienced, and if you haven’t experienced enough, shouldn’t you put down the books for a while and really step outside yourself?

Is there such a thing as too much reading? Where is the balance?

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