Tuesday's Pick

My pick for Tuesday, February 9th is...

The Dragon of Doom, Book 1 in the Moongobble and Me series

by Bruce Coville

Accelerated Reader® Level: 3.3 / 1.0 pts.

From School Library Journal:

The first in a new trilogy, this book combines humor, adventure, and fantasy. Nothing much happens in the town of Pigbone-until a magician and his talking toad move into the abandoned cottage on the hill. When young Edward becomes Moongobble's helper, he soon discovers that the former shoemaker is not very good at his new profession, a situation that results in many comical moments. In fact, the Society of Magicians threatens to cast Moongobble out unless he proves his worth by facing the Dragon of Doom. When all of his spells fail, Edward finds himself confronting the creature on his own. The ending is not entirely resolved, leaving the door open for the next installment. The story is fast paced, and cliff-hanger endings will keep youngsters turning the pages. The whimsical black-and-white illustrations add to the action.

Friday's Pick

My pick for Friday, February 5th is...

The Staircase

by Ann Rinaldi

Accelerated Reader® Level: 4.3 / 8.0 pts.

From Amazon.com:

"'This one is wise,' he said.' This one has an old spirit. She has been among us before.'" Though the Arapaho Indian on the trail praised her old spirit, 14-year-old Lizzy Enders feels anything but wise. Within only a few days, she has lost her mother to the fever, been left by her widowed father at a convent, and thrust into the strange world of the Academy of Our Lady of Light in 1870s Santa Fe. Born a Methodist, Lizzy just can't comprehend Catholicism: "All this talk of blood and martyrdom and eating flesh and agony. It was just all too much, is all." In an attempt to alleviate her misery, Lizzy befriends an unemployed elderly carpenter and suggests he be hired to build the missing staircase for the convent's new chapel. The other girls at the academy are furious, since they have been praying for a miracle to complete the stairs, not an old beggar. Can she convince them that this aged man, with his real tools, is better than an ephemeral miracle? What Lizzy has to discover for herself is that sometimes miracles come disguised in nun's habits... or carpenter's sandals.

Based on a legend of a real chapel stairway in Santa Fe, The Staircase is a lively historical fiction that successfully merges myth, religion, and old-fashioned pioneer sensibility.

Wednesday's Pick

My pick for Wednesday, February 3rd is...

Charlotte's Web

by E.B. White
Accelerated Reader® Level: 4.4 / 5.0 pts.

From Amazon.com:

An affectionate, sometimes bashful pig named Wilbur befriends a spider named Charlotte, who lives in the rafters above his pen. A prancing, playful bloke, Wilbur is devastated when he learns of the destiny that befalls all those of porcine persuasion. Determined to save her friend, Charlotte spins a web that reads "Some Pig," convincing the farmer and surrounding community that Wilbur is no ordinary animal and should be saved. In this story of friendship, hardship, and the passing on into time, E.B. White reminds us to open our eyes to the wonder and miracle often found in the simplest of things.

Picks from the Civic Center Library

I LOVE going to the public library! When I am in a library or a bookstore, I feel like a kid in a candy shop!

This is what my nightstand looks like after my latest trip to the public library...

These are the books that I picked up:

Parties and Potions by Sarah Mlynowski

Billy Bones: The Road to Nevermore by Christopher Lincoln

Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner

From Charlie's Point of View: A Mystery by Richard Scrimger

The Pig Scrolls by Gryllus the Pig by Paul Shipton

Sixth-Grade Glommers, Norks, and Me by Lisa Papademertiou

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

I can't wait to read these!  I don't have any of them (except Sixth-Grade glommers, norks, and me) in the Tonalea library....yet.  I plan to order these titles with my next order.  Unfortunately, that might not be until next year. :(

Friday's Pick

My pick for Friday, January 29th is...

Oggie Cooder

by Sarah Weeks
Accelerated Reader® Level: 5.1 / 3.0 pts.

From Amazon.com:

"Oggie Cooder has a talent -- he can charve better than anyone else in Truman Elementary School. (Charving, for the uninitiated, is the carving of a piece of cheese with one's teeth.) Oggie doesn't think this is anything special -- but his whole school will soon be disagreeing with him. Because after he inadvertantly charves during a nationwide hunt for unusual talents, his charving puts him on the path to fame and forture. Suddenly, he's the star of the school . . . but he's not sure that he wants to shine that way."

Thursday's Pick

My pick for Thursday, January 28th is...

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli
Accelerated Reader® Level: 4.2 / 6.0 pts.

Review from All Readers:

"The first day Leo Borlock sees Stargirl he is filled with disbelief. She's the new girl who showed up to her first day in an antique, off-white gown that could have been a wedding dress. Then at lunch time she did the unthinkable, she took her ukulele off her back and sang "I'm looking for a four leaf clover." You just don't do things like that if you want to fit in. Things continue like this, getting more outrageous as the book continues, until the students rebel and the shunning begins. Leo and Stargirl try to go about their lives, and pretend that the others don't matter. But life is difficult enough when you're in high school and ten times worse if you don't "fit in". Desperately in love, Leo tries to change Stargirl to be more "normal", but in the end manages to destroy the very thing that made her special to begin with."

-Andi Puntoriero, Resident Scholar

Tuesday's Pick

My pick for Tuesday is...

The Vampire's Photograph (Book 1 of the Oliver Nocturne series)

by Kevin Emerson
Accelerated Reader® Level: 5.4 / 7.0 pts.

From School Library Journal:

Though he experiences typical middle school troubles—being bullied, fighting with his older brother Bane, thinking his parents don't understand him, and feeling like a misfit—Oliver is a vampire. Like others his age, he still consumes only animal blood, but Bane, who has recently bonded with his otherworldly demon to become an adult vampire, now enjoys human blood. Despite the ironclad prohibition against associating with mortals, Oliver is attracted to the daylight world and fascinated by Emalie, a human girl who has been exploring the ruins above his family's crypt home. He soon learns that she suspects the existence of vampires and intends to write an exposé—something the highly secretive undead want to avoid. Oliver agrees to help her, even guiding Emalie and her cousin into the hidden subsurface city to consult Dead Désirée, the weird keeper of secrets and powers that even vampires fear. He soon realizes that there is something mysterious about his background, and that danger threatens not only his human friends, but also himself.

Friday's Pick

My pick for Friday, January 22nd is...

The Sisters' Grimm, Book 1: The Fairytale Detectives

by Michael Buckley
Accelerated Reader® Level: 5.2 / 9.0 pts.

From Booklist:

"After their parents disappear, sisters Daphne and Sabrina Grimm are placed with a grandmother they have never heard about. Sabrina, the eldest, is highly suspicious; why didn't their parents mention Granny Relda? She grows more concerned once they arrive at Relda's home in the New England town of Ferryport Landing, where Relda serves emerald-green meatballs in rooms lined with books about magic. Then Relda reveals the truth: the Grimms are descended from the famous storytelling brothers, and Ferryport Landing is a magical town, populated with "Everafters," characters straight from fairy tales. After Relda goes missing, it's up to the girls, and their new magical friends, to rescue her and stop a corrupt politician--a well-cast Prince Charming."

I just started reading this a few nights ago and I LOVE IT!!!  It is so cute and funny and I can't wait to read all the book in the series!  There are currrently 7 books in the series.  For more information about this series, go to http://sistersgrimm.com/books.html.

Thursday's Pick...

My pick for Thursday, January 14th is...

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman

Review from the School Library Journal:

"Somewhere in contemporary Britain, "the man Jack" uses his razor-sharp knife to murder a family, but the youngest, a toddler, slips away. The boy ends up in a graveyard, where the ghostly inhabitants adopt him to keep him safe. Nobody Owens, so named because he "looks like nobody but himself," grows up among a multigenerational cast of characters from different historical periods that includes matronly Mistress Owens; ancient Roman Caius Pompeius; an opinionated young witch; a melodramatic hack poet; and Bod's beloved mentor and guardian, Silas, who is neither living nor dead and has secrets of his own. As he grows up, Bod has a series of adventures, both in and out of the graveyard, and the threat of the man Jack who continues to hunt for him is ever present. Bod's love for his graveyard family and vice versa provide the emotional center, amid suspense, spot-on humor, and delightful scene-setting."

Back to basics...

When I first began this blog, I did it as a way to recommend great books to students and parents.  I did my best to recommend a book a day, and I miss doing that, so I'm getting back to basics and starting to do Mrs. Pasquel's Picks the way it was intended.  I will still include updates and announcements, but I want to get back to doing what I love- booktalking!

So here we go.....

My pick for Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 is...

The Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 1: Urchin of the Riding Stars

228 pages

Interest Level: 3-6

Accelerated Reader® Level: 5.4 / 10.0 pts.

I have been reading this book for a few days, and I LOVE it!  I can't wait to finish it and continue with the second book in this series.  Here is the basic summary from the School Library Journal:

"Urchin the squirrel believes he is destined for greatness. Dropped from the sky by a gull onto the island of Mistmantle, he is rescued by Crispin, captain to hedgehog King Brushen. He becomes Crispin's page and is quickly embroiled in the murder of the King's young son. When Crispin is framed for the crime and banished, Urchin remains on Mistmantle, working for another captain, Padra the otter. Eyewitness to a power struggle for the throne, he helps fight against cruel new laws and reveals the true murderer."

Horror genre

This next week, I will be recommending various books to students, 3rd-6th grade, in the genre of "Horror"- just in time for Halloween!

No picks will be too gruesome, but our students do love the Goosebumps books, so I will try to recommend some other choices that they might like as well. Here are a few of the books I will be book talking:

Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by James and Deborah Howe (4th)

The Midnight Library: Voices by Damien Graves (4th)

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (4th)

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (5th)

The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French (5th)

The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing (5th)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (6th)

Tales of Terror and Fantasy by Edgar Allan Poe (6th)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (6th)

For more scary books that are appropriate for children (Pre-K-6th grade), you can visit the website Scary Book List for Kids at: http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/horrorfictionlistkd.htm

Realistic Fiction

This past week, I have been introducing students to the genre of Realistic Fiction. This is a really popular genre for students and young adults, especially, because the characters in these stories are people with real problems- school, family, friends, etc.- and so readers can really relate to the characters and the storylines. I have been book talking a lot of different titles to the different grade levels and classes this week, all within this genre. Some of the titles include (grade levels are simply the classes to which I recommended the titles):

• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (3rd, 4th grade)
• The Fudge series by Judy Blume (3rd, 4th grade)
• Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (4th grade)
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (4th grade)
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (5th grade)
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (5th grade)
• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (5th grade)
• The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (6th grade)
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (6th grade)
• Flush by Carl Hiaasen (6th grade)

We have Fall Break this next week, but when we return, I will be discussing the genre of Horror with students, just in time for Halloween!

This past week...

It seems that I have been a bit remiss in keeping up with this blog! This past week, I have been discussing the genre of ADVENTURE with all of my students (grades 3-6) and have been recommending the following titles within this genre:
The End of the Beginning by Avi
The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
The Pirates of the Carribean series by Kidman
Geronimo Stilton books by Stilton
Magic Tree House books
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamilo

This Week's Recommendation is...

FANTASY

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting .
Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three.

This week I will be doing book talks in this genre. Here are some books I will be recommending to students:

The Secrets of Droon (series) by Tony Abbot

The Dragon Slayer's Academy (series) by Kate McMullan

The Bailey School Kids (series) by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

Week of Sept. 14th

This week is all about...

HISTORICAL FICTION!

Historical fiction is a sub-genre of fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events.

This week, I am book-talking with 4th, 5th and 6th grade about some great selections within this genre. Titles include:

Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells

Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Carbone

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy