Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Recommended grades 4-7.  L.L. Sampson borrows much from Lemony Snicket in the opening novel to her series, The Enchanted Attic.  Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame (Zonderkidz, 2012) has a tangential, well-read narrator, near-orphans with adult hobbies and interests, and enough literary allusions to keep kids jumping to Wikipedia.  The series follows twins Ophelia and Linus who discover a magical laboratory kept by a former tenant in their aunt and uncle's attic.  This laboratory has the power to bring fictional characters into the present day reality, or to transport a reader into their favorite story.  The nefarious mad scientist Cato uses the lab to rob fictional words of their precious treasures.  The story is funny, the dialogue (too?) witty, and the references to classical novels thorough enough for young readers to get a sense of the allusions without tromping through French literature.  Fans of Lemony Snicket will enjoy the series, while waiting for the original to continue his craft; Samson does not add to Snicket's style.  Recommended, ***

Peter and the Star Catchers

Recommended grades 4-6.  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson attempt to answer the question, "How did Peter meet Captain Hook?"  in their prequel to J.M. Barrie's timeless tale of the boy who would never grow up, Peter and the Starcatchers (Hyperion, 2004).  In the first book of what is now a series, readers find Peter aboard a ship called the Neverland with fellow orphans, headed to be dropped in the hands of a loathsome Caribbean king.  On the way, Peter comes in contact with inexplicable magic that will change his fate forever.

Barry and Pearson craft a fun and fast-paced narrative, sure to keep readers entertained.  Published under Disney's publishing arm, the book has been optioned for a series sure to entertain fans of Pirates of the Caribbean and the many adaptations of Barrie's original work.  The authors provide convincing backstories while still allowing for the magic created by Barrie.  And for that, this Peter Pan fan is grateful.

Highly recommended, ****

Revolution

Recommended grades 7-10.  A love for all things historical pushed me to read Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution (Delacorte, 2010).  Donnelly draws from extensive research on the French Revolution and the family of Louis XVI to craft the dual narratives of 18th century actress-turned-radical-royalist Alexandrine and 21st century aficionado of teen-angst and musical theory Andi.

On the whole, the concept was fascinating.  Even those well-versed in French history can appreciate the depth of description and characterization of this most chaotic period.  The royalist perspective is rarely explored with such clear sympathy in the heroic narrative of liberté, egalité, fraternité.  


That said, the pace and flow of the novel left much to be desired.  Far too much time was spent on Andi's self-pitying diatribe, which even angsty teens themselves will be annoyed by.  In trying to speak for her audience, Donnelly may insult and alienate them.  There are so many aspects of this novel Donnelly may well have explored without wasting the vast majority of the novel on unmoving points and unconvincing relationships.

Ambivalent recommendation, ***

The Future of Us

Recommended grades 7-10.  Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler bring forward a fascinating question; if you were able to see our future Facebook posts in 1995, what would you think of the life you lead today?  This is exactly what happens to Josh and Emma, high school Sophomores who unwittingly download a free AOL sample and gain access to their Facebook pages in 2010.  The 1995 world they create will make older reader smile, and will make all readers think about how we use social networking technology.  The narrative, which switches perspectives between the two characters, is fast-paced and engaging.  This book is a wonderful thought experiment, and a great coming-of-age story.  Highly recommended, ****.

Recommended grades 6-8.  Steven Shenkin loves Benedict Arnold, and he wants readers to share his appreciation.  Shenkin pulls together years of research into a narrative of Benedict Arnolds tumultuous years on both sides of the Revolutionary War.  Shenkin paints a conflicted Arnold, desperate for   acknowledgement (and payment) for his heroics.  Shenkin draws quotes from primary sources, and provides an extensive reference list at the back of the book.  The narrative Shenkin creates is engaging, and he provides vintage-looking maps to illustrate the major battles Arnold participated in.  This book will teach young adults (and adults alike!) to appreciate the sometimes flawed heros that fill history books.  The narrative could have been improved with an insight into Shenkin's process, tough overall an excellent book, well worth the recognition it has received.
Recommended, ***

Rapid City Public Library Story Time

Library Programming.  Like many public libraries, Rapid City, South Dakota has created a YouTube channel to share their storytime and other programming offerings.  One great feature of their videos is that they tape actual events; viewers can see how librarians interact with children and other patrons.  This is extremely valuable for developing librarians who may want to build knowledge of storytime activities, while still learning about the interactive element of a public librarian's job.  For those who simply want to watch at home, the patrons can be loud and distracting, so those viewers may prefer to see the librarians presenting activities and stories for the camera audience alone.  Rapid City story time blends songs and movements with the stories, and it is great to see how librarians tell stories, and how much joy the young patrons take in singing the songs.  Rapid City is a good resource for young librarians, though may be distracting to patrons themselves.  Recommended, ***

Khan Academy

Recommended grades 6-12.  Khan Academy is an online tutoring website for students in upper grades.  Focused primarily on math, but with sections for science and humanities, Khan Academy starts with video "lectures," a teacher working out problems and then offers practice problems for students to work on.  This is a valuable tool as a re-teach, or as homework help.  If teachers and students create free accounts, they can work together to pick goals to work towards through the "coach feature."  Students can save their work and teachers can track and guide their progress.  This site has great potential for remediation, and for enrichment for students who want to go beyond classwork.  The site is very easy to navigate, and users can integrate their accounts with existing Google or Facebook accounts.  Highly recommended, *****

ALSC

Professional Blog.  The Association for Library Service to Children, or ALSC, blog offers great resources for information professionals working with children.  Whether at a school library, public library, or something else altogether, ALSC bloggers share great, concrete strategies and ideas for planning and carrying out programs.  Chock full of full program plans, book recommendations, and personal experiences of librarians "on the ground," ALSC is a great place to browse when looking for new ideas.  The blog is relatively easy to navigate; tags show topics as well as blog authors, and readers can peruse full articles without having to click on to separate pages.  Authors post pictures with program plans so that readers can get a better idea of program outcomes.  The ALSC blog also offers posts for librarians who want to stretch themselves professionally; a recent post was dedicated to learning about students with disabilities.  It not only featured the authors personal experiences, but also children's books that address different disabilities.  The ALSC blog is an excellent resource for those who want to stay connected with the professional organization and grow as professionals in between conference.  Highly recommended, ****.

Ticket to Ride

Recommended grades 6 and up.  Ticket to Ride is a German-style board game that allows players to earn points by building train-routes across the country.  Players need to strategize by building routes before their opponents can.  Ticket to Ride can be adapted to the middle school level because the rules are simple, and unlike other strategy games like Risk, a single game can be played relatively quickly.  As users' skills increase, the game becomes more challenging.  Playing this game can build geography skills as well as critical thinking.  The original game board is a map of the United States, though other versions are available, including Europe, Germany, and Asia.  The game does include lots of little pieces which can be easily lost.  Highly recommended, ****

Brainpop

Recommended grades K-12.  Brainpop contains educational videos on a wide variety of topics featuring two lovable characters, Tim & Moby.  Tim is your average knowledgeable guy and Moby is his curious and mischievous, fact-loving robot.  Together they explore the major academic content areas, from history to math to science.  Tim & Moby make complex topics seem shockingly simple, and their videos will be great introductions to students that are new to topics. Videos come with interactive quizzes and worksheets to complete while watching the videos.  Brainpop Jr. leaves Tim behind for Annie, a younger guide with videos meant for a K-3 audience.  Brainpop comes with a hefty price tag, but could be useful in a variety of settings, from independent research, to whole class lessons.  Information in the videos is high quality and very engaging, even to the most reluctant learners.  Brainpop does provide rotating material for free.  Recommended, ****

Starfall

Recommended grades K-3.  Starfall is an interactive read-aloud site for emerging readers.  Young users can easily access four levels of digital material through the webpage.  Much of the material is free to access, though some pages require paid accounts.  Books can be read-aloud to users all the way through or by clicking on individual words, an excellent feature for readers trying to practice their own fluency and accuracy.  Another great benefit is that stories are broken into specific sounds, so they complement reading instruction in the early grades.  This is an excellent resource for teachers working on guided practice and read alouds to build confidence on specific sounds.  Recommended, ***

Storyline Online

Recommended grades K-3.  Storyline Online is a wonderful effort put forward by the Screen Actor's Guild to promote reading.  The site features videos well-known actors reading their favorite kids books.  All videos have captions, so that readers can follow along as the camera zooms along the picture.  One of the best videos is Jason Alexander reading his own story, Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy?  In addition to reading the book, Alexander describes how he came up with the idea for the story by listening to the questions they asked about the tooth fairy.  This book comes with a disclaimer and an opt-out for those young readers who haven't had the "tooth fairy talk yet."  The site is easy to navigate, colored in bright red and yellow, almost like a 1940s Superman Comic (and the fonts match the motif!).  One risk this site runs by using celebrities is aging; it is already starting to show some wrinkles with its video options for dial-up internet and lesser-known celebrities who have already faded (sorry, Caitlin Wachs!)  Overall a fun opportunity to see celebrities get in touch with their inner child, and hear some great stories while you're at it.  Recommended, ***.

International Children's Library

Recommended grades K-6.  The International Children's Library is a digital collection of children's books available online, free of charge.  Though the main page is a little overwhelming with small, hard-to read links, by selecting a "simple search" young readers will find a kid friendly interface where they can search by age, character type, and even by cover color.  As an international site, the collection hosts digital books in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Arabic, and Tagalog.  Users can search, as well as read, in their native language, or a new language that they are trying to pick up.  For this reason, this could be a great resource for high school level language classes.  One great feature is that users can contribute to the translation process of books new to the collection; they can create and edit translations in the system.  The International Children's Library is an inspiring project, and already very useful!  Highly recommended, *****

Bronzeville Boys & Girls

Recommended grades 2-5.  In 1956, Gwendolyn Brooks created a collection of poetry about kids in the neighborhood she grew up in, Bronzeville, in Chicago's Southside.  Each poem is dedicated to a kid in the neighborhood.  The characters exist in the particulars of the Bronzeville community while still being universal.  Harlem native Faith Ringgold has decided to breathe new life to Brooks poems in this newly illustrated edition of the original collection.  Ringgold captures the unique architecture of Bronzeville, with its sprawling Victorian houses and busy sidewalks.  The painted characters are flat on the page, almost child-like.  With this collection, Ringgold hopes to show that Bronzeville is both unique and universal, just as Brooks' poetry captured.  Brooks touching, rhyming poetry will be an excellent edition to a poetry collection, and can be a great conversation starter. Recommended, ***.

The Anne Frank Case

Recommended grades 4-8.  Susan Goldman Rubin shares a biography of Simon Wiesenthal, the 'Nazi hunter,' on his quest to find the man who arrested Anne Frank and family in their Amsterdam hideaway.  The story begins after World War II as Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, is confronted by postwar Neo-Nazis and Holocaust denial.  Though a mature subject, Rubin manages to explain the Holocaust and neo-Nazism in a remarkably clear way.  The book explores Wiesenthal's own experience in concentration camps, and explains his unrelenting drive to find former Nazis and to bring them to trial.  Illustrator Bill Barsworth contributes dark paintings of Wiesenthal, the Holocaust violence, and the afterwar period.  Some of the images in are chilling in their detail; one portrait of Anne Frank, with warm eyes looking off in the distance as she sits writing in her diary, is particularly haunting.  The biography is clearly well-researched; Rubin includes detailed source notes, photographs of Wiesenthal, and a glossary for readers new to the subject.  Though a beautiful picture book, it is definitely meant for mature readers.  This could be a wonderful addition for classes studying the Holocaust using longer narratives, like Number the Stars, or the Diary of Anne Frank itself.  Overall, an incredible story, definitely one worth passing down and including in any class study of the Holocaust. Highly recommended, *****.

American Girl Magazine

Recommended grades 4-6.  American Girl magazine mimics women's magazines in style, though offers developmentally appropriate reading material for young girls.  Adult authors pack the glossy pages with crafts, life tips (like how to avoid stress), exercises to be enjoyed with friends, and complementary quizzes (where no answer is a wrong answer).  American Girl makes room for reader contributions featuring art and short stories submitted by readers, empowering girls to create and contribute.  Other than a couple plugs for the American Girl franchise, including their dolls and books, there are no advertisements in this magazine, which will be welcomed by parents.  For girls who want to start reading magazine, this is a good alternative to teen magazines, and celebrates tweens where they are, without pushing them to grow up, but still respecting their individuality.  Recommended, ***.

babybug magazine

Recommended Birth to age 4.  From the creators of Cricket Magazine, Baby Bug Magazine publishes short, illustrated stories for pre-developing readers.  The magazine, published nine times a year, features around six separate illustrated stories or poems in each issue.  Stories are illustrated in a variety of artists in different styles, including soft watercolors, and bold charcoals.  The magazine is small, a good size for a younger reader to hold, and printed on thicker paper than other magazines from the publisher.  A subscription to the magazine will bring fresh read-alouds, and gives adults access to parenting guides via the Cricket website.  As soon as children grow out of the level of magazine, it is free to transfer to the next level up; a great benefit with rapidly growing readers! Recommended, ***

Hippo Hurray!

Recommended birth to age 4.  Sandra Boynton's hilarious counting hippos book has been made into a board book surely to be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.  This new edition brings Boynton's fun, costumed, rolly-polly hippos along, against boldly colored backdrops.  One hippo all alone is quickly joined by an increasing number of hippo pals (and a monster!).  Once the party goes berserk, the hippos are forced to counting down again to one.  The new edition in sturdy cardboard will be able to withstand many hippo parties, or silly bedtimes, and will be ready to pass on to the next generation.  Highly recommended, ****.

YALSA Blog

Professional Blog.  The official blog of the Young Adult Library Services Association, YALSA provides quick tips and up-to-date news on techniques for reaching out and connecting with teen patrons.  The site lists over fifty authors from libraries all over the country, many of whom provide examples of what they are doing in their own libraries.  Authors clearly see new media as a way to reach out to adolescent users; to YALSA, it is not enough to build a teen room in your library and leave them to their own devices; young patrons need programs that will engage and stimulate them, and YALSA will connect librarians to many new ideas.  Navigation of the blog is simple, with tags to direct readers to specific topics like podcasts or social media.  Longer entries can be expanded to a full page, but readers have to navigate away from the main blog to do so.  YALSA is a great place to get new ideas, whether you are comfortable with new technologies or not, there is something to be learned from these passionate youth librarians.  Recommended, ****

Bananagrams

Recommended grades 3 and up.  Bananagrams (costs around $15.00) can be described simply as competitive, speed, solitaire Scrabble.  Players receive individual tiles and create their own connecting words.  The first user to use all of their tiles after several rounds wins.  Because players are in charge of their own words, the game works at any level; third graders can play within their working vocabulary, while seniors in high school can play within theirs.  Younger players may need more oversight and guidance in playing the game. One drawback is the little pieces, which can easily be lost, but the game can still be played with a few missing letters.  This is an excellent pick-up game that does not require much set-up and easily adapts itself to any players.  Educational, friendly, and competitive, this game will make an excellent edition to a board game collection.  Highly recommended, *****.