“Mr. and Mrs. Bunny — Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny and translated from the Rabbit” by Polly Horvath

FIC HOR

What would happen if you lived on a small island with your slightly bizarre parents and you came home one day to discover that they had been kidnapped? And a weird note left on the refrigerator hinted that you could be next?

Well, if you’re Madeleine, a very bright, very motivated fifth-grader who has just won your school’s top awards for writing, reading and music, you hire detectives. And you wouldn’t be the least bit concerned if the detectives were two bunnies and this was their first case.

Together, these fedora-wearing bunnies and this intelligent girl have to face down evil, foxy kidnappers and charm a code-breaking marmot to make sure that Madeleine and her parents are happily reunited.

Readers are likely to find the situations — such as how Madeleine has to squeeze into Mr. and Mrs. Bunny’s house — funny and imaginative.

— Tracy Grant/Washington Post
“Mr. and Mrs. Bunny — Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny and translated from the Rabbit” by Polly Horvath. Ages 8-12. $16.99

The Flint Heart by Katherine and John Paterson

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The Dream Stealer by Sid Fleischman, pictures by Peter Sis

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Grade 2–5—Basing a story on a carved Mexican figure, Fleischman weaves a short tale around a Dream Stealer, Zumpango, who perches outside windows waiting to snitch nightmares from sleeping children. Scared by some of the critters he has lassoed, he starts taking happy dreams. But he hasn't reckoned with Susana, who wants back her interrupted dream of a happy reunion with a friend with whom she has had a fight. She tricks Zumpango into flying her to his lair to take back the dream. There she faces down and outfoxes the nightmare creatures (some borrowed from folktales) and agrees to be Zumpango's new friend if he will leave her good dreams alone. When she is returned home, a phone call from her old friend provides a cheerful end. Sís's ink drawings feature just the right mix of surreal, funny, scary, and reassuring images (but sharp readers will note that while the text has the Dream Stealer escaping an ogre feet first through a narrow window, the illustration shows him stuck head first). Set within a loving Spanish family, the tale twinkles with Fleischman's signature crisp language and laugh-out-loud wordplay. All in all, it's a quick, unique read that's sure to give young chapter-book readers shivers, laughs, and satisfaction.—Susan Hepler, School Library Journal

CHAPTER 2
Bedtime for Susana

While he waited, the night visitor chewed on green
chili peppers he'd picked along the way-not too mild,
not too hot.
He kept a sharp eye on the windows below.
Susana was hiding from her mother, first behind
her father-he with the smiling black mustache.
Then she ducked behind her little grandmother,
who stood taking off small gold earrings.

Page 5

The Book of One Hundred Truths by Julie Schumacher

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I should probably mention something right now before this story goes any further: my name is Theodora Grumman, and I am a liar.”

It’s hard for Thea to write four truths a day in the notebook her mother gave her for the summer. Especially when her grandparents’ house on the Jersey Shore is even more packed with family than usual, and her cousin Jocelyn wont leave her alone. Jocelyn just might be the world’s neatest and nosiest seven-year-old, and she wants to know what’s in Thea’s notebook. But Thea won’t tell anyone about the secret she has promised to keep–or how she lost her best friend (Truth #12), whose name was Gwen.

Now Thea has to babysit in the afternoons, and all Jocelyn wants to do is spy on people. Neither of them expect to see Aunt Ellen and Aunt Celia at the boardwalk in the middle of the day, or for their aunts to lie and insist they were at work. Could it be Thea’s not the only one in the family keeping secrets this summer?

“…a page-turner of a story filled with vividly real characters and a profound, multi-layered plot spiced up with a bit of mystery, suspense and humor. Highly recommended.”

-KidsReads.com

“The lessons… feel genuine, as do the relationships among other members of this big, boisterous extended family. With their help, Thea learns that everyone makes mistakes and that telling the truth, no matter how difficult, is always better than lying.”

-Publisher’s Weekly

The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett

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Three children have been sent to live in the countryside, safe from the war in London. When they find two boys hiding in a castle, the past and future come together to make an extraordinary adventure. A hauntingly beautiful story from one of Australia's most acclaimed writers for adults and children.

Sonya Hartnett's work has won numerous Australian and international literary prizes and has been published around the world. Uniquely, she is acclaimed for her stories for adults, young adults and children. Her accolades include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Of A Boy), The Age Book of the Year (Of A Boy), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (Thursday's Child), the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for both Older and Younger Readers (Forest, The Silver Donkey, The Ghost's Child, The Midnight Zoo and The Children of the King), the Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Surrender), shortlistings for the Miles Franklin Award (for both Of a Boy and Butterfly) and the CILP Carnegie Medal (The Midnight Zoo). Hartnett is also the first Australian recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (2008). In 2014, Hartnett published a new novel for adults, Golden Boys, and her third picture book, The Wild One.

This is what the record looks like for The Children of the King in the Loring Catalog. 
If you click on the picture you will be able to see the 
Subject Headings and Publication Information.

Naomi Shihab Nye

So Much Happiness

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.
But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records…..
Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.

Naomi Shihab Nye 

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

FIC LOV

There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy becoms such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy.

Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib.

Ever since their first publication in the 1940's, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers.

Lois Lenski

Lois Lenski was born on October 14, 1893 to a Lutheran minister and a schoolteacher who raised their daughter in Anna, Ohio. Her third grade teacher encouraged her to draw. She traced flowers from seed catalogs and filled them in with watercolors. She copied magazine covers. Until she was fourteen she used a twenty-five cent box of Prang paints. An artist lived with their family while he painted the fresco at Lois' father's new church. He told the family, "This child has talent. She needs a better box of paints." Lois' father gave the painter three dollars and he bought her a box of twenty Windsor Newton watercolors. The artist said it would last her a lifetime. "It nearly did, being replaced only once." 

No one ever suggested that she draw the life she saw around her, encouraging her instead to copy other artwork. It wasn’t until she went to college that she began to study art.The first book she illustrated was Children's Frieze Book for Platt & Munk. They paid her one hundred dollars. Helen Dean Fisher, the art director at Stokes, suggested that she try writing to accompany her illustrations. The first book she both wrote and illustrated was Skipping Village, published in 1927. Lois Lenski gave birth to her son, Stephen, in 1929. Her picture books reflected her observations of her son and his friends as they grew. The "Little" and "Small" books were drawn for them. The Little Family, The Little Auto, Cowboy Small, Policeman Small are just a few. 

Many of these titles are being reissued today. She is perhaps most well-known for her historical and regional series of books. The ALA awarded Bayou Suzette a Newbery Medal in 1946. Two of her books received Newbery honors: Phebe Fairchild: Her Book in 1937 and Indian Captive: the Story of Mary Jemison in 1942. Arguably, Strawberry Girl is probably the best-known of all of her books. Many fans know her best for her illustrations of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books.

Scary Tales by James Preller

Illustrations by Iacopo Bruno

FIC PRE

FIC PRE
In I Scream, You Scream, PRELLER invites us to "Enter the world of Samantha Carver, an ordinary kid who loves amusement parks, the smell of popcorn, and the terror of a heart-pounding ride. Sam’s got a ticket in her pocket for a very special ride. This ticket will send Sam and her new friend, Andy, on a most unusual adventure — and leave them screaming for their lives. So come along, take a seat. Buckle up, nice and tight. It’s sure to be a bumpy ride."

Read more about Scary Tales Series here.

Here's what readers say about Scary Tales books:

“Finally, thrillers for younger readers! SCARY TALES is a wonderfully creepy introduction to a gripping, ghostly genre” — Patty Norman, Copperfield’s Books.

“We need more scary stories for young kids. This series looks PERFECT!” –Franki Sibberson, teacher, Dublin City Schools, Ohio.

“This little page-turner could become a campfire classic!” — Cybils.

“The thrills and chills are delightfully spine-tingling in this truly terrifying tale. A great choice for reluctant readers.” – School Library Journal.

The author, James Preller, says this about his Scary Tales: 

"Writing “scary” has been liberating. A blast. In the past, I’ve mostly written realistic fiction. But for these stories I’ve tapped into a different sort of imagination, what I think of as theunpossible. The trick is that once you accept that one impossible element—a zombie or a ghost in the mirror—then the story plays out in a straightforward manner.

All storytelling has its backbone in realistic fiction. So many kids, even at a surprisingly young age, are eager to read scary stories. I tried to fill that gap. “Scary” thrills them. It makes their hearts beat faster. Yet I say to students, “I’m sorry, but nobody gets murdered in these books. There are no heads chopped off. No gore.” To me, the great sentence is: The door knob slowly, slowly turned. That delicious moment of anticipation, of danger climbing the stairs. I’ve tried to provide those chills, while still resolving each book in a safe way."

Kirkus Reviews interviewed James Preller!  Read that article here.

Young James Preller

Preller is the youngest of seven children, and has two older sisters and four older brothers. He grew up in Wantagh, New York.  Preller made up stories when he was young and sold them to friends, family, and neighbors. At that time, however, he planned to become a baseball player for the New York Mets.He went to college in Oneonta, New York. After graduating from college in 1983, he worked as a waiter for one year before being hired as a copywriter by Scholastic Corporation. "Meeting" many notable children's writers through their books, he was inspired to try writing himself. His first book, MAXX TRAX: Avalanche Rescue, was published in 1986. Since then Preller has written a variety of books, some under pen names including Mitzy Kafka, James Patrick, and Izzy Bonkers. James Preller is the author of over 80 books for children. He lives in Delmar, New York, with his wife Lisa and their three children, Nicholas, Gavin, and Maggie.

James Preller

Wake Me in Spring, Scholastic, 1994 Hiccups for Elephant, Scholastic, 1995 Ghost Cat and Other Spooky Tales, Scholastic, 2007 Along Came Spider, Scholastic, 2008 Six Innings, Square Fish, 2008 Bystander, Square Fish, 2009 Mighty Casey, Feiwel & Friends, 2009 Justin Fisher Declares War!, Scholastic, 2010 A Pirate's Guide to First Grade, Feiwel & Friends, 2010 Before You Go, Feiwel & Friends, 2012 A Pirate's Guide to Recess, Feiwel & Friends, 2013 Jigsaw Jones Series (32 books!)  Scary Tales Home Sweet Horror, 2013 I Scream, You Scream!, 2013 Good Night, Zombie, 2013 Nightmareland, 2014 One-Eyed Doll, 2014

Daniel Pinkwater

Daniel, Age 7

E PIN
I Was A Second Grade Werewolf

In Daniel Manus Pinkwater's books you'll meet fat men from outer space, music-making lizards, a 200-pound chicken and other wonderfully crazy characters. While Pinkwater's books are outrageously humorous, he also has the uncanny ability to reach young readers by writing about his own childhood experiences. 

FIC PIN

I (Miss Nancy) read this one a few days before Halloween -- I agree with the reviewers quoted below!

"No author has ever captured the great fun of being weird, growing up as a happy mutant, unfettered by convention, as well as Pinkwater has. When I was a kid, Pinkwater novels like Lizard Music...made me intensely proud to be a little off-center and weird — they taught me to woo the muse of the odd and made me the happy adult I am today.  The NYRB edition of Lizard Music is a beautiful... hardcover, a testament to Pinkwater's influence on generations of readers. It's one of those books that, in the right hands at the right time, can change your life for the better and forever."  —Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Lizard Music is. . . funny, properly paranoid, shot through with bad puns and sweet absurdities, and all about a baffled kid intent on tracking reality (as slippery as lizards) in a media-spooked milieu.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Wildly imaginative. . . . This is a natural high.” —Booklist (starred review)

The Turtles of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

FIC NYE

          This accessible, exquisite novel shines with gentle humor and explores themes of moving, family, nature, and immigration. It tells the story of Aref Al-Amri, who must say good-bye to everything and everyone he loves in his hometown of Muscat, Oman, as his family prepares to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan. This is acclaimed poet and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye's first novel set in the Middle East since her acclaimed Habibi.

          Aref Al-Amri does not want to leave Oman. He does not want to leave his elementary school, his friends, or his beloved grandfather, Siddi. He does not want to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his parents will go to graduate school. His mother is desperate for him to pack his suitcase, but he refuses. Finally, she calls Siddi for help. But rather than pack, Aref and Siddi go on a series of adventures. They visit the camp of a thousand stars deep in the desert, they sleep on Siddi's roof, they fish in the Gulf of Oman and dream about going to India, and they travel to the nature reserve to watch the sea turtles. At each stop, Siddi finds a small stone that he later slips into Aref's suitcase—mementos of home.

          Naomi Shihab Nye's warmth, attention to detail, and belief in the power of empathy and connection shines from every page.

--- www.harpercollins.com

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

FIC KIN

          All of the copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid went out the first week. There were some tears from students who searched for them without success. We have 13 total copies and over 400 students so plenty of other books went out as well. 

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

FIC SCH

          The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants. 
          Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. 
          As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late. 

The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children by Keith McGowan with illustrations by Yoko Tanaka

          When Sol and Connie Blink move to Grand Creek, one of the first people to welcome them is an odd older woman, Fay Holaderry, and her friendly dog, Swift, who carries a very strange bone in his mouth. Sol knows a lot more than the average eleven-year-old, so when he identifies the bone as a human femur, he and Connie begin to wonder if their new neighbor is up to no good. In a spine-tingling adventure that makes them think twice about who they can trust, Sol and Connie discover that dangerous secrets lurk in even the most pleasant neighborhoods.

FIC MCG

"...I have a network of helpers all over the world.  They're little creatures, a foot high with squeaky voices, but disguised by their magic you'd never be able to tell the difference between them and real humans..."  Page 116

Introducing Polly Horvath, Author

Polly Horvath grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She went to college at the Canadian College of Dance in Toronto, studying with the Royal Academy of Dance and later becoming an R.A.D. teacher.

After graduation, she lived in New York City and Montreal before settling  in Metchosin, British Columbia, with her husband, Arnie Keller, and their two daughters, Emily and Rebecca. They have a dog, Andrew, and a horse, Zayda. They live on a hilltop with an assortment of deer, rabbits, two ducks who visit their pond daily—and the occasional cougar and bear.

Polly Horvath has written many books for children that have won awards in both the United States and Canada including a Newbery Honor, National Book Award, the Toronto-Dominion Canadian Children's Award, and The Vicky Metcalf award for her body of work. Her books have been picks of both Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah and have been translated into over twenty five languages.

FIC HOR

This week I read One Year in Coal Harbor. Loring Library has several books by Polly Horvath including Northward to the Moon, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny -- Detectives Extrordinaire!, My One Hundred Adventures, and Everything on a Waffle. 

Booktalk! Two treasures in the Fiction Collection

FIC MAT

Lilly Etta didn't know the men, but she knew those yellow chairs. They were Tanya's, and they were being taken out of her building. Tanya was being put out - Tanya, her mother, her six brothers and sisters. Their things would be piled on the sidewalk and left there to be had for the taking. It didn't matter if nobody else in the city cared; Lilly Etta did. She knew what friendship was, and she wasn't going to let her friend be thrown out without a fight.

FIC CLI

There is nothing Tee enjoys more than sitting out on the porch with her great-greatmother, listening to the fascinating stories about the lucky stone.

Shiny and black as night, it brought good fortune to each of its owners for over one hundred years. First it helped Mandy, a runaway slave, win her freedom. Then it saved Vashti from death by lightning at a prayer meeting. And it even saved Tee's great-grandmother from the ferocious dancing dog and helped her meet her husband.

Now Tee can't help wondering what the old stone has in store for her. She certainly could use some luck on Valentine's Day. But the lucky stone doesn't belong to Tee. How can her wish come true?