Texas Lonestar List 2007-2008

Oh boy, the new Texas Lonestar List is out. I have some of these books in my stack. I am just naturally drawn to the books on this list. They seem to always pick stuff that I like to read.

Book talkin' -- storytellin'

I had fun participating in the local junior high's 6th grade read-in on Friday night. Parents and kids attended in their slippers. The librarian prepared a nice presentation on some of the Lone Star Reading list books and Newbery winners.

I got to book talk some new books including Pond Scum, Babymouse, London Calling, Hugging the Rock, Troll Bridge, Monster Blood Tattoo, and the Jimmy Coates series by Joe Craig. There was not enough time to do all the books in my bag but I handed out Jimmy Coates bookmarks which seemed to please the guys. We turned off the lights and by the light of my Coleman lantern, I told some stories and did a reading from my favorite read-aloud. I wasn't planning on reading but one of my old students commented to me, "No one reads to us anymore Mrs. P."

I was impressed at the number of boys in attendance. There seemed to be equal numbers of guys and girls. I was also impressed that parents would give up their Friday night in the recliner (my favorite landing zone) to come to the event with their kids.

The evening reinforced what I have noted from my sojourns into middle school libraries: junior high readers really want to talk about the books they are reading. Hoorah for librarians who make those opportunities available for their students and hoorah for junior high teachers who still take time to read to the kids. May your numbers increase!

You and Me, Baby

You and Me Baby, concept and words by Lynn Reiser and photographs by Penny Gentieu, 2006

Ooooh baby, is this a fun book. Five beautiful children are photographed by Penny Gentieu as they interact with their parents. The focus of each photo is the joy-filled face of a child. The children are shown eating, splashing, playing and most importantly, looking into their parents' eyes. The background of each photo is pure color, orange, green, yellow, blue and purple which matches the clothing of the baby and parent. Gentieu's photos glow.

Hey, baby!
Look at you, looking at me,
looking at you, looking at me.

This would be a terrific baby gift or a nice present for big brothers and sisters-to-be. Who doesn't love looking at pictures of precious children? Just imagine holding this book in your lap with a little one tucked in beside you. Babies love looking at faces.
Oh Baby, look at me reading with you, look at you reading with me!

Monster Blood Tattoo

Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling by D.M. Cornish, 2006

Monster Blood Tattoo was a complete surprise. The story of the young Rossamünd Bookchild, is an interesting and engrossing read. The mood, tone and characters are very Dickensian. D.M. Cornish has amplified the effect with his own illustrations that evoke George Cruikshank and Phiz.

Rossamünd is small for his age and afflicted with a regrettable name. He is facing the day he will be apprenticed with a mixture of anxiety and hope. Raised with relative kindness in an orphanage, he dreads leaving the protection of the mothering Verline and the tough old sailor, Fransitart. Rossamünd dreams of becoming a sailor and battling monsters just like the heroes in the stories he reads. He soon learns he will be employed as a lamplighter though and he accepts his new future.

His first steps into the wider world of the Half-Continent land him in danger and at the mercy of a brutal smuggler. The Half-Continent is a world where people are set on exterminating the monsters that roam the countryside. Rossamünd begins to doubt the stories of monster horror he has heard all his life when he encounters a beautiful but strange lahzar or monster hunter named Miss Europe.

This novel is a prelude and ended much too quickly. I thought I had a goodly number of pages left to read but the last third of the book is a glossary of terms or “explicarium.”

Cornish has set us up for the next book, perfectly. We know we have not seen the last of the brutal Gosling, Rossamünd’s nemesis from the orphanage and what is the secret Fransitart needs to tell Rossamünd?

I know the striking cover and title will resonate with teens. Last week I was driving some of my daughter’s friends home, when one of the kids saw the book next to her on the back seat. She was immediately drawn to the book (“Woah, look at this!” to quote exactly) and was very happy when I told her she could take it home with her.

Election Day

Just when I thought I could not take one more negative campaign ad..
Tip from Petrified Truth

Anne of Green Gables: Miss Independent

Catching up with my blogging friends today. Little Willow has a fun YouTube link for Anne of Green Gables Fans!

2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award List

The new master list for the 2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award has been announced!

I have read two of the books, George Crum and the Saratoga Chip and The Greatest Skating Race.

Author: T.A.Barron

When T.A. Barron was nine years old, he wrote a letter to Robert Frost. He received a personal letter in return. That gracious act by the poet inspired Barron and he resolved that if he was ever famous enough to receive fan letters he would try his best to personally answer them.

Today he receives an average of a hundred letters per day and tries to devote one day a week to answering the mail he receives from readers.

Before there was Percy Jackson or Harry Potter, girls and (especially) boys were caught up in Barron's Lost Years of Merlin series. The Ancient One from the Kate Gordon books has also frequently been a favorite with my reading friends.

Barron was speaking at a local bookstore last week and my entling asked me to change an after school appointment so she could go hear him. He is touring to talk about his Great Tree of Avalon trilogy.

What a kind and genial man! He shook hands with us and talked with each person who attended the signing.

The mail he receives from readers touches his heart. He shared some of the funny and moving letters he has received over the years. Even though his best know stories are fantasy, he still does extensive research. He studied 12 different Native American tribes from the Pacific NW for The Ancient One.

I told him that he was really a pioneer as an author in his use of the WWW. He was one of the first children's writers to have a fully developed site and kids can email him there. My own entling wrote him and received a personal reply over seven years ago.

His book The Hero's Trail grew out of his concern over our national confusion between celebrities and real heroes. The book tells real stories about real kids and he sponsors the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes (named for his mother) which "honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive difference to people and our planet. Their leadership and courage make them true heroes—and inspirations to us all."

His idea of "The Hero" was voiced by Mother Theresa:

I have done no great things but I have done many small things with great love

Judging from the crowd there on a week night, lots of readers love T.A. Barron.

Award Winning Quilt

This beautiful quilt just won Best of Show here at the International Quilt Festival. The quilt is inspired by the 1908 German children's book, Wurzelkinder or The Root Children.

Judges for the International Quilt Association gave Sieglinde Schoen Smith of Carlisle, Pa., the Best of Show Award and $10,000 during the world's biggest and most prestigious quilting contest.

R-E-A-D

Good news from the Trick-or-Treating front last night.

"Trick or Treat!"

"Hello Kiddies! What's a great book you've read this year?"

"Awww..."

"You want these Reese's peanut butter cups or not?"

Maybe this question was not such a shock from someone at a house with the these pumpkins gleaming in the front yard but the kids came up with book titles more quickly than ever this year.

One of the most frequently named books was The Lightning Thief, followed by Sea of Monsters. One kid shouted, "I can't wait for The Titan's Curse!" (Wow!) I had 2 for Inkheart, several Green Eggs and Ham, 1 Cat in the Hat, 1 Animal Farm, 2 Lord of the Rings, a Pride and Prejudice (thank you very much,) 1 Cinderella, 1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (dressed exactly like Johnny Depp à la movie,) multiple Cliffords, Harry Potters and Capt. Underpants and 1 Artemis Fowl "but I haven't read the new one," the young man added. (Me neither.) One girl said Stormbreaker and began to tell me how cool Alex Rider was. I almost cried!

It was really so heartening thing to hear all these great titles being shouted out. There has been a definite leap in the reading levels of the neighborhood over the past year according to this informal Halloween poll.