Poetry Map and Your State

The Academy of American Poets has introduced a new feature on their already awesome Web site—it’s a poetry map of the U.S. with clickable links to each state featuring poetry info for each state. What a wealth of great Poetry Info!!! I am impressed - and I wanted to share it with you all!!

Dragonfire ~ Dragon Keeper Chronicles

I have one 12 year old son that is a voracious reader and so I often have him help me review books for our junior high/teen sections at our library. Well - here is one series that I never have to "force" him to read. He just LOVES the Dragon Keeper Chronicles. In fact, last week when Mrs. Donita K. Paul sent us her latest in the series, DragonFire, you would have thought Christmas had come early!!! He devours these books and can't get enough! When I asked him why he likes these books he said, "Well Mom, there are dragons, good and evil, and fighting ~ What more could you want?!?!" Then he added, "Oh yeah, in the third one there was a little romance - I think that was for the girls!!" So there you have it - RUN, don't walk, and pick up your copies. Oh, and thank you Mrs. Paul for the latest book - my son was thrilled that you signed it even!! And now our second son, age 10 is starting them as well - he just said last night, "I hope Mrs. Paul keeps writing!!"

Saturday Review Challenge

I'm taking part in the Saturday Review Challenge over at Semicolon's Blog. SO - I have to choose six books that have been reviewed on Saturday Reviews and read and review them by December 31, 2007.

So here they are - my choices:
1. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. Reviewed by Miss Erin.
2. The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman. Reviewed at Educating Petunia.
3. An Egg Is Quiet by Diana Hutts. Reviewed by Leslie at Abiding.
4. Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest. Reviewed by MotherReader.
5. Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God by Mary DeMuth. Reviewed by Katrina at Callapidder Days. Reviewed by Jennifer Snapshot at 5 Minutes for Mom.
6. Peony in Love by Lisa See. Reviewed by Wendy at Caribous Mom.
Now pardon me while I go read!!!!

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

Here's another good one!!! I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry is a simply wonderful book that we've used successfully in Toddler Storytime and regular Story Hour. It is about a squid that thinks he is the biggest thing in the ocean - he compares himself to lots of fun creatures and still believes he is the largest until he meets Mr. Whale!!!! And what ensues is GREAT FUN!!!! You won't be disappointed!!

How Will We Get to the Beach?

Oh, I LOVE this one!! How Will We Get to the Beach by Brigitte Luciani and Eve Tharlet is an adorable picture book about a mom and her baby and her four other items - all that she wants to take to the beach! BUT - each mode of transportation only allows for 4 items, not 5. So on each page you try to remember which item she does not have - great for memory skills! Until she tries the hot air balloon - which the baby is afraid of - but she won't go without her baby!!! Her final mode is just perfect and they make it to the beach!! I love the illustrations and the fact that you have to do some memory skill work too!!!

Bookworms Carnival

Don’t forget the Bookworms Carnival!
This month’s host blog is Reading Is My Superpower. You can submit posts using the carnival submission form or by emailing Annie at superfastreader at gmail dot com.
If you do use the submission form, it’s temperamental. Paste your url in the permalink box, and then wait a moment for it to grab most of your info automatically. Then choose the theme (there’s only one choice) and fill in the security code, and that’s it!
The theme this month is Surviving the Dog Days of Summer: Books That Take Your Mind Off the Heat.
The deadline for submissions is August 10th.

Full Tilt

Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman is a great book for anyone. The story is about two brothers from a broken home. The brothers go to a unique amusement park where they have to ride six rides before sunrise or they are trapped in the park forever. Each of the six rides have challenges that are unique to the weaknesses of the individual. It explores many emotions that your average teenager experiences and since all of us adults have been teens at some point it is good to revisit those feelings all of us once had. Highly recommend as a Book Talk book!

Blogging Tips Meme

I've been tagged for the Blogging Tips Meme. Participate on your own site if you want to join in on the fun :)

START HERE:It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.) Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general. After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends! Just think- if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. **-http://www.neonscent.com/
2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ***-http://www.bushmackel.com/
3. Don’t let money change ya! *-http://www.therandomforest.info/
4. Always reply to your comments. ********-http://chattiekat.com/
5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. **** http://chipsquips.com/
6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. **-http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/
7. Give link credit where credit is due. ******-http://www.sfsignal.com/
8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post.*** -http://scifichick.com/
9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it's nice to know who is reading! ** -http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/ **
10. Make a blogger template unique: change the background colour, or add a background picture to your header. http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/
11. Ensure font size of words is not too small and colour of words don't drown in background. - http://booksloveme.blogspot.com/
12.Do at least a few of the blogging quizzes available. It lets people know a little more about you.** http://3m3am.wordpress.com/
13. Even when you disagree with a blogger's post, don't leave rude comments. Always be kind. ** http://apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com/
14. Join the blogosphere community. Participate in carnivals. Join challenges. Have fun. * http://blbooks.blogspot.com/
15. Have a variety of posts - not always the same things - just helps to keep it lively!! http://inthepages.blogspot.com/

I tag Books and Hooks, Pretty Shiny, The Written Word, Blogging My Books, and anyone else that reads this and would like to be tagged!!!

Jumping the Scratch

After So B. It, I think Sarah Weeks can do no wrong. And she has done it again with Jumping the Scratch. I immediately felt for the main character, Jamie. This poor guy has so many strikes against him - his dad has left them, his teacher is verbally very mean to him, the kids pick on him, and now we know that something else horrible has happened to him. We find out throughout the story that he is hiding a crippling secret and that is compounded when his aunt, Saffy, comes down with amnesia after an accident at work. Jamie is desperately seeking a solution for his aunt AND for himself. I LOVED the ending and was thrilled with the way Weeks brought it all together - I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one! (Even though the narrator didn't give it all I thought he could have! Maybe just read this one!)

Clementine

When I listened to Clementine by Sara Pennypacker today, I decided I have a new favorite heroine!! What is there not to love about Clementine - a girl named after a fruit!?!?!? And she hates her name so much that she calls her little brother every vegetable name in the book! Poor Clementine just cannot stay out of trouble - but you absolutely can not hold that against her - how could you not love a girl that names her kittens after things found in the bathroom - "antiseptic" and "mascara"?? Well - I can't help but love her! The book becomes touching when she overhears her parents saying they will keep one and get rid of another - Clementine is sure they are talking about their children, and since she is "the hard one", she is sure it's her!!! As a side note, I loved this narrator!! Thank you Recorded Books for a GREAT MATCH!!!

The Tree of Red Stars

Tessa Bridal is brilliant!! I thought The Tree of Red Stars was such a great read - And I'm not alone, Amazon readers gave it 4.5 stars!! How did I not find it until now when it was published in 1997!?! I was totally unaware that there were such hostilities going on in Latin America - Uruguay, to be exact. And call me strange, but I love to read books where I learn history (always my LEAST FAVORITE subject!). The story is about Magdalena, a teenager growing up in Uruguay. You learn about her life through flashbacks to her past - her childhood, growing up with her friends, her college years and then working for the USIA. She is swept up in the socialist fervor of the 1960's in Latin America and becomes part of the Tupamaro rebel group. There is a wonderful love story intertwined in this book - you can tell through much of the story that she loves Marco, but it is not until MUCH later in their lives that they can act on that love. I won't give it away, but it leads to a bittersweet ending. I enjoyed how the characters were not who they seemed to be - there is so much secrecy in being with the rebel group, who is and who isn't a member, etc. that you never know who you can trust or who is on which side. I loved also all of the cultural information on Latin America - their cultures and traditions really came alive. There are also so many ties to friendships, loyalty, etc. It just makes for a wonderful read (one which I think even teens would enjoy)!

Bookworm Gardens

Wish I'd thought of this first and Wish I lived closer!!! On second thought - I may just move there and LIVE in the gardens!

New American Girl!!

It's Coming!! A New American Girl ~ this will be another good one!! AND a tie to Chinese Americans - LOVE that too!!! Read HERE for more!

Waves

Waves by Sharon Dogar is a new release by Scholastic's Chicken House group. This book is one that kept me reading to the very end - it was just such a different storyline I had no idea what was going to happen. (I love that kind of novel, by the way!!) The story revolves around Charley, a sister to Hal, that is suspiciously in a coma - and no one knows how or why. SO, it is Hal's job to spend his summer trying to figure out what happened to his sister. It is a very twisted storyline with Charley actually "speaking" to Hal sometimes through mind conversations - I am telling you, it is not your run-of-the-mill story, but I did enjoy that about it - it was so different than most of what I read. What did I not like??? Probably besides some very harsh language, I was most disappointed with all of the sexual content for teens - when I read a novel and think that I'd rather my own kids didn't read it, that is a red flag for me. This is definately one of those red flags!! Sadly, because I loved the story!

What to Read Next??

Want to find a book based on your mood??? Then here you go!!!

Or how about enter the title and author of the last book you've read and this will give you a new read to try!!

Is This You?!?!?

Come clean all - is this you!?!?!

Monk and Neagle

I'm impressed - this is a good CD - I found the info on it online and there are 5 songs you can listen to before it is released - NOW I can't wait for it to released!! Go and listen - oh and there's a video or two as well - GOOD STUFF!!!

Gorilla! Gorilla!

Here's a fun one for you!!! Jeanne Willis' Gorilla! Gorilla! is a great find for kids. It is the story of an adorable baby mouse that goes missing. While the mommy mouse is trying to find her baby she meets up with a gorilla - which then makes her run even faster!! The entire book is the mommy mouse running from the Gorilla AND trying to find her baby! Her adventures along the way are endearing and when she finally is "caught" by the gorilla.......the story has a totally unexpected ending!!! This one is a winner!!

The Patron Saint of Liars

A friend told me to read Ann Patchett's The Patron Saint of Liars. All I can say is that she sure knew what I would like!!! This book is just wonderful ~ in a melancholy sort of way! Not one that you finish and say it leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy, but it was absorbing - I could hardly put it down - I just kept wanting to read. I liked the way Patchett broke the book up into three different sections and then flashed back and forth between the past and the present to tell the story. The story focuses mainly on Rose - a newly-married wife that finds herself pregnant and not in love with the man she is married to. She takes her unborn baby and goes to a home for unwed mothers. She becomes such a part of the home that she has her child and stays there to live. Parts of this book made me cry, others made me smile, and most of all - it made me think - I would highly recommend it. And, as my first Ann Patchett book - I plan to read many more of her titles!!

The Red Shoe

Ursula Dubosarsky's The Red Shoe is a book that deserves strong support in the Young Adult area. Funny and tender, this is the story of Matilda and her two sisters growing up in Sydney, Australia, in the early 1950s during the Cold War. Their father is mentally unstable and rarely home, their mother is "wrapped" up with their uncle, one of the sisters is having a breakdown, and a Russian spy defection is possibly taking place next door. The Red Shoe illustrates wonderfully how the large events of the world can even have a strong impact on our ordinary lives. This is a novel by one of Australia's gifted writers for young people - he's one to watch!