Weekly Reads: Circus Mirandus

Circus Mirandushas cropped up on a few Mock Newbery lists so I was dying to get my hands on it, not to mention that people have compared it to The Night Circus, but for children. I could not put it down. It was amazing. And every kid and adult should read it. I would not be surprised if this walks away with an award!

My rating: 5 stars!

Summary from goodreads:

Fans of Big Fish, Peter Pan, and Roald Dahl will fall in love with Circus Mirandus, which celebrates the power of seeing magic in world.

Do you believe in magic?
Micah Tuttle does.

Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.

The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn't want to keep his promise. And now it's up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.

Weekly Reads: Goodbye Stranger

When I saw that Rebecca Stead was coming out with a new book, I was ecstatic. And then I was even more excited when I got an e-ARC of the book to read and review/promote to library customers. Her Newbery award winning book, When You Reach Me , is one of my all time favorite books.

Goodbye Stranger did not disappoint. It dealt with a lot of middle school issues like peer pressure, relationships, friendships, but did so in a truly honest manner. And the unnamed perspective that is woven into the story really draws the reader in because you have to know who this girl is and what happened ASAP.

My rating: 4 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Bridge is an accident survivor who's wondering why she's still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody's games--or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade? 
This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl--as a friend? 
On Valentine's Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?

Weekly Reads: Echo

Echo is the newest children's book by Pam Munoz Ryan, and it immediately received possible Newbery buzz, so I added it to my list. It is a big book, clocking in just shy of 600 pages, but it is a very fast read. The story is historical fiction (which I typically loathe), told in 3 separate parts (which I typically hate), but for some reason I really really enjoyed it. I would recommend this for fans of historical fiction, those that love books that are interwoven in the same way that the movie Crash was portrayed, or anyone just looking for a really well written story.

My rating: 4 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

Music, magic, and a real-life miracle meld in this genre-defying masterpiece from storytelling maestro Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica.
 
Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. And ultimately, pulled by the invisible thread of destiny, their suspenseful solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo. 
 
Richly imagined and masterfully crafted, ECHO pushes the boundaries of genre and form, and shows us what is possible in how we tell stories. The result is an impassioned, uplifting, and virtuosic tour de force that will resound in your heart long after the last note has been struck.

Weekly Reads: Fish in a Tree

Fish in a Tree is a book that I added to my list after I heard some Newbery buzz surrounding it. As a daughter of a special education teacher, I know how important an amazing teacher can be to a student, but to see the story told from the child's perspective had me cry tears of happiness. This is a must read for kids who feel different, those who need helping understanding peers that are different, and all teachers who need a reminder of how important their jobs are to the children who's lives they change.

I also dearly hope this gets a Newbery nod.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.
 
“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
 
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions.  She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.

Book Awards

For those of you non-library, non-youth book award folks, Monday was a day I have been looking forward to since last year: the American Library Association's Book & Media Awards. These awards are announced annually at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference. It is my dream someday to serve on a committee to help determine one of these award winning books and subsequent honor books. To practice (and because I just can't help myself!) I have started a Mock Printz discussion group as a part of my Young @ Heart book club at the library, and coordinate a Mock Newbery discussion group amongst a few of my co-workers. This is the second year of both, and we were horribly incorrect last year, but it was still a ton of fun!

The Young @ Heart book club read books from March to January to determine who the winner of our Mock Printz should be. Unfortunately, our meeting was cancelled due to snow, so we had to vote via email ballot. The winner of our Mock Printz was:















We Were Liars

The actual Printz awards went to:















I'll Give You the Sun

My personal picks were:
Printz Award: Belzhar*
Printz Honors Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, Grasshopper Jungle, We Were Liars.
*I didn't get a chance to read I'll Give You the Sun until Friday night, after I had cast my vote, but it surely would've gotten my vote. Review to come shortly!

For the Mock Newbery, we never officially voted, but my personal picks were:

Newbery: The Crossover
Honor Books: Rain Reign, Brown Girl Dreaming, Nightingale's Nest, El Deafo.

And the winner:














The Crossover


And the honors:

El Deafo


Brown Girl Dreaming

And in Caldecott news, I buy my nephew and nieces books for Christmas (shocker) and I try to include my pick for the Caldecott. Last year they got Flora and the Flamingo which took the Newbery honor. Guess what they got for one of their books this year?




The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend 

I called for the win back in May, and I'm pretty proud of that.

So I went three for three this year, nbd. Where's my invite to be on a committee already?!?!

Weekly Reads: The Thing About Luck

The Thing About Luck was this year's National Book Award winner and was on many mock Newbery groups list for their Newbery selection as well. Interesting fun fact: rarely do the National Book Award committee and Newbery selection committee honor the same book. Unfortunately my library didn't acquire this title until after the Newbery selections were made, and it didn't make the list anyway. Regardless I was excited to get my hands on it.

It was a lovely, quick read full of many character nuances. Summer's character and hardships are crafted in such a way that you can't help but pull for Summer and her family to succeed. Growing up surrounded by farmland and farming communities, I found it really interesting to hear the processes of harvest. I think farm kids will really enjoy this read.

My rating: 4.5 stars


Summary from goodreads:

There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this novel from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata.

Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills.

The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attentions of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own.

Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family.

Weekly Reads: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Mix together one part Willy Wonka and one part library book nerdery and another part awesome trivia and gaming and you'll have Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. I picked up this book because there was some buzz about it being a candidate for the Newbery award. I absolutely LOVED it. I flew through the book (I think I finished it in one sitting, two at the very most) and wanted to dive in to the book to participate instead of reading. While I don't think this will win the Newbery, I think kids will devour it! I know that 8-10 year old Jerbear would've absolutely loved it. What's even cooler is that the author Chris Grabenstein has created a game based on the game played out in the book for schools and libraries to utilize, so I'll be planning a tween program based on it. I also showed the book trailer to my kids last week and they thought it looked awesome.

My rating: 5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative gamemaker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library.

Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high.

In this cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Night in the Museum, Agatha Award winner Chris Grabenstein uses rib-tickling humor to create the perfect tale for his quirky characters. Old fans and new readers will become enthralled with the crafty twists and turns of this ultimate library experience.

Mock Newbery Discussion

For the past five months I've been reading any children's chapter book published in 2013 that has any hint of winning the Newbery Award. I marked my winner months ago, but just recently read a book that is challenging my thinking.

Any book published in 2013, aimed at children from birth to 14 is eligible for the Newbery provided the author resides in the United States. The following are the books my co-workers and I read that had Newbery potential. I've bolded the selections that I've read:

• Counting by 7s
• Lincoln's Grave Robbers
• Paperboy
• Navigating Early
• Every Day After
• Hokey Pokey
• A Tangle of Knots
• Beholding Bee
• Zebra Forest
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
• Flora and Ulysses
• The Center of Everything
• The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
• Doll Bones
• Far Far Away
• One Came Home
• The Real Boy
• Hold Fast
• Rump

My original pick for the Newbery award was Counting by 7s. I adore that book. After reading Navigating Early, I have changed my vote. Clearly Counting by 7s should get an honor award, as should Paperboy, Zebra Forest, and Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, although it's more likely that True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp will get the honor nod.

A few co-workers and I have been reading and discussing some of these titles for the past few months, and decided to meet up for dinner and host our own Mock Newbery discussion. The results of our voting are:

Personal Picks
Emily picked Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Alesha picked Counting by 7s
and I picked Navigating Early

Then we chose who we think the Newbery committee will select and we had a three way tie:
True Blue Scouts
Navigating Early
Counting by 7s

By this point, the margaritas were kicking in, so we didn't have any further debate to try to sway the other "voters" to side with us, but we all agreed that all three of these books will likely get an award or the top honor.

Additionally, Alesha thought Beholding Bee would get an honor, Emily thought Lemoncello should get an honor, and I had a tie between Paperboy and Zebra Forest.

The actual awards are January 27th at 8am EST and I'll be up early to watch them live! Children's librarian nerdery FTW!

Weekly Reads: Navigating Early

 Obsessed. That is the easiest way to describe my feelings toward Navigating Early. It's one of the last Newbery potential books I picked up before the Newbery Award selection by the ALA committee. Clare Vanderpool won the Newbery award for her debut novel Moon Over Manifest two years ago, and after finishing this one, I can't wait to get my hands on that one. I wanted to devour this in one reading, yet also wanted to savor it. I only held out 24 hours total. So amazing.

The story follows Jack who is uprooted from Kansas to attend boarding school in Maine. He meets Early, an odd classmate obsessed with pi. As their relationship develops, Jack learns that Early is able to see things in numbers that other people can't, and reveals that the digits in pi are actually a story of Pi's life. They embark on an adventure and find their route similar to Pi's experiences.

I would not be surprised if this title walks away with the Newbery Award for 2014, it is my pick hands down.

My rating: 5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

At the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his mother’s death and placed in a boy’s boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains.

Newcomer Jack feels lost yet can’t help being drawn to Early, who won’t believe what everyone accepts to be the truth about the Great Appalachian Bear, Timber Rattlesnakes, and the legendary school hero known as The Fish, who never returned from the war. When the boys find themselves unexpectedly alone at school, they embark on a quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of the great black bear.

But what they are searching for is sometimes different from what they find. They will meet truly strange characters, each of whom figures into the pi story Early weaves as they travel, while discovering things they never realized about themselves and others in their lives.

Weekly Reads: Counting by 7s

Counting by 7s is one of the books suggested by my Mock Newbery group for possibilities for the 2014 Newbery Award.  My library has it classified as a teen book, but I think it's on the border of children and teen.  It's fairly lengthy at 380 pages.

Willow is adopted. She is a child prodigy obsessed with botany, medicine--specifically diseases and skin disorders, and the number 7. Tragedy strikes Willow from the onset of the book and you are able to see her character's quirks as the story continues. I couldn't put the book down; I adored it.

My rating: *****

Summary from goodreads:

An Amazon Best Book of the Year. A B.E.A. BUZZ BOOK 2013. A Junior Library Guild Selection. A Kids Indie Next List #4 of Top Ten Autumn 2013. A Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee 2014-2015 Master List.


In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family. 

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.
 
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.