Book Club Picks for Middle Grade Readers

April 17, 2015April 11, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Book clubs are starting to pop up in libraries and schools for readers of all ages. While book clubs are a great way to encourage reading and picking up books outside a reader’s comfort zone, they are about much more than the books being read. Book clubs are about fostering a sense of community, creating or strengthening relationships, and shared experiences.

If your middle grade reader is interested in joining, or starting a club of their own (or perhaps a parent and child book club is more your speed) they might be at a loss as to what books the group will read next. It is a common issue with adult book groups, so I am sure it happens with younger readers as well. Here are some suggested titles to add to the list of possibilities. Some are tried and true titles that you might have enjoyed at their age, and others are newer books that are simply wonderful. your selections will bcpaperboy depend quite a bit on the interests and maturity of those in your group, but this can help get the selection process started.

Paperboy by Vince Vawter
Taking over a friend’s newspaper route in 1959 Memphis, an 11-year-old baseball enthusiast struggles with a speech disability while attempting to communicate with customers, a situation that turns dangerous when he has a confrontation with a thieving local junkma bcgrimm n.

A Tale Dark & Grimm (A Tale Dark & Grimm, #1) by Adam Gidwitz
Follows Hansel and Gretel as they walk out of their own story and into eight more tales, encountering witches, devils, warlocks, kindly strangers, and other helpful folk as they take charge of their own happily ever after.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein bclibrary

Twelve-year-old Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of 12 children chosen to stay in the new town library–designed by his hero, the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello–for an overnight of fun, food and games, but in the morning, the kids find all the doors still locked and must work together to solve secret puzzles in order to discover the hidden escape route.Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
When a father runs out to buy milk for his children’s breakfast cereal, the last thing he expects is to be abducted by aliens, and he soon finds himself transported through time and space on an extraordinary adventure, where the fate of the universe depends on him and the milk–but will his children believe his wild story?

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Still looking for more ideas, or some great middle grade novels to read? Here are even more:The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Inkheart (Inkworld, #1) by Cornelia Funke, One For The Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Matilda by Roald Dahl, A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1) by Madeleine L’Engle, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1) by Roald Dahl, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, The Giver by Lois Lowry, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff, Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) by L.M. Montgomery, Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff, The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society, #1) by Trenton Lee Stewart, Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton, My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath, Doll Bones by Holly Black, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate,Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee,The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald, The City of Ember (Book of Ember, #1) by Jeanne DuPrau, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling, One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters, #1) by Rita Williams-Garcia, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

On Our Shelves: Great New Books for Children and Teens

April 10, 2015April 9, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Every week I spend my off desk hours of work getting new books ready to go on our shelves in the children and teen areas of the library. Along the way I find ones I need to read, favorite authors I did not expect more from quite yet, and many great surprises. I know not everyone loves children’s or young adult literature, or has that same attachment to favorites (old and new) that I do, but for fellow fans and those looking to share recommendations with others I thought it was time to gather up another list of new books from this section of the library that I am excited about adding to our collection.

This is far from all of the great new selections, so feel free to come on in and browse our displays of new materials!

Children’s Fiction

Al istair Grim’s Odditorium by Gregory Funaro

The Courage of Cat Campbell by Natasha Lowe

Magic Tree House Super Edition #1: Danger in the Darkest Hour by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca

I Survived #11: I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871 by Lauren Tarshis

The Only Game by Mike Lupica

Young Adult Fiction

The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines) by Richelle Mead

Fairest: Levana’s Story (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

When by Victoria Laurie

Embassy Row #1: All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Frostfire (The Kanin Chronicles) by Amanda Hocking

Woven by Michael Jensen and David Powers King

Firefight (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff

As always, there are many more great books entering the collection every day. Swing by the children’s and teen areas and browse the displays of new materials for even more!

Did You Know That April is Lawn and Garden Month?

April 6, 2015March 17, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Now that spring is under way you might be thinking about taking care of your lawn and garden. With April being National Lawn and Garden Month I know I am starting to gather my seeds to start indoors and planning just what I want to do in my yard this year. Whether a landscaping change is in your near future, you are plotting your garden, or you are just preparing for regular mowing, it is a perfect time to get the reading resources you need to do it right.

1. The Lawn & Garden Owner’s Manual: What to do and When to Do It by Lewis and Nancy Hill

2. The Organic Lawn Care Manual: a Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn by Paul Tukey

3. The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner Batches, Grow Heaps, Comforter Compost, and Other Amazing Techniques for Saving Time and Money, and Producing the Most Flavorful, Nutritious Vegetables Ever by Barbara Pleasant & Deborah L. Martin

4. All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew

5. Decoding Gardening Advice: the Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations by Jeff Gillman & Meleah Maynard

6. The Lawn Bible: How to Keep it Green, Groomed, and Growing Every Season of the Year by David R. Mellor

7. Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick

8. Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the American Intensive Way by Leandre Poisson and Gretchen Vogel Poisson

9. The National Wildlife Federation’s Guide to Gardening for Wildlife: How to Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat for Birds, Butterflies, and Other Wildlife by Craig Tufts and Peter Loewer

10. Gardening in Miniature: Create Your own Tiny Living World by Janit Calvo

This just scratches the surface for great lawn and garden books in our library. Some more of the best or most unique books I would recommend on the subject include: Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way: 18th-Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners by Wesley Greene, 1,001 Ingenious Gardening Ideas: New, Fun, and Fabulous Tips That Will Change the Way you Garden-Forever! edited by Deborah L. Martin, Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening edited by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips, Gardening Without a Garden by Gay Search, Water Gardening Basics by Helen Nash & Marilyn M. Cook, Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening, Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: a Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Growing, Seed Saving, and Cultural History. by William Woys Weaver, and Lawn Care for Dummies by Lance Walheim & the editors of the National Gardening Association.

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Love (or hate) gardening and want to get some kids involved? Well then don’t forget to check in the children’s room for: Kids’ Container Gardening: Year-Round Projects for Inside and Out by Cindy Krezel, Gardening with Children by Monika Hannemann and others, Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy, It’s Our Garden: from Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona, How Does Your Garden Grow?: Great Gardening for Green-Fingered Kids by Clare Matthews, or Gardening Projects for Kids: 101 Ways to Get Kids Outside, Dirty, and Having Fun by Whitney Cohen and John Fisher.

Celebrating the Onset of Spring With Children

March 19, 2015February 24, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

March 20th is the official first day of Spring, and many of us are more than ready to enjoy the season. It might be a little to early to get out and seriously garden but it is not too early to talk about the season with our kids, grandchildren, students, and so on. So, here are some wonderful easy nonfiction and picture books to share with our younger readers about the wonders of Spring.

Spring by Ron Hirschi

And Then it’s Spring by Julie Fogliano

Spring is Here! by Will Hillenbrand

How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet

Sun Above and Blooms Below: a Springtime of Opposites by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky

Hooray for Spring! by Kazuo Iwamura

Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum

Spring Things by Bob Raczka

Let’s Look at Spring by Sarah L. Schuette

The Spring Equinox: Celebrating the Greening of the Earth by Ellen Jackson

What Happens in Spring? by Sara L. Latta

Spring Goes Squish!: a Vibrant Volume of Vociferous Vernal Verse by Marty Kelley

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For even more spring seasonal selections you might want to check out; Spring: an Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur, The Twelve Days of Springtime: a School Counting Book by Deborah Lee Rose, My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell, Crafts to Make in the Spring by Kathy Ross, How Do You Know it’s Spring? by Allan Fowler, The Busy Spring by Carl Emerson, It’s Spring! by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko, When Spring Comes by Robert Maass, What Blossoms in Spring? by Jenna Lee, A to Z of Spring by Tracy Nelson Maurer, A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeffer.

Another Literary Loss; Saying Goodbye to Terry Pratchett

March 13, 2015March 14, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, creator of the Discworld series and author of more than 70 books, died on March 12 2015. He was 66 and suffered from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Pratchett was best known for Discworld, a series of more than 40 comic novels set in a teeming fantasy world. He has sold more than 65 million books worldwide, and his novels have pratchettcolorof been translated into several dozen languages. Pratchett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Lets remember this wonderful author by reading (or rereading) some of our favorite books from Terry Pratchett. Here is a list of some of my favorite titles to get your started.

The Color of Magic: the First Discworld Novel
A slightly disorganized and somewhat naive interplanetary tourist named Twosome joins up with a bumbling wizard and embarks on a chaotic voyage through a world filled withmonsters and dragons, heroes and knaves.

Dodger
In an alternative version of Victorian London, a seventeen-year-old Dodger, a street urchin, rises in life when he saves a mysterious girl, meets Charles Dickens, and unintentionally puts a stop to the murders of Sweeny Todd.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
The world is going to end next Saturday, but there are a few problems–the Antichrist has been misplaced, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, and the representatives from heaven and hell decide that they like the human race.

Snuff: a Novel of Discworld
Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch attempts to take a vacation, but, as usual, nothing goes as planned.

Nation
After a tsunami destroys all that they have ever known, Mau, an island boy, and Daphne, an aristocratic English girl, together with a small band of refugees, set about rebuilding their community and the things that matter to them.

The Science of Discworld by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen
The wizards of Discworld accidentally create a new universe, the one which houses Earth, and proceed to explain the science of this place, interweaving fantasy chapters with those that explain actual scientific principles.

More great books include: I Shall Wear Midnight, Only You Can save Mankind, The Carpet People, The long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, Thud!: a Novel of Discworld, The Wee Free Men, Wintersmith, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Thief of Time: a Novel of Discworld, The Carpet People, A Hat Full of Sky, The Fifth Elephant, and Going Postal: a Novel of Discworld.