Coming Soon…

A few new titles waiting to be processed on the TSD carts stood out to me this afternoon.  The first one, There Was and Old Monster by the Emberleys is just begging to be used in storytime.  It’s a new take on the There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly book with this great refrain:  “He swallowed the lizard to catch the ants, cuz man those ants had him dancing in his pants. ” This book would be great paired with Emberley’s Go Away, Big Green Monster! for a monster storytime! 

A couple of sequels that will be arriving at the branches soon:  Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness and Bag of Bones.  Moribito I: Guardian of the Spirit was the winner of this year’s Batchelder Award for best translated children’s book.  It was translated from Japanese and is a fantasy adventure story about a (30 year old!!) female warrior.  Bag of Bones is the sequel to Vivian French’s Robe of Skulls, both are fractured fairytale middle grade fantasy books.

I knew rice grew in flooded “rice paddies” and I’ve seen them in Japan, but I still didn’t quite grasp where the rice kernels came from on the plant until I read Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life: A Story of Sustainable Farming by Jan Reynolds.  This book is a great combination of how rice is traditionally grown and harvested in Bali and the potential problems of modern farming practices.  Great photos, interesting information!

How Your Body Battles a…

I just read through two new jnf titles, How Your Body Battles a Stomachache and How Your Body Battles a Cold, both by Vicki Cobb, and I learned something! These are great explanations of sickness with fun illustrations AND photographs of the inside of the body and cells. Both titles also mention the importance of keeping your hands clean. Other titles in the series and on order are: broken bone, cavity, skinned knee, and earache. I look forward to reading through these as they come in, too!

Happy Birthday Abe and Chuck!

Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin both turn 200 on February 12th.  Did you know they were born on the same day and year?  The publishing industry has been busy getting out as many Lincoln and Darwin books for all ages to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of their births!  Here are some titles to check out!

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.  I’m reading this YA nonfiction book right now.  I was hooked from the opening which has the great Charles Darwin making a list of the pros and cons of getting married.  There were many reasons for Darwin to stay single…the freedom to travel when and where he wanted, the time to read and research without the burden of supporting a family emotionally and financially and not being required to visit and get along with in-laws.  He had a few reasons in the pros column…the most humorous being that a wife would be, “better than a dog anyhow.”  And Darwin loved his dogs!  I’ve only just started this book, but the writing is great and it is an enjoyable read, in addition to being informative.  Maybe even a possibility for the Mock Newbery.  The story is about how Charles and his first cousin and wife, Emma Wedgwood, were able to bridge the gap between her belief and faith in God and his scientific discoveries.  I hope others will read this and find it as interesting and fascinating as I am!

And if you’d like to juxtapose the Darwins’ relationship with the Lincolns’, check out Candace Fleming’s, The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary.

A Lincoln YA nonfiction that looks good is Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson, a YA version of his book for adults, Manhunt: the 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.

For a beautifully illustrated biography of Lincoln, check out Dorreen Rappaport’s Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln ilustrated by Kadir Nelson.  A Darwin picture book biography for older readers new this year is One Beetle Too Many: the Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin.  And a 2008 picture book biography of Darwin with a great cover and lot’s of illustrations is Charles Darwin by Alan Gibbons.

For the younger set, Deborah Hopkinson’s Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale, a tale from Lincoln’s childhood  is getting great reviews.

Angel Girl Kerfuffle

I’m sure you have heard by now about the Rosenblats and their faux memoir/film about how they met on opposite sides of a Jewish concentration camp and were reunited on a blind date years later.  There is also a children’s book based on their story called Angel Girl written by Laurie Friedman, which we own 3 copies of and have in the J940s.  We will be leaving the copies where they are, as we did with  James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces.  (Side note: the majority of the Frey books are checked out or lost.  If you’d like a new copy, there are several in the SEL collection, just let Meg Z know.)  If you have questions about Angel Girl or feedback from patrons, please let me know.

Children’s Lit on NPR

Two stories on NPR’s Weekend Edition last week covered children’s books.

The first is a story on Jon Scieszka’s new memoir, Knuckleheads along with an interview with the author/national ambassador of children’s literature.  PLEASE keep this book in mind when kids come in looking for a biography or autobiography.  We have it in the J800s and so it might be missed. (I don’t determine what we classify as a biography, but local libraries do have it in the BIO section, so it should be fine for assignments.)

The second story is an interview with Dave Barry about his new book, Science Fair.  We have it in print and audio.  The interview takes place in a science classroom where they re-create some of the experiments from the book…like dropping Mentos candies into coke to create an explosion.

Coming soon to a library near you…

A couple of new nonfiction books that caught my attention (and held it) as I walked by a cart of new books here at the annex:

How Strong is it? A Mighty Book About Strength by Ben Hillman.  Spiderwebs, ox, cars, lasers, this book describes how strong these things are in terms kids can understand, and uses pictures!  Did you know that wood is so strong that a single 4 inch square post of black locust wood could support your whole house??

100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne. What are your chances of surviving a fall into a volcano and what should you do if it happens?  What causes frogs to fall from the sky and what should you do if that happens?  Answers to these and many more interesting questions have you prepared for whatever natural disaster you might encounter!