FLora & Ulysses; The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

Flora is a lonely girl who spends all her time reading superhero comics.

Ulysses is a squirrel who is suddenly attacked by a vacuum cleaner.

Together they will a great adventure. 

Ulysses's mishap with the vacuum cleaner gives him the superpowers of understanding humans, writing poetry, and flying.  Flora is the one who discovers his greatness and appoints herself as the one to defend him against Ulysses' arch-nemesis -- her mother.

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo is a wonderful story of two misfits finding friends and fighting evil.  It was the 2014 Newbery Award winner.  A definite great read for all!

Classics, Retold

I love retellings of classic stories.  It is always interesting to see how the author interprets the story and what new elements are added to the story.  Here are some teen retellings of classic books . . .

Breath by Donna Jo Napoli
Elaborates on the tale of "The Pied Piper," told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hameln of rats .

Enter Three Witches: A Story of Macbeth by Caroline Cooney
When her father betrays the Scottish king and is hung as a traitor, Lady Mary's future is bleak after she loses her only true protector and ends up locked away in the tower by the powerful and deadly Lord and Lady Macbeth.

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
A collection of variations on the familiar story of a boastful miller and the daughter he claims can spin straw into gold.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily receives special protections from the spiritual forces of Neverland, but then she meets her tribe's most dangerous enemy--Peter Pan--and falls in love with him.

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Will Scarlet shadows Robin Hood, with an unerring eye for finding treasures to steal and throwing daggers with deadly accuracy, but when Gisbourne, a ruthless bounty hunter, is hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band of thieves, Robin must become Will's protector risking his own life in the process.

1, 2, 3, 4, I Want to Read Some More: Counting Books

I often get asked for counting books by parents who are looking to help their children learn their numbers.  Here are my top five favorite counting books right now . . .

1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker
Busy little peas engage in their favorite activities as they introduce the numbers from one to 100.

Cat Up a Tree by John Hassett
With rapidly increasing numbers of cats stuck in her tree, Nana Quimby asks for help from the firehouse, the police, the pet shop, the zoo, the library, and even city hall, but no one will help rescue the cats.


Zero the Hero by Joan Holub
Zero believes that he is a hero, but the counting numbers think he is worthless until they get into trouble with some Roman numerals, and only Zero can help.

Two at the Zoo by Danna Smith
A grandfather and grandchild go to the zoo, where they count animals from one to ten.

Cat Count by Betsy Lewin
A child adds up the cats owned by ten different people and discovers that it is a lot of cats.

Time for the Science Fair

Today is the Family Fair Day for the Mastodon Science Fair at Jefferson College.  The public is invited to view the various science projects entered as well as meet with local organizations.  (Come and see the Jefferson County Library's booth in the Field House!)  In honor of the science fair, here are some books featuring science projects . . .

Science Fair: A Story of Mystery, Danger, International Suspense and a Very Nervous Frog by Dave Barry
The president of Kprshtskan is plotting to infiltrate the science fair at Hubble Middle School in Maryland in order to take over the United States government, but when Toby Harbinger, an ordinary student, makes up his mind finally to win the fair, the terrorists' plans go awry.

Remarkable: A Novel by Lizzie K. Foley
Ten-year-old Jane Doe, the only student average enough to be excluded from the town of Remarkable's School for the Remarkably Gifted, is joined at her public school by the trouble-making Grimlet twins, who lead her on a series of adventures involving an out-of-control science fair project, a pirate captain on the run from a mutinous crew, a lonely dentist, and a newly constructed bell tower that endangers Remarkable's most beloved inhabitant--a skittish lake monster named Lucky.

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! by Matthew McElligott
While working on a science fair project, a Philadelphia school boy discovers both a secret laboratory in his basement and Benjamin Franklin, who comes to life after receiving a jolt of electricity.

Phineas L. MacGuire --- Erupts! The First Experiment by Frances Dowell O'Roarke
Fourth-grade science whiz Phineas MacGuire is forced to team up with the new boy in class on a science fair project, but the boy's quirky personality causes Phineas to wonder if they have any chance of winning.

The Science Fair from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler
Hubie struggles to decide on a project for the science fair, weighing the pros and cons of cloning himself or creating a laugh machine. Contains science-related jokes and puns throughout the story.

Coaltown Jesus by Ronald Koertge

"I would have been here sooner, but traffic on I-55 was awful."

Walker is shocked to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom.  Granted he did pray for help for his mom who hasn't stopped crying since his brother died two months ago.  But he didn't expect Jesus to show up. 

And that's just the start. 

Jesus is determined to help Walker -- just not in the way he expects.  He wants him to adopt a dog.  He wants him to play basketball and hit on a pretty girl.  What he doesn't want is to reveal himself to Walker's mom.

This was a very interesting book on a boy dealing with issues of grief, religion, guilt, and family relationships.  It is a very quick read as it is written in verse.  Each poem is short and to the point while revealing a lot about Walker and his situation.

Hooray for Spring!

It has been a long, cold, snowy winter.  I've been looking forward to spring for quite a while.  And it is finally here.  In celebration of spring starting on Thursday, here are some of my favorite spring books for children . . .

Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson
When spring comes, Bear wakes up very hungry and is treated to great food by his friends.

The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss
The animals share their happiness at the coming of spring.

Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck by Lisa Westberg Peters
Early one spring a little duck arrives at her pond and finds it still frozen, but not for long.

Wake Up, It's Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Word of the arrival of spring spreads from earth to worm to seed to lady bug and on through the natural world to a sleeping family, until everyone is dancing in celebration.

Countdown to Spring: An Animal Counting Book by Janet Schulman
Simple text and pictures of animals celebrating the arrival of spring teach young readers to count to ten.

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her

Dolores is different.
She heard the song come on the radio and asked her brother to turn it up again and again until it was blasting.  She sang along at the top of her voice - every word.  He bet no other seven year old could do that.

Dolores is poised.
She asked her mother which spoon to use for the soup.  There are four spoons.  She doesn't want to use the wrong one.

Dolores is spunky.
She wants to be a cheerleader - not because she loves sports, but because she wants to make people scream.

Dolores is tough.
She was terrified.  She was furious.  She let her anger burn through her fear and punched him in the nose as hard as she could.

Dolores: Seven Stories About Her by Bruce Brooks contains seven short stories from Dolores' life.  We start at age seven with a near kidnapping, goes through her parents divorce, her desire to be a cheerleader, her first kiss, and an attempted attack at age sixteen.  Dolores is definitely worth getting to know.  She will intrigue you so that you wish you were her friend.

Gateway Readers Award

The Gateway Readers Award is a readers choice award selected by teens in the state of Missouri. Youth in grades 10-12 are encouraged to read the nominee books before voting for their favorite book.  Voting is taking place at the Arnold Branch through today - March 13, 2014.


2013-2014 Gateway Readers Nominees

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
The daughter of a mafia don falls for the son of the D.A. in a Godfather-inspired thriller set in a futuristic New York.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses.

Ashfall by Mike Mullin
After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.

Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
Perry's parents insist that he take Gobi, their quiet, Lithuanian exchange student, to senior prom but after an incident at the dance he learns that Gobi is actually a trained assassin who needs him as a henchman, behind the wheel of his father's precious Jaguar, on a mission in Manhattan.

Between Shades of Gray by Rita Sepetys
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown
When seventeen-year-old Alex starts dating Cole, a new boy at her high school, her two closest friends increasingly mistrust him as the relationship grows more serious.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Seventeen-year-old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters--the chimaerae who form the only family she has ever known.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
In a future Chicago, Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she does not fit into any one group.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
Overburdened by his parents' bickering and a bully's attacks, fifteen-year-old Lucky Linderman begins dreaming of being with his grandfather, who went missing during the Vietnam War, but during a visit to Arizona, his aunt and uncle and their beautiful neighbor, Ginny, help him find a new perspective.

I'll Be There by Holly Sloan
Raised by an unstable father who keeps constantly on the move, Sam Border has long been the voice of his younger brother, Riddle, but everything changes when Sam meets Emily Bell and, welcomed by her family, the brothers are faced with normalcy for the first time.

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder
Having spent several years in and out of hospitals for a life-threatening illness, pragmatic sixteen-year-old Cam is relocated by her miracle-seeking mother to a town in Maine known for its mystical healing qualities.

Shelter by Harlan Coben
Mickey Bolitar is forced to live with his Uncle Myron and switch high schools, where he finds both friends and enemies, but when his girlfriend vanishes, he follows her trail into an underworld that reveals she is not what she seems to be.

Shine by Lauren Myracle
When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

Lullaby and Goodnight: Bedtime Stories

Looking for a new bedtime story for your child?  Try one of the following . . .

The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds by Marisabina Russo
Some young rabbits would rather play than sleep, much to their parents' chagrin.

Hula Lullaby by Erin Eitter Kono
Against the backdrop of a beautiful Hawaiian landscape, a young girl cuddles and sleeps in her mother's lap.

So Sleepy Story by Uri Shulevitz
In the quiet of the night, a sleepy sleepy boy awakes to find the dishes, chairs, and clocks enjoying themselves.

Musical Beds by Mara Bergman
A father and his three children all switch beds as they try to get settled for the night.

Inside All by Margaret Mason
Takes the reader on a nesting doll-like journey, from the edges of the universe into the heart of a child at bedtime, showing how we each have our place inside the universe and the universe has a place inside each of us.

Mark Twain Readers Award

The Mark Twain Award is a readers choice award selected by the children in the state of Missouri. Children in grades 3-5 are encouraged to read the nominee books before voting for their favorite book.  Voting is taking place at the Arnold Branch now until March 13, 2014.




2013-2014 Mark Twain Nominees

13 Gifts by Wendy Mass
Shortly before her thirteenth birthday, shy and withdrawn Tara is sent to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousin in her parents' hometown of Willow Falls, where she makes friends and becomes involved with an elderly buyer and seller of collectibles, who seems to be trying to give Tara some kind of mysterious message.

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friend
Meet Taylor McNamara. She's twelve. She's a city girl. But her parents have just moved her onto a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere. She's trying to get into the spirit of farming, but things aren't going very well. Meet the farm animals: 40 chickens, 20 sheep, 10 ducks, and 4 goats, one of which can pee on his own head. Taylor's job is to collect eggs every morning, which she can only do using an umbrella to catch the chicken poop.

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
The residents of Culpepper, despite their grand aspirations, have made little progress toward achieving their goals, but unexpected events and surprises put the ambitions of the residents of Culpepper to the test.

Hidden by Helen Frost
Years after Darra Monson's father stole a minivan with Wren Abbott hiding in the back, the girls come face to face at summer camp and together they try to work through what happened to them and the impact it had on their lives.

In Front of God and Everybody by K.D. McCrite
In the summer of 1986, eleven-year-old April Grace, who lives on a rural Arkansas farm with her family, across a field from her grandmother, has her sense of Christian charity tested when a snooty couple from San Francisco moves into a dilapidated house down the road and her grandmother takes up with a loud, obnoxious, and suspicious-acting Texan.

Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach
Simon, Henry, and Jack Barker decide to ignore their parents' warning to stay away from Superstition Mountain in order to search for their missing cat Josie, but they begin to see the wisdom of their mom and dad's advice when they find three human skulls.

Pie by Sarah Weeks
After the death of Polly Portman, whose award-winning pies put the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, on the map in the 1950s, her devoted niece Alice and Alice's friend Charlie investigate who is going to extremes to find Aunt Polly's secret pie crust recipe. Includes fourteen pie recipes.

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor
Twelve-year-old Raine spends the summer at a mysterious artists colony and discovers a secret about her past.

The Underdogs by Mike Lupica
Small but fast twelve-year-old Will Tyler, an avid football player in the down-and-out town of Forbes, Pennsylvania, takes matters into his own hands to try and finance the city's football team, giving the whole community hope in the process.

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.

Will at the Battle of Gettysburg by Laurie Calkhoven
In 1863, twelve-year-old Will, who longs to be a drummer in the Union army, is stuck in his sleepy hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but when the Union and Confederate armies meet right there in his town, he and his family are caught up in the fight. Includes historical notes, glossary, and a time line of events.

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Having lost his mother and his hearing in a short time, twelve-year-old Ben leaves his Minnesota home in 1977 to seek the father he never knew in New York City, and meets there Rose, who is also longing for something missing from her life. Ben's story istold in words; Rose's in pictures.

Truman Readers Award

The Truman Readers Award is a readers choice award selected by youth in the state of Missouri.  Youth in grades 6-8 are encouraged to read the nominee books before voting for their favorite book for the award.  Voting is taking place at the Arnold Branch now until March 13, 2014.


2013-2014 Truman Reader Nominees

Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Seventeen-year-old Johnny is approached at his family's struggling shoe repair shop in a Miami, Florida, hotel by Alorian Princess Victoriana, who asks him to find her brother who was turned into a frog.


The Death Catchers by Jennifer Ann Kogler
Through a letter to her English teacher, fourteen-year-old Lizzy Mortimer of Crabapple, California, relates her discovery that she and her eccentric grandmother are kin to Morgan le Faye, charged with saving the last descendant of King Arthur from an untimely death that would endanger the world.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Twenty years after the start of the war that caused the Collapse, Stephen, his father, and grandfather travel America scavenging, but when his father decides to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Kate, Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared to protect them, but now they learn that they have special powers, a prophesied quest to find a magical book, and a fearsome enemy.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic.

Legend by Marie Lu
In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
When two Florida teenagers become stranded on a tiny island in the Everglades, they attempt to walk ten miles through swampland to reach civilization.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans
Michael Vey, a fourteen-year old who has Tourette's syndrome and special electric powers, finds there are others like him, and must rely on his powers to save himself and the others from a diabolical group seeking to control them.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there ...

Silhouetted by Blue by Traci L. Jones
After the death of her mother in an automobile accident, seventh-grader Serena, who has gotten the lead in her middle school play, is left to handle the day-to-day challenges of caring for herself and her younger brother when their father cannot pull himself out of his depression.

Variant by Robison F. Wells
After years in foster homes, seventeen-year-old Benson Fisher applies to New Mexico Maxfield Academy in hopes of securing a brighter future, but instead he find that the school is a prison and no one is what he or she seems.

Show Me Readers Award

The Show Me Readers Award is a readers choice award selected by the children of the state of Missouri.  Children in grades K-3 are encourage to read at least three of the nominee books before voting for their favorite for the award.  Voting is taking place at the Arnold Branch now until March 13, 2014.


2013-2014 Show Me Reader Nominees

A Book for Black-Eyed Susan by Judy Young
While traveling along the Oregon Trail, ten-year-old Cora and her newborn baby sister suffer the loss of their mother and are separated, but Cora stitches a book to tell the dark-eyed baby of their journey and family.

Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond
While Charlie, a sleepy basset hound, tells about the busy life of a ranch dog, his best friend Suzie, a Jack Russell terrier, is getting the work done.

The Day Dirk Yeller Came to Town by Mary Casanova
When outlaw Dirk Yeller arrives in Cowtown looking for something to take away his cat-scratch fever, young Sam, whose pa says he is "a world-a-trouble and curious as a tomcat," knows just what this dangerous and jittery criminal needs to calm him down.

Grandpa's Tractor by Michael Garland
When Grandpa Joe takes little Timmy to the old farm where he grew up, they explore the boarded-up house and fallen-down barn still standing in a developed area, as well as the rusty old tractor Grandpa Joe remembers as being brand new when he was a boy.

Painter and Ugly by Robert J. Blake
Painter and Ugly, two sled dogs who are inseparable best friends, are put on different teams for the Junior Iditarod, but they manage to find their way back to one another for the big race.

Peanut Butter and Homework Sandwiches by Lisa Broadie Cook
When his teacher is out sick for a week, Martin MacGregor has a difficult time with the homework assigned by the substitute teacher.

A Pet for Miss Wright by Judy Young
A lonely writer searches for the perfect pet to keep her company in her solitary work.

Princess Kim and Too Much Truth by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Young Kim discovers that there is a difference between being honest and always speaking the truth.

Three Hens and a Peacock by Lester Laminack
When life on the Tucker farm is disrupted by the arrival of a peacock, whose shrieking and strutting bring many welcome visitors, the hens complain that they are doing all of the work until the hound suggests a trade.

Willow and the Snow Day Dance by Denise Brennan Nelson
When Willow's family moves to a new home, she makes friends with all of the neighbors, even unsmiling Mr. Larch, through her letters inviting each to be as generous as she is.

Nursery Rhyme Comics

We usually learn our nursery rhymes as small children.  So we think of them as being for preschoolers. 

Nursery Rhyme Comics will change that!

This is a collection of nursery rhymes, both familiar fhymes and more obscure rhymes, where each nursery rhyme is illustrated by a different comic book, magna, or children's book illustrator.  Some illustrators interpret the the rhymes just as they are written.  Others feel the need to have their characters comment on the action in asides.  Others interpret them in ways we've never thought of before.

Nursery Rhyme Comics is great fun for children, and adults, of all ages!