Did you know what my favorite color is? Think about it, now. Did you guess it? Why yes, it IS pink. So how did I not know about this adorable series that stars a young lady who loves pink more than I do? She loves it so much that she eats enough pink cupcakes to turn herself bright pink. "Just call me Pinkerbell," she declares. "Call me Pinkerella." There's quite a lot of pink in the drawings, as you can imagine, but they're delightful and whimsical, and the text has a lot of vocabulary and wordplay that will be good for readers who are a bit more advanced. There's also a little brother in the book, so as not to completely ignore the boys. This book would be a really fun read-aloud, and both boys and girls would enjoy the story and making predictions about the text. Pinkalicious is only the first of the books which also include SIlverlicious, Goldilicious (sparkles included on the cover, always a plus for me), Purplicious and more. I noticed that the main character's imagination developed more and more in the other books I looked at.
Twins Daphna and Dexter are excited to turn thirteen, but their father seems even more distracted than usual, and they're feeling bad about it. They're also trying to figure out what is up with the very strange gibberish book he's brought home and why Daphna is being required to spend time with the very creepy man at the bookstore. Something strange is afoot, and they've got to figure out why, and fast. This is the first volume in the Sacred Books series by local author, David Michael Slater, a teacher in Beaverton.
For weeks people have been nominating their favorite videos that promote children’s or teen books. And our panels of judges have reviewed the submissions and narrowed the field to 24 nominees. 
Had SO much fun this last weekend at the Oregon Association of School Libraries conference in Seaside. Got to hang out with lots of awesome authors. My version of hanging out with rockstars. Great people, all of them. Matt de la Peña, Marla Frazee and her editor Allyn Johnston, Nick Bruel, Barry Deutsch, Matt Holm, David Michael Slater, and Rosanne Parry were all there. Felt so lucky to have a chance to listen to them talk and hang out. Good times!
A beautifully written story that is achingly difficult to read. 17 year old Mia and her family have all been in a terrible car accident, and Mia gives a first person account of everything she remembers and sees happening to her as she decides whether to stay in this world or go. What does she have left here? Who? Will it be worth the pain to fight or not? Amazingly well told, but be sure you've got a kleenex box nearby!
A little while back I blogged about Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Peña. That book is a YA novel, edgy and quick paced, quite fabulous, but definitely for middle school and up.
From the woman who brought us Georgia Nicholson, a girl who made me laugh out loud with every installment, we now have her cousin Tallulah Casey who is just as funny as Georgia. Tallulah is an actress , or at least she wants to be, ans she's off to performing arts school - away from home for the first time and not always sure how to handle it. If you're a girl looking for a good laugh, this would be a great choice. Because she's British, she uses some funky terms - be sure to go to he glossary as you read. It will make the reading that much better! Enjoy!
Ooooh, I love a good mystery, and this one was a fantastic one! It was SO different from Rosanne Parry's Heart of a Shepherd, but I loved it just as much. It's set in Germany at the time the Berlin Wall came down, and although the main characters are girls, there's plenty for boys to love, too. For starters, a soldier gets thrown off a bridge and left to die! Then there's the sneaking off to Paris. And the four of them trying to escape a scary guy on a train. And on and on.
My librarian friend Leigh recommended this to me after we saw this author speak at a conference in April, but I am not the biggest graphic novel fan, so although I enjoyed the author presentation very much, I never read the book. Wow, am I sorry I waited! What a fantastic story! I loved Mirka, and I loved how the author wove cultural insights about the Jewish tradition so seamlessly into this wild plot about Mirka and her sword. I grew up Catholic, and I don't know very much about the Jewish culture, so I found it vey interesting. The author clearly knows a LOT about Jewish culture, and the use of Yiddish with subtitles definitely enhances the story. But even if you didn't really care about that part, there's still a lot you'd enjoy about this book. It has great character development and it has an exciting plot.
Oh, this book is a riot. I have a bad kitty of my own, he's even black, and I can only imagine trying to give him a bath. NOT going to happen. Not even going to TRY it! 
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