Authors and Publishers, I am happy to receive ARCs and published children's, middle grade, and YA books for review. When I finish it, I will review it. If you need the review posted in a certain time period, please let me know and I will move it to the top of the stack. Please note: my reviews are honest, but they are my opinion. If you don't want that, please don't ask. Email Me for reviews.
Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at The Printed Page. You can read all about it at the Mailbox Monday blog. Well, the mailbox has gone on tour. This month's host is Library of Clean Reads.
I love this meme because it lets me take a peek into other bloggers' mailboxes and find out what they received over the last week. I will warn you, it does lead to more books as you will find many that you want because of others mailboxes. If you'd like to join in on the fun, post about your books and link up!
I had a pretty big week this week, so there's only one picture of all the books stacked up. This week I only had to make one trip to the post office because there was a package that wouldn't fit in the mailbox. Clicking on the book titles will take you to their Goodreads page.
About the Book: Life isn't like the movies, and eleven-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935, and jobs and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mama gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye without a tear and heads off to Key West, Florida, to stay with relatives she's never met.
Florida's like nothing Turtle has ever seen. It's hot and strange, full of wild green peeping out between houses, ragtag boy cousins, and secret treasure. Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she has spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the most unexpected ways.
My Review: What a good little book! It took me about 2 hours to read it all because I wanted to know what happened. I love that it is based on real people, places, and events. Jennifer Holm does a great job with this story for 9-12 year olds.
I have to say, that I love Turtle! She is just so tough and sweet at the same time! How horrible, to be sent to live with your aunt because your mom's boss doesn't like kids. Probably didn't make her feel good, but she made the best of what could have been a real bad situation. Her aunt didn't know she was coming, her cousins don't want to share the house with a girl, and she misses her mom! But, she grows to love Key West and you will too after reading this.
Holm's descriptions of Key West are so vivid that you can almost see it, and feel as if you are there right alongside Turtle as she walks the streets with her cousins and the "Diaper Gang." What's great is that at the end of the story, Holm gives us actual photos of some of the people and places that are mentioned in the book, or the people or places that they were based on. I love having that to compare with my "mental movie" of the book! It really brings the book to life.
What was once her most prized possession, a pair of shoes, becomes something that's no longer needed at her new home. I felt like the shoes were a pivotal part of the book. Turtle holds on to those as if that will keep her from forgetting her past, or the future that she and her mom have planned with Archie. But, when Turtle loses one shoe, she seems to lose part of her hope that mom will come back. She is growing to like it in Key West and proceeds to become one of the barefoot neighborhood traipsing children. As a matter of fact, she realizes that Key West just might be the future she wasn't looking for.
Turtle learns a lot about herself in this book, and the author does a great job of letting the reader figure it out slowly. It is really fun to see how the story unfolds and everyone fits together. If you have children who love a good story and want to learn a little about the past in a place they may not know about, then pick this up for them. You might enjoy it as well!
(go to Sammy Keyes to be able to participate in Crack the Code with Sammy Keyes)
People often ask me how I come up with the “quirky characters” in the Sammy Keyes books. Well, sometimes they just show up. Like the Elvis impersonator who works the night shift at Maynard’s Market. Sammy walked in the door and there he was. And Madame Nashira—in a cosmic poof of smoke, there she was. I love when a character appears like that. It’s surprising, and usually makes me laugh out loud. Like, yeah, you definitely belong here. Let’s go!
Sometimes the quirk in the character comes from real life. There’s nothing’s quirkier than real life. In Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, the crazy cat lady was modeled after a woman I knew. It wasn’t the cat part—she didn’t own cats. It was the appearance part. This woman tried to look like Barbie. She had the super-bleached hair, and wore ghastly amounts of makeup and clothes that would look cute on a fifteen year old. Trouble is, she had to be around sixty. I actually liked my neighbor quite a lot. She was sweet and friendly, but she was trying so hard to hold on to her princess years that I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Not sorry enough not to use her as a basis for a character, but see, that’s the thing with characters. They often start as someone you know, but after some time and a few chapters, they evolve into their own person.
But often characters acquire their quirks along the way. Like in Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, I knew Sammy was going to come upon a hunched-over old woman who was walking along the side of the road. What I didn’t know was that this hunched-over old woman would be walking a pig. A big black pig. A big black pig with a big black bow around its neck. A pig named Penny. But there I was, typing away at my story when the pig inserted itself. I’m like, What’s this pig doing in my story? But there it was, and suddenly the hunched-over old woman had some real spunk. Some real personality. I mean, what kind of old person has a big pig as a pet? Not a boring one, that’s for sure.
Wherever they come from, I like the quirky characters the best. They make me laugh, and they make me think. I mean, what do I want to be like when I grow up? Do I want to be the kind of old lady who has a pig as a pet? Or the kind who paints her lipstick way outside the lines? Or do I just want to be rock solid like Grams.
Or maybe I’ll be the old lady riding across the parking lot on the back of the shopping cart, going “Outta my way, sonny! I’m comin’ through!”
Maybe I’ll wind up in some young whippersnapper’s story.
Talk about poetic justice!
Anyway, thank you, Shelly, for inviting me to stop in on my Sammy Keyes blog tour. This has been fun and I appreciate the opportunity to share some inside information about where the characters in Sammy’s world come from. Tomorrow Sammy Keyes is actually stepping in for me at Mundie Moms (http://mundiemoms.blogspot.com/) I’m a little nervous, ‘cause there’s just no telling what that girl might say.
Here are the other stops on Wendelin's tour...
Wendelin Van Draanen
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash Blog Tour
Today, I am pleased to be one of the stops on the blog tour for a new graphic novel from Random House, The Sons of Liberty! I am a huge fan of historical fiction and love to learn about our country's history, so when I heard about this book for kids, I had to jump on board the tour. History is fascinating to me, but it seems that more and more, the kids today, don't share that same fascination, and many of them don't know the history of our country. What better way to teach them, than through a graphic novel, which we all know is the rage with kids right now.
The Sons of Liberty is written by The Lagos Brothers, who have graciously stopped by today, to share their thoughts with you. Let's hear what they have to say, and then I'll share the book with you.
New Jersey in the 70’s was a unique place and time. We were the first to get the spill over and hype on all the big new comic books coming out of New York. Marvel was riding high and the creators made public appearances to which our parents happily delivered us. I remember when they took us to St. Petersburg Park in Elizabeth. I was about five; Joseph was about nine. Stan Lee was there giving away free “Power Records”. These were comic books that you read along with a 45 rpm record. Joseph, being the older brother, had the luck of weaving his way through the throng of excited kids to engage this amazing creator. Mr. Lee shook his hand and yelled out “Excelsior!” I, unfortunately, was held back by our mother’s hand and had to watch the whole thing from the sidelines with big jealous eyes. Joseph came back from the crowd beaming and carrying about a dozen comics. Back home we played the records and I sat next to my brother as he turned the page when the record would ding at the end of every scene. We were on cloud nine. The stories of good versus evil, masked vigilantes, secret identities and super powers swept us away. When we finished, I ran over and smashed my superhero action figures together. Joseph, on the other hand, was off on a flight of imagination, writing in his notebooks. Exhausted from beating the hell out of my toys, I jumped onto my bed and under my Spider-Man blankets and listened to my brother read his stories. And I was right back on cloud nine. Joseph stuck with it and blossomed as a writer always sharing his incredible stories with me. Idolizing him, I tried to keep up; stapling notebook paper together and writing and drawing my own comic book adventures. Little did we know that all those years of sharing our imagination with each other would culminate into our writing of The Sons of Liberty. Funny thing is, I am still trying to keep up with him. I should have spent less time smashing my toys.
About the Book: Forget everything you thought you knew about America's early days-history packs a punch in this full-color, two-fisted, edge-of-your-seat adventure!
Graphic novels are a revolution in literature, and The Sons of Liberty is a graphic novel like no other. Visual and visceral, fusing historical fiction and superhero action, this is a tale with broad appeal-for younger readers who enjoy an exciting war story, for teenagers asking hard questions about American history, for adult fans of comic books, for anyone seeking stories of African American interest, and for reluctant readers young and old.
In Colonial America, Graham and Brody are slaves on the run-until they gain extraordinary powers. At first they keep a low profile. But their mentor has another idea-one that involves the African martial art dambe . . . and masks.
With its vile villains, electrifying action, and riveting suspense, The Sons of Liberty casts new light on the faces and events of pre-Revolution America, including Ben Franklin and the French and Indian War. American history has rarely been this compelling-and it's never looked this good.
You can follow the Lagos Brothers as they tour the blogosphere. Yesterday they stopped at Trouble with Comics, and tomorrow they will be at Largehearted Boy. You can also find them and everything you wanted to know about the book at their website, The Sons of Liberty.
Look for a review of this book later this week, but I do have an extra copy for giveaway. Please comment on this post about why you think you would like this book, and you'll be entered to win. If you tweet about it, post it on Facebook, or let me know you are a follower of this blog, you will gain an extra entry for each. You have until Thursday, June 3 at midnight, to enter.
Random House Children’s Books and Kids Crooked House Team Up to Host Magic Tree House Essay Contest
Grand-Prize Winner Receives Custom Designed Kids Crooked House Playhouse
Inspired by Mary Pope Osborne’s bestselling Magic Tree House Book Series
NEW YORK, NY – April 26, 2010 - Random House Children’s Books and Kids Crooked House are kicking off an essay contest for kids to promote adventure, imagination, and creativity: themes that are all reflected in Mary Pope Osborne’s bestselling Magic Tree House series. The grand-prize winner will be awarded their own Magic Tree House: a custom designed playhouse by Kids Crooked House, creators of the most whimsical playhouses for children. Ten runner-up winners will receive a Magic Tree House book autographed by Mary Pope Osborne, beloved author of the wildly popular New York Times bestselling series that has now sold nearly 70 million copies.
The Magic Tree House series, first published in 1992, follows brother and sister duo Jack and Annie as they journey back in time via a magic tree house, traveling to exotic places and meeting famous historical figures. Children interested in entering the essay contest must submit a response to this question: Write about an adventure you would like to have in the Magic Tree House. Where would you go and what would you do? Mary Pope Osborne will review the submissions and choose the winner.
Essay entry forms are available for download at MagicTreeHouse.com and must be mailed to Random House offices at 1745 Broadway New York, NY 10019. Entries will be accepted from April 27 through October 31, 2010. The winners will be announced in mid December 2010.
“There is nothing more exciting than a child using their imagination and this essay contest is a great outlet. No one knows boundless imagination better than Mary Pope Osborne, a truly creative and artistic author. Kids Crooked House is honored to work with Ms. Osborne and a partner like Random House to help make this an exciting endeavor for many children,” said Glen Halliday, creative director and CEO for Kids Crooked House.
Kids Crooked House is inspired by, and infused with, Maine and its natural wonders. Glen and his cousin, Jeff Leighton, built their first crooked house because they loved being outside and wanted their kids to love it, too. Glen and Jeff’s goal is to encourage children to use their imaginations as wildly as possible, and with the diverse range of playhouses Kids Crooked House offers, it isn’t very hard to do.
“I’m so excited about this contest, knowing it will inspire an adventure and allow children to be as creative as they dare. I can’t wait to read their ideas, and learn about where they would like to go! This essay contest touches on my main goal in writing the Magic Tree House books: to encourage children to go on adventures using their own imaginations,” said Mary Pope Osborne.
About Random House Children’s Books and the MAGIC TREE HOUSE Series
Random House Children’s Books is the world’s largest English-language children's trade book publisher. Creating books for preschool children through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books and novels, Random House Children’s Books brings together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series.
It is the proud and longtime publisher of Mary Pope Osborne’s celebrated Magic Tree House series, which has now sold nearly 70 million copies and has been translated into 28 different languages in 31 countries since it was first published in 1992. The series is widely regarded among children, teachers, and parents alike for its power to instill a passion for reading. Teachers and kids can experience even more Magic Tree House fun on the interactive Web site www.magictreehouse.com, which features games and activities for children and teaching tools and materials for educators.
Random House Books for Young Readers is an imprint of the Random House Children’s Books division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG. Visit us on the Web at www.randomhouse.com/kids.
About Kids Crooked House
Based in Windham, Maine, Kids Crooked House was founded by fun-loving dads Glen Halliday and Jeff Leighton, who couldn’t find a unique, affordable, and imaginative playhouse for their young kids. They looked in all the big home centers and scoured dozens of Web sites. The products either looked like a tool shed for lawnmowers or like a small city with a price to match. For the graphic designer and carpenter-electrician, the answer was simple: Build one of their own. The entire neighborhood was soon hanging out in Glen’s backyard. So FUNky was his kid’s new crooked house, the rest is (becoming) history. For more information about Kids Crooked House, visit http://www.kidscrookedhouse.com/
Review Copy Provided by: Random House Children's Books
About the Book: SMOOCH! Little ones will love to press the sound button to give Bunny and his friends lots of sweet kisses! Filled with classic art and touch-and-feel elements on every page, this interactive book is the perfect baby gift!
My Review: This is a sweet little board book! It's not your typical board book as it's shaped like a heart. Random House originally released it in December, 2007 as the perfect Valentine's gift, but since it is a Pat the Bunny book, I felt it was just as appropriate for an Easter basket.
Each page has something different for your little one to touch and feel: a curtain, a pig's belly, a kitten's tummy, a puppy's blanket, and teddy's tummy. Each page talks about Bunny kissing the other animal and when that happens, you or your child can push the button on the book to make a kissing sound. Kids are sure to love that!
Like other Pat the Bunny books, the colors are muted and the pictures are big and bold to catch a little one's eye. This is one that the little one in your life is sure to enjoy!
I thought, that for the next two weeks, I would post daily about books that would be good to give for the holidays. The books I will be posting are either holiday titles, or books that I myself will be giving as gifts. If you are a book lover like me, then you probably love to give books to the people you love.
Today, I have 3 holiday books for you, courtesy of Random House, and the great news is that 3 of you will have a chance to win your choice of these books. I have not received my review copies yet, so I'm just going to give you the descriptions. My hope, is that you will find a book to give to someone, through these posts.
On the first night of Hanukkah, two tricky devils arrive in the town of Brisk to cause mischief. They use a magic word — Zigazak! — to make dreidels dance and latkes fly. The good citizens of Brisk panic and appeal to their wise rabbi for help. He triumphs over the devils in a contest of wits, and soon sends them packing. But his real triumph is the ability to see the good in all things, even devils’ tricks, helping the townsfolk enjoy their most magical Hanukkah ever.
The Grinch hates Christmas, and wants to stop it from coming. So he forms a devious plan: to impersonate Santy Claus and to steal the Whos’ Christmas presents. But come Christmas morning, the Grinch is in for a shocking surprise. He did NOT stop Christmas from coming! And the Grinch realizes something new. That maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. That maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!
Now always available with a foil cover!
Random House
August 11, 2009
$15.00 / $18.99
Ages 6–9
64 pages
First published in 1956, this much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic. We are proud to be reprinting this warm and delicately illustrated edition of A Christmas Memory--"a tiny gem of a holiday story" (School Library Journal, starred review). Seven-year-old Buddy inaugurates the Christmas season by crying out to his cousin, Miss Sook Falk: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls--one young and one old--and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.
Alfred A. Knopf
October 10, 2006
$17.95 / $23.95 Can.
Ages 12 up
48 pages
Thanks to my friends at Random House, one of these books could be yours to either gift or keep for yourself. Just leave me a comment as to which one(s) you would like, by Sunday at midnight, and I'll randomly pick 3 winners on Monday, Dec. 14th. Winners will recieve one of the 3 books.
Halloween is meant to be a time for treats, and what better to treat you with than books?! I have the awesome opportunity, thanks to my friends at Random House, to offer my readers some fabulous books that are halloween related in one way or another.
Take a look at the titles and descriptions, and leave a comment as to which one you would like to win. You can pick more than one, if you are interested. I will choose one commenter for each book. Since Halloween is Saturday, this will be a quick contest. I will choose the winners next Friday.
So, comment and get the word out via your blog, twitter, facebook, whatever. I will give extra entries for spreading the word, as long as you leave me a link to where you post it. You can also have an extra entry if you are a follower of my blog: new or old. Also leave your email address or I won't be able to contact you should you win. Look for past contest winners to be announced this weekend and more contests to come.
For the young reader looking for a spooky, fireside read:
The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein
Zack, Judy, and Zipper are back! Judy and Zack are planning to spend a few weeks in Chatham, Connecticut, rehearsing for a new musical based on Judy’s bestselling children’s books. Too bad the theater is haunted with a cast of its own, and the director has other plans—to raise a horde of evil specters from the dead. With the help of a new friend, Megan, Zack is back in spook-busting action, but can he escape the evil clutches of a necromancer director and some menacing demonic spirits?
For the slightly more advanced reader looking for a funny, clever romp:
Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck by Dale E. Basye
This sequel to Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go finds Marlo left behind in Heck when Milton escapes in a “soul balloon” made of old clothes. Marlo is sent straight to Rapacia, the circle where greedy kids are tormented daily by a glittering shopper’s paradise called Mallvana that’s always just out of reach. Back on Earth, Milton’s having his own issues. He’s got to find a way to communicate with Marlo and get her out of Heck, but it’s hard to concentrate when his body and soul don’t seem to hold together like they used to.
For the teen girl looking for romance with a supernatural twist:
The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore
A broken leg has put a halt to Sylvie Davis’s ballet career, and her broken home causes even more pain. After her father’s death and her mother’s remarriage, Sylvie sets herself on a road to self-destruction. Her mother intervenes, sending her off for the summer to her relatives in Alabama, where a distant cousin is restoring the family home. It turns out that the house, and her family, have more history than Sylvie imagined. Two handsome guys only add to the drama when they begin vying for her affections.
Then she starts seeing things. Sylvie’s lost nearly everything—is she starting to lose her mind as well? With a spirited, spot-on heroine, richly drawn setting, and plenty of suspense to keep the pages turning, this southern gothic romance is sure to enthrall teen readers.
I am excited to bring you this guest post as part of the Going Bovine Blog Tour. I am in the middle of reading Libba's book right now, and I have to say, I LOVE IT! There will be a review as soon as I finish. I was hoping to have my review ready for you today, along with this post, but I can't do that without finishing the book. I'm thrilled to be reading another book with a male main character. The book reads like I'm inside the mind of a teenager. I haven't read anything like this in a while. It's fresh and realistic...a great read!
When I was asked to participate in this blog, Meg at Random House, asked me to come up with a specific subject for Libba's post. Well, that wasn't hard. I wanted to know how she came up with the title, the signifigance behind it. Ever since I started seeing the book around the blogosphere, I've been intrigued by the title and what the book would be about. So, from that, we have "The Impossible Dream."
“The Impossible Dream”
My new book, Going Bovine, is loosely based on Miguel Cervantes’ classic novel, Don Quixote. I’m embarrassed to say that my fascination with that great classic probably all started with a vaguely remembered dinner theatre production of “The Man of La Mancha,” the somewhat cheesy musical based on Don Quixote. (Really, when we are talking levels of cheese, it doesn’t get much more queso than a dinner theatre version of TMOLM. That’s like cheese squared, which is now my new band name. “Hello, Cleveland! We are Cheese Squared!” But I digress.) My mom and I used to sit at the piano and sing Broadway songs (oh, the humanity…) and one of them was “The Impossible Dream.” That song always made me cry. Apparently, I was the world’s weariest seven-year-old. They should have given me my own bar stool.
But c’mon—it had lyrics like this: “To dream…the impossible dream/To fight…the unfightable foe/To bear…with unbearable sorrow/To run…where the brave dare not go…” Any song that uses an egregious amount of ellipses has me at hello.
I identified with Don Quixote’s tilting at windmills, with his noble ideals and impossible quest, which everyone else saw as mad. I remembered it as a celebration of this. But in rereading Cervantes’ novel, I saw that he was, of course, mocking those very ideals. This is not the madman as wise fool.
Aw-kward….
To play the association game, “The Man of La Mancha” is to Don Quixote as vanilla pudding is to habanera sauce.
Don Quixote is hailed as “the first modern novel.” And it is surprising how accurate this is. It’s like Monty Python traveled back in time with Kurt Vonnegut to write a massive treatise on absurdity in Spanish. It’s no wonder Terry Gilliam wanted to direct the movie version. It is weird and brutally satiric. It’s hilarious and sad. And it challenges us to examine the illusions to which we hold fast , the status we take as quo, when, if I may quote Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible, “the status is not quo.”
Don Quixote left me with questions I wanted to explore for myself: What is insanity? How do you define insanity in an insane world? What really matters then? How do we ever know what’s real and what’s not? My “real” might be somebody else’s delusion. How do we keep scratching away at the glossy surface of life and find what’s individually authentic while living in a society that is designed to reject both authenticity and individualism? Do we need certain illusions in order to live fully? Do we sometimes need to tilt at a few windmills as a way of raging back against the inevitable?
Life IS an impossible quest, because the truth is, at some point, we all have to let go of certain illusions, like the idea that we will live forever. Eventually, we have to die. (I’m sorry if I’m the one breaking this news to you. Would you like a cookie? I find there is very little existentialism in cookies. Unless it’s one of those jelly cookies, which is just a wrong thing to do to pastry.) Hopefully, we get in a lot of living first.
And that seemed the crux of the matter. What, I wondered, was there to do about my feelings that Alonso Quixano, Don Quixote, was both deluded and not? Could I find a balance between the cynicism of Cervantes and the sentimental idealism of “The Man of La Mancha?” In the end, I went back to the quote from Don Quixote that opens Going Bovine: “Take my advice and live for a long, long time, because the maddest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die.” Ah, I thought, that’s not a completely sucktastic place to start. And so, there was the creation of an alter ego Don Quixote—sixteen-year-old Cameron, the slacker kid polar opposite of a knight errant, pressed into a quest he does not want, setting off on adventures both mad and impossible, and in the end, hopefully necessary, an unreachable star brushed with a fingertip for a moment—singing optional.
Make sure to stop by these other blogs to read their blog tour posts on Going Bovine.
Great News: I have a hard cover of Going Bovine to give away. Why do you want to read it? Answer that question and you are entered! Contest will run from now until 7th. US/Canada addresses only!
