Summer's Almost Over!

I spent the day at Plympton Library getting things ready for next week...book displays, contests, meetings with teachers, and of course, checking in with Tortuga to see what he's been up to this summer.  (Lots of resting!)

I hope you had a great summer!  I read about 20 books and went lots of cool places, and thanks to everyone who gave me good ideas for books to read!

You still have one more week to do some reading, and if you tell me about your book here, you get to come to the library when school starts and get a free poster from my trip to library land in California--lots of kids have already done this!

So go get one more book--do some reading and let me know what it was!!  See you next week.

Your library pal,
Ms. Paradis

Vacation with Books

Hello,
I am leaving this morning to go to Maine for a big family party and then some hiking in a beautiful place called Bar Harbor.  It has a National Park and if you've never been there, promise me you will go there when  you grow up.

Thanks to everyone who recommended I read The Candymakers.  I've packed that plus a book called Heart of a Samurai that lots of librarians recommended.  I also have a bunch of books for people my own age.  I just hope I can lift the bag with so many books packed.

So...there are just a few weeks till school starts--what is the ONE book you wanted to read that you haven't gotten to yet?  If you don't have a good idea, get down to the library on Main St. and tell them you need some good books!  They have a ton.

See you soon,
Ms. Paradis

Next week I'm going to Maine, but before I leave I'm getting some new books ready for kids to borrow from Plympton Library when I return.  I haven't read any of these yet, and am trying to decide which ones to try first.  If you get to read any of them before I do, let me know what you think...and if you don't, look for them when school starts.  So here's what I've been looking at today:

Titanic by Gordon Korman--a trilogy that follows four kids on this famous ship as they set sail, solve crimes, and apparently work together to save lives as the ship goes down.  Sure to be a hit with 4th graders.

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass--contestants vie to see who can create the best new candy in a competition that is more than it seems.  The kids involve must solve a mystery, and this book is getting a good buzz from readers in 4th grade through middle school.  On the Mass. Children's Book Award list.

Falling In by Frances Roarke Dowell--a fantasy on the Mass. Children's Book Award list that involves a perfectly normal kid who falls into fairy tale land.  Unfortunately, she's wearing her pointy-toe boots, which gets everyone there convinced that she's THE WITCH.


Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine--A girl with Asperberger's syndrome struggles to make sense of things after her world falls apart.  This book comes highly recommended for kids in grades 4 to 8 and yes, it's on the Mass. Children's Book Award list.

Agent Amelia by Michael Broad--Looks like the start of a great series for kids in grades 3 and up.  Amelia Kidd is a secret agent who stops evil geniuses even though she's just a kid.

Cloudy With a Chance of Boys by Megan McDonald.  The author of the Judy Moody  series explains what happens when all the girls start to get "boy crazy," and one girl--Stevie--isn't sure she likes this at all.  Her older sister thinks boys are dreamy, and her younger sister thinks frogs beat boys any day.  Stevie's not sure who's right.


Scarlett & Crimson by Allyson Black is a new series about best friends who have a band and also spend time figuring out how to work around "the Leetz"--a group of girls who act like they own the school.  Their band DarqStartz lets them find lots of new friends,and the book is written with lots of illustrations...a bit like a graphic novel.


Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby is a fantasy about three children who discover that a host of magic secrets come together and learn that each of them knows something that will solve an important mystery for the other two.  Highly recommended by lots of middle school readers this year.

So which one should I read first?

Friday was the last day of the Plympton Summer Program and we spent the day looking at some new books that just came in.  Of all the books we looked at, kids really liked three of them a lot, so maybe you will too! If you cannot find these at the city library this summer, I will have them at the Plympton Library in September (which is not too far away at all!).  Here are our three favorites:

• Sea of Dreams by Dennis Nolan is a picture book without words that tells the story of the adventures that take place in a sand castle after the girl who built it goes home for the night.  
• Gingerbread Man Loose in School by Laura Murray is a comic book-style picture book about a Gingerbread Man who runs AFTER some kids who leave him behind when it is time for recess.  It is a very funny twist on the traditional story.
• The Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle tells what happens when the Gingerbread Man leaves his book in the library and runs along the shelves.  As he passes each section of the library, animals, jokesters, robots, and everyone from the biography section tries to catch him, but it is the clever librarian who figures out how to get him where he belongs.

I hope you've found some good new books to read this summer too!  Let me know what you're reading.

some things you might not want to know....

During the summer I read books for kids and books for grown ups.  One of the grown up books I'm reading right now is called At Home by Bill Bryson and it is about the history of how people lived in houses--including lots of disgusting things about the history of baths (people didn't wash at all for hundreds of years), rats (there were houses full of them!) and bed (imagine sleeping on a mattress full of corn cobs!).  It got me thinking about a series that lots of kids find fascinating for all the same gross reasons--the You Wouldn't Want to.... books by John Malm.  These books are full of true, but disgusting and often funny facts about how people lived in the past, from ancient Rome to the 1800s.  Right now we are looking at the book about the Ancient Greek Olympics in school and the kids cannot get over how weird these were.  If you haven't tried these, you might check them out--and while you're being grossed out, you'll probably learn some amazing facts to disgust your parents and delight your friends.  For a good list of these and what people think about them, try this list on Good Reads:  http://www.goodreads.com/series/69410-you-wouldn-t-want-to

I really like picture books, and in the summer time it is fun to just grab a big stack of these and sit down to read them.  This week, I saw an article where some people were trying to figure out which were the most beautiful picture books of all time. Click here to check out their choices.  Do you agree?  I agree that Chris Van Allsburg has some beautiful and really interesting books, and I love Animalia by Graeme Base and The Arrival by Shaun Tan (both of whom are Australian!).  Do you have a favorite picture book?  Which books do you think are the most beautiful?

Hello Everyone,
I am starting to look at the books on the list for the Massachusetts Children's Book Award.  For the last few years, Plympton School has participated in this program run by Salem State University to pick the best book for kids in grades 4 to 8.  Last year's winner When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead was one of my favorite books from the last few years.  It has a really interesting twist at the end, and most kids seem to really enjoy it.
I've already read a few of the books on this year's list and can recommend Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord, Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buryea, One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia Williams, and Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm.  There are lots of books I'm curious about on this year's list and I'm gong to order sets to have at school for September.  However, summer is a great time to start reading--you need to have at least 5 finished in order to vote.  So, we might as well all start reading these!
Let me know if you've read anything on the list--or anything else you are really liking.