Searching for Lost Treasure

Finding the perfect book to read can be like going on a treasure hunt.  You must take the time to search out just the right book.  This week, I am sharing some chapter books featuring treasure hunts in them. 

The Dungeoneers by John David Anderson
When his gift for pickpocketing is noticed by the mysterious Finn Argos, Colm begins training to become a member of Thwodin's Legions, a strange group of warriors, mages, and hunters who search for treasure.

The House of Arden by E. Nesbit
After the presumed death of their long-absent father, Edred inherits the title of Lord Arden and moves with his sister Elfrida into the decrepit family castle where they find an ancient spell that conjures up the magical Mouldiwarp and, with his help, set off on a journey through time in search of the lost Arden treasure.

Treasure Hunters by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
Following clues left by their missing father, twelve-year-old twins Bickford and Rebecca Kidd sail from the Caribbean to New York City with their siblings to finish the dangerous quest of their world-famous treasure-hunting parents.

Finders Keepers by Shelley Tougas
In Wisconsin, ten-year-old Christa and eleven-year-old Alex team up to search for the lost treasure of Al Capone near where Alex has just moved into his grandfather's house and Christa is spending what may be her family's last summer in their cabin.


More Books --
The Adventures of TinTin by Alex Irvine
Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey
Fish by Gregory Mone
Little Wolf: Terror of the Shivery Sea by Ian Whybrow
The Lost Cipher by Michael Oechsle
Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life by Mary Amato
The Sultan's Tiger by Josh Lacey
Ticket to India by N.H. Senzai
The Treasures of Weatherby by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Treasure of Savage Island by Lenore Hart
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye by Tania Del Rio


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through March 16, 2018.

Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder

Charlie and Mouse are two brothers having fun at a neighborhood party, trying to make some money, and going through their bedtime routine.

This easy reader is the winner of  2018 Theodor Geisel Medal for best beginning reader of the year.  It is a great for a child just starting to read chapter books.  While the book features two brothers, it's a good story for both boys and girls with its all inclusive neighborhood of friends.  Also, make sure to really look at the photos as background images add extra humor to the stories.

Celebrate Black History Month!

Today I am sharing some great picture books to read for Black History Month.  Here are a few of my favorites . . .

The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton
In this retelling of a folktale, a group of slaves, unable to bear their sadness and starvation any longer, calls upon the African magic that allows them to fly away.

Let Freedom Sing by Vanessa Newton
Adapts the lyrics of the song "This Little Light of Mine" to a look at how African-American men and women have let their own lights shine to make a better world.

Happy to Be Nappy by Bell Hook
Celebrates the joy and beauty of nappy hair.

Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson
In 1847 St. Louis, Missouri, when a new law against educating African Americans forces Reverend John to close his school, he finds an ingenious solution to the new state law by moving his school to a steamboat in the Mississippi River.


More Books --
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds
A Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers by Deborah Hopkinson
The Beatitudes by Carole Boston Weatherford
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story by Julius Lester
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem's Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Boycott Blues: How Rosa Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Bring on That Beat! by Rachel Isadora
Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by  Janice Harrington
Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse
Flossie & the Fox by Patricia McKissack
Goggles by Ezra Jack Keats
I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes
Just Like Josh Gibson by Angela Johnson
Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
The Legendary Miss Lena Horne by Carole Boston Weatherford
Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack
Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest
The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes
The New Person by Lauren Child
The Piano Man by Debbi Chocolate
Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis by Jabari Asim
The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Zietlow Miller
Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Jangles -- Think of That! by Leo Dillon
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
Sister Anne's Hands by Marybeth Lorbiecki
Sojourner Truth's Step-Stomp Stride by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson
Uptown by Bryan Collier
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka


Check these and more picture books for Black History Month out on display at the Arnold Branch through March 9, 2018.

Truly, Madly in Love

As Valentine's Day is coming up, I thought this week I would share some of my favorite teen romances . . .

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year.

Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
As seventeen-year-old Jill Jekel and classmate Tristen Hyde work together on a chemistry project, hoping to win a scholarship for her and a cure for his curse, they also uncover family secrets and a chemistry of their own.

Psyche in a Dress by Francesca Lia Block
A young woman, Psyche, searches for her lost love and questions her true self in a modern retelling of Greek myths.

Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann
Seventeen-year-old Livia Stowe travels from England to Princeton, New Jersey, to visit her brother who is studying there and to celebrate her recovery from a year-long struggle with leukemia, and while she is there she writes a blog about her experiences, which include falling in love.


More Teen Romances --
After the Moment by Garrett Freymann-Weyr
Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
A Little in Love by Susan E. Fletcher
Love by the Morning Star by Laura L. Sullivan
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia
The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Openly Straight by Ben Konigsberg
Ronit & Jamil by Pamela L. Laskin
September Girls by Bennett Madison
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti
Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake
That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston
Through to You by Emily Hainsworth
Unlovely by Celeste Conway
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through March 2, 2018.

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

Nadia lives in the city of Canaan where life is structured and safe.  They're protected from the wilds outside the city by their wall.

But every twelve years, comes the Forgetting -- a time of no consequences, no remorse, and no memories.  Everyone's memories of their entire life is lost during this time.  They don't remember their family, their past lives, or every themselves.

The only thing that saves them is their books in which they write down everything that happens to them and their lives every day.  It's the books that help them figure out their names, jobs, and families after the Forgetting.

There's just one problem . . . Nadia remembers.  She remembers the last Forgetting and her life before that.  She remembers her father cutting off her book and writing himself out of her family's lives.  She remembers the horrible things people did to each other.  She remembers and that remembering is going to cause trouble for her, her family, and Gray, the boy she has just started to love.



This book defies genre.  It seems like a simple dystopian fantasy at the start.  However, it quickly takes turns into other genres, seamlessly blending them together.  Nadia is a great character.  Although scared of attachment, she gradually breaks through her own walls to start letting in others.  The villain is well hidden until the dramatic reveal.  This is a great book for all teens to read.

Books to Movies

This year is a great year for children's books being made into movies.  There are new movie versions of Paddington Bear, Peter Rabbit and A Wrinkle in Time all coming out in 2018.  This week, I'm sharing some of my favorite children's books that have been made into movies . . .

The BFG by Roald Dahl
Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
An extraordinary English nanny blows in on the East Wind with her parrot-headed umbrella and magic carpetbag and introduces her charges, Jane and Michael, to some delightful people and experiences.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Thirteen-year-old Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin are guided by unearthly strangers as they go on a journey through space and time to search for Meg's and Charles' scientist father who disappeared while experimenting with a new form of space travel.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.


More Books --
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney
Stuart Little by E.B. White
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through February 23, 2018.