Flora and the Penguin - Happy Book Birthday

Flora and the Penguin
by Molly Idle
Chronicle Books (September 30, 2014)
IndieBound | WorldCat

I am so excited to be able to celebrate my birthday with Molly Idle's Flora.  Happy Book Birthday Molly and Flora & the Penguin. As a birthday celebration, I am giving away a signed copy of Flora and the Penguin. Enter the rafflecopter for a chance to win.  And don't forget to check out the book trailer. 

The Official Book Trailer:

Giveaway:
To enter the giveaway you must be 13 years old or older and have a U.S. or Canadian mailing address.

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Book Review & Giveaway of This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne

This Book Just Ate My Dog!
by Richard Byrne
Henry Holt and Company (September 30, 2014)
author website | author twitter | author blog
IndieBound | WoldCat

Description from GoodReads:
When her dog disappears into the gutter of the book, Bella calls for help. But when the helpers disappear too, Bella realizes it will take more than a tug on the leash to put things right. Cleverly using the physicality of the book, This book just ate my dog! is inventive, ingenious, and just pure kid-friendly fun!

My thoughts on this book:

Some books, from the moment you unwrap them, you know they are going to be a fun read. This Book Just Ate My Dog! is certainly one of those books. No matter how many times I have read this book, I laugh and smile. Every time I share this book with a child or adult, there are smiles and chuckles.

First, when you remove the cover, look what you find:

Some books also require visuals for when talking about them. The main character Bella is going out for a walk with her dog. This would normally be a simple, every day thing except for when you go for a walk in a naughty book.

Yes, odd things do happen in this book and they only get stranger.

And yes, you are reading this right. The book ate the dog! 

Poor Bella. As the book progresses, things become more and more unbelievable. And Bella must finally take charge.

Without spoiling the ending, Bella must get a little help from someone special in order to set everything back to normal. 

Even Holmes thinks you should pick up a copy of This Book Just Ate My Dog! at your local indie bookstore. 

Giveaway: 
Participants must be 13 years old or older and have a US mailing address to enter. 

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Review and Giveaway of Rory's Promise by Michaela MacColl

Rory's Promise
by Michaela MacColl & Rosemary Nichols
Calkins Creek Books (September 1, 2014)
Audience: Ages 9 to 12
Historical Fiction * Sisters * Orphans
Educator's Discussion Guide
Indie Bound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:
Twelve-year-old orphan Rory Fitzpatrick lives with her younger sister Violet at New York City's Foundling Hospital in the early 1900s. But when Rory discovers that Violet will be sent to the Arizona Territory to be adopted, her world is shattered. Although too old to be adopted herself, Rory--brave and smart--is determined to stay with her sister, even if it means hiding out on a train traveling west. When Rory and Violet arrive in Arizona, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Will Rory give up? This uplifting novel about the power of faith and the true meaning of family launches the Hidden Histories series, spotlighting little-known tales from America's past, and the children behind those stories. Includes authors' note and further resources.

Reviews/Interviews/Giveaways: Kirkus | Kirby's Lane | Middle Grade Mafiaso | Mother/Daughter Book Club | Middle Grade Minded | Unleashing Readers

Thoughts about the book:
Historical fiction has always been my favorite way to enter into history. History can be fascinating when you study the stories behind the events. However, too often we make it about a list of events and dates. Not as fun, at least in my mind. 

Michaela MacColl has written several historical fiction novels and Rory's Promise is the first in a new series of Hidden Histories by Calkins Creek Books. In this middle grade historical fiction novel, readers learn about the Great Arizona Orphan Abduction through the eyes and lives of 12 year old Rory and her five year old sister Violet. When Rory's younger sister is going to be separated from her and sent out to Arizona to be adopted, Rory must act quickly. Though there was no known quick thinking 12 year old girls helping out the Sisters, the story still captures the emotions and general experiences that would have been part of the lives of children who had indeed been on an Orphan Train during this incident.

One of the things that I particularly found fascinating with Rory's Promise is the complexity of what was happening both from the perspective of the Orphan Trains taking children away from New York and sometimes from their families, as well as, the racial tensions and prejudice against Mexican families adopting Irish Catholic children.  As I was reading the book, I keep looking up information because I wanted to know more about this event in history that I had heard little of before reading Rory's Promise.  And any book that sparks readers to want to learn more about a topic or an event is great to include as part of the classroom curriculum.

The end of the book includes an author's note and additional resources. Though the book lends itself to further discussion on its own, there is a link above to the educator's discussion guide. 

Additional information about the Orphan Trains and New York Foundling Hospital:

National Orphan Train Complex

The Foundling/New York

Official Book Trailer:

About Michaela MacColl:
Michaela attended Vassar College and Yale University earning degrees in multi-disciplinary history. Unfortunately, it took her 20 years before she realized she was learning how to write historical fiction. Her favorite stories are the ones she finds about the childhood experiences of famous people. She has written about a teenaged Queen Victoria (Prisoners in the Palace, Chronicle 2010) and Beryl Markham’s childhood (Promise the Night, Chronicle 2011). She is writing a literary mystery series for teens featuring so far a young Emily Dickinson in Nobody’s Secret (2013) and the Bronte sisters in Always Emily (2014).  She has recently begun a new series with Boyd’s Mill/Highlights called Hidden Histories about odd events in America’s past. The first entry in the series is Rory’s Promise and will be published in September 2014. She frequently visits high schools and has taught at the Graduate Institute in Bethel, CT.   She lives in Westport CT with her husband, two teenaged daughters and three extremely large cats. 

Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Rory's Promise - Thank you Calkins Creek Books for sponsoring the giveaway. Participants must be 13 years old or older to enter and have a U.S. mailing address.

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Why I read Banned Books - and Why You Should, too.

This week is Banned Books Awareness week. For me, when I grew up, my parents tried to be supportive of me as a voracious reader, and one way that they did so was to not limit my access to a wide variety of books. They would try to check everything I read (although that quickly became a Sisyphean task), but they never outright said that I couldn't read a book.  My parents would either ask that I have a discussion with them about the book after I read it (usually on a specific part of the content that they didn't agree with), or (less frequently) would tell me to wait a couple of years to read it. As I was a fairly easily frightened child back then, I do think that forcing me to wait was a good course of action. However, my parents always let there be a future opportunity for me to read a book - they believed that I deserved to have access to all different types of books, including those that presented radically different views and philosophies than what they'd taught me.

I understand that not all parents hold this view. I understand that there's content in books, particularly YA books, that many parents believe is inappropriate for kids and teens. However, those aren't good enough reasons to remove a book from libraries and classrooms. While some books have more value than others, a couple of upset parents shouldn't be allowed to arbitrate what content the students of an entire school have access to. Some of the books most frequently challenged are some of my favorites, and are often taught in schools because they have a brilliant thematic value. If those parents don't want their child to read a specific book, many schools allow alternate books to be assigned. Though access to a book is theoretically only a couple of clicks on a smartphone away, many children (myself included) discovered their favorite books in schools and libraries.  Additionally, if they think that reading one questionable book will completely subvert their efforts to raise an upright child, then there are bigger issues at hand. 

So read banned books. Go to local school board meetings and advocate against banning books in our schools. Parents, have discussions with your children instead of censoring their content. Go to a bookstore, pick up a challenged book, and enjoy the fact that in the pluralistic society we live in, access to books isn't - and shouldn't be - controlled by an indignant minority.

For more information on Banned Books Week, visit the website of the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Librarian Association and the website of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). For resources on how to combat censorship, see Judy Blume's Resource Guide/Toolkit on Book Censorship in Schools.

What are some of your favorite banned books? Have you had experience in combating censorship in local schools?

YA Fridays are brought to you by Carolyn. Carolyn is an AP student, voracious reader, competitive archer, nerd, and foodie. In the event that she is unable to become a companion of the Doctor or Sherlock’s blogger, she hopes to pursue a career as an editor in the future. You can find her on twitter at @YAlitfrenzy.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats

The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats: A Scientific Mystery
by Sandra Markle
Millbrook Press (September 1, 2014)
Audience: Grades 4 to 8
Barnes & Noble | WorldCat

Description for Good Reads:
Little brown bats do us a big favor. They eat huge numbers of insects! That helps limit the spread of diseases and the damage that insects do to farm crops. But in recent years, large populations of little brown bats have been dying off each winter. Is a virus killing them? Could climate change or pesticides be the cause? Or is it something else? Follow a team of dedicated scientists working to save the little brown bats in this real-life science mystery.

My thoughts on this book:
When I lived in New England, I tended to spot little brown bats not only outdoors but in some awkward indoor locations such as fireplace chimneys, and even hiding in a shoe in my closet. Each time, I encountered one of these ugly but cute creatures I managed to find a way to return them to their outdoor freedom with only a raised heartbeat for both of us. 

In The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats,  Markle provides readers with a mystery to solve (What is causing so many brown bats to die?) and takes them step by step through the discovery process on the way to finding what was truly dangerous to these small bats (pseudogymnoascus destructans). It was fascinating to see what scientists had to do to uncover this troubling fungus and how to also study the effect of this disease of bats and then to finally find a way to possibly combat it.

In addition to very engaging and read aloud friendly text, there are a number of resources at the end of the book. I have included, below, one of the videos that Markle mentions in her book. 

  Video: Countdown to Extinction for Little Brown Bats (referenced in book):

If you are looking for additional resources to pair with The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats, here are several that I have read and enjoyed...The Bat Scientist by Mary Kay Carson (also looks at White-nose Syndrome), A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart, and Sandra Markle's Little Lost Bat.  The latter required several tissues.  Look for a copy of The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats at your local public library or independent bookstore. 

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