I Need My Own Country!

I'm not a political gal, but I'm thinking... there are days when I need MY own country!
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Author: Rick Walton    rickcreation.com

Illustrator: Wes Hargis   weshargis.com

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010 www.bloomsburykids.com

Hook: "There comes a time in all kids' lives when they need to create their own country."

Our cute main character is having issues with a brother =) she needs to create a space (country) all her own, complete with her own flag, rules, and national anthem. She prepares for civil unrest, visits from foreign dignitaries, and past invaders who now come in peace. 

I love that this story begins in the endpapers, and carries through the title page to the first actual page of the book. The darling illustrations tell even more of the story than the words, and my kids loved finding the funny-faced goldfish on each page (he's the Secretary of the Navy =)

rating:  (5 stars)

I Hate Picture Books!

I really don't - I LOVE picture books, but Timothy Young's "too cool for school" character Max "HATES" them! I can't even begin to imagine what that's like.

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Author: Timothy Young ihatepicturebooks.com

Illustrator: Timothy Young 

Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

4880 Lower Vally Road Atglen, PA 19310 schifferbooks.com

Hook: "I HATE picture books!"

Cute (and frustrated) Max hates picture books. Mainly, because each time he tries to mimic something that a picture book character does HE gets into trouble. For example, after his mom read  Harold and the Purple Crayon to Max, HE drew on the wall and got sent to bed without dinner! When HE tried eating "green ham" he threw up all over the kitchen. I guess I can see where he's coming from =)

My favorite part of the story is when Max is retelling the story "Are You My Mother" and he says "So you know what this book made me do? It made me cry! Like where you think the 'snort' is going to eat the bird, but then puts it back in it's nest...I LOVE THAT BOOK! I MEAN I HATE THAT BOOK! It was the first one I threw away. Wait...I do love that book.
I GOTTA FIND THAT BOOK!"

Cute story, cute illustrations, cute idea.

rating:  12345 (5 books)

We are introducing another of our Beehive Book Award nominees this week! Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!, by Mo Willems. This is a darling book about friendship & silliness, I love this story!

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My favorite quote from this book?  "Books beat boredom!" <3 a="a" and="and" br="br" cute="cute" do="do" give="give" read="read" start="start" super="super" them="them" they="they" this="this" try...="try..." with="with">

Blackout!

With the East Coast still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, (hundreds of thousands are still without power) I thought it would be a great time to introduce one of our Beehive Book Award Nominees this year...

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Blackout, written and illustrated by John Rocco! This is such a wonderful book, with a great story, and beautiful illustrations! When the power goes out in a busy city neighborhood, amazing and wonderful things happen in this cute family and the community around them. It's a great read, and the illustrations tell as much of the story as the words. Don't miss this! I'm excited to share it with our students this week!

Poetry

Spot the Plot: A Riddle Book of Book Riddles by J. Patrick Lewis is our last of the Beehive Book Award Nominees for 2012.  See if you can guess what book each poem is talking about...

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Voting for the nominees ends THIS WEEK!  We need to get our votes tallied and into the Children's Literature Association of Utah, so we will finish up gathering votes this week.  CLAU announces the winners on April 20th!  Stay tuned to see if your favorites are selected as the winners!

ALSO...

April 15, 2012 is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the TITANIC!  Come visit our display in the Media Center, and check out our books on the Titanic...

Kaspar, the Titanic Cat by Michael Morpurgo

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on Titanic by Gregory Mone

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady by Ellen Emerson White

Titanic by Will & Mary Pope Osborne

The Titanic Disaster by Peter Benoit

Titanic by Simon Adams

These are GREAT reads!

This week...

In The Wild, by David Elliott ... one of our Beehive Book Award nominees in poetry, is our book of choice this week.  Can YOU guess what animal each poem is describing?

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Don't forget - ballots are available on the circulation counter when you are ready to vote for your favorite books!  We will be tallying up votes in the next couple of weeks to submit to CLAU (Children's Literature Association of Utah)

This Week in the Library...

Everyone has a "Cousin Ed" in their lives... someone who tells outrageous stories, and you aren't sure what to believe and what NOT to believe!  This is a super fun story about the stories Cousin Ed tells, and how the tables get turned on Cousin Ed. =)  

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Also this week, we will begin voting for our favorite Beehive Book Award nominees!  We've been reading them all year, and now we need to count the votes and send them in!  Ballots are available at the Circulation desk.  If you would like a reminder about the books that have been nominated, please visit www.clau.org for more information.

Beehive Book Award Nominees 2012

We will be introducing all of the nominees throughout the remainder of the year, and into next school year. After they have all be introduced, we will have the opportunity to vote for a favorite (we don't all have to pick the same one =) I will submit our votes, and we will see next year which book wins! It might even be YOUR favorite one that wins!
Our book of the week... All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee. This book is one of the Utah Beehive Book Award Picture book nominees for 2012. I LOVE THIS BOOK!! The illustrations are absolutely beautiful! I wish I could draw and paint like Marla...they are spectacular. The story itself is told a little differently than most. Join us in the Library this week as we explore this amazing book. This is the first one we will introduce...stay tuned next week for the next one!

See the entire list of Beehive Award nominees for 2012 HERE.