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| Courtesy of Whimsy Studio |
ORPHAN, CLOCK KEEPER, AND THIEF, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.
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Berlin children celebrating Hanukkah, 1930's
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There are many great stories about being lucky, or supremely unlucky, but here are two that I especially fancy- Orwell's Luck by Richard Jennings and Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Really when you think about it, any library book you check out makes for a very lucky day, doesn't it.  |
| Licensed images by Lettering Delights |
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| Thank you to Andrea Gutierrez for this lovely photo |
When I was little, I had all kinds of tanks and fish bowls in my room that I set up for the animals I found in the woods and in Marl Lake. I caught snails and dragonfly larvae and crawdads and tadpoles so I could have my own Marl Lake right in my room. I brought in so many animals Dad made a rule called the sundown rule, which said that by sundown I had to let every animal go in the place where I'd found him.Like many animal stories and like nature herself, there are different kinds of loss in this slim, readable volume. Townsend has a keen eye for nature and wildlife and deftly describes Louise's love of the wild and free. The crows sit noisy sentinel over it all.
...Setting aside the chocolate cake, I lifted the bucket and dumped it, letting the handle bang against it. I called out, Cah!Cah!Cah! and my heart filled up and I stood very still and listened into the distance, into the woods and all around as far as I could. Then suddenly I heard, Cah!Cah!Cah! right across Marl Lake. An answer came from the trees not far away; then another crow called out. I felt as though they had been there all along, waiting.
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| Aslan, The Great Lion. The Chronicles of Narnia. Photo courtesy of weheartit.com |
Will you tell me the lexile level for the Tintin series by Herge? My son is in third grade. His teacher wants him to read "just right" books. Thanks!The answer is there isn't a Lexile rating for this series. Lexile gives it a rating of "NP" which they define as:
NP: Non-Prose
The NP code is for any book comprising more than 50% non-standard or non-conforming prose. NP books do not receive a Lexile measure, merely the NP code. Some common examples of non-prose content are poems, plays, songs, recipes, and text with non-standard or absent punctuation. Since the Lexile Framework is based on prose analysis, Maurice Sendak's Alligators All Around (HarperTrophy) is coded NP. The text of the book is not in complete sentences and lacks punctuation entirely. The text difficulty of such a book cannot currently be assigned a Lexile measure.
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| Civic Center Library parking lot. November 18, 2011 |
And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it- Roald Dahl
A musical celebration of the importance and inspirational qualities of space exploration (human and robotic), as well as a look at some of the amazing worlds in our solar system. Featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox, and Carolyn Porco.
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| www.wallchan.com |
"And we've got the alethiometer," she said. "Yeah. I reckon we've got to do it, Pan. We'll go up there and we'll search for Dust, and when we've found it we'll know what to do."
Roger's body lay still in her arms. She let him down gently.
"And we'll do it," she said.
She turned away. Behind them lay pain and death and fear; ahead of them lay doubt, and danger, and fathomless mysteries. But they weren't alone.
So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
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| yarn photo courtesy of Magnolia Handspun |
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| photo from weheartit.com |
Librarians are there:To help, aid, assist. To teach, collate, enthuse. To catalogue, index, arrange, organise. To find, discover, promote, display. To interest, intrigue, amuse and amaze. To instill wonder. To help children, adults, old people, the underprivileged, the rich, the poor, those with voices and those without. To protect resources, to archive them, to store them, to save them for the future. To provide differing viewpoints, to engender thought, conversation, research, fun. To provide the best answer possible, to match the answer to the enquirer, to provide just enough information without overwhelming the user, but enough to always help. To better a local community, a company, a school, a college, an organisation, a country, the world.
Google is there:To make money.From UK librarian Phil Bradley's blog.
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| Currently available on ETSY at CarolineHPArt. Click through. |
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| Currently available on ETSY at CarolineHPArt. Click through. |
I dig GuysRead.com. Awesome awesome awesome reading recommendations for boys, courtesy of that knucklehead Stinky Cheese Man creator Jon Scieska and his pack of buddies. Here's my gift to you today; how does one pronounce his last name? Just like the soda Fresca© only with an "sheh" sound- "shehs-ca". Take a look at the other book blogs I have listed on the "itty bitty bite" portion of my blog.
“This is a Tolkien for 10-year-olds, chock-full of giants and dwarves, heroes and villains, and all of the wizarding magic we've grown to love. When three siblings discover a book with magical properties, all the hardships of their orphaned past are overshadowed by the trials that lie ahead. Each sibling uses his or her unique strengths to overcome great obstacles, including time itself, and finds the courage to save the lives of others. Read it aloud, and the whole family will enjoy this fresh adventure that pays homage to the fantasy greats that came before.”
—Angela K Sherrill, 57th Street Books, Chicago, IL
Please declare aloud: I hereby undertake to tread the world, to garden the wild, and to saddle the seals, as did my brother Brendan. I will not turn away from shades in fear, nor avert my eyes from light. I shall do as my Keeper requires, and keep no secret from a Sage. May the stars guide me and my strength preserve me. And I will not smoke in the library. Translation approved, 1946.
Playing with the form he created in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. A boy named Ben longs for the father he has never known. A girl named Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room, and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Ben's story, set in 1977, is told entirely with words, while Rose's story, set fifty years earlier, is told entirely with pictures. The two stories weave back and forth before ultimately coming together. Summary from wonderstruckthebook.com“This book was a joy, a challenge, and a puzzle to put together. I hope you enjoy meeting Ben and Rose, and joining them on their thrilling, dangerous and unexpected adventures in New York City.”-Brian Selznick
That Rick Riordan is a busy writer! After you've read the 39 Clues, and of course all the Percy Jackson books, start the Kane Chronicles. Carter Kane and his sister must prevent the chaos snake Apophis from breaking free in a few days' time or the world will come to an end. To have any chance of battling these Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra. Book 2 in the Kane Chronicles series. Summary from the MARINet catalog.
