Back to School!

School has started for most children in the area.  Check out one of these great school stories.  Here's a few of our favorites . . . .

Matilda by Roald Dahl
Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil, child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security.

School Spirit by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Like her mother, a professional medium, Kat has been able to see dead people since turning thirteen, and although they would prefer to be normal, Kat and her best friend come to terms with their own talents while helping free the spirit of a girl trapped at their middle school.

The School Mouse by Dick King-Smith

Flora, the world's most educated mouse, saves her family during a crisis.

More Books --

In Honor of Broken Things by Paul Acampora

Lights, Camera, Middle School by Jennifer L. Holm

Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs by Katherine Applegate

The New Kid at School by Kate McMullan
Restart by Gordon Korman

Scary School by Derek Kent

School Daze by Nick Bruel

The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The School Is Alive by Jack Chabert
School of the Dead by Avi

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Zoo School by Laurie Miller Hornik

Rip-Roaring Reads: Stories Featuring Dinosaurs

Dinosaur books are always popular.  This week, I'm sharing chapter book stories featuring dinosaurs.  Here are a few of our favorites . . . . 

Knights vs. Dinosaurs by Matt Phelan

With the realm at peace and few dragons about, the Knights of the Round Table are bored, so Merlin sends them to face the most terrible lizards of all --dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Trouble by Dick King-Smith

Young dinosaurs Nosy, a pterodactyl, and Banty, an apatosaurus, become friends, despite their parents' prejudices.

Dinosaur Boy by Cory Putman Oakes

Sprouting a tail and spikes over the summer before fifth grade, Sawyer, a boy with the dinosaur gene, is bullied in school, but when his tormentors begin to disappear, it is up to Sawyer, his best friend Elliot, and a mysterious new girl to rescue them from a galactically horrible fate.

More Dinosaur Stories --

The Bad Guys in Do-You-Thin-He-Saurus by Aaron Blabey

Caveboy Dave: More Scrawny Than Brawny by Aaron Reynolds

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older

Dino-Mike and the T.Rex Attack by Franco Aureliani

The Dinosaur Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

The Journey Through Time by Geronimo Stilton

Mad Scientist Academy: The Dinosaur Disaster by Matthew McElligott

A Mysterious Egg by Stacy McAnulty

Saving the Stegosaurus by Rex Stone

School Stories

It's time for school!  This week, I'm sharing stories to read about school . . . .

Wayside Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Humorous episodes from the classroom on the thirtieth floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built sideways with one classroom on each story.

The School Mouse by Dick King-Smith

Flora the mouse learns how to read, a skill not even her parents appreciate. When she finds a bag marked, "poison," she must convince them that reading is very important.

School of the Dead by Avi

Starting at the Penda School after his uncle's death, Tony Gilbert starts seeing his uncle's ghost everywhere.

Operation Frog Effect by Sarah Lynn Scheerger

Ms. Graham's fifth-grade class wants to promote change in the world; but when eight of them take an assignment too far, they must take responsibility for their actions and unite for a cause they all believe in.

More School Stories --

Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon by Paula Danziger

Archimancy: Shadow School by J.A. White

From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot

The Landry News by Andrew Clements

The Only Girl in School by Natalie Standiford

Pennybaker School Is Headed for Disaster by Jennifer Brown

The School for the Insanely Gifted by Dan Elish

School for Sidekicks by Kelly McCullough

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs

The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 by Honest Lee

The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Zoo School by Laurie Miller Hornik

Reading Is (NOT) for the Birds!

This week, I'm sharing chapter books featuring stories about birds.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
The unexpected delivery of a large crate containing an Antarctic penguin changes the life and fortunes of Mr. Popper, a house painter obsessed by dreams of the Polar regions.

Thundercluck! by Paul Tillery
Thundercluck is a powerful chicken favored by the gods and, with the help of the goddess Brunhilde, undertakes a dangerous mission to defeat the evil Cook and other villains who are threatening the kingdom of Asgard.

Funny Frank by Dick King-Smith
Gertie the hen is appalled when her son Frank wants to swim with the ducks, but Jemima and her mother, the farmer's wife, make him a special outfit so that his dream can come true.

Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead George
As she grows through the first years of her life in the Catskill Mountains of New York, a peregrine falcon called Frightful interacts with various humans, including the boy who raised her, a falconer who rescues her, and several unscrupulous poachers.


More Books --
The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell
Benny Bensky and the Parrot Napper by Mary Borsky
Captain Tweakerbeak's Revenge by Charles Haddad
The Capture by Kathryn Lasky
Gay-Neck by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
Pablo and Birdy by Alison McGhee
Poppy by Avi
Sam the Man and the Chicken Plan by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Scarlet Ibis by Gill Lewis
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt
The Wheel on the School by Meindert de Jong
Zack and the Turkey Attack! by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 13, 2019.

Time for a Summer Vacation

This week, I'm sharing chapter books about going on vacation . . .

The Vacation by Polly Horvath

When his parents go to Africa to work as missionaries, twelve-year-old Henry's eccentric aunts, Pigg and Mag, take him on a cross-country car trip, allowing him to gain insight into his family and himself.

The Merman by Dick King-Smith

While on vacation in Scotland on her tenth birthday, Zeta meets a wise, kindly old merman who teaches her not only to swim, but also many, many more fascinating things.

This Would Make a Good Story Someday by Dana Alison Levy

Although not thrilled when her summer plans are upended for a surprise cross-country train trip with her family and embarrassed because one of her moms is writing a tell-all book about the trip, twelve-year-old Sara Johnston-Fischer finds herself changing along with the landscape outside the train windows.

Secret Sisters of the Salty Sea by Lynne Rae Perkins

When her parents take the family to the beach for a vacation, Alix is nervous about leaving home.

More Books --

Abigail Iris: The One and Only by Lisa Glatt

Aliens on Vacation by Clete Barrett Smith

Calvin Coconut: Man Trip by Graham Salisbury

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Summer Vacation by Tommy Greenwald

Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret

Lexie by Audrey Couloumbis

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

Paddington Abroad by Michael Bond

Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Point by Phyllis Naylor Reynolds

The Savage Fortress by Sarwat Chadda

Summer with Elisa by Joanna Hurwitz

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through August 3, 2018.

Stories from the Farm

I have found that even though we are located in a semi-rural area, that a lot of children that visit our library are unfamiliar with farms and farm life.  So this week, I am sharing some children's books about life on a farm . . . .

Chicken Feathers by Joy Cowley
Relates the story of the summer Josh spends while his mother is in the hospital awaiting the birth of his baby sister, and his pet chicken Semolina, who talks but only to him, is almost killed by a red fox.

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friends
When her parents swap urban life in Minneapolis for rural life on a farm 100 miles away, twelve-year-old Taylor feels as if she is living on another planet.

Out of the Dust by  Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

The Golden Goose by Dick King-Smith
Farmer Skint and his family on Woebegone Farm have fallen on hard times, but their luck changes with the arrival of a special golden goose.

Alida's Song by Gary Paulsen
A fourteen-year-old boy who has been neglected by irresponsible parents spends a wonderful summer on a farm where his grandmother cooks for two elderly brothers.


More Farm Stories --
Anna on the Farm by Mary Downing Hahn
The Barn by Avi
The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts
Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen
Dragonsdale by Salamanda Drake
Drizzle by Katherine Van Cleve
Fat & Bones by Larissa Theule
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriett Gillem Robinet
A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos
Jimmy Dabble by Frans Vischer
McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm by Sid Fleischman
R My Name is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff
Simeon's Fire by Cathryn Clinton
A Tough Nut to Crack by Tom Birdseye
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through June 16, 2017.

The Book Is Better!

While I love to watch movie adaptations of books, I almost always find that I liked the book better than the movies.  However, I do have to say that I love several of the movies made from the following chapter books for kids . . . . .

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Eldest of three sisters in a land where it is considered to be a misfortune, Sophie is resigned to her fate as a hat shop apprentice until a witch turns her into an old woman and she finds herself in the castle of the greatly feared wizard Howl.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third as he tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan, the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, by catching and training a dragon.

Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick-King Smith
A piglet destined for eventual butchering arrives at the farmyard, is adopted by an old sheep dog, and discovers a special secret to success.

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
The wind brings two English children a new nanny who slides up the bannister and introduces them to some delightful people and experiences.

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander
The land of Prydain is threatened by the evil Arawn and his band of invincible warriors.


More Books Turned into Movies --
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex



Check out these books on display at the Arnold Branch through June 3, 2016.

Dodos Are Forever by Dick King-Smith

Dodos Bertie and Beatrice are happily planning their marriage on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  Theirs is an idyllic life on an island paradise with no predators.  Then the ship comes with sea monkeys and rats.  Both the sea monkeys and the rats develop a taste for dodos.  Now Bertie and Beatrice must find a way to escape extinction so that dodos can truly be forever.

This was a great audiobook by children's author Dick King-Smith. King-Smith is known for his gentle animal stories for children.  They contain just enough action and adventure to keep kids enthralled without being too scary.  His books are perfect as read-alouds for the whole family.

Have You Read the Movie (Book)

There is an explosion in the past few years of movies based on children's books.  Here are some of my favorite children's chapter books that have been adapted . . .

The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith
In 1930, on the coast of Scotland, eight-year-old Kirstie finds a large egg which hatches into an unusual sea creature, and as he grows her family must decide what to do with him.

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
The unexpected delivery of a large crate containing an Antarctic penguin changes the life and fortunes of Mr. Popper, a house painter obsessed by dreams of the Polar regions.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own, where she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

The World of Pooh by A.A. Milne
The World of Pooh is a world of enchantment.  It is a world where Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga and the others share unforgettable adventures with Christopher Robin.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
On his eleventh birthday Will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.