Extra Yarn Event at Unwind

Today, at Unwind (a Yarn store in Burbank and not the dystopian novel by Neal Shusterman), Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen stopped by to celebrate their book Extra Yarn (Balzer & Bray, January 17, 2012).  The event was a part of Unwind's celebration of Yarn Crawl LA (a four day, self-guided tour Los Angeles County's Yarn Stores).

Alethea (@frootjoos on twitter) is a knitter and pulled her buddies (Thuy, Kimberley, Alyson, and more) from Bridge to Books into helping with this event.  Yeah, twist our arms.  We are all big fans of Jon and Mac so it didn't take much to convince us to help.

Alethea kept in the spirit of the story and covered wooden block letters to look like the cover.

Thuy (@fishgirl182) yarnbombed some little houses so they would look like they were pulled right out of the book.

Mac and John signed books, chatted with fans, and entertained young readers who came out to draw and have some fun.



Mac read Extra Yarn to the audience.  Don't watch the clip if you don't want to hear the end of the book.  However, this was my favorite part since Mac does a great Archduke.

Also, the Extra talented Alethea made yarn inspired cake pops for the event.  I wish I had taken a close up of these yummy treats.

I also finally ran into Carter Higgins, a twitter buddy.  One of these days, we will also run into each other at Vroman's.

To celebrate today's event, I am giving away a signed copy of Extra Yarn to one lucky person.  Please fill out the form to enter.  You have until April 21, 2012 to enter to win.

Please note:  This post has been crossed posted over at Bridge to Books. 
  

Book Review - Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans

Author/Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Publisher: Balzer & Bray (September 27, 2011)
Audience: Fourth Grade and up
Source: Purchased Hardcover; Audiobook
History * Non-fiction * African Americans

Description from GoodReads:
In his Coretta Scott King Award-winning We Are The Ship, artist Kadir Nelson told the story of Negro League baseball. In Heart and Soul, he widens his scope to cover a wide range of African-American history, from centuries of brutal slavery to the Civil Rights era to the presidential election of Barack Obama. Nelson's focus is on African-American women and men who struggled through adversity while somehow maintain their integrity. This beautifully illustrated hardcover with a message for us all.

In March, I had a wonderful opportunity to hear Kadir Nelson speak and he shared about his work on Heart and Soul.  As a huge Kadir Nelson fan, I wanted to read the book right then but I had to wait a little over six months to finally get my hands on a copy and my first viewing was to just admire the amazing illustrations in this book.  

Recently, a twitter friend (@maryannscheuer) recommended the audiobook.  The initial thought that ran through my mind was "Why would you listen to a Kadir Nelson book?!".  Obviously you would want to read it so that you can experience the amazing artwork.  And at some level this is true.  However, when I heard that Debbie Allen was the narrator, I decided to give it a try.  And it was an amazing experience.  Of course, in this case, I would suggest listening to the audio if you had the book in hand or had previously viewed the pictures.

Allen as narrator brought Nelson's text and illustrations alive.  As I listened to the audiobook, I was reminded of the time I had lunch with an elderly African-American woman.  I sat there realizing how significant it was to hear the stories that this woman could tell.  First-hand accounts that would be lost as more of our elders passed on.  Nelson's choice to use this technique to share the story of American History through the eyes of an African American family is brilliant.  

This is one book that will end up on my best books of 2011 list.  I am glad to have it as part of my personal collection and would recommend it for any teacher or librarian for classroom, school, or public libraries.  

To get a greater sense of the book, I suggest checking out either the NPR link or the YouTube link listed below.        

To listen to an interview with Kadir Nelson on NPR, click here.  

To watch video about Nelson's work on this book, click below:

For more information about Kadir Nelson, check out his website http://www.kadirnelson.com/
You can follow him on Twitter: @kadirnelson 
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kadir.nelson 

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday - Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets

Author: Eric Luper
Publisher: Balzer & Bray (May 1, 2011)
Pages: 240
Audience: Grades 3 to 7
Source: ARC from Mid-Winter ALA
Fiction * Humor

Product Description: 
When eleven-year-old Jeremy Bender does major damage to his father's prized boat, he figures he has one way to avoid being grounded for life: Fix it before Dad finds out. But even if Jeremy and his best friend, Slater, combined their allowances for a year, they still wouldn't have enough money for the cost of repairs. 

Inspiration strikes when the boys see an ad for the Windjammer Whirl. Sponsored by the Cupcake Cadets, the model sailboat race pays five hundred dollars to the winner. There's just one problem: You must be a Cadet—and a girl—to compete. 

Confident that it will be the easiest money they've ever made, Jeremy convinces Slater they should dress up like girls and infiltrate the troop. But as the boys proceed to botch everything from camping to field hockey, they realize that being a Cadet is no piece of cupcake.

Can Jeremy and Slater earn their badges and win the money? Or will their Cupcake careers be over faster than you can say "vanilla frosting"? 

With the release of Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets, young adult author Eric Luper successfully transitions into the world of Middle Grade novels.  Even without reading the description of the book, and only looking at the cover and title, I was already expecting a book that would provide some laughs.  I didn't take that many pages before I was already chuckling.  The description of Jeremy's options of what he might do to avoid eating a fistful of grass and dirt being served up by the school bully had me completely hooked and then came...the megawedgie.    

As I read Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets, I occasionally had images of I LOVE LUCY or BOSOM BUDDIES. When an accident involving Jeremy, his best friend Slater, some grape soda and green spray paint damages his father's boat, Jeremy has to come up with an idea to raise some money and fast. He talks his friend Slater into dressing up as a girl and joining the Cupcake Cadets and entering their annual Windjammer Whirl for a chance to win $500.  (Doesn't this just sound like something Lucy would talk Ethel into?) Jeremy's plans of course never turn out exactly as he expects which makes for quite a few mistakes and lots of laughs. 

The nice thing about Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets is that you can easily book talk this to both girls and boys.  Luper's use of humor and short chapters will also draw in fans of some of the more popular graphic novels who have been reluctant to crossover to regular length Middle Grade chapter books.  Additionally, it would make a great classroom read aloud with wonderful opportunities to discuss things like gender, responsibility, sportsmanship, and more.  I am excited to share Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets with students that I know and anticipate this being a book that is frequently checked out of a classroom or school library.    

Check out author, Eric Luper's website: http://www.ericluper.com/
To follow Eric on Twitter: @ericluper
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/eluper

Below is the official book trailer for Jeremy Bender vs. The Cupcake Cadets



* Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays were started by Shannon over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe. You can check out her Marvelous Middle Grade Monday choice and Giveaway Post here.