Authors, authors!

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!

If I Stay, Gayle Forman

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 Nation's Hope, Matt de la Peña, Kadir Nelson

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.

Here, we have a completely different kind of book by the same author. This is a picture book, illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Kadir Nelson. The story is about the 1938 boxing match between the heavyweight champion, an African American, Joe Louis and the German fighter Max Schmeling. Now perhaps that doesn't seem like much, but at the start of World war II, this was a VERY important match, and not just in the boxing world. Max Schmeling was the only man to have knocked Joe Louis down in a match before. Max Schmeling was a sort of poster child for Hitler's perfect race and a symbol of Hitler's regime. the whole country was rooting for Joe Louis, regardless of their skin color. Again, to many of you reading this blog, that probably doesn't seem like much, but in the 1930's, there was a lot of discrimination against people of color.

This is a fascinating story, well told and beautifully illustrated. Highly recommended.

Withering Tights, Louise Rennison

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!

Second Fiddle, Rosanne Parry

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.

It is a great book that kept me up reading way past my bedtime for several nights in a row! I highly recommend this novel to all lovers of action, adventure and mystery. Additionally, there's a big musical component in this novel, as the girls are in a classical music trio, so if you like music you'd probably enjoy this story, too.

Hereville, Barry Deutsch

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.

I highly recommend this graphic novel for middle school and up!

Read for the Record!

Students at Kelly Creek Elementary and West Gresham Elementary were part of a world record effort today! I got to read Llama Llama Red Pajama to kids at Kelly Creek, and Mrs. Verdoorn read to the students at West Gresham.

According to the website, "people in big cities, small towns, and everywhere in between participated in Jumpstart's Read for the Record on October 6, 2011. Check out some great highlights from the day when 2,184,155 children around the world joined in reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney! From grassroots events in small towns, to major events in Jumpstart's regions, to reading with Jumpstart's Read for the Record Ambassador Bridget Moynahan on NBC's TODAY Show, Jumpstart's sixth annual Read for the Record was a huge record breaking success!" Read more here.

A great time was had by all, and Mrs. Verdoorn said she now has the other Anna Dowdney books so her students can read those, too.

Way to go Kelly Creek and West Gresham!

Bad Kitty Gets a Bath, Nick Bruel

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!

Nick Bruel is coming to Oregon on October 14th to accept the Beverly Cleary Children's Choice award, and so I will get to meet him. I 'm excited because I will get to meet a whole bunch of authors that weekend! And clearly, like me, Mr. Bruel is a cat-person, so I know I like him already. His book has hilarious text and even more hilarious pictures to accompany it. There is a fair amount of text, so while non-readers and emerging readers will enjoy the pictures, beginning and even more advanced readers will find a good story and some informational text as well to entertain them. After all, I consider myself a fairly advanced reader and I was laughing out loud and even learned a fact or two. Did you know cats can swim?! There is also a handy glossary in the back of the book.

A very charming book which I highly recommend to cat lovers especially, but dog lovers will appreciate the comparisons of dogs and cats, too!

Lisa Schroeder will be celebrating the release of her latest MG novel, Sprinkles and Secrets, this Sunday, 10/2 at 2:00 at Powell's in Beaverton. This is a companion novel to It's Raining Cupcakes. It's a great chance to meet an author. And sometimes she has treats at her events! Enjoy.

I met Sarah Dessen!!!!!!!

If you were a student at the WOMS library the last seven years, you probably know I LOVE Sarah Dessen. And why wouldn't I? She's a fantastic author and really funny, too. So when I got the chance to meet her at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC this last weekend, you can imagine how excited I was! First, I got to hear her speak in the Teens tent, and then I lined up with hundreds of other people to have her sign my book just so I could say hi to her. It was pretty cool. We weren't allowed to step behind the table, but of course I still had to have my photo taken with her. Enjoy!

It's Banned Books Week - Celebrate Your Freedom to Read!

Celebrate Your Freedom to Read!

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

Poetry Friday poem removed.

Interestingly, this summer I had a note from Jane Yolen's publicist, assistant, someone, who told me I had to remove a poem of hers from my Poetry Friday posting because I did not have permission to publish it. I am wondering if anyone else out there has had a similar experience. I think it's really odd. It was presented in a very complimentary way and this blog and Poetry Friday are designed to get kids to want to read poetry. You'd think a poet would like that kind of thing. You'd hope so, anyway. Really disappointed today in Jane Yolen.

Llama, Llama Red Pajama, Anna Dewdney

There's a pretty cool event coming up on October 6th. It's Jumpstart's Read for the Record, and the idea is that millions of people will all read the same book to kids across the country to focus attention on the early achievement education gap we have in the US. Millions of children in low-income neighborhoods are at risk of school failure before they even start kindergarten. That is not cool. But what is cool is trying to do something about it.

Here's what you can do. Find a copy of Llama, Llama Red Pajama - maybe at the library, the bookstore or maybe you even have it at your house already. Find a small person. Take the pledge below, and read the book to the small person on October 6th. Easy peasy!

You will love the book, too. Little Llama is pretty funny. I had no problem imagining him bawling in his bed. I'll bet most of you reading this know of someone who has acted an awful lot like Little Llama at one time or another, too. Might even be the person looking back at you from the mirror...Just sayin'.

I hope you'll join the campaign. It's important stuff! Plus, it's fun!

I pledge to read Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney with children in my life on October 6, 2011. By sitting down to read, I'll be joining more than 2 MILLION people in calling for an end to America's early education achievement gap. Together, we'll stand up to demand that all children receive the quality early education they deserve.

2 Marla Frazee books

Marla Frazee, amazingly talented illustrator and winner of the Caldecott honor not once but TWICE, is coming to the Oregon Association of School Libraries conference in October and I get to introduce her. I actually even got to talk to her on the phone the other day. That was pretty exciting, I have to tell you!

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to review a couple of her books here. These two are both picture books - appropriate for all ages. I guess that's why elementary schools call them EVERYBODY books. A Couple of Boys is just a hoot. The boys are funny and goofy, and they act just like little boys. You can really imagine real boys behaving just like these characters. One thing that never ceases to impress me about picture books is how someone can create so much expression on a face with the simplest drawings. It's amazing. Of course I say "simplest drawings" but clearly there's an art to it and they're really NOT simple. But they look like they would be. Not for me, though. I'm all about the emoticon smiley face. That's my speed! Thought this book was quite a fun read. It also made me want banana waffles...

All the World is a much different kind of book. Less goofbally, very lovely. The book is all told in rhyme and has just a tiny bit of text on each page. The drawings were more detailed in this book and had many more people in htem. I really like how Marla includes all different kinds of people in her books. It's very natural, but if you look for it, you'll notice it. This book also uses color beautifully to convey mood. She's a wonder, this Marla Frazee. I'm so excited to meet her!

Teens' Top Ten Voting on NOW!

Between now and September 15th you can cast your vote for the Teens' Top Ten awards for 2011. Here's the link. Go. Hurry!

End of summer already!

Can't believe it's the end of summer already. This is my final end of summer entry, and the rest of what I read was mostly grown up books, so it will be a little bit short. First, thought, I will tell you about 6 books I read by P.B. Ryan called The Nell Sweeny Mysteries. They're shortish books, all set in the late 1800s in Boston. I thought they were excellent mysteries and 8th graders and older who enjoy historical fiction mysteries would enjoy these. Obviously I liked them because I rad all six and I actually had to BUY them! I hardly ever do that. that Kindle can be a little dangerous!

Now for the grown up books. I read the very popular but I'm not sure why A Reliable Wife. I couldn't find anything to really like about theses characters, so I really didn't like it. I tried hard, I really did.

Baking Cakes in Kigali, set in Africa, was funny, culturally intersting and all-around fab and I hope there will be more by this author. Thanks again to the Mother-Daughter Book Club for this gift.

Also read two others they gifted me - The Land of Painted Caves - over 600 pages! - by Jean Auel which was pretty good but I think my reading tastes have changed some since I read the first ones in the series, and The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. This was a fantastic and scary serial killer book Not for kids but great for fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Finally, I read about four Pride and Prejudice alikes. I love P&P above all other books, and I love these read-alikes that are usually continuations of the story of Jane et. al., but sometimes they're just the same story told from a different perspective or something. They're almost always great fun and these were no exception.

I hope you had a fantastic summer and found some gems in your reading as well. Looking forward to seeing my WOMS kiddos every once in a while as I start my new job this year. I'll miss seeing you every day, that's for sure!

Buried Alive - A National Parks Mystery, Gloria Skurzynski

This mystery is another great one in the series by Gloria Skurzynski and her daughter. They're all set in the national parks and all have the same family in them, the Landons. The mother in the family is a veterinarian and the parks people call her in when there's a mystery they can't solve with animals in the park. I'm paticularly partial to this one because the mystery centers around wolverines!

When one of our nieces or nephews turns 13 we take them to a national park of their choice, and this summer we took Logan to Denali in Alsaka. That's where this story is set, so it was fun to read about a place where we were and to spot things on our visit that were mentioned in the story. The high suspense in this story made it a great read-aloud, too. There's a mystery about the animals but about one of the people in the story, too, so there's lots going on.

This book is available in the WOMS library. I definitely recommend it and the others in the series that are there.

2 YA books - Ball Don't Lie, Sean Griswold's Head

I am really excited that Matt de la Peña is coming to Portland this year for the Multnomah County Library Teen Author lecture in October. I think he's going to be fab. Ball Don't Lie is a GREAT book with lots of suspense and action. If you love basketball, this is definitely a book for you. This book is a little cahllenging at the start, though, becasue the author's style is a little different than most other authors. It's a very stacatto type of writing and it jumps right on into the action. Plus, the main character of this book, Sticky, is a bit of a quirky character. What I have to say is, STICK with it (get it. Stick with Sticky). It's so totally worth it. Stayed up til like 2 AM reading this one!

Sean Griswold is a completely different kind of book. More "normal" I guess you could say. the main character in this book is going through some struggles, so her counselor tells her to pick a focus object and write about it in a journal. She really means an OBJECT, but Payton can't pick one, so one day she just decides, why not Sean's head. See he sits in front of her in pretty much every class, so she sees a lot of his head. Seems as good as any other thing, right? Except this object is actually attached to a person, and that sort of complicates everything.

It's a funny story and also heartbreaking at times with the struggles Payton is going through. It's really well done and I definitely recommend it. Available at the Multnomah County Library.

The Not So Great Depression, Amy Goldman Koss

The full title of this book is The Not-so-Great Depression : in which the economy crashes, my sister's plans are ruined, my mom goes broke, my dad grows vegetables, and I do not get a hamster. So now I don't really need to tell you about the story because between that title and the cover, you pretty much know what happens. But, I will tell you it's a funny book that deals with some pretty tough issues that a lot of kids are going through with these tough economic times. Amy Goldman Koss has a knack for doing that - dealing with tough things but lightening the situation up. I think that's a great skill for all of us. Rough things happen to everyone, but how we deal with them is what's most important.

This book is available at the Multnomah County Library.

Wolves, Boys and Other Things that Might Kill Me, Kristen Chandler

Somehow I got it into my head that this was going to be a werewolf book, so I have put off reading it. WRONG. And I loved it. It was actually a mystery story and it reminded me a lot of the National Geographic series I like called Mysteries in the National Parks as this one was set in Yellowstone. Although I have to say this one did have more kissing than any of those have had.

The story focuses on the struggles between humans and wolves around Yellowstone. Many ranchers have problems with the wolves killing their livestock and they want to get rid of the wolves. Environmentalists, on the other hand, want to keep the wolves since they were actually there first. It's a really interesting story and well told from both sides of the issue.

Available in the West Orient MS library and recommended by yours truly.

one last gasp of summer reading

School started this week, and I needed some EASY adult reading, so I turned to an old favorite, debbie Macomber. I read Orchard Valley Grooms, and I have to say that while it did its job of being an easy read, it was not my favorite of hers. A little TOO predictable, even for her!

Summer Installment #2 - 2 Louise Penny Mysteries

I love Louise Penny murder mysteries. They're more suited for grown-ups, just because they move kind of slowly and the writing is pretty complex with lots of French thrown in, but high school students who enjoy mysteries would like them. I first read one of her mysteries a few years ago when she won a big mystery writing prize, and I've been working my way through ever since. She sets all her mysteries in and around a small fictional town in Quebec, Canada, called Three Pines. It sounds like a magical place, really, aside form the fact that there are murders and mayhem happening all too often. But besides that, who wouldn't want to live there? :-)


I heard an interview with her recently, and she said that she had to draw herself a map of Three Pines so she didn't accidentally put something in the wrong place. She also said she wasn't even sure the first would ever be sold, let alone a whole series. Nice to be wrong like that I'm thinking.

Recommended for high school and adult readers of mysteries. Available at the Multnomah County Library.

Summer reading installment #1

As usual, when summer comes I get way behind on my blogging. But I DO read a lot. I promise. In fact, I'm ready to turn in my Multnomah County Summer Reading sheet and hope to win a prize! How's your summer reading coming along? I saw they were giving out some prizes at my branch yesterday. Have you been in to collect yours? Remember, if you're a WOMS student, you're already signed up!

Here are the first five book blurbs of summer. Three were audiobooks. You know I love those, and I have been training for the Portland to Coast walk in late August, so I've logged a lot of miles listening.

I listened to Andrew Clements' Things that Are - Part of the Things Not Seen series. Or is it really a series? I think more like companions. Anyway, this one focuses mostly on Alicia, Bobby's friend who is blind. That blind thing worked out really well for him in book 1. You should read it if you haven't. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. It had a good mysterious hook and good character development. Much better than the previous book in this collection.

I listened to Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell, and I have to say I did NOT like the main character for most for the novel. She was super annoying. Even her friends said so. Of course they didn't know they were talking to her - they thought they were talking to a character in her novel. The premise of this novel is that the main character's grandmother invited her on a vacation to SE Asia, and she was so self centered and rigid that she was missing so many opportunities. Drove me batty. She did come around by the end, but it was nearly too late for me to make my peace.

Knit 2 Together by Elizabeth Lenhard is part of the Chicks with Sticks series - a fun series about a bunch of teenagers who actually knit! I am way into crafty, homemade kinds of things, so it's really appealing to me. Again, though, not the biggest fan of the main character. She, too, started to come around, but really, girl, get it together!

Joy for Beginners is a grown up book that I actually won! It was about a woman who'd recovered from cancer and got together to celebrate with her friends. They were trying to encourage her to go on a trip with her daughter, but it was a rafting trip, and she was really apprehensive. She agreed to go, on the condition that each of them allow her to choose an activity THEY had to accomplish over the next year. She picked some doozies, and it was interesting to watch the women face their fears - many admitting they even had these fears for the first time. I enjoyed this book.

Once was Lost by Sara Zarr was the final audiobook in the group and it was a doozie. It was one of those that made me walk farther and want to keep driving just so I could listen. It is a super intense mystery, one with many red herrings that made me very unsure and a little panicky at times. A young girl goes missing form a small town, and pretty much everyone knows her. The story takes place over the short period of time that they are looking for her and focuses on the daughter of the family's minister, who seems to be losing her faith in God, and on the brother of the missing girl who is a suspect in the abduction. I thought it was fab!

So that's my first installment. I'm determined to get caught up before I leave for my last vacation of summer next weekend, so watch for more. We're heading to Lassen National Park where the sun will be shining and the books beckoning, so I'll be getting a lot more reading done there! See you again soon!

The WOMS OBOB champions!!!

The final round of the WOMS OBOB competition came around last week, and Mrs. Van der Meer's afternoon class of 6th graders took the lead in a hurry and went on to a convincing victory over Ms. Johnson's morning group of 7th graders. Enjoy these photos of the victors with their trophy. Congratulations!

birthdays galore

A few birthdays from the last few weeks and then a whole group of summer birthday kids! Celebrate!!

Any books still hiding under your bed?

It's that time of year again when Mr.s F-B gets a bit rabid about you returning all your books to the library. Help Mrs. FB maintain her sanity (what little there is left) and get those books back to the library as soon as possible, please.

Mother Daughter book club

I have been so lucky to have been part of an amazing group of women and their daughters this year again! We met every month to discuss books and share food and build a community. It was great fun and I hope that even with my job changes next year I'll be able to join the group for some of their meetings! Thanks, everyone, for your participation. It's been great!

Happy birthday, Amber

Amber chose a favorite this year - probably one of my highest checkouts for the year! Happy day, Amber!

Enjoy!