Waiting for November 6

What's so cool about November 6, you ask!  

 It's only the birthday of Ethan Hawke, Lamar Odom, and Emma Stone! 

 Actually, that doesn't matter at all.  I just looked that up on Wikipedia. 

But it is the birthday of my friend Laura!

Happy super-early birthday, Laura!  Don't be mad at me for including this picture in my blog!  If I'm lucky, she'll never see it and this can be our little secret.

Moving on.  Why is November 6 so important?  Because the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone is released on November 6.

 

Check out that cover!  Haunting, right?

For those of you that have not read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, here are five reasons you should do so immediately:

1.  Karou is completely entrancing.  Karou is a teen living in Prague and attending art school, but she also runs errands for Brimstone, the wish monger.  Brimstone and his chimera brethren are the only family she has ever known, but she loves them completely.  She has bright blue hair, multiple tattoos (including a hamsasa  on each palm) and a necklace made of wish granting stones.  

2.  The art.  While there are no drawings in this book, there is still lot of art.  Karou draws comics of her chimera family for her classmates and draws her classmates for her chimera family, so everyone thinks her other life is fictional.  Also, there is a giant puppet that guides a living marionette, and huge angel wings above Karou's bed.  

3.  The angels.  Now, these are not fallen angels, or angels of death, or any other cliche that is now floating along out there in YA land.  These angels are legit.  The angels are part of an epic battle against the chimera and are closing the portals that Karou uses on Brimstone's errands.  And why does she run these strange errands to collect teeth?  What does he do with the teeth?  See, it's getting crazy already!

4.  The Chimera.  You have to love the chimera.  They are all different parts of animal combined into one, and Taylor does such an amazing job of describing them that you can see them right in front of you, with lion legs and crocodile face and leopard spots.  Trust me, she does a much better job than that.  Plus, these chimera are real, so real that you ache for them.

5.  The writing.  It's incredible.  This book is the perfect balance of plot, character and unbelievable writing.  You are sucked into Karou's world completely and thoroughly and it is painful to leave.  I loved every single word, and even though I was dying to find out what happened, I read every word.  I'm very guilty of skipping description to get to the dialog and move the plot along, but this book makes you read every word and sometimes re-read just to experience that description again.

Seriously, why aren't you reading this book right now?!  Oh, because you're reading this post.  Well, that's fair.  Let me add one more plug for Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  I read a preview of this on NetGalley.  I read 14 chapters, which you would think would get you about half way through the book, but it only took me to the point where the plot gets so intensive, you are begging for more.  It's like getting a taste for a drug and then having it yanked away!  NetGalley was my dealer!  Then, because I was so impatient to get my fix, I pre-ordered it for my Kindle.  (Isn't the Kindle awesome like that?  Talk about instant gratification.  I just pre-order then turn my Kindle on in the morning a book is released and it's there!  Yes, at 12:01 am on November 6, I will be turning on my Kindle.  I may not sleep that night.)  Sometimes when I read on the Kindle, I feel like I am a little removed from the book.  In this case, if I had been any more in tune with this book, I might have started dying my hair blue and wearing combat boots.  As it was, I almost did that for Halloween.  My point is, no matter how you get this book-get it!  

You have your assignment.  Read Daughter of Smoke and Bone today and put your copy of Days of Blood and Starlight on order tomorrow!

 

Happy Reading!

Magic!

I owe you some posts!  I owe you a post about VBS.  My credit card bill reminded me that I haven't turned in all my receipts yet, so I'll get that done and tell you how it went later this week.

I also owe you a post on a crazy charity event I went to this weekend.  Hint, it involved teams, costumes, and crude jokes.  Admit it-you're curious!

But first, here's a rhyme that had one daycare saying "wow, it's magic".  Then they applauded.  Seriously.  It was pretty amazing.

The Rainbow Song!

I like to do this song with a big stock pot and wooden spoon.  I like to wear an apron for storytimes.  I had pockets where I would keep my rhymes and some small props, so I kept my "ingredients" in my apron pockets-usually just the fruit printed on cardstock.  Then, I kept colored squares of paper and the final product in the bottom of the stock pot.  So, just go along with the song and do as it says.  It's a crowd-pleaser!

Take some cherries, put them in the pot.
Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out and what will it be?
The prettiest red you ever did see. 

Take an orange, put it in the pot.
Stir it stir it, stir it a lot.
Pour it out and what will it be?
The prettiest orange you ever did see.

Take a lemon, put it in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest yellow you ever did see.

Take some limes, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest green you ever did see.

Take some berries, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest blue you ever did see.

Take some grapes, put them in the pot.

Stir it, stir it, stir it a lot.

Pour it out and what will it be?

The prettiest purple you ever did see.

Red and orange, yellow and green,

Blue and purple colors are seen.
Put them together, what will they be?
The prettiest rainbow you ever did see.

***********************************************************
Just a quick little song for a Tuesday morning.  This rhyme works great for color recognition, storytimes about rain, cooking, imagination.  I'm not a big flannel board person, but this would make a great flannel board.  I prefer props, and for me, I got the most amazement out of using my magic pot.  However you choose to present this song, make sure you do it with enthusiasm and your kids will love it!

Happy Reading!

Books for Adults

  

As a children's librarian, I rarely read books for adults, and even less frequently do I enjoy them.  I joined a book club six months ago thinking that I would start reading just one adult book per month, but instead I skipped meetings and convinced everyone to read children's books for July.  (By the way, I'll let you know how that meeting turns out!)

So, my hubby was very surprised when I started an adult book and he was even more surprised to find out that it was non-fiction!

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell isn't your typical dry, fact-laden non-fiction tome.  It's quite entertaining and fascinating.  Basically, Gladwell argues that who you become is based on certain lucky breaks.  What makes a great hockey player?  Practice of course.  But who gets chosen for the most elite teams?  More often than not, the oldest kids on the team, meaning that birth date suddenly becomes a contributing factor to success.

Gladwell looks at the Beatles, Bill Gates, prominent lawyers and athletes to see if they were given some type of advantage.  For instance, all the prominent robber barons-the Rockafellers, JP Morgan, Vandebilts, etc.-were born in the same 10-15 year time period.  This allowed them to be the perfect age when our society was changing and growing.  The same can be said for giants in the software and computing world.  They were too born in the same timeframe, so they were just young and crazy enough to take advantage of the situation.

True, statistics can be bent and manipulated to say nearly anything you want, so maybe take the information with a grain of salt, but it is still very interesting stuff.  No, success isn't random, you do have to work very hard, but their are some lucky breaks and circumstances that can help hard work and ability along.

I really liked Gladwell's writing style.  It was conversational at times, and the stories that he told about individuals painted a very clear picture.  For someone afraid of non-fiction big-kids-books (my term for adult books), this was a great read. Also after reading so much fantasy and messy teen drama, it's nice to read a book at my level, with real facts, and no vampires! 

Malcolm Gladwell has published several other books, which I'll check out when I can.  This might be the perfect break from the world of children's literature. 

Happy Reading

Back to Books-Wake

Yesterday I posted about Adoption Day and received nearly 150 views!  I learned this lesson:  I need to have adorable pictures of my nephew in every post.  Sadly, Anthony has nothing to do with today's topic, so instead I'll link you to a creepy expose on Animal Planet.

Are mermaids real?  According to the new fictional book by Amanda Hocking, no.  But sirens are very real.

Gemma and Harper are sisters living in a small coastal town.  Gemma is obsessed with swimming and the water, while Harper is the responsible one.  But both of their lives become a little more complicated when three strangely beautiful girls-Penn, Lexi, and Thea-start showing an interest in Gemma.  And after a late night swim and a meeting with those girls, Gemma wakes up on the beach with no idea how she got there.

The mystery begins as Gemma tries to remember what happened that night, but also tried to understand what is happening to her now.  She is turning into a siren and must decide between leaving her family and first love, Alex, or wasting away without the sea.

Mermaids, or sirens, are the last mythological fad, and this book capitalizes on this trend.  Like other books, it does add some new twists to the old folklore, and instead of being benign little creatures, these sirens are all trouble.  Gemma and Harper are both likeable, as are their respectively love interests and there is enough romance to please teen readers.  The sirens themselves are rather quickly drawn in this volume, but as this is part of a series, one can only guess that the sirens will be fully drawn out down the road.

While this book is not fully engrossing, it is a light, quick beach read.  I do think that this series shows more promise than Hocking's Trylle series and will attract fans of paranormal fiction.  As far as adult crossover appeal, I'd say this a book best left to the teens.  Larger libraries should stock this book, but cash strapped smaller libraries should think twice.

Now for a librarian's rant.  Harper works at the library in this book, so there are several mentions of other books that she is reading.  While I appreciate the librarian shout-out, I was terribly troubled by one section.  Harper is re-reading Forever by Judy Blume in one section because it is part of the middle school summer reading program and she has to lead a book discussion later, or something to that effect.  Forever is an honest book about a girl losing her virginity.  It's good book, and one that frequently appears on the banned books list.  My problem here is that if a library included Forever in a middle school reading program, they would have angry parents with pitch forks banging down the door.  It's the kind of book that you have to hand out with some stealth.  I would absolutely recommend it to some 13 and 14 year-olds, but to put it on a recommended list for middle school is asking for trouble.  I know, it's a book about mermaids, or sirens, and I'm upset about a mildly inappropriate book being mentioned, but that's my line in the sand.  I'm with an author through mermaids, vampire babies, time-jumping, chimera, all of it, but if you have a librarian that doesn't know her reader's advisory-I'm out!

Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I received Wake as an Advances Reader's Copy from St. Martin's Press.  Actually that was pretty cool.  I didn't request this book-it just magically appeared at my door, so I feel like I'm gaining some street cred as a reviewer.  I don't have to beg for galleys anymore, they just come to me!  Actually I'm totally willing to beg for galleys--please send them!  I'll review for free!

That being said, I owe you a creepy documentary from Animal Planet.  Did you watch the mermaid show a couple weeks ago?  CRAZY!  My dad says he was with it up until the cell phone video at the end, but I'm not so sure.  I was pretty creeped out myself.

You be the judge.  Maybe Amanda Hocking knows something we don't.
 

Happy Reading!

Adoption Day!

On July 3, 2012, Anthony officially became part of the larger Torbeck family.

 

Check out that silly face.  He's going to fit right in!  

But what makes this family?  Let's go to the archives and find out!

September 2, 1972

These are my parents, Keith and Diane when they got married 40 years ago as babies!  They were 19 and 20!  But they were crazy about each other (or just crazy-we can't decide) so they got hitched, finished up college and lived in a teeny tiny trailer in Carbondale.  Like I said, crazy people.

Along came my sis Kim in 1977 and along came me in 1982 and we were a happy family.  

Until.....

September 14, 2002

Kimberly married Patrick 10 years ago.  No, that was actually quite a happy day and while Patrick did bring some new weirdness to our family, he really just fit right in.  Patrick and Kim met while working together and Patrick's initial reaction to my sis was "I have to work with this hippy".  Kim's not a hippy, she was just wearing a tye-dye shirt.  It wasn't exactly love at first sight, but they are pretty great together.

Patrick and I are actually having a gift feud over flamingos.  We get each other random flamingo stuff for Christmas.  I'm winning right now because last year I scored him these for half price at Dollar General.

Yep, pink lawn flamingos.  And that's my dad's sis Roxie in the background laughing like a hyena.  She's odd too, so it all works.

Anyway, back to the family tree.  We added Patrick to mix things up, because if you go back a little farther, my family tree actually curves back on itself, but we'll discuss that later.  Things were good.

And then...

April 4, 2009

 

I married Doug.  He's also quite strange, so he was a good fit. I'll share the details of how we meet later.  But the short version is we met on eHarmony.  Not really.  That's just less embarrassing than the real story.

So, big happy family, but no kiddos yet.  And that's where Adoption Day comes in.  Kim and Patrick had been trying to adopt for years.  Sixish to be exact and it is a long and heartbreaking process.  They would find out about a child, then hear nothing, then find out they weren't getting him.  They even had two boys placed with them only to be taken away.  Like I said, heartbreaking.

But then came Anthony!

 

He was perfect!  He's very silly, loves to give silly kisses and hugs.  Like animals and being outside.   Loves the farm, fishing, dogs, bow and arrow, everything.  Plus at random he'll just stop what he's doing and say "I love you guys."  Only in Anthony talk it comes out "I wuv you guys".  Melts your heart.

All in all the process with Anthony went pretty well, but everyone still prayed and prayed that he would be fully adopted soon.  That day finally came, and honestly it was a little anticlimactic.   I don't know what I was expecting.  Actually I know exactly what I was expecting.  I thought we would all be in the courtroom and that Anthony would take the stand (as a 4 year-old mind you) and say how much he loved his family and we would all cry, and judge would bang his gavel and we would all cheer and Anthony would run down from the box thingy that you testify in and jump into my sister's arms and then there would be confetti.  Something simple and understated like that.

Instead, it was super fast.  We all walked into a conference room with the judge, attorney, social worker and adoption agency rep.  Kim and Patrick were asked a few questions and the judge said done.  He didn't even have a gavel, which kinda bummed out Anthony.  And then we were back on the road in about 15 minutes.  It was like a drive-through adoption.  

But you can't argue with the results!  Let's just close up this post with a bunch of Anthony pics, shall we?

      

    

   

Junie B Substitutes

Oh, Junie B.  You've been around so long that you are legal to drink, and yet everyone has the same complaint about you.  STOP TALKING LIKE A BABY!

The grammar in the Junie B books is terrible, but they are funny and children love them.  One first grade teacher in my former library district even recommended them to her students.  I personally don't think that she knew what she was doing, but I spent every summer steering children away from the comfortable, but grammatically incorrect world of Junie B to something much more satisfying.  

Just this weekend, my best friend (Hi Sara!) asked for read-alikes for Junie B with better language.  Here's my list of top picks, in no particular order.


Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper

The Just Grace series features a funny main character and intermittent pictures.  It's a little more challenging of a read than Junie B, but readers will be rewarded.

Clementine by Sarah Pennypacker 

Clementine is definitely a grammatically correct Junie B.  She doesn't always behave herself and she's quite the handful, but the text and pictures could not be more fun.

Bink and Golie by Kate DiCamillo and Allison McGhee

Bink and Gollie are two best friends that are total opposites and they are totally irresistible!  The reading level is spot on for Junie B fans, and it won the Geisel Award for young readers, meaning that this is a great beginning reader book.

Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo

I know what you're going to say-that's a pig, not a girl!.  It doesn't matter.  Mercy Watson is hilarious, and boys and girls just crack up over her.  Wonderful color illustrations pair with funny text, and a pig running around for crying out loud.  You couldn't ask for a better combination.  This also makes the Geisel list, so perfect for beginning readers.

Ling and Ting by Grace Lin

Ling and Ting are newcomers, but Grace Lin is a very talented author that will grace us with more adventures of these two identical twins.  What these two lack in difference of appearance, they make up for in difference of attitude.  This is on the easier side, but readers will love it!

Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows

Ivy and Bean had to become friends after a joke gone wrong solidifies their bond.  These girls are very different but perfect together, like an older Bink and Gollie.  These books are quick and funny with plenty of charm.

Ruby Lu by Lenore Look

 

Ruby Lu is spunky, energetic and positive.   This is a girl that loves to put on magic shows for the neighborhood and have a good time.  She's everything that Junie B should be.

So, there you have it, six great series about wacky girls, and one about a pig.  I have shown you plenty of books to reform your little Junie B lover into a grammatically correct feisty girl.  

Do you have other great Junie B read-alikes?  Would you like to see more books for boys that love Junie B.?  Any other burning reader's advisory questions out there?  Comment below or email me at misstiffreads at gmail dot com.  

Happy Reading!

It's been a while

My last post was over a week ago about how nutty I was with VBS, and now that seems ages ago!  I will be back next week with a VBS wrap up, complete with craft, activity and snack ideas, and some pictures.

But let's recap the past week of crazy.

I wake up Thursday morning to find out that there had been a small electrical fire in my office building-weird right?  But that made going into work difficult, so I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Georgia to see my nephew, Anthony, get adopted!  So, I packed Thursday, worked in a temp office Friday, drove to my parents Friday night, drove with them to Georgia on Saturday and spent three great days with my sister, bro-in-law and the little man!

 

 There will be more pictures later.  I've been promising lots of pictures for a while haven't I?  But I do have a great pic of Anthony reading to his grandparents from my Kindle.  He's such a little reader!  Although when he reads the Magician's Elephant, it's nothing like the original version.  

Promises, promises, I know, but stay tuned for a full family wrap-up next week (I'm going all the way back to my curvy family tree), along with my VBS wrap up and yes, more storytimes!

Happy Reading!