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

Wednesday's Pick

My pick for Wednesday, January 27th is...

The Three Pigs

by David Wiesner

From Amazon.com review:

"Once upon a time three pigs built three houses, out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Along came a wolf, who huffed and puffed... So, you think you know the rest? Think again. With David Wiesner at the helm, it's never safe to assume too much. When the wolf approaches the first house, for example, and blows it in, he somehow manages to blow the pig right out of the story frame. The text continues on schedule--"...and ate the pig up"--but the perplexed expression on the wolf's face as he looks in vain for his ham dinner is priceless. One by one, the pigs exit the fairy tale's border and set off on an adventure of their own. Folding a page of their own story into a paper airplane, the pigs fly off to visit other storybooks, rescuing about-to-be-slain dragons and luring the cat and the fiddle out of their nursery rhyme."

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.