Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: February New Releases

As part of the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge, one of my favorite things is to round-up as many new quality nonfiction books for children and share them with readers of this blog.  Some months, I miss the release of books and add them to the next month's post.  Since I have not seen every book listed, I cannot always confirm if they are truly a nonfiction book or more of an informational fiction text or a bit of historical fiction.  

Links to an earlier post: January

February 2

Living in...Brazil by Chloe Perkins; Illustrated by Tom Woolley (Simon Spotlight)

Living in...Italy by Chloe Perkins; Illustrated by Tom Woolley (Simon Spotlight)

Living Fossils: Clues to the Past by Caroline Arnold; Illustrated by Andrew Plant (Charlesbridge)

Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World's Perfectly Pink Animals by Jess Keating (Knopf Books)

February 16

Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber by Sue Macy; Illustrated by C.F. Payne (Simon & Schuster)

Now You See Them, Now You Don't by David Harrison; Illustrated by Giles Laroche (Charlesbridge)

February 23

Elizabeth Started All of the Trouble by Doreen Rapport; Illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Disney-Hyperion)

Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater; Illustrated by Dylan Metrano (Orchard Books)

Fabulous Frogs by Martin Jenkins; Illustrated by Tim Hopgood (Candlewick Press)

It's Getting Hot in Here! The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Change by Bridget Heos (HMH Books for Young Readers)

Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly by Deborah Noyes (Viking Books for Young Readers)

This is the Earth by Diane Z. Shore, Jessica Alexander; Illustrated by Wendell Minor (Disney-Hyperion)

If you are interested in learning more about Nonfiction for Children, and discussing books with others who enjoy reading nonfiction, come join the GoodReads Mock Sibert group. For more information, check out last week's post, here. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction review...

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - 2/1/16

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys.  Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Recently, I have been exploring lots and lots of early readers and early chapter books in preparation for a series of blog posts I am working on. Here are some of the books that I have been reading or rereading:

Early Readers - old favorites (and a couple of new ones)

Early Readers that I just picked up - exploring titles I haven't read - some new and some old

Early Chapter Books - recent purchases - exploring some new titles (the 2 bottom ones are for older readers. 

Check out my GoodReads page for more information on these books and others.

Here are a couple of books that stood out from the pile:

The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy by Beatrice Alemagna (Enchanted Lion Books, 2015) - the winner of the 2016 Batchelder Award. I really enjoyed this one.

The Great Pet Escape by Victoria Jamieson (Henry Holt, & Co., February 16, 2016) - 2016 Newbery Honor winner Victoria Jamieson has a fun new graphic novel coming out in the middle of February. This was a fun read and for 2nd to 4th grade readers. 

All Paws on Deck: Haggis and Tank Unleashed #1 by Jessica Young; Illustrated by James Burks (Scholastic, January 5, 2016) - Many of you are familiar with James Burks books but in this graphic novel, Burks illustrates the story written by Jessica Young. If you haven't checked out the Branches series from Scholastic, they will particularly appeal to high 1st grade readers to 4th grade readers.

If you love Ballet Cat by Bob Shea, there is still time to enter to win both books and a plush toy. Click here for details. 

So, what are you reading?

YA Friday Book Review: The White Rose

The White Rose
by Amy Ewing
HarperTeen (October 6, 2015)
Audience: Young Adult
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:

"Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.

But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.

But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?

The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments."

Carolyn's thoughts on the book: 
The Jewel was one of my favorite dystopian novels of 2014, combining the glamour of the Selection series with the horrific of commodification of women bodies in Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale. Premised as a necessary and honorable undertaking, girls from the outermost circle of the Lone City are tested for abilities that allow them to be surrogates for the royalty; if the test is positive, they are requisitioned by the government to be trained and auctioned off. In the first novel, The Jewel, the reader accompanies Violet as she finishes her training and is auctioned off to one of the most important royal houses. The lavish surroundings do little to ease the horror at her complete loss of agency in every aspect of her life, but then our protagonist discovers that her life is at stake — as well as the lives of all the surrogates. Soon, Violet is embroiled in plans of escape, while trying to stop herself from falling in love with Ash, the hired companion for the house. But after Violet and Ash are discovered, they are forced to flee in the heart-racing first chapters of The White Rose. The pace quickly changes, becoming slower and calmer — a departure from the feverish wonderment (and in turn, growing horror) that set the tone in the first novel. The underlying emotion is more subtle as Violet learns to tap into her true abilities, and all the while revolution brews - and Violet's struggle to navigate between her own aspirations, the political agenda of the Black Key (the group that aided her escape), and the slow path towards that revolution is reflected in the novel's structure to better parallel the protagonist's inner turmoil. Violet's relationship with Ash is vastly different outside of their bondage, and their relationship troubles read as sincere and honest instead of the shallow drama so often seen in YA. Where many dystopian trilogies fail is the middle book — it's all too easy to let the character development and plot fall by the wayside while focusing on the impending revolution in the last novel, but the complex subtly of The White Rose gives me great hope for the final book of the Lone City series this fall.

The White Rose is a great read for fans of dystopia, fantasy, science fiction, bioethics, action, and romance. 

Carolyn is a teen blogger who shares her favorite YA reads and favorite book related finds with readers on Fridays. 

Book Review & Giveaway: Ballet Cat

Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!
by Bob Shea
Disney-Hyperion (February 2, 2016)
Audience: Ages 3-6

ABOUT THE BOOKS
The Totally Secret Secret
Ballet Cat and Sparkles the Pony are trying to decide what to play today. Nothing that Sparkles suggests--making crafts, playing checkers, and selling lemonade--goes well with the leaping, spinning, and twirling that Ballet Cat likes to do. When Sparkles's leaps, spins, and twirls seem halfhearted, Ballet Cat asks him what's wrong. Sparkles doesn't want to say. He has a secret that Ballet Cat won't want to hear. What Sparkles doesn't know is that Ballet Cat has a secret of her own, a totally secret secret. Once their secrets are shared, will their friendship end, or be stronger than ever?

Dance! Dance! Underpants!
Ballet Cat is getting her friend Butter Bear ready for her big ballet debut. "Leap, Butter Bear, leap!" Ballet Cat prompts. But Butter Bear would prefer to just point her toe. When Ballet Cat keeps pushing, Butter Bear gets hungry, then thirsty, then sleepy . . . The bottom line is that Butter Bear would rather do almost anything to avoid making a big leap. Why? Because her bottom is covered in silly underpants! This second entry in the Ballet Cat series will have beginning readers rolling on the floor with laughter.

Quick thoughts about the books:
When I first read, Ballet Cat: The Totally Secret Secret!, I smiled.  I read a lot of early readers and I enjoy many but few make me say "wow". Ballet Cat has a totally adorable main character and a collection of friends like Sparkles the Pony and Butter Bear.  Ballet Cat has a bigger than life personality. Her friends learn to negotiate in order to find balance in their friendship.

However, before the resolution of conflict, there is a lot of fun. 

And other entertainnig characters.  If you have not seen Ballet Cat, go find the first book and enjoy it before the second book comes out on February 2nd.

Look for a copy at your local indie bookstore or public library.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Shea is the author of the first book about Ballet Cat: THE TOTALLY SECRET SECRET, the Dinosaur vs. series, and several other picture books, including DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD and UNICORN THINKS HE'S PRETTY GREAT. He and his wife have their own design studio in Madison, Connecticut

Giveaway:

BALLET CAT COLLECTION prize pack

One (1) winner receives:

·         Copies of TOTALLY SECRET SECRET and DANCE! DANCE! UNDERPANTS

·         Plus a plush BALLET CAT by MerryMakers Inc.

 Giveaway open to US addresses only.
Prizing and samples provided by Disney-Hyperion.

Per FTC disclosure guidelines, samples and prizing are provided by Disney-Hyperion.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Mock Sibert Group on GoodReads

For the past 3 years, Kid Lit Frenzy has hosted a Mock Sibert as part of the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge/Wednesdays meme. Each year the Mock Sibert award has grown from just this blog to including Unleashing Readers co-hosting and then to including There’s A Book for That and then to anyone who wanted to participate.

2016 Sibert Award Winner

2016 Mock Sibert | 2015 Mock Sibert | 2014 Mock Sibert

2015 Sibert Award Winner

This year, Kellee Moye from Unleashing Readers proposed to a small group of us the idea of expanding the Mock Sibert to a Book Group on GoodReads.  There are currently groups for a Mock Newbery, and a Mock Caldecott, and a Mock Printz.  We felt it was time for a Mock Sibert group. By starting this, we get to discuss books all year long.  

2014 Sibert Award Winner

Come join us on Goodreads at the Mock Sibert Book Club!

First, go to GROUPS at the top of the Goodreads home page.

Please make sure to answer our new member’s question, and we will approve you to jump into our conversation!

Our plan for the group is for group members to start discussions about any nonfiction books that they feel are 2017 Sibert Award contenders. Then within those discussion boards, we will discuss the books we each “nominate.” At the end of December, we will vote for the books we feel need to be looked at again. We'll then have a FINALISTS discussion board where we look closer at each of the books with an eye specifically towards the Sibert criteria. Following our discussions, we will vote for what we believe will be the finalists. We'll then have a WINNER discussion board where we look again at the books we voted as finalists and discuss who we think will win. About a week before the 2017 ALA Media Awards, with enough time to blog about our winner and finalists, if participants would like, we'll vote for the winner.

Hope you will come join us!

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews: