The Pierce County Library Children’s Book Buzz Whitcroft is shipped off to boarding school in...
Transcript of The Pierce County Library Children’s Book Buzz Whitcroft is shipped off to boarding school in...
A young girl outgrows her
favorite dress. Her mom
consoles her by turning the
dress into a shirt. "And
my ruffly shirt became my
favoritest shirt, and I
wore it every
WEDNESDAY, because
that was my new favorite
day of the week" This is
the first of many
transformations as the
girl keeps growing and the
Jon Whitcroft is shipped
off to boarding school in
Salisbury, England when
Ghost Knight
I Had a Favorite Dress
Summer 2012
Issue 31
The Pierce County Library
Children’s Book Buzz
Pierce County
Library System
Featured Books:
☺ Ghost Night Novel
grades 3—5
☺ I Had a Favorite Dress
Picture Book grades 1—3
☺ Secrets of the Garden
Non-fiction grades 3—5
☺ The Pigeon Gets a
Cookie!? Picture Book
grades K—2
☺ My Hands Sing the Blues
Picture book biography
for grades 3—up.
☺ The Freedom Maze —
Novel grades 5—up
☺ Virginia Wolf Picture
book grades 1—3
☺ Magritte’s Marvelous
Hat— Picture Book
grades K—3
☺ Whatever After: Fairest
of All Fiction for grades
3—5
by Cornelia Funke
by Boni Ashburn
Vol. 31
"dress" keeps changing.
Each new item is assigned a
day of the week to be worn,
because that is the best
day to wear it. Cheerful
full-page pastel sketches
show all the work and
creativity that goes into
the next "dress" change. A
great book for kids who
have a "favorite item", of
which they have a hard
time letting go.
Grades 1-3
Tamara, Gig Harbor
his mother’s new boyfriend
moves in.
Salisbury is the home of one
of the oldest and greatest
cathedrals in England. It is
also purported to be
haunted by ghosts.
Jon intends to remain
miserable at school,
but shortly after arriving
he is confronted by a pack
of vengeful ghosts…ghosts
intent on killing him
because his mother’s
maiden name is Hartgill and
hundreds of years ago her
family was involved in a
murder!
Of course, no one would
believe him if he blurted out
that he was seeing
ghosts, except the one
student whose granny is
a witch! What’s a fellow
to do? How about
befriending another
ghost, the knight
Longspee, who has
dedicated himself to
protecting the innocent,
and Jon is an innocent,
isn’t he? Fantasy and
mystery all rolled up into
one fast paced, exciting
tale. This is a great read
-aloud.
Grades 3—5 Judy, Youth Services
Duckling asks for a cookie, and one
appears! Pigeon wants to know how
Duckling got a cookie, and then, in
Pigeon's overblown and very flappy
manner, wants to know why he hasn't
been able to get what he wants when
he asks for it. Pigeon recites a litany
of things he's asked for, including
trying to drive a bus, get a hot dog
party, and stay up late, in a bid to get
the author to change his mind. After
defusing the situation, the duckling
displays a marvelous mastery of
the double-entendre, sure to make
adults laugh as it sails gracefully
over the heads of children, to
close out the book. A good book
for those that are Pigeon fans and
will recognize the references to
earlier Pigeon works.
Grades K—2
Alex, University Place
a peek at his daily life in the
south. The textures and
colors of the illustrations are
muted, and some of the
collages are symbolic. The
story ends with his arrival in
Harlem. An Author’s Note
provides more information on
Romare including source
notes. Grades 3—up Tamara, Gig Harbor
This is a biographical account of Romare
Bearden, one of the lesser-known Harlem
Renaissance artists. Double-page
collages, the medium in which Romare
worked, show his early childhood in the
South and his family’s migration north.
The text sways along with the movement
and noise of the trains that he watched
and on which he rode. The discrimination
his family faced is touched on lightly in
both the text and collages, giving readers
Page 2 The Pierce County Library
Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard
The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?
by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
by Mo Willems
by Jeanne Walker Harvey
From the end page’s aerial view
of the garden to the cheerful
cartoon sketches of the
planting and growing, Alice's
family garden shows the
interaction between plants,
insects, and animals. The
family's chickens, Maisy and
Daisy, provide more detailed
information on the topics
covered in addition to the
storyline. Smaller drawings
My Hands Sing the Blues
show how plants grow,
and the text about
worms is written inside
worm tunnels. This
combination gardening
and life-cycles story
provides ecology facts in
a warm, friendly, and
appealing manner.
Grades 3—5
In 1960 13 year-old Sophie Martineau
is sent to spend the summer at her
family's old sugar plantation. An
encounter with a curious creature and
a walk through the old garden maze
sends Sophie back 100 years in time to
1860. Expecting to be embraced by her
relations, Sophie find herself sent to
the quarters, believed to be a slave
fathered by one of the white men in
the family. She learns some harsh
lessons working in the big house and
the sugar house. Sophie helps plot a
daring escape and her part in it sends
her back to 1960 physically and
emotionally changed. Her time as a slave
has given her a new kind of strength
which helps her deal with issues in the
1960’s. The interesting combination of
fantasy and historical fiction blend well
in Freedom Maze, providing a glimpse of
slave life and culture. Sophie's return
to the future is not without its bumps,
and she finds herself missing her time
with her slave "family". This is a
compelling read about race, families,
and relationships.
Grades 5—up
Tamara, Gig Harbor
This creatively written and illustrated story is modeled after the
paintings of surrealist artist René Magritte. In the story, Magritte
is depicted as a well-dressed, dapper dog who finds a hat that
inspires him in his work whenever he is wearing it. Although the hat
leaves for a time, seemingly taking with it Magritte’s creative
abilities, the two are reunited in the end and his creativity restored.
Grades K—3
Alison, Early Learning
Issue 31
Magritte’s Marvelous Hat
The Freedom Maze
Page 3
by Delia Sherman
by D. B. Johnson
In this story of two close-knit sisters,
one is bright and sunny and the other
quite often feels blue and behaves
wolfishly. Although sister Virginia
remains wolfish throughout much of
the story, her older sister Vanessa is
eventually able to snap her out of her
funk by painting “Bloomsbury” – the
world of Virginia’s imagination. By the
end of the story, the two sisters have
by Kyo Maclear Virginia Wolf
joined hands to go out to
play. This story is based very
loosely on famous sisters
Virginia Woolf and Vanessa
Bell.
Grades 1—3
Alison, Early Learning
Administration Center
3005 112th St E
Tacoma, WA 98446
Pierce County Library
and Jonah disrupt Snow’s
usual tale and for a time it
seems Snow may be a
housekeeper for seven
dwarves eternally. They
persevere and vanquish evil
so all is right in the end.
This is a fun fracturing of
the tale. This princess
doesn’t wait around for
Prince Charming to save
her but ends up happily
ever after with him
anyway. Can’t wait to see
where the magic mirror
sends Abby and Jonah
next!
Grades 3—5
Genevieve, South Hill
“Once upon a time my life was
normal. Then the mirror in our
basement ate us.” So begins
our story, first in a new middle
grade series by the hilarious
Sara Mlynowski. Our narrator
(logical, practical Abby) has
just moved to Smithville and
joined a new fifth grade class.
Everything is a little different
in Smithville and it is hard to
adjust. Abby is an older sister
and responsible for an
adventurous 7 year-old
brother, Jonah, a sure recipe
for disaster. Jonah wakes up
a magic mirror he finds in the
basement that sends them to
the land of Snow White. Abby
Phone: 253-548-3424
E-mail: [email protected]
Whatever After: Fairest of All
www.piercecountylib
rary.org
Information &
Imagination
by Sarah Mlynowski
Science!
Science!
Science!
Science!
Puppets! Storytelling!Storytelling!Storytelling!Storytelling!
Books!
MAGIC !MAGIC !MAGIC !MAGIC !
Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! www.piercecountylibrary.org