Newbery Awards 2012

This year’s winner is Dead End in Norvelt  by Jack Gantos,  author of the Rotten Ralph series for young readers. His other works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. 

In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

The honor books were:

 

 

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

(Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.)

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin

(In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs.

Zapato Power is Back!

What was that streak of smoke? Why it’s Freddie Ramos and his Zapato Power! He’s back in another adventure in Jacqueline Jules’ Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Zooms to the Rescue. There’s a purple squirrel on the loose. The school principal is acting very strange. Can Freddie solve this mystery? If you like this adventure, check out his other tales: Zapato Power, Freddie Ramos Takes Off and Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Springs Into Action.

Sydney Taylor Book Awards 2012

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners were announced recently for 2012. This award honors new books for children’s and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.  The award memorializes Sydney Taylor; author the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series.  

Michael J. Rosen and Robert Sabuda won for Chanukah Lights (Younger Readers Award). Sabuda is well known for his intricate paper cut pop-up art.

In the Older Readers category, Susan Goldman Rubin won for Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein. This is an inspiring biography of the young musician and his commitment to succeed despite opposition from his family.

Robert Sharenow will receive the award for Teen Readers for his book The Berlin Boxing Club.  In 1936 Berlin, fourteen year old Karl Stern, considered Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing, learn to box from the legendary Max Schmeling while struggling with the realities of the Holocaust.

Chicago Wolves Winter Reading Program 2012

We’re teaming up with the Chicago Wolves for another year of reading and fabulous prizes.  Children in grades K-12 are invited to sign up for the Read to Succeed Winter Reading Program online, in the library or on the Bookmobile.  Read 600 minutes before February 25th to earn a free book and grand prize drawing entry.  Complete one extra activity sheet for an additional entry.

We are also hosting a visit with Chicago Wolves’ Matt Clackson on Tuesday February 21st at 7pm.  He’ll talk about the importance of reading and explain how reading and education play a part in his life as a professional athlete. One child will be selected to try on his hockey equipment! Also, he will be signing autographs for the kids. Then both children & adults can stick around to try our sockey hockey shoot-out just for fun! Register EVERYONE who is attending.

Care to share Bigfoot’s Boogers with the kids?

The recipe for Bigfoot’s Boogers and other marvelously monstrous snacks is in A Monster Cookbook by Sarah  L. Schuette. This is another in the series of her cookbooks with “simple recipes for kids.”  Schuette has paired easy to understand step-by-step directions with colorful photos of each step in the preparation as well as the finished product. Other delicious snack recipes include King Kong Krunch, Cyclops Eyes, Swampy S’mores and Godzilla Salad.  Try making some of these recipes with your child on a cold and wintery afternoon.  By the way, Bigfoot’s Boogers are pictured on the cover. The secret ingredient is broccoli!

Favorite Read-Alouds

Do you enjoy a great story? You’re never too old to read to someone and you’re never too old to be read to. These are my top five favorites of all time. Within these books you’ll find stories of great adventure, humor, fantasy and more.

In Roald Dahl’s classic, The BFG, Sophie meets the BFG, they begin a great friendship and an adventure in saving England from evil giants.

Meet Mole, Rat, Badger and the infamous Toad in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Stories full of danger, humor, adventure and friendship are found in Toad Hall, a jail, the river bank in the air and on the ground.

Are you a child that won’t brush your teeth? Or do you have a child that won’t go to bed? Betty MacDonald’s Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle may have just the cure. Whether the cures are silly, magical or sometimes gross, they usually do the trick. What makes especially great for read alouds, each chapter is it’s own story. There are many Mrs Piggle-Wiggle books!

In Gary Paulsen’s Lawn Boy, all a twelve year-old boy wants to do is raise some money  for some bike repairs. As a result, a huge enterprise is formed with management, accountants and even a sponsorship of a boxer. It’s a hilarious adventure with characters you will love. If you enjoy this book, check out it’s sequel, Lawn Boy Returns.

In Louis Sachar’s Sideways Stories From Wayside School, school is beyond different, it’s just plain strange.  For example, most schools have one or two floors with many classes. This school has thirty floors with one classrooms each. Many hilarious tales are found within that classroom.

For more ideas about read-alouds, check out Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook and his website.

A “Beauty” of a Book!

On a cold winter’s night, try sharing with your child the heart-warming fairy tale of  Beauty and the Beast  as retold and illustrated by Jan Brett.  Although this book doesn’t have the sidebars and illustrations in the margins that we have come to expect in other Jan Brett picture books, the illustrations are still enchanting. She has framed each page with an ornately elegant border and included richly detailed  gardens, flowers, peacocks and a menagerie of animals. Be sure to look at the tapestries Brett placed in the background of some of the pages. Beauty, as her name suggests, is beautiful in her lavish and colorful dresses in pastel hues.  Brett’s Beast is portrayed by a beastly-looking, but very well-dressed wild boar.

Brett stayed true to the classic story and managed to fit it into 32 pages! Of course,  the story has a happy ending when Beauty looks beyond the Beast’s outward appearance and agrees to marry him, thus breaking the spell and returning him to his handsome prince status once again. And they lived happily ever after.

Watch Out 4 Snakes!

When you’re ready to “curl” up with your preschooler over a good book, try OppoSnakes by Salina Yoon.  This lift-the-flap book introduces opposites via friendly snakes.  Swing open the 2 side-folding flaps over each snake to reveal an extra-long, color-filled OPPO-Snake.  The illustrations are full of amusing details:  “plump snake” clutches a chicken drumstick, while “quiet snake” reads a stack of books that include “The Hisstory of Rock”.  In a fun and sturdy format, this clever book entertains as it informs.  Great for ages 2-6.

Cooking up some fun!

Looking for something to do with the kids during the winter months? How about cooking up some fun in your kitchen?  You’ll find a wide variety of kids’ cookbooks in J641 section.  For example, there is a  cookbook series by Sarah Schuette with clever writing, great photographs, interesting facts sprinkled throughout and easy to follow instructions. 

For the superhero in your family try A Superhero Cookbook with recipes for Captain Egg Heads, Gamma Rays (like kabobs), Crime-fighting Carrots and ZAM! POW! Punch. 

Any princesses in the family?  Then try the royal recipes in A Princess Cookbook. Selections include making edible Magic Pretzel Wands, Fairy-Tale Floats, a Princess and the Pea Salad, Castle Crunch (trail mix), Slipper Sandwiches topped off with a Princess Parfait.  

The kids might go for A Pirate Cookbook, which has recipes for Gangplank Dippers, Sea Swords (pictured on the cover), Scurvy Soup, Peg-Leg Pickles and Blackbeard’s Breakfast.  The instructions remind the pirates to clean up after themselves because “even pirates had to swab the deck!”

Best Graphic Novels

2011 was a great year for graphic novels for kids.  Here are some of my top picks.

Around the World by Matt Phelan

Amulet Book 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi

Mal and Chad: The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever! by Stephen McCranie

Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists edited by Chris Duffy

Zita the Spacegirl Book One: Far from Home by Ben Hatke