10 book reviews in 12 days Part 3

Happy July! Time for my next book review. Before I do the review, take a look at this "book finding" website put together by Sylvan Learning Centers, Book Adventure! I looked at it yesterday and it lets the viewer enter exactly what he or she is looking for. Just check the Parkland Community Library's catalog (or your own public library's catalog) to see if the library has the book.

Ok, here's a review for the little ones! Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Spoon tells his mother of all the wonderful things his friends, Fork and Knife, can do. His mother listens and empathizes and then, she says just the right thing to help Spoon see how special he is.

Rosenthal is the artist behind the YouTube sensation, The Beckoning of Lovely, and the author of other great picture books such as Duck! Rabbit! and Yes Day.

Meet me here tomorrow!

10 book reviews in 12 days Part 2

Star Jumper : journal of a cardboard genius by Frank Asch. How can Alex build his cardboard box models when his little brother bothers him all the time? Alex plans to build a space ship and escape his little brother’s pestering questions but Alex’s other cardboard box machines cause a catastrophe. This book is a great chapter book for good readers entering grades 2 or 3.

10 book reviews in 12 days

I have thrown down the gauntlet. I promise to write a NEW book review every week day for the next two weeks! Ten reviews in 12 days!

The Trouble Begins at 8 : a life of Mark Twain in the wild, wild West by Sid Fleischman. Fleischman concentrates on Twain's life in Nevada, California and points West. Twain jumps from silver claim to gold claim and from writing job to writing job, embroidering everything that happens to him to maximize drama and humor.
Fleischman, no stranger to embellishment himself, adds a chapter at the end that untangles the myth from the facts of Twain's adventures - as well as can be managed.
This is a clever, well-written and amusing biography about one of America's most clever, and most amusing authors. Liberally illustrated with period drawings and photos, this book will be enjoyed by readers aged 9 and up.

Summer Reading Club has started and our new online registration is GREAT. However, it is NOT self-explanatory. One of the mistakes a few people are making is to put the total number of minutes they have read into the time log. The two younger groups are counting 15 minute blocks of time which means that for every 15 minutes they read or listen, they count 1. 15 minutes is 1; 30 minutes is 2; 45 minutes is 3, etc.

So on the log page, parents should imagine that they are dividing by 15. 45 minutes divided by 15 is 3, so if your child listened to books for 45 minutes, enter 3 in the log.

When you enter a number, at the bottom of the log it reads something like that "3 15 minutes have been logged."

It's easy to fix the mistake. Go to the log page and click "edit" on the right hand side of each entry. Then enter the right number in the time box. The program will automatically correct the mistakes and adjust the number of prizes your child should earn.

Good luck.

Mrs. Chaply and I brought back a backpack full of new paperbacks from Book Expo on Friday. Most of these books will be given out as prizes for the "Be Creative @ Your Library" Summer Reading Club. I even got a signed copy of Mo Willems' new Elephant and Piggy book. I MET MO WILLEMS!!

I also got an Advance Reader's Copy of the second book in Suzanne Collins' series, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. I have already read it and it is as good as The Hunger Games. The series is for older readers, teens and adults. Check out The Hunger Games, soon. I want to thank Dayne E. for talking me into reading the first book.

Today, I was helping someone pick out books to read to a class and I stumbled across Allan Ahlberg's book, The Pencil. The story is simple and silly but not simplistic. (I love alliteration!)
The Pencil draws a family with pets but when the pencil draws food, no one will eat it. It's in BLACK AND WHITE. So the pencil draws a paintbrush who adds color to everything. When people complain about their appearance, the pencil draws an eraser and the eraser goes CRAZY!
This clever book is a great way to start a "Creative" summer.

Don't forget. Register for the "Be Creative @ Your Library" Summer Reading Club form the comfort of your desk chair, beginning June 8th. Look for the "Be Creative" graphic in the upper right hand corner of the Parkland Community Library website. You must be between the ages of 2 (or parent of said 2 year old) and 17 to join AND you must have a current Parkland Community Library card.

Registering for individual programs and workshops can only be done by coming into the Parkland Community Library. Attendance is limited at the workshops. Registration begins on Monday, June 8th, for those events.

Teens! Download a copy of Michael Scott's The Alchemyst and learn more about the Nicholas Flamel series by clicking here. The Sorceress is on order and will be in the library in late May or early June.

Children's Book Week is getting even busier.
May 12th - at 7:30 pm - the Teen Advisory Board meets to plan Summer events and to eat junk food. Be there. Teens must be in grades 8 and above to attend these meetings.

May 13th - 3 pm - Parkland High School Library - "Read Out Loud to Children" workshop. Contact Karen Maurer 610-398-1361 ext. 19, to sign up. Attendance is limited. This workshop is for teens who want to do storytimes this summer.

May 14th - from 3 to 5 pm - If I Were a Penguin Day. For all ages. Stories, games, and crafts. Stop by for 15 minutes or stay for an hour.

May 16th - Parkland Arts Festival - Parkland High School - 10 am to 4 pm. Stop by the Parkland Community Library booth to make a craft, learn about the Summer Reading Club, create a poem and hang out.

Lois Lowry ( author of Number the Stars and Anastasia Krupnik among many, many others) gets the privilege to judge the final two books in the Battle of the (Kids') Books. The contenders are (drumroll) Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Octavian Nothing,Traitor to the Nation : The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson.

The suspense is unbearable - well, intriguing maybe. Which book would you choose? My gut says that Hunger Games is the hands down popular choice. But Octavian Nothing offers a lot to a discerning readership.

To see an overview of the competition so far, click here. In this chart the last two titles are blank so insert Hunger Games and Kingdom on the Waves in those slots.

On May 6th, the winner will be revealed.