The Last One…For a Little While

Today, I am sharing my last picture book post for a little while. This one is the last one that I checked out from the library, so I’ll be back to chapter and young adult books until I find a few other picture book gems.

Remember when I talked about the book, Gaston? Of course, since I loved the illustrations so much, I needed to look up everything that Christian Robinson has illustrated and read each obsessively. My favorite was this really cute book called, Rain! by Linda Ashman.

This is a really cute story that follows the experience of two characters, a little boy and a grumpy old man, and shows how each deals with the rain. At the beginning, the grouchy old man hates the rain and is curt and grumpy to all people that he sees. The little boy loves the rain, and he sees the positives in everything in his day. When they meet up, the little boy helps the older man see how rain can be magical and fun.

Christian Robinson’s illustrations were really neat–they looked like they were created with pieces of cut out paper. The pictures practically stood off the page. And, I loved their vintage feel.

There aren’t very many words in this story, so I think it would be great for kids who are learning to read independently!

I hope you check out this really cute story!

Two Wordless Adventures

Following my picture book kick, I though I would share two really cool wordless books by Mark Pett that I discovered last week.

The first one is The Girl and the Bicycle. 

Spoiler–this book is a tear jerker. It is a really sweet story about a little girl who sees a bicycle in a store window and then spends the rest of the book working towards buying the bicycle for herself. Unfortunately, by the time she makes it to the store, the bike is gone, but what she does with her money is pretty sweet. The drawings in this one are so cool, and I loved that the colors were all neutrals except for the bicycle.

Aren’t those pictures great?

The second is The Boy and the Airplane. 

This one wasn’t as sweet as the other one, but it was still pretty cool. In the beginning of the story, the little boy gets a red airplane, and he loves playing with it. Then, it lands on top of the roof, and he can’t get it down. His solution to get down the airplane was pretty interesting–it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting!

Again, the pictures were sparsely colored, and I really enjoyed them.

If you enjoy wordless books with gorgeous pictures, make sure to check these books out! Let me know how you like them!

Taking a break with some picture books

I’ve been reading some great young adult fiction lately, but I wouldn’t be a well-rounded children’s literature enthusiast if I never branched out from that genre. So, to switch things up a bit, I checked out some beautiful pictures books.

The first I would like to share is Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Christian Robinson.

 

This book is about a cute little dog named Gaston who learns how to appreciate his own quirks. Due to an unexplained accident, Gaston is raised by a poodle family, and as you can imagine, a little bulldog doesn’t quite fit in with a family of poodles. But, by the end, Gaston and his family learn that even though he’s different, he’s special.

The story was heartwarming and adorable, but for me, the illustrations were the best part.

 

I loved the vintage feel of each picture, and I loved how silly and perky Gaston looked.

If you’re looking for a cute dog story with fun vintage illustrations, please check out this one! You won’t regret it!

Do you like Sherlock Holmes?

I’ll just come out and say it–I love Sherlock Holmes. I love the show, Sherlock, and I love the Robert Downey, Jr movies. I loved teaching Sherlock Holmes short stories, and I’ve read a couple of modern interpretations of his story. Sherlock Holmes is an interesting character, though, in that I wouldn’t want to be friends with him in real life. When I really like a character, I usually wish that we could be friends in real life, but Holmes is an exception. He’s cool, but he would be too stressful for my real life.

This week, I read a Sherlock Holmes-esque tale, but this book differed in the fact that I really liked the narrator, and the detective was a bit more lovable.

If you like detective stories, check out Jackaby!

The narrator in this book is Abigail Rook, a young girl who has traveled to America to find adventure and venture out from under her parents’ plans for her. As soon as she gets off the boat in New England, she starts looking for work. A notice for a job as an assistant to a detective leads her to R.F Jackaby’s house. As soon as she enters his house, she realizes that there’s something different about Jackaby. Like Sherlock Holmes, he is an observant detective who is loved and hated by the local police force. But, unlike Holmes, he focuses mainly on supernatural cases–he even shares his house with a ghost and a former assistant who was accidentally turned into a duck.

At first, Jackaby is nervous about having Abigail help with his cases (that whole assistant turning into a duck thing really messed with him), but once he realizes that she notices normal details, not extraordinary details like he does, he lets her join the case. Together, they catch a serial killer, who, of course, ends up being not quite what he seems.

I really loved this book. The mystery was great–it kept me turning pages, anxious to figure out what was going to happen. And, like I mentioned before, I really liked Abigail, and I enjoyed how wonderfully weird Jackaby was. The supernatural elements were interesting, and they seemed believable. I hope there are more in this series!

This would be a great mystery for junior high or high school readers! Please check it out!

A Tree That Was Not So Friendly

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself reading The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.

 

I was drawn to this book because, as I learned by looking at the writer’s notes in the back, it was inspired by creepy tales like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” This story definitely had a creepy, dark quality that I really enjoyed. But, above all, it was a really great story, which I appreciated after reading my last selection.

Molly and Kip, the protagonists, are siblings who traveled from Ireland to England to find work and food. They find a job in manor house, and on the way there, they encounter the local story teller who informs them that the house is not what is seems. She warns them to stay away, but desperate for food and shelter, the kids continue to the house. Almost as soon as they begin working, the kids notice that the house has a weird atmosphere. Everyone seems to be haunted by nightmares, and mysterious dirt footsteps appear in the hallway every morning.

One night, Molly discovers that a creepy man, dubbed the Night Gardener, visits the house every night, visiting each member of the household and collecting sweat off their brows. Then, the takes the sweat and uses it to water a tree that has attached itself to the house. As if this weren’t weird enough, Molly realizes that the tree grants wishes, and each member of the household has been using it to get different things: money, sweets, picture books, and jewelry.

Molly and Kip realize that the tree is slowly killing each person in the house, and so, they decide to escape. As you can imagine, the Night Gardener doesn’t take this lying down.

I loved this story. It was creepy and dark, and I really enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed how Kip grew and became more brave and assured throughout the story, and I loved that two children could help a family escape a painful situation. The ending was tense, but I thought it was satisfying.

This book would be great for middle school or high school readers. It’s engaging and complex, and it would be great for an older reader.

If you’re looking for a creepy tale to take you through this holiday season, check out this great book!

 

On being young and elite

Remember when I read The Legend Trilogy, and I loved it a lot? So, then, as you can imagine, I was really excited to see that Marie Lu wrote a new book called The Young Elites. 

This book was really different from The Legend Trilogy, and I have to say that it wasn’t what I was expected, and I didn’t love it as much as I loved the trilogy.

This story revolves around a girl named Adelina who survived a horrible blood fever that swept through the nation. This blood fever affected people in different ways, but most of the people who survived had some sort of lasting physical deformity which marked them in the community. For example, some people got different colored eyes or hair–in fact, Adelina’s hair turned white, and she lost an eye. But, according to legend, some people were affected more deeply and were imbued with powers. These people are referred to as “The Young Elites.” As the story begins, Adelina doesn’t believe that she has any powers, but soon, she realizes that she not only has powers but also she has extremely powerful powers that allow her to control illusions. She can create images that look incredibly realistic, and, as she discovers as she learns to control her powers,  she can make someone believe that they are experiencing immense amounts of pain.

Adelina is soon united with other Young Elites, and she realizes that they are trying to take over the government. The Young Elites have to constantly hide because they are hunted by the king–he wants to kill all of them to insure that they won’t be a threat.

I didn’t really enjoy how dark this story was. Adelina’s powers are increased by the anger she holds in her heart, and in places, her feelings and struggles were really dark. I also didn’t really enjoy the other Young Elites very much. Now that I think about it, I really didn’t like any of the characters that much. And, I couldn’t really get a very good mental picture of the setting–I couldn’t figure out if the story took place in the past or the future, and that bothered me.

I think this story is going to turn into a series, so I will probably read the next one. But, I would definitely not give this a resounding recommendation. I would choose to read The Legend Trilogy over this new book any day.

If you read it, tell me what you think!

I’ve been maze running

Leave it to a movie trailer to make me want to read a book. Once the trailers for The Maze Runner started showing up on television, I decided to take the plunge and finally see what all the fuss was about with this series. Several former students told me it was a worthwhile read, so I ordered up The Maze Runner and prepared to be amazed.

Truthfully, the first few chapters weren’t that interesting for me. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to a society of boys who have their own slang and culture, and I wasn’t really interested in it at first. And, I had a hard time keeping the characters straight. But, I kept reading, and I really enjoyed the book–so much so that I decided to go ahead and read each book in the trilogy.

For those who haven’t heard about the series, here’s a quick synopsis. The whole trilogy revolves around a boy named Thomas who lives in a futuristic world that has been ravaged by a sun flare. This flare causes people to lose their minds and basically become zombies.

In the first book, Thomas finds himself in the middle of a society of all boys who are stuck inside of a town with a huge maze. Thomas soon learns that the maze controls every aspect of the boys’ lives, and they continually run through the maze, risking their lives against horrible creatures named Grievers, trying to find a way to escape. Thomas has no memory of his life before he showed up in this town, but he feels drawn to the maze. He ultimately succeeds in helping the boys out of the maze, but I don’t want to give away any more details.

In the second and third book, Thomas works to understand his life before the maze, and he comes face to face with people who are afflicted with the sun flare. He tries to understand why the maze was created, and he struggles to find people to trust.

There is so much more to the series to that, but I don’t want to spoil any of the twists and turns! These books are full of adventure, and they are pretty gory. The last book, especially, was pretty violent.

I really loved this series, and I think that fans of The Hunger Games  or Divergent would really enjoy these books. They are reminiscent of those books since the setting is a post apocalyptic world, and young people are the heroes, but this series was definitely original and unique.

If you’re looking for a new science fiction adventure series, check these books out!

Attack on the High Seas

We’ve talked about fairy tales before. The last couple of fairy tales I read were kind of traditional fare with princesses and princes. However, this week, I read a fairy tale about a much more intense subject: pirates.

I finally got the book, Hook’s Revenge, from the library, and I pretty much read it cover to cover as soon as I checked it out.

This book revolves around Jocelyn, daughter of famous pirate, Captain Hook. Jocelyn lives with her grandfather, and he desperately wants to make her into a polite and dainty lady. However, Jocelyn has a little of her father’s spirit in her, even though they have never met. Finally, Jocelyn is sent to a finishing school, and ironically, it’s here that she gets a letter from her father and embarks on an adventure to gain revenge against the crocodile who killed her father.

Even though she has never been on a boat or been in charge of a crew, Jocelyn hires a crew of pirates (with the help of Smee) and leaves to follow the crocodile. Along the way, she meets Peter Pan, gets captured by a group of natives who try to cook her and eat her, and almost marries a fairy. And, she learns a lot about herself and her scary father.

I loved this book. It was chock full of adventure, and like many things I have been reading lately, it had a great female protagonist. I will tell you that this one had an open ending that hinted at future books in the series, so that is a little bit of a bummer. I’m not sure how long I will have to wait until the next installment!

Check this book out if you want an adventurous tale about a female pirate!

Halloween Week Number 2

In my head, I imagined that I would share a Halloween-themed book every day this week, but things got away from me, and I didn’t end up doing that. But, I have a few more to share–maybe I can share them even after today passes?

The next Halloween book on my list is more creepy than scary, and it’s great for kids who don’t enjoy scary ghost stories or typical Halloween fare.

This week, I read The Nine Lives of Alexander Baddenfield by John Bemelmans Marciano.

 

Alexander Baddenfield is a really unpleasant boy. He comes from a long line of mean, horrible people, and interestingly, each one of his ancestors has died really young. So, Alexander decides that he wants to beat this family curse, and he gets inspiration to beat the curse from his family cat. Alexander decides that he wants to use his immense wealth to get nine lives from a cat transplanted on his body.

He finally finds a doctor who is willing to try this weird experiment, and after Alexander gets this done, he gets really bold and loses his lives quickly and, sometimes, gruesomely.

I really loved this book. It was a really creative story, and I liked the wacky premise. And, I loved Sophie Blackall’s illustrations.

This book is perfect for younger chapter book readers who like adventurous stories with quirky characters. And, it’s a safe to read because the deaths are weird and crazy, not bloody and violent.

Check this book out if you are looking for a tame, Halloween-esque tale!

Adventures and Astronomy

Today is October 1st. Can you even believe that September flew by so quickly? I’ve been trying to enjoy the last bits of summer, but now that it’s October, I feel like I can finally embrace fall. And, I can finally get down to business, hunker down, and get through my huge library piles.

I was under the deadline to get through my latest book because someone else put a hold on it. But, I’m glad that I had that added pressure because it made me make this book a priority. I’m really glad I did.

This week, I read The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone by Tony Abbott.

This book is just the kind of book that I love. It has adventure and history lessons, all tied together. It reminded me a lot of The Da Vinci Code or National Treasure in that it had globe-trotting and historical clues.

The story starts with Wade Kaplan, a boy who is the son of an astronomer. Wade loves science and stars, and he possesses this really cool old star maps that was a gift from one of his father’s teachers. At the beginning of the story, Wade’s father learns that this beloved teacher died unexpectedly, so Wade, his step-brother, Darrell, his cousin, Lily, and her friend, Becca, and Wade’s dad travel to Berlin to go to the funeral.

Once they get to Berlin, they realize that the professor didn’t die–he was murdered. And, they realize that he was one of the guardians of some sort of secret that goes back to Copernicus.

As the kids begin to unravel the mystery of the guardians and Copernicus, they realize that they are being hunted by a group called, The Order, a group that is bound and determined to find what the guardians are hiding.

I really enjoyed all of the science and history that was sprinkled through the book. I enjoyed learning more about Copernicus, and I enjoyed imagining that there could be secret objects scattered across the globe. And, I really enjoyed that a bunch of kids used their intellect and imagination to solve problems. They weren’t hampered by their ages, and they weren’t stereotypical kids only concerned with the opposite sex and pop culture. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was that this book ended with a huge cliff-hanger, so I must wait for a second book to learn more answers.

Check this book out if you like codes, adventures, and historical facts. You won’t be disappointed!