Battle of the Kids' Books

The first choice has been made.  The first book has gone on to the next round.  And what book was that?
Click here to read about the process that author, Jim Murphy, went through to make his decision between Deborah Heiligman's Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith and Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice.

Have you finished reading?  Then, you know which book won.  For everyone else, the winner is..........Charles and Emma: the Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's contest between The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (YES!!  YES!!) by Jacqueline Kelly and Fire by Kristin Cashore.  May judge, Nancy Farmer, be led to the most sage of all decisions. 

Battle of the Books

Correction!  First off, the library blogqueen goes by Betsy Bird.  Sorry.  Second, each judge gets to choose between two books only.  This makes the idea of voting for an Undead (or already eliminated) title even more appealing.  BECAUSE, what if the author/judge just doesn't have a feel for the book he or she eliminates?  Not every reader can fully appreciate every book.  The judges chosen for this year's Battle are more discerning than 99.786% of the reading public (I made that figure up), still...  Go to http://www.slj.com/ and click on the article about the Battle of the (Kids') Books in the right hand frame for a list of the books and the judges.  Or go to the last post in this blog and click on Betsy Bird's video.

Battle of the (Kids') Books

School Library Journal's Battle of the (Kids') Books has begun!  Elizabeth Bird, librarian blogqueen, has a YouTube intro to every book in the running.  Click here to view the video.  (BTW, did she get  a new hairstyle during this video, or is it just me?)  Anyway, this year, readers get a chance to override the judges' final decisions.  Every judge eliminates one book from the running until only two are left.  Then, the Final Judge (this year it is Katherine Paterson) chooses the Winner.  However, if a reader's favorite book gets cut out of the running, that reader can vote to have the book vie against the last two books.  The first cut happens tomorrow.  Go to http://www.slj.com/ to keep track of what is happening. 

One book that did not make the Battle this year, although it certainly would have been a serious contender, is Josh Berk's The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin.  Josh is at the Parkland Community Library TODAY at 1 pm.  Stop by to purchase a copy of his book and get it signed.  Josh will leave a handful of signed books at the library for people who can't make today's book signing.

Turn your clock's ahead tonight as we Spring Forth!

In like a lion, out like a lamb

On March 6th, children celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday by listening to the Black Rose Teen Tellers and by creating birthday posters for Dr. Seuss.  The birthday posters are on display in the Picture Book section for the next week or two.

On March 13th from 1 to 2 pm, Josh Berk will be here to talk about his teen book, The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin.  Readers will recognize the setting for this novel about a teen who transfers from his school for the deaf to a regular high school and finds out that the hearing world is harder to navigate than he expected.  Berk has worked a couple of mysteries into this novel as well.

Juilene Osborne McKnight will tell Irish tales on Monday, March 16th at 7 pm.  Osborne McKnight is an author and storyteller who teaches courses in Celtic mythology and folklore throughout the Lehigh Valley.  This program will interest older children, teens and adults.

For Irish blessings, tales and trivia, check out the display in the center of the library.  Here is a website with more Irish sayings and blessings for the Gaelic at heart.

Looking ahead:
April is National Poetry Month and National Fly a Kite Month.  Here at the Parkland Community Library, April is Fly a Poem month.  Write a poem, limerick, haiku, and place it in the Poem box.  Youth Services staff members will put the poems on paper kites and fly them from the library ceiling.

National Library Week is April 11th to 17th.  On April 14th in the evening, the Lehigh Valley Zoo will bring some furry, scaly friends to the Parkland Community Library in celebration of National Library Week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pink and red and white, lace and frills, roses and chocolates!  It's a love-ly time of year.   Michael Hall's new book, My Heart is Like a Zoo, uses heart shapes to picture all kinds of animals and how they might feel.
Hall's website offers animations of the illustrations in the book that show how the animals are constructed.  This book is a keeper, fun to look at, fun to read!

Henry in love, by Peter McCarty, is a snapshot of a small child's school day and includes big kids, schoolyard games and budding friendship. Henry, the cat, is smitten with Chloe, the prettiest girl in class.  This book is great for children who don't like mushy stuff.

Suzanne Bloom's ode to friendship, A Splendid Friend, Indeed,  is a clever and simple book about a quiet polar bear who is bombarded with questions and suggestions from a chatty goose. 

Love reveals itself in mysterious ways.  In Margaret Mahy's book, Tingleberries, tuckertubs and telephones, a shy orphan must overcome his reluctance to speak and find love and adventure.

Homemade Valetine's Day Cards are a time-honored tradition.  Dress them up with this simple origami heart from Activity Village.

Friends from PBS - Clifford, Cuyrious George and others - share their Valentine's Day ideas on the PBS Kids website.

Love is everywhere! - especially at the library.

Blizzard

Snow, snow everywhere!  Read more about snow by checking out these titles.  The blizzard by Betty Ren Wright tells of how a boy's birthday is almost ruined by a blizzard. 

One man dedicated his life to making a photographic record of thousands of snowflakes.  Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells his story with illustrations by Mary Azarian.   To see Bentley's photos, click here.

Grandparents can tell stories of amazing storms.  In Terrible storm by Carol Otis Hurst, two grandfathers tell stories of the snowstorm of 1888.

Older readers (grades 4, 5 and 6) will enjoy Help! I'm a prisoner in the library by Eth Clifford.  Two girls are trapped over night in the library during a blizzard.  Sounds like heaven to me!

Slightly younger readers can revisit a famous blizzard in Anna, Grandpa, and the big storm by Carla Stevens.  Anna's grandfather thinks living in the city is boring until the huge blizzard of 1888.

The blizzard of 1888 made history as told in the book by Jim Murphy, Blizzard : the storm that changed America.

NYCSubway.org has posted a history of how the blizzard of 1888 effected New York City.  The history is rather scholarly, so for pictures and personal stories check this site, presented by CUNY.

Just for fun, visit Make-a-Flake and create a snowflake online.   This site requires Flash 6.

Cutting a paper snowflake is easier and directions are available at ZOOM (pbskids.org).
Billy Bear has simpler instructions for paper snowflakes but the snowflakes end up with 8 points.  Check the site out.

This 3-dimensional snowflake is lovely at all times of the year, made in different colors.  This is for children and adults who are comfortable with paper folding.

Enjoy the snow.


 

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean is fun and action-packed.  For his entire life, Pepper Roux had been warned that he would die on or before his 14th birthday.  He woke up on that fateful day, STILL ALIVE.  What follows is one adventure after another, as young Pepper attempts to cheat fate.  The School Library Journal says ..."the memorable characters and lyrical prose make the novel hard to put down", and gives the novel a starred review.

The novel IS hard to put down and Pepper Roux is a fascinating character.  My suspicion that Pepper will not have further adventures disappoints me but I will await breathlessly McCaughrean's next novel.