Basketball Bats by Betty Hicks

Henry is an athlete. To him, playing sports is better than ice cream and the circus and probably ice cream at the circus. When a basketball challenge comes from a kid dubbed Tough Guy, Henry can’t back down. This kid, this Tough Guy, thinks he can squash me like a bug? And he thinks he and his friends can beat me and my friends in a basketball game?

“We challenge you. Tomorrow. Right here – three o’clock,” challenges Henry.

“Your funeral,” responds Tough Guy.

When the Tigers, Tough Guy’s team, show up the next day, they’re wearing matching uniforms. They’re growling. And they are prepared to do all they can to win. Even cheat. That’s evident immediately when the Tiger who insists on tossing up the jump ball throws it directly to Tough Guy. In the end, however, the cheating doesn’t work. Henry and his team win, prompting cries from the Tigers of “Unfair!” and “We want a rematch! On our turf!”

When the rematch rolls around, Tough Guy’s mom comes…to be the referee. Tough Guy’s cousin is subbing for a missing player. The new player is…eh-hem…a fifth grader. A six-foot tall fifth grader who needs a shave. The rematch doesn’t go very well for Henry. His team, the Basketball Bats, do all they can to compete, and unfortunately, Henry even tries to do it himself, ignoring his teammates.

Not wanting to out-cheat the cheaters, Henry comes up with a way to outsmart them. But will his plan work? Can the Basketball Bats win the tiebreaker? Will his teammates even want to play with him anymore? All is nicely resolved and without telling exactly how, I will say that young readers will be satisfied.

Gym Shorts is a new series by Betty Hicks. Basketball Bats, the first book, introduces readers to the five main characters – Henry, Goose, Jazz, Rita, and Rocky. These five athletes all live on the same street, all have their own individual talents, and always encourage and help one another find success. Three other Gym Shorts books have been released (reviews to come) and more titles are on the way.

Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury

Fourth graders don’t waste time with their book reviews. Peter, one of my wife’s students (with remarkable taste in literature, I might add), got right to the point when he wrote simply, “Calvin Coconut was an awesome book because it was funny. On the first day of school there was a food fight.” Later he wrote, “In the beginning, with the kiteboarding guy, I thought that was amazing too.”

How can anyone argue with funny, food fight, and kiteboarding?

Calvin lives with his first grade sister, Darci, and his mom in a town called Kailua on the island of Oahu. Soon, however, Stella is coming to live with them. Stella is fifteen, from Texas, and the daughter of Mrs. Coconut’s best friend from high school. She’ll be sort of a big sister, says Mom, a babysitter. Calvin has to move into the garage storage area with the giant centipedes (which are kind of cool, he admits) to give Stella her own room.

That can only mean more trouble for Calvin. He’s a kid who accidentally goes kiteboarding with a kite and no board. He draws the attention of Tito, the school bully. His captured centipede (I told you they were cool) escapes in the fourth grade classroom. Mr. Purdy makes him the classroom greeter for the month which means shaking hands with everyone…even girls! And his forgetfulness locks Stella in her room on her first morning in Hawaii.

See? Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet.

Reading realistic fiction invariably brings to mind two questions. One: Could I live there? Two: Could I teach there? Calvin lives a couple blocks from the beach, across from his house is a jungle, and “high above the jungle, green mountains sat under hats of white clouds.” Yep. I could get used to that. Culturally, however, would be another story. Willy, a new kid and the only haole, or white kid, in the class, doesn’t know what cuttlefish is, but he bravely tastes it. He doesn’t know what kimchee is, but he tries that too, with shocking results. Kimchee flies. Macaroni flies. More kimchee flies. Something gooey hits Calvin. Chaos ensues, all because the new kid didn’t know that kimchee is pickled cabbage and chili peppers.

The setting would be great, but culturally? I’m sure I’d learn (as readers do), but let’s just say that, as the new guy in town and in class, I’d probably cause my share of food fights.

Calvin Coconut and author Graham Salisbury bring the Hawaiian Islands’ culture and setting to kids on the mainland. But despite any differences, readers will quickly realize that kids are kids, school is school, funny is funny, and maybe most importantly, trouble is trouble.

Gooney Bird Is So Absurd by Lois Lowry

If a girl’s gotta think – and this girl, Gooney Bird Greene, certainly does some thinking – then she’s gotta keep her brain warm. And if that girl wears two pony tails, then that girl needs a two-ponytail hat. Of course. Perfectly logical.

So what has a circular elastic band, two holes perfect for ponytails, and sometimes comes in pale green with ruffles?

Underpants. (And my apologies to Gooney Bird who reminded her classmates and me that while the word underpants, like armpit and bellybutton, will get a laugh, it’s a cheap laugh.)

Soon enough, the talented Mrs. Pidgeon leads the discussion away from Gooney Bird’s brain warming hat and on to poetry, using a possible snow day as its subject.

SNOW DAY!
NO WAY!

When students realize that short poems are perfectly acceptable, they soon write:

SNOW DAY!
LET’S PLAY!

and

SNOW DAY!
HOORAY!

At the end of the first chapter, Gooney Bird admits that yes, her two-ponytail hat was once underpants, but just like poetry, “it can be whatever you want it to be.” When she removes it, claiming the elastic hurts her forehead, Mrs. Pidgeon is moved to verse herself:

GOONEY BIRD,
YOU’RE SO ABSURD!

The anticipated snow day does not come, but more lessons in poetry do. (As do a variety of brain warming hats throughout the class.) Students learn about haiku, couplets, and limericks. The once-mysterious Mrs. X also returns, but not in person. Mrs. Pidgeon shares her mother’s poetry. She also shares stories of her mother’s failing health with Gooney Bird and her classmates. In the end it’s Mrs. X’s health and the class’s love for their teacher that inspires Gooney Bird and the rest of the second graders to create their biggest masterpiece: A poem for many voices written, performed, and videotaped by the class.

Lois Lowry's fourth book featuring Gooney Bird is another winner. Sometimes these second graders appear to have wisdom and education well beyond average students their age, but these well-crafted characters are enjoyable nevertheless. Gooney Bird is So Absurd joins Gooney Bird Green, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother, and Gooney The Fabulous as another excellent book to put in the hands of second, third, and fourth graders.

Tadpole by Ruth White

Carolina Collins is the youngest of the four Collins children, or “them loud-mouthed Collins gals” as the locals sometimes say. Fourteen year old Kentucky is the popular one. Twelve year old Virginia is the pretty one. Eleven year old Georgia is the smart one. But ten year old Carolina? She says she’s nobody at all. Sometimes with all the praising and bragging on her sisters, it can be hard to have many compliments left over.

Whatever they do, they do it loud, and readers understand right from the start. The girls and their mother, Serilda, are off to get permanent waves in their hair – one $ each Sat morn come early – and despite the five dollars already spent on their perms, the girls persuade Mom to go see Rebel Without a Cause. When they return home, favorite cousin Tadpole is on the porch with his guitar singing with some neighbors, waiting.

“Well here we are!” he exclaims. Tadpole (now simply Tad since he’s getting older), who has bounced around between family members after his parents died, has come for a visit. At thirteen he’s been adopted by his Uncle Matthew and Aunt Lucy Birch. Serilda believes it’s simply because he’s now old enough to work. Turns out she’s right, and soon more truth is revealed. Uncle Matthew beats Tad when the boy doesn’t meet his standards. Which is often.

Tad’s not just there for a visit. He’s there to escape.

But while he’s visiting, everyone is going to enjoy it. Tad acts in ways foreign to those Collins gals. He weeds the garden and picks vegetables without being asked. Then he cans them! Without Mama! He organizes a Fourth of July picnic for everyone. He gets small jobs in Polly’s Fork to help with the bills. He also sings and gets Carolina to sing with him. She can hear the layers in music – harmony, he explains – and tries her best to join him.

But the good times don’t last forever. After writing letters to family members asking them to help (none come forward) and a couple close calls when Uncle Matthew showed up at the house, Tad can’t hide anymore. Uncle Matthew Birch takes him back.

But will Tad stay? Will he return for his guitar which he left in Carolina’s care? Will Uncle Matthew change? After all, Tad’s influence on the Collins family lasts long after he leaves. Can he affect Uncle Matthew?

Normally, I don’t recommend books featuring abused children, but for some reason, this one is different. Maybe it’s all the colorful characters. Maybe it’s just Tad, a boy mature for his age, full of hope and spirit and determination. Maybe it’s the opportunity to introduce bluegrass music and Bill Monroe to 21st Century kids or Ruth White's ability to write in a distinctly Appalachian dialect. Whatever it is, it works. Tadpole has never failed as read aloud in my class, and it was voted a mock-Newbery Honor book at our school in 2004.

Amulet Book One: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi

Emily and Navin are moving. Unable to afford their home after her husband’s death, Karen has decided to move the family to a house that has been in the family for years. Unused and filthy, but paid for. In their cleaning attack, the kids end up in Great-Grandpa Silas’s library. Emily and Navin discover books and portraits and all variety of gadgets and inventions. Most importantly, Emily discovers an amulet necklace that attaches itself around her neck.

Someone…or something…in the library, however, also discovers them. A ghostly phantom escapes a heating duct. A shadowy creature observes the family’s activities.

That night, their first in the new house, the amulet awakens Emily and gives her a message. “Emily. Listen carefully. Your family is in danger. Stay with them. Keep them safe.” Safe from what, Emily wonders, but the amulet is silent once again. Later that night, mysterious noises draw the family’s attention. Mom is quick to investigate the origin in the basement, ordering the kids to stay upstairs. Emily obeys her mother, disregarding the amulet’s warning.

And Mom disappears.

Following her screams through a basement door, Emily and Navin find themselves in an alternate Earth, a world of odd creatures, and odd family secrets, including what happened to Great-Grandpa Silas. They meet Miskit, Ruby, Cogsley, and Morrie – a pink rabbit, vacuum cleaner (I think), and two robots, respectively. They also discover that Great-Grandpa Silas had somehow selected Emily to continue his work. She must choose: accept the amulet/stone and it’s power/risks/abilities/dangers, the chance to rescue her mother, and even the possibility of turning back time or simply turn it away.

The Stonekeeper begins with a prologue of the night Emily’s father died two years earlier. It is a brief account, but readers immediately feel the power of Kazu Kibuishi’s art. As the family drives to pick up Navin, there is an accident. The car crashes through a guard rail, flips, and slides down a steep, snowy embankment. It comes to rest against a tree on the edge of a cliff. Emily and her mother get out, but David’s legs are trapped under the dashboard. The car begins to slide, the tree gives way, and a husband and father is lost.

Immediately the prologue illustrates so clearly how graphic novels can quickly show what takes pages to describe in a traditional novel. Seeing David’s hand slowly slip out of Karen’s as the car shifts. Seeing Emily’s feet rise off the ground as she tries unsuccessfully to hold the tipping car down by its front bumper. Readers immediately know the desperation and heartbreak felt by the family. Kibuishi’s art continues to hold readers’ attention throughout this action packed book.

Spring Break, a GPS, and a New Newspaper Column

Spring Break for the family included items and events that are wonderfully non-Wisconsin, at least at the end of March. Milwaukee Brewers baseball games (without a roof!), palm trees (under which I sat reading books and stirring fruity drinks with a toothpick umbrella), sunshine (and sunscreen...most of the time), and outdoor seating at a restaurant (under an orange tree, no less).

It also included a GPS device. "Just in case," my wife said as she put it in the suitcase. We ended up not needing it - our antiquated maps and handwritten directions worked fine - but that GPS did provide some welcome breaks to the monotony of desert driving.

NEW COLUMN: Sometimes, old 'technology' trumps new. Here's a link to the printable version.

After reading, come back here for the conclusion that was cut due to space limitations:

We made it. We're at the hotel. My wife and I are proud to say our maps and handwritten directions – we’re so twentieth century – did the trick. We experienced the desert: the rocks, the canyons, the sagebrush, the cactuses…

“It’s cacti, Dad.”

“Quit looking over my shoulder!”

“Hey, I got you here, didn’t I?”

Yeah. Something like that.

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Luke lives in the attic. Mostly, anyways. He’s an illegal third child. After having Matthew and Mark, his older brothers, his parents decided they wanted another child. This “no third child” foolishness the government recently enacted surely won’t last, they thought. A baby could be hidden for a short time until more logical minds prevailed and the law was repealed.

Now, twelve years later, the law is still in place, and Luke remains Among the Hidden. He eats meals with his family, but he doesn’t attend school, go to town, or visit the neighbors. Nothing. The remoteness of the family farm allows him some outdoor freedom – fields, barn, backyard – but that’s it.

Now the government has cleared the forest behind the house to make room for new housing. Unfortunately for Luke, the shelter given him by the forest has now disappeared along with the trees.

Most days are spent in the attic. Someone could see him through the windows. The government could monitor the phone, computer, or the family’s daytime electricity consumption and send the Population Police to investigate. Anything might give him away.

Luke’s only break from the monotony is his view of the new houses through an attic vent. One boring day blends with the next for Luke as he watches the comings and goings of the neighboring Barons, the rich upper class residents of his community.

Then Luke sees the last thing he expects – a face peering out of the neighbor’s window. From an empty house. Empty just like his.

Daring to venture out, despite the danger of discovery and his parents’ constant warnings, Luke goes next door. He meets Jen, another third child, daughter of a Baron, with a dream of being a great reformer. She is convinced the government’s stories of overpopulation are all lies. Through Internet chat rooms she is organizing a rally of shadow children, a rally to bring attention to the thousands of children that live in secret without the freedom other children enjoy. She believes the laws banning third children will be eliminated due to her efforts, and she wants Luke to help.

Will he? Can he? Should he? All are questions Luke must weigh, knowing the consequences could be severe. Jen’s decision is made, and Luke makes his.

The end of the book – after the rally of shadow children – finds Luke assuming a new identity and leaving to live Among the Imposters, the title of the second book in the seven book Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night: An Old Song by Peter Spier

Question: Is it possible to get 1. Randolph Caldecott, 2. Burl Ives, and 3. Bob Dylan to all fit cohesively into one book review?

Answer: Certainly, if you choose the right book.

Every father needs to provide for his family - the wife and young 'uns, so to speak. Even a fox. So when the fox goes out on a chilly night he goes where many foxes would. A farm.

The sly fox sneaks his way into the farmer's bin, swipes a duck and the grey goose, and swiftly heads back to his den. "And he didn't mind the quack, quack, quack, or their legs all dangling down-o, down-o, down-o."

Old Mother Giggle-Gaggle realizes what's happening, however, and declares, "John! John! Our grey goose is gone, and the fox is on the town-o, town-o, town-o!" Farmer John rushes out in pursuit, blowing his horn as a warning, his rifle in tow. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you're cheering for) the fox makes it back to his wife and ten little ones. "They never ate such a dinner in their life and the little ones chewed on the bones-o, bones-o, bones-o."

The illustrations alternate between color and black and white and there are tons of tiny details to notice with each reading. There is a Civil War monument with Giggle-Gaggle, the farmer's family name, listed on the side. Several pages later readers see a framed photograph of a Civil War soldier on the farmer's bedroom wall. There are Giggle-Gaggles on tombstones in the cemetery. As the fox makes his way to town-o, careful readers will see hints of where his quest will take him by looking at locations in the distance.

The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night by Peter Spier was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 1962. Young readers will like it well enough, especially the fox racing back home while carrying his plunder and the farmer throwing on his britches over his nightclothes, but it's an absolute riot trying to follow along as the song plays. (Not the Burl Ives version, mind you. The Nickel Creek version. See below.) As with most traditional folk songs, lyrics change and verses get dropped, but the song I first heard, the song my kids loved singing “town-o, town-o, town-ooooooo,” matches the book pretty well.

So that’s it. 1. The book won a Randolph Caldecott Honor. 2. The story is a traditional folk song once recorded by Burl Ives. 3. The song was also recorded by Nickel Creek who, when performing the song live, often include the first verse of Subterranean Homesick Blues by…Bob Dylan.

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

"It's a bit over the top, don't you think?" my wife asked after we'd both read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.

"Yeah, it is, but don't you think kids will love it? It's just one adventure into the next," I responded.

We both thought for a moment, then realized at nearly the same moment, of course it's over the top. This is Homer P. Figg telling the story here, and if readers learn anything, it's that lying comes to Homer like buzzing comes to bees. This is the boy who warns readers at the beginning of chapter one, "Telling the truth don't come easy to me, but I will try, even if old Truth ain't nearly as useful as a fib sometimes."

Homer and his brother, Harold, live with their uncle, Squinton Leach, who believes the boys are to him as Boils and Pestilence are to Job in the Bible. Simply put, old Squint ain't happy unless he ain't happy, and by simply living, the boys do plenty to make sure Squint ain't happy.

When Squint catches Homer eating a bread crust intended for the pigs, Harold stands up for his brother. Enraged, Squint leaves the farm and returns with local officials. He swears that Harold is 20 (he's really 17) and sells him into service in the Union Army for $200. Homer can't stand the prospect of losing his brother so he runs away, a fibber trying to find his brother and convince others of the truth.

Harold meets a cast of characters, each more dastardly or noble or pious than the next. There's Stink Mullins and Ebenezer Smelt, slave catchers willing to return free men for the reward. Next Homer meets Jebediah Brewster, a big, bold Quaker aiding runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. There's bumbling preacher-to-be Webster B. Willow, swindling shysters Kate and Frank Nibbly, and the proprietor of a traveling medicine show, Fenton J. Fleabottom, Professor.

Homer's quest leads him from his home in Pine Swamp, Maine to New York, into New Jersey, and finally to Pennsylvania. He eventually does catch up with Harold, but the truth he discovers about war is different from what he expects. Author Rodman Philbrick brings Homer's mostly true adventures to a close by showing how Homer and Harold played a role in one of the most famous battles of the Civil War and, quite possibly, changed the course of United States history.

And that's the truth. Mostly, anyway.

Mo and Jo: Fighting Together Forever by Dean Haspiel and Jay Lynch

Mona and Joey are a brother and sister embroiled in sibling rivalry. Who will play the next level on The Mighty MoJo video game? Who can drop the video game fast enough to answer the door first? Everything is a competition. They even argue over who is the Mighty MoJo's biggest fan.

When their mailman, Mr. Mojoski, reveals his secret identity - The Mighty MoJo! - he gives them his super-powered costume and asks one of them to replace him (he's retiring to Miami) in his battle against crime. But which one? In the ensuing tug-of-war, the costume gets split right down the middle.

Right between the Mo and the Jo.

This is where SuperMOM comes to the rescue. (She's really just a normal mom, but she does save the day, just like moms everywhere.) Mom salvages MoJo's costume into two child-sized costumes. The only problem is the Mighty MoJo's powers have been split too. One costume has the magnetic boots, while the other has MoJo's stretchable arms. Who has the better powers?

That's when Saw-Jaw shows up, the Mighty MoJo's arch-nemesis, and he's dead set on ruining the city parade. As he's about to destroy the giant hippo balloon, Mo and Jo each try to stop him before the other does. They compete to stop crime!

Finally, they figure out that cooperation, not competition, is the super power they need. Their selfish actions almost allow Saw-Jaw's destruction to succeed, but their cooperation brings an end to his dastardly deeds.

Hooray TEAM MoJo!

Jay Lynch and Dean Haspiel have combined their super powers to create another great addition to the toon-books collection. Let's hope they, like Mo and Jo, continue to cooperate in the battle against crime and boring books.

The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Upon first glance, the cover seems clear. The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Got it. Simple enough.

Open to the title page and the title has been rotated, now written vertically. Time for a second glance. Hmmm, you think. Vertical. Why's that? Ah, well. On to page one.

"Hi, how are you? I'm OK."

That's it. Page one. It's now, finally, with the third glance, that readers realize they've been looking at the main character all along. There he is, right there on page two, and yes indeed, he certainly is OK.

See? He wasn't lying. He's OK.

Which the main character goes on to explain. It's fun to try things even if you aren't great at them. You might even be just OK at them. This guy is OK at a lot of things. He's an OK skipper, an OK marshmallow roaster (ahh, crispy...), an OK kite flyer (look out for that tree!), and even an OK tug-of-war-er. He's an OK sharer, but...er, uh...you get the smaller half of the PB&J, OK?

In the end OK realizes that even if there are more lightning bugs outside the jar than inside, and even if your toes are the wettest part of your body when you go swimming, and even if there's a boot instead of a bass on the end of your fishing line, someday we all grow up to be excellent at something.

"I don't know what it is yet," he adds, "but I sure am having fun figuring it out."

We had a better-than-OK time with this book in fourth grade. Thanks to the reproducible activities on illustrator Tom Lichtenheld's website, this one especially, we shared our own OK abilities. Here's two examples. One belongs to a student, and one belongs to a grown-up. Or, quite possibly, someone (that'd be me) simply masquerading as a grown-up. Can you guess which is which?

2009 IRC Conference

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who came to the Help Readers Love Reading! sectionals at the IRC Conference. Your enthusiam was wonderful. Thanks also to everyone who took time to share your thoughts and comments with me.

If you requested an additional handout for either sectional, they'll be on the way shortly. Feel free to email me as well if there's a handout you'd still like. (The address is at the top and to the right.)

If you have any questions or comments or "What was that one book, again?" leave a comment on this post or drop me a message. I'm curious to hear more people's reactions to the sectional, the information presented, or if there are any topics about which you'd like more information.

Thanks again for attending and thanks for all you do to Help Readers Love Reading!

UPDATE: Handouts have been sent. Sorry again to everyone who didn't get one at the sectional. If you requested one and didn't receive it, send me a message. You may want to try a personal email address. I have already had one message bounce back marked as spam from a school district.

Thanks to Everyone at OS!

Here's a great big thank you to everyone who welcomed me in Springfield at Our Savior's Lutheran School. It was great fun sharing the chapel message ... Oh, and thanks for making Curious George welcome too. He said he had a great time. I enjoyed meeting everyone and talking books throughout the day. Did you get any ideas about what to read next?

If you have any questions about the books I shared today, the activities we did, or just feel the need to share something, you can email me (my address is at the top of the page and along the right side) or leave a comment at the bottom of this message.

Take some time to look around the site too. There's a ton of great books. They are organized by grade level, author, and my recommendation along the right side. Click around. See what you find.

Thanks again for welcoming me to your school!

Springtime!

The temperature is currently sixteen degrees. We just had freezing rain and snow. The obvious signs say winter is still going strong. But there is one indication that spring has sprung.

The elementary school spring carnival.

That's the topic of my latest column. Here's the printable version.

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

It took me a while to read Skeleton Creek simply because I'm a wimp. There. I said it, and I can't take it back. The day is full of teaching, the evening is full of family, and the only time to read is at night. When it's dark. And, due to the aforementioned wimpiness, I wouldn't read it at night.

So for one day only I decided to blow off reading conferences (another admission) during reader's workshop time and read surrounded by my protective fourth graders.

Skeleton Creek is the journal of fifteen-year-old Ryan McCray. He begins by describing his past two weeks in the hospital, and then proceeds to the events that caused his stay. He and his best friend Sarah Fincher had gone to explore a mysterious, retired gold-mining dredge in the woods where a worker, Joe Bush, had reportedly died. Ryan seriously injures his leg after breaking through a crumbling safety rail and falling.

Ryan and Sarah have now been forbidden from seeing or contacting each other, but in the age of the Internet, contact is hard to stop. Ryan writes. Sarah emails video updates of her continued investigation, available to Ryan only (and readers) at SarahFincher.com via the passwords she sends.

The first video shows Sarah’s first visit to the dredge and their first evidence that someone (the ghost of Old Joe Bush?) is inside. The second video shoes the events surrounding Ryan’s accident. In subsequent videos Sarah lays out her findings – enhanced sound, image comparisons, interviews, and personal commentary. Readers get Ryan’s side of the story by reading his journal. Sarah’s part is presented through her videos and occasional email. It’s a unique concept for a book, this switching between text and video, and readers will enjoy it immensely.

The story continues through the small town of Skeleton Creek. Local history and residents become entwined in Ryan and Sarah’s story as their research unearths a secret society called The Crossbones, cryptic messages in the local newspaper, odd symbols, Ryan’s father, the new park ranger in town, and even the shotgun-toting librarian - and all somehow point to the dredge.

The online element of Skeleton Creek is enhanced by additional information and sites. Easter Eggs (click a window, click a doorway) occasionally appear on SarahFincher.com. Readers question whether Patrick Carman's story is based on real events at SkeletonCreekIsReal.com, and present their evidence. Speculation, news, rumors, and discussion forums are available at SkeletonCreekFans.com. Want to do a little research on your own? Wikipedia includes entries about Old Joe Bush and the original Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge.

Okay, back to the wimpiness. Sarah’s first two video are the creepiest. I could have handled the rest of them at night. Really. I could.

Until that last one…

Anyways, here’s the book trailer. Remember...it's creepy.

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

So after you get your Little Pea to choke down his candy, what challenge could yet remain for the evening? You've already gotten him to finish his dinner - welcome to the clean plate club! - what more could be coming?

Bedtime.

Now Little Hoot doesn't give his parents any grief about school. He enjoys playing hide-n-seek with his buddies. He even practices his pondering and staring like a good little hoot ought. But bedtime is a different story.

To parents, bedtime is set. Big hand here + little hand there = bedtime. That's just the way it is. Little Hoot is like little hoots everywhere. Bedtime means negotiation. Out come the tactics, tried and true. "All my other friends get to go to bed so much earlier than me! Why do I always have to stay up and play? It's not fair!"

His parents remind him about being a wise old owl and the importance of staying up late. "And besides, I don't give a hoot what time your friends go to bed," his father says while pouring his evening coffee. "Stay up and play for one more hour and then you can go to sleep," says his mother.

A whole hour?!? Before getting to go to bed?!? Life is so unfair.

Playing swords, climbing on the jungle gym, building forts, jumping in piles of leaves, jumping on the bed - Little Hoot can only take it for so long! All this playing, playing, playing! Finally, woo-whooooo! It's bedtime. Before his parents can come with a glass of water and a pile of bedtime books, Little Hoot is out.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Little Hoot will match Little Pea in giggles as kids recognize how Little Hoot's bedtime is the opposite of theirs and learn that no matter when bedtime comes, it is always a struggle.

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

This is a book for families with their own Little Pea.

Little Pea likes rolling down hills super fast. He hangs out with his pea pals. In Little Pea's life there are swings and snuggles and stories and cries of "Again! Again!" when Papa Pea sends him sailing through the air from the end of a spoon.

And just like most little peas you know, there's one thing he doesn't like. It comes at dinner time. There it is on the plate. What is it that your little peas absolutely, positively don't want to eat? Every night threats of "You're not leaving the table until..." and "If you don't eat what you have I'll give you more..." fly across the table. What could this nastiness be?

Candy.

Every day of the week, Monday through Friday, weekends too, it's candy for dinner. Grow up big and strong? Dessert? Not without your candy. What?!? FIVE pieces?!? Just like little peas across the country, this Little Pea chokes them down, squinty-eyed and not without a running commentary on how icky it truly it is. Blech! Candy.

Readers will giggle all they way through once they recognize this nightly struggle through different eyes. And it will certainly make all the little peas out there eager to eat their vegetables every night without complaint.

Ah, who am I kidding? That'll never happen. However, Amy Krouse Rosenthal's book may help all little peas, just like Little Pea in the book, finish that detestable food so they can finally enjoy the best part of the meal. Spina...um...I mean, DESSERT!

Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell

“Do we have these around us?” asked the resident seven-year-old after reading Wolfsnail by Sarah C. Campbell.

“Sorry, Buddy. It says here it’s found in the southwestern United States. We live in the northern part of the U.S.”

“But we have hostas! It says he climbed up the stem of a hosta!”

“Yeah, we have hostas, but wolfsnails don’t live this far north. Apparently they’re pretty smart. They don’t like winter.”

“Cool! He’s smart AND he hunts and eats other snails and slugs.”

I’m not sure why he wanted them around our house, but I can imagine him, or any dirty-kneed summer time boy, crouching behind the house studying the wolfsnail as it makes its way across the hostas, hoping like crazy it catches something while he’s watching.

That’s pretty much the way it goes with the book as well. Readers will pay close attention to the text, learning about wonderfully gross things like mucus and slime and tentacles. The photographs are excellent and larger than life. Young boys might think they can climb up and ride these carnivorous monsters, when in reality adults are only 1.5 - 3 inches long. The end of the hunt is especially cool. The wolfsnail stretches to reach the next leaf, finds its prey, attacks (as a snail would…there’s no pouncing here), and dines. Finally, there’s a close-up of the now empty shell.

Wolfsnail was named a Geisel Honor book in 2009. While very different from this year’s Medal winner, Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems, it is equally as deserving and engaging to young readers, but in a completely different way.

The Sword Thief (The 39 Clues) by Peter Lerangis

At the end of One False Note, book two of The 39 Clues, Amy and Dan Cahill had narrowly escaped grave danger, outwitted numerous competitors, and uncovered a second clue. Another normal day in the life of a Cahill. The book closes with another meeting between the mysterious man in black and Mr. McIntyre, and readers are told “High above their table, the vapor trail of a jetliner left a white ribbon in the clear blue sky, heading east.” It’s a triumphant announcement – Amy and Dan, once again, are a step ahead of their apparently befuddled competition.

One problem. Amy and Dan aren’t on the plane.

The Sword Thief, author Peter Lerangis’ contribution to The 39 Clues series, begins with Amy and Dan at the airport, worrying about their luggage, carry-ons, security, and why the flight attendant checking their boarding pass has just said, “Un momento?” Note to Cahill siblings: If anyone asks you for un momento, especially in an airport, museum, or library, they’re not just being polite. They’re stalling you, and there’s a cousin or uncle or distant relative – another Cahill – behind it.

Double-crossed by competitors thought to be out of the contest, at least temporarily, Amy and Dan form a reluctant alliance with their uncle, Alistair Oh, if for nothing else than his ability to offer them transportation, a hotel room, Japanese translations, and clean clothes. They eventually make their way to Tokyo following the clue discovered in Salzburg. Once again – twice, actually – they find themselves underground in their search, discovering hidden scrolls, haiku, maps, puzzles, codes, and numerous other “clues to the clues,” all of which, after being deciphered, lead them across the Sea of Japan.

The search for the 39 Clues remains entrenched in history too. In the 1500’s, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born a peasant but grew to be a great warrior, uniting Japan as a major power. According to Uncle Alistair, he was a Tomas and his descendants, the yakuza, still guard many of Hideyoshi’s hiding places. Unfortunately for Amy, Dan, and Uncle Alistair, his information proves to be correct, with the accuracy of a yakuza-thrown shuriken.

Peter Lerangis adds his own flavor to the series. The shortest book so far, The Sword Thief is still action packed, but moves quickly between scenes leaving readers to draw conclusions as to what happened in between. Near the end of Chapter 4, the Cahills are on a plane preparing to land and refuel. After a three page Irina Spasky update, Dan is stealing ashtrays from a hotel in Tokyo. Dan is also extremely funny, more noticeably so. I will make myself invisible by using ninja mind control, he thinks when stopped by airport security. The book is full of hilarious Dan one-liners.

The hunt for the 39 Clues continues in The Sword Thief without a letdown, and promises to carry on all the way to Egypt in book four, Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson, scheduled for release on June 2, 2009.

An Invitation

I'd like to invite visitors to Help Readers Love Reading! - new folks and the regulars alike - to visit my new site, simply called Help Readers Too!. It's an irregularly updated, miscellaneously contented, sister site. More details are available over there ... well, a few anyway ... but basically it's a place for additional thoughts and opinions that aren't necessarily book reviews.

I'd also like to invite readers, especially teachers and bloggers, to weigh in on a moral dilemma I recently posted involving a highly anticipated book and its release date.

If you feel like clicking on over today or another time, thanks. It's pretty sparse right now, and I plan on tidying up a bit in the future, but I wanted to post this story before it became irrelevant.

And thanks again for visiting Help Readers Love Reading!.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Great books are like a hike up a steep hill with a spectacular view. The heart rate climbs. Breathing quickens. The desire to finish grows, along with the effort put forth to reach that end. And the payoff is remarkable. The Graveyard Book does all these things. I’ve read and reread and considered it greatly for this review. The more I do, the more I’m convinced Neil Gaiman’s book is an incredible choice for the 2009 Newbery Medal.

As I read The Graveyard Book, I felt there were four distinct parts.

Part One: Chapter 1, How Nobody Came to the Graveyard, begins with the creepiest opening in recent memory. "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." The whole page is black, save the chapter title, that one line of text, and the knife-wielding hand. A baby boy, 18 months old, has crawled out of his bed. He proceeds down the stairs, through the front door, into the street, and up the hill to protective hands of the graveyard residents.

His family is murdered by the man Jack. The boy is unharmed.

Part Two: Chapters 2-5 each read as a short story - indeed, Chapter 4, The Witch's Headstone, was first published as a short story - and each chapter gives important information about the boy's life in the graveyard. Adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, longtime occupants of the graveyard, and looking like nobody in particular, the boy becomes Nobody Owens, Bod for short.

Five-year-old Bod meets a friend, Scarlett, who is visiting the graveyard, now more park than cemetary. Readers learn the differences between a normal child and one granted the Freedom of the Graveyard. Readers are also introduced to the Sleer, an ancient graveyard resident.

Six-year-old Bod is introduced to this graveyard’s ghoul-gate (every graveyard has a ghoul-gate), what lies beyond the gate, and the lengths to which the dead will go to preserve his life.

A ten-year-old Bod meets a resident witch and begins a friendship. He continues his education, both academic and spiritual. He witnesses and participates in the Danse Macabre.

Part Three: A brief interlude, The Convocation, reminds readers that the man Jack still exists and still wants – needs, in fact – Bod dead. His business associates, for lack of a better term, remind him of his failure and responsibility to finish the business he started.

Part Four: Chapters 6-8 read more as the novel I expected. Bod makes more and more excursions into the world outside the graveyard where, for the most part, he is unprotected. He goes to school, meets bullies, new friends, old friends, and police officers. But all these outside experiences, though beneficial to a boy quickly becoming a young man, make it increasingly difficult for Bod to remain anonymous and hidden from the man Jack.

Anticipation that steadily builds and an inescapable sense of dread work together so readers don’t see the climax coming as much as they feel it coming. So get yourself a copy of The Graveyard Book, block out a chunk of time, and set your bookmark aside.

And make sure the lights are on. Brightly.

The Trouble Begins at 8 by Sid Fleischman

"Mark Twain was born fully grown, with a cheap cigar clamped between his teeth."

So begins Chapter 1 of The Trouble Begins at 8. What? Fully grown? How can that be? And a cheap cigar? Huh? Readers will be engaged from the start, questions quickly forming about Mark Twain, no doubt an author many of them are being "forced" to read in school. An author who, if students are given the opportunity and proper resources, may prove to be equally as interesting as the classic American literature he created.

In the preceding preface, Sid Fleischman offers other intriguing anecdotes. A Nevada minor once introduced Mark Twain by saying, “I don’t know anything about this man. I only know two things about him. One is, he has never been in jail. And the other is, I don’t know why.” Later Fleischman reveals the inspiration for the book’s title. Twain’s first posters advertising his speaking engagements “proclaimed that the doors would open at seven. ‘The Trouble to begin at 8 o’clock.’”

Sid Fleischman does his best to separate the fact from the fiction in Mark Twain’s life, a task in which Twain himself apparently didn’t put too much stock. His autobiography, as noted numerous times, included certain exaggerations and/or additions as well as more than a few exclusions.

The book begins with young Samuel Clemens’ first work in newspaper, where he published a banner headline declaring “TERRIBLE ACCIDENT! 500 men killed and missing!!!” followed by, in smaller type, “We had set the above head up, expecting (of course) to use it, but as the accident hasn’t happened, yet, we’ll say (To be continued.)” He also started a feud with the editor of the local competition, accusing him of “failing to drink himself to death.”

The story continues following Samuel’s life as a riverboat captain, his two weeks in the military, his travel west to Nevada, more work in newspaper, his dabblings in fiction, and the next (and the next and the next...) get-rich-quick scheme. He travels the world and creates imaginary travel companions, passing them off as real. Slowly but surely readers witness the death of Samuel Clemens and the birth of Mark Twain.

Each story is as funny as the next, and each reads as a bit of humor concocted by the man himself. Teachers, get yourself a copy of this book and be sure to use it alongside Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Young readers will enjoy this creatively written story about Mark Twain as much as any story by Mark Twain.

Lincoln and His Boys by Rosemary Wells

I don't think Lincoln and His Boys offers too much new or relatively unknown information about Abraham Lincoln, but it does offer a perspective I haven't seen before. Readers meet President Lincoln through the eyes of his youngest sons, Willie and Tad. The book is divided into three sections: Willie 1859, Willie and Tad 1861, and Tad 1862-1865.

Willie, the older of the two brothers, relates the events leading up to his father's election. There's not a lot of historical facts - it's not a history book disguised as a children's book. Yes, it's the events before the election, but not debates and politics. It's a trip to the tailor and a special trip to Chicago with his father. It's keeping a promise to mother to go see Miss Jenny Lind, the best lady singer in the world, for Willie's edification. But it's also about a father who makes time to take his son to see the Chinese acrobats and jugglers at Metropolitan Hall.

The second section is again narrated by Willie, but tells of the family's travels to Washington on the train after Lincoln is elected and the events of their first year in Washington. The kids build a fort on the White House roof, complete with log artillery, mostly pointed south. The boys bust into Cabinet meetings and are the only cause of laughter for the president.

Tad picks up the narration after the fever that struck both he and Willie leaves his brother dead. His part continues to the end of the war, closing with the two most powerful events - a trip to Richmond immediately after the war's end and the president's command that the army band play Dixie in Washington.

Take time to look at the pictures. Study them. Look at the joy on Lincoln's face when he is with his boys. Notice the glares on the faces of Lincoln's Cabinet members at the same time. P. J. Lynch's illustrations deserve recognition in any review of Rosemary Wells' wonderful book.

iWants and WiiNeeds

New column today. I should have dedicated this one to all the parents who fondly remember Pong and their first 8-Tracks.

COLUMN: WiiOnes caught up in world of video games, electronics or here's the printable version.