Last Days of Freedom Giveaway Hop

Thanks to Kathy from I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Jessi from The Elliott Review for hosting this Giveaway Hop.

To celebrate the end of the summer and the start of the school year, I am giving away a copy of one of the following books:

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Rules for the Giveaway:
1. Though comments are very much appreciated, please do not enter any personal information in the comments section (including your email, website, etc.). If you do enter personal information, your comment will not be posted.
2. You must complete the entry form to official enter the giveaway.
3. The Contest runs from 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time on August 17th to 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on August 22nd.
4. You must be 13 years or older to participate.
5. If you are selected as the winner, you will be notified by email. If you do not respond within 48 hours, I will select a new winner.
6. US participants only.

Ivy & Bean Day Blog-a-Bration Week 1

Guess what!  October 13th is the 1st Annual International Ivy & Bean Day.  Thanks to Chronicle Books, there 14 bloggers (see list below) who will be counting down the weeks until October 13th with a special Ivy & Bean post and giveaway.  The winners of the giveways will be entered into a grand prize giveaway.

Chronicle Books is giving away is a copy of Ivy & Bean Book 1 to one lucky winner and a set of mini-note cards to 3 other winners. Click here to check out the Ivy & Bean official page.

Other Bloggers celebrating Ivy & Bean Blog-a-Bration:

                     Media Darlings                                  

                     There's A Book                                  

                    In the Pages                                      

                      The O.W.L.                                         

                  Coquette Maman                            

                   Ruth Ayres Writes                           

Watch. Connect. Read.

                 One Page to the Next                    

                 Van Meter Library Voice               

               The Family That Reads Together

                Roundtable Reviews for Kids      

                 Sharpread                                    

                                                               The Children's Book Review        

To celebrate the first week of Ivy & Bean - I am reposting an Interview we did with Ivy & Bean back in December. Here is an excerpt from the interview.  To read the whole interview, click here.

Hi Andrea, 

Ivy says: We’re glad to know that you like the books about us. 

Bean says: Of course she likes them. Who wouldn’t like them? 

Ivy: She’s asking us what books we like besides The Amazing Book of World Records. 

Bean: I don’t like any other books. 

Ivy: Yes you do. You liked that book called The World of Weird: Unbelievable Animals. 

Bean: Oh yeah. I did like that one. And I liked that one about how to pan for gold. Even though I never found any gold. 

This week's giveaway will run from August 16th to August 22nd.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway by filling in the form below:

The Winners of this week's giveaways will be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaway.  Thanks Chronicle Books for this great prize pack:

A complete set of Ivy and Bean hardcover books signed by Annie Barrows 

1 set of Ivy and Bean Paper Dolls 

1 Ivy and Bean Button Factory 

1 Ivy and Bean READ Poster signed by Annie Barrows 

Set of Ivy and Bean Silly Bandz · Set of Ivy and Bean stickers 

AND – a super-secret really cool prize we’re working on (stay tuned!)

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - One Night in the Everglades

Author: Laurel Larsen, PH.D.
Illustrator: Joyce Mihran Turley
Publisher:  Taylor Trade Publishing (May 16, 2012)
Source: Copy for Review
Read Aloud: 3rd to 5th
Independent Reading: 4th & 5th
Nonfiction *Environmental Science * Nature

Description from GoodReads:
Follow two scientists as they spend a night in the Everglades collecting water samples, photographing wildlife, and sloshing through marshes in an attempt to understand this mysterious ecosystem. Part of a long-term effort to return the Everglades to a natural state after a century of development, the scientists try to figure out what the river of grass was like prior to human settlement. Along the way, they deal with razor-sharp sawgrass and alligators and turtles and are even surprised by the sudden presence of what is known in the Everglades as a frog gigger one who hunts and collects frogs for food Published in cooperation with the Long Term Ecological Research Network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.

My thoughts on this book:
One Night in the Everglades is a story about two scientists - one being the author - who spend the night conducting research and experiments in the Florida Everglades.  It is evident that Larsen cares deeply about the Everglades.  It is also evident from her writing that she is quite knowledgeable about this topic.  

The book is written almost as two books in one.  One part is a story of the two scientists, their work along with the history of the Everglades.  The second part consists of key vocabulary accompanied by definitions and also interesting facts.  I would almost recommend reading this book at least twice.  The first read could be the story about the scientists followed by a reading of all of the definitions and scientific facts.  

Turley's paintings accompany each page of text and could certainly be considered an important part of visual literacy and a story element of its own within this book.  Children could spend time just flipping through the illustrations for a third or fourth read through.  

Though this is a picture book, the text and amount of technical information included in the book really makes this a book for older children.  I sometimes wonder if books like this shouldn't be formatted differently.  I could see even Middle School students benefiting from the information but not willing to pick it up because it was a "picture book" (or teachers not encouraging it for older children because it is a picture book).

Look for One Night in the Everglades in your local library or consider purchasing it for your school library.  
  

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction picture book reviews below:

Book Review - Liar & Spy

Author: Rebecca Stead
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books/Random House (August 7, 2012)
Independent Reading Level: Grades 4 to 8
Read Aloud: Grades 4 to 8
Source: ARC picked up at ALA
Friendship *  Family * Social Situations

Description from GoodReads:
When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building, he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit. His assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: how far is too far to go for your only friend?

My thoughts on this book:
I sometimes wonder what happens to an author's writing mind-set after they have won an award for a book that they have written.  Does it inspire them to go out and write something even better? Do they freeze up and wonder how they will ever write something again?  Rebecca Stead won the 2010 Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me.  If it had been me, I would likely not want to write again for fear of never even being able to come close to that same level of literary greatness.  I am glad that Stead did not apparently have that fear (or at least not long enough to prevent her from writing another book) and that readers are able to pick up and enjoy her newest book Liar & Spy.

Set in modern day Brooklyn, Liar & Spy showcases what Stead does well, writing somewhat quirky but real characters and the ability to slowly reveal pieces of the story that builds up to a surprise ending.  Now, how do I talk about it without spoiling the book.  I don't mean by giving away the ending, but by giving away the emotional experience of discovering the final pieces of the puzzle at just the right time.

Georges (named after the French artist Georges Seurat) and his family have just moved into an apartment in Brooklyn.  Georges struggles with the typical school issues while facing changes at home.  At his father's encouragement, Georges responds to a sign about a Spy Club and is drawn into a friendship with 12 year old Safer (a self-proclaimed spy ) and his somewhat bohemian family.  Similar to a Seurat painting, Stead takes all of the little dots of the story and combines them into something larger and more significant at the end.         

When talking about this book with friends, and well, with just about anyone who will listen to me talk about it, I have repeatedly said that this is a book that left an emotional imprint on me.  What I mean by "an emotional imprint" is this story made me feel something and also made me think about it long after I finished reading it.  Really good books should leave emotional imprints.  Even if you come to the end and say "hmmm, I thought something was up with ______ ", the way the end comes together should still have an element of surprise.  Liar & Spy left me with a sense that I wanted to sit with the book for awhile and not have other stories or emotions crowd out what I felt from reading it.  

Many friends are also quick to ask how Liar & Spy compares with When You Reach Me.  I honestly have to admit that they are really two separate books.  True, there are some elements that I think are similar because both books are written by the same author.  However, the stories are distinct enough that each should be loved and appreciated on their own.  

As I prepare for the new school year, I know already that Liar & Spy will be in the list of titles that I will recommend to teachers as potential read alouds or for literature circles or book clubs.  It will be one that I book talk to students and hand-sell the next time I am hanging out at my local indie bookstore.  Simply, it is a book that I want children to read and enjoy.  

For more information about author, Rebecca Stead: website | blog | facebook | twitter            

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA (35)

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Jen & Kellee from Teach Mentor Texts have adapted this to focus on Picture Books to Young Adult Books.

This was a slow week in terms of Caldecott Honor books (only managed to read 7 of them).   It was also a busy week and my total number of books for the week was only 28, but there were some excellent stand-outs in that list.

Here is my favorite Caldecott Honor Book from the past week's stack:

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe - This 1988 Caldecott Honor book is beautifully illustrated by Steptoe and has a Cinderella feel to it.

Here are some other books that I was reading this past week:

Black Heart by Holly Black - This was the last book in the Curse Workers Trilogy.  I am truly sad that this YA series is over.  There are few series that I actually read every book that comes out and this is one of those series that I looked forward to each book.  I won't say more because I plan on reviewing it this week. 

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech - Thanks to Cynthia (@utalaniz on twitter), I had a chance to read this one before it's release date of 9/4/12.  This is a book that is beautifully written, has quirky characters, humor, mystery/adventure, makes you care what happens, and even has sad parts. Sharon Creech has done it again. If the Newbery committee overlooks this book I might cry.  Can't wait to share this book with kids this fall.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee by Tom Angleberger - Do I really need to say anything about this book?  The third book (and hopefully not the last book) in the Origami Yoda series was released this week.  If you haven't picked it up, what are you waiting for?

Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes - A friend shared the ARC for the third book in Henkes' Penny series.  I can't believe book 2 isn't quite out yet and I have already read book 3 which won't be released until March 2013.  I love this early reader series and each installment gets better and better. 

Even Aliens Need Snacks by Matthew McElligott - This picture book is quirky and funny.  You don't need to wait for Halloween to read it. 

So, what are you reading this week?