Biblioburro: a True Story from Colombia

Every year the Monroe County Public Library hosts tours for first grade classes in our community. A highlight of each tour is a visit to the bookmobile where the outreach librarians show books and photos of some unusual ways people use to make books available to readers around the world. We have a bookmobile but someone else might have a book camel or a book elephant! The book Biblioburro: a True Story from Colombia by Jeanette Winter tells the story of a man who delivers books on two donkeys named Alfa and Beta. Luis Soriana is a teacher in La Gloria, a remote town in Colombia. This avid reader shares his love of books with children and adults in the isolated communities in the northern hills of his country.

This lovely book is a fine way to introduce biography to young elementary students. The story is simple yet compelling and the bright illustrations are filled with orange butterflies and dense jungle plants that evoke the tropical South American setting. Look for Biblioburro: a True Story from Colombia on the new non-fiction shelf.
Recommended for children in preschool through grade 2.

IT'S A BOOK!!

From the Back Cover: "CAN IT TEXT? BLOG? SCROLL? WI-FI? NO...it's a book."

I can't say enough about what a delight this picture book is, so I'll just recommend it for grades five and up. This is one of those unique titles that will remind older children (and even some adults) what fun a picture book can be.
It's a Book is by Lane Smith, the award winning illustrater of The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

If you can stand the irony, watch this teaser courtesy of youtube:

I Am Too Absolutely Small for School

If you know someone who is feeling a little too small to start school - or not quite ready to start back to school - they may appreciate that Lola feels the same way.
Lola is Charlie's little sister. She is small and very funny - as all the "Charlie and Lola" books by Lauren Child will tell you. But in I Am Too Absolutely Small for School, Lola explains that she is still really quite small and simply does not have time to go to school, as she is extremely busy doing important things at home. Lola's reassuring and exceptionally patient older brother, Charlie, points out all the advantages to going to school, including learning to "read books and understand secret messages written on the fridge." Now there's a powerful incentive - but Lola is unmoved until Charlie reminds her that her invisible friend Soren Lorensen will be going to school.

Recommended for ages 4 to 8, this Charlie and Lola book is just one of our favorite Starting School Stories. You can enjoy Charlie and Lola on DVD, too. For a sample, watch the YouTube video below of: I Am Really, Really Concentrating.

The Scrambled States of America... and more stories to celebrate our country (dvd)

Take a look at this wonderful dvd, part of the Scholastic Video Collection. The Scholastic videos are based on high quality children's picture books, and they generally do an excellent job of bringing the books to life. The first story on this dvd is adapted from the book The Scrambled States of America, written and illustrated by Laurie Keller. What a fun, even wacky, introduction to U.S. geography! Entertaining for parents as well as children. The second track presents the book This Land is Your Land, words and music by famous folk singer Woody Guthrie, and paintings by Kathy Jakobsen. Jakobsen's artwork is gorgeous, and we get to hear Guthrie's voice sing his revered song about America, both its beauties and its injustices. This is a wonderful tribute to Guthrie and his music. The third story is adapted from the book The Star-Spangled Banner, illustrated by Peter Spier, with words taken from the poem by Frances Scott Key. This one is less successful visually, partly due to the jerky animation of the humans in the illustrations. (The pictures that are landscapes only are more appealing.) However, the crowning grace is that the anthem is soulfully performed by one of my favorite singers, Aretha Franklin. (See and hear Franklin singing the national anthem on this YouTube video, in Washington D.C. in July, 2009.)

Bonus features on this dvd include the Caldecott honor book John Henry by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, and the poetic Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen. (Bonus features not yet viewed by this reviewer.) Recommended for ages 5-11.

Ramona and Beezus, Beezus and Ramona

The new movie Ramona and Beezus has prompted a renewed interest in Beverly Cleary's original book, Beezus and Ramona.

The movie smashes together several of the books in the Ramona series. So if you fall in love with these characters and want to read more, here is a list of the 8 books in the series that are available at the Monroe County Public Library.

1 Beezus and Ramona
2 Ramona the Pest
3 Ramona the Brave
4 Ramona and Her Father
5 Ramona and Her Mother
6 Ramona Quimby, Age 8
7 Ramona Forever
8 Ramona's World

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

Homer P. Figg and his older brother Harold are orphans, and their sad lives are made even more wretched by their mean guardian, Uncle Squinton. "Squint" forces Harold to be conscripted into the Union Army even though he is underage, and Homer is compelled to try to rescue his brother before he is killed in the savagery of the Civil War. Thus begin The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg. (Mostly true, because to Homer, telling the truth "don't come easy.") It's unusual to have a humorous book that takes place in a time of war, and though plenty of sad things happen, the author (Rodman Philbrick, who also wrote the famed YA novel Freak the Mighty) succeeds in keeping a lighter tone which kids and parents will appreciate. I hope you'll enjoy the folksy humor and fascinating characters as much as I did! (This book is a 2010 Newbery Honor book and is recommended for grades 5-8.)

Whatever Happened to Captain Underpants?

This August marks the fourth anniversary of the publication of the last Captain Underpants book. Four years since Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People!! For those of you who remember, the back of that book was filled with false promises of upcoming books that never materialized. Captain Underpants and the Return of Tippy T. Tinkletrousers. Super Diaper Baby 2. And who could forget: Frankenfart and the Bionic Barf Bunnies of Diarrhea-land? But not a peep from Dav in four years...

...Most of us had given up hope...

So we are shocked and overjoyed to announce that on August 10, Scholastic will publish The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung Fu Cave Men from the Future! Like The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, this will be a graphic novel "written and drawn by George Beard and Harold Hutchins," the young heroes of the Captain Underpants novels. Expect action, Flip-o-Rama, and "laffs" in every chapter.

You should also check out the Dav Pilkey's Extra Crunchy Web Site O' Fun for sketches, flip-o-ramas, a behind-the-scenes movie, and lots of other goodies.

And take a look at this spectacular How to Draw Flip-O-Rama movie starring Dav Pilkey's hands! Includes subltitles in caveman language.



The wait is nearly over. Thank you, Dav.