For instance, my latest and greatest creation: Eye Catching Books!

The titles pictured include (from left to right, top to bottom):
Island by Gordon Korman
There are no cats in this book by Viviane Schwarz
Walls Within Walls by Maureen Sherry
The Silver Bowl by Diane Stanley
Last Dragon Chronicles series by Chris D’Lacey (Fire Within, IceFire, Fire Star, The Fire Eternal, Dark Fire, and Fire World) I couldn’t just choose one, since they are all so unique and different and beautiful.
Dinomummy : the Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek by Phillip Lars Manning
The Concise Dinosaur Encyclopedia by David Burnie
Paint by Magic by Kathryn Reiss
Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer (The title was changed to Time Travelers, which is much less original in my opinion, and the cover of the new book won’t fit the theme, but the original book has a gorgeous cover.)
Pirate’s Eye by Robert Priest
Time Flies by Eric Rohmann
Flotsam by David Wiesner
Cool painting : the Art of Creativity for Kids by Anders Hanson
Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay
The Capture by Kathryn Lasky
Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly
I Spy with My Little Eye by Edward Gibbs
Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Arnold, Tedd
Cleopatra rules! : the Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen by Vicky Shecter
Face to Face with Frogs by Mark W. Moffett
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Dream of Night by Heather Henson
More Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole
Cleopatra by Adèle Geras

I had one of the pages help me with this one. For about a month, any time she ran across a cover with an eye on it, she’d show it to me before shelving it so I could record the title and author. Then, when I had a good list, I copied the cover art from our online catalog and pasted them into a Publisher document, enlarging it so each cover had its own page (except for the dragon series, which I made smaller in order to include them all). I printed them on the color printer and trimmed the edges. The letters were made from our die-cuts (wonderful device, die-cuts), but you could always create your own bubble letters to fit the size you need. There were a few other titles that we found, but I ran out of room so I picked the ones that enlarged and printed the clearest.

Personally, I think this was one of my most sucessful displays, as quite a few people asked for books from the bulletin board and even more stopped to look and admire the collection of titles.

I’ll be featuring more of my bulletin board displays from now on. For now, are you responsible for the display space in your library, and what has been your favorite bulletin board display?

It has all gone wrong since that first day. Now it’s October and Darth Paper has pretty much destroyed all the good Origami Yoda did last year. Now the girls don’t like us. The teachers don’t like us. Some of us don’t even like each other. [...]
But it’s been even worse for Dwight. He’s been suspended from school, and the school board is going to decide if he should get sent to CREF–the Correctional and Remedial Education Facility–the school where they send the really, really bad kids, which Dwight isn’t. Amy’s older brother said the toughest, meanest, nastiest guy in his class was sent there… and got beat up! It’s kind of like Jabba’s palace, except without the alien rock band.
This would be the ultimate defeat for Origami Yoda! And we think that Darth Paper is behind it. I just find it hard to believe that even Darth Paper/Harvey could be so evil! (7-8)

Dwight, Tommy, and all their classmates are back in the sequel to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Unfortunately, so are the teachers and the principal, who has had about enough of Dwight and his weird finger puppet. So when Yoda issues a ominious prediction to a classmate, Dwight gets suspended and may be expelled! Tommy knows that Dwight doesn’t deserve to get suspended and sets out to build another collection of stories about the good that will prove Dwight’s innocence. All the while, Harvey and his new Darth Paper puppet are vying for position as the new oracle and loving every minute, attempting to corrupt the students over to the Dark Side. Who will win this showdown?

I liked the first book well enough (although I can’t remember a whole lot of it right now), and I liked the second one just as much. These books are proof that humorous books don’t need to include butt jokes or potty humor to make them funny or appealing to kids. We get a little more information about each character, and I appreciate the realism that Angleberger brings to life with multiple characters as opposed to making it appear that there’s only half a dozen students in the room. The students suffer from a wide range of minor issues, most of which are very relatable and commonplace. This book is great brain candy for guys and it shows that even “weirdos” like Dwight have their place in life.

Carol answers the phone,
tells me Kate came home at dawn,
that she felt sick
and didn’t want to wake me.
And I feel sick
knowing she’s not. (28)

Liz and Kate are forever-best friends, sharing their hopes, their secrets, and a long-standing slumber party schedule. But at one of those parties, Liz says something she instantly regrets, especially after Kate leaves early in the middle of the night and refuses to speak with her later. Kate claims she’s just busy, but eventually word gets out that something having everything and nothing to do with Liz happened that night after the fight. Liz, who felt like she had a picture perfect life before, now is struggling to get a clear picture of what happened and who is telling the truth.

Fans of Ellen Hopkins should be rejoicing that there is another free verse poet on the scene who is willing to tackle the hard issues facing teenagers. In her debut novel, Kimberly Marcus brings Liz’s dilemma, tension, and conflicted feelings to life in her sparse language. While Liz takes pictures to portray the world around her, Marcus has the unenviable task of describing these pictures, and does so in ways that yield amazing imagery.

Readers get a glimpse of Liz’s and Kate’s relationship before the fight, but we also get additional background through Liz’s reflections of all the times, memories, and photos they shared. Her actions prove how torn she is by this rift that has happened, and although it really isn’t her fault, readers can’t blame her for feeling partially responsible. Liz asks “If only,” and readers echo those thoughts.

Fast forwarding to the ending, I don’t think it could have ended in any other way, and it conveys all the raw emotions involved and the difficulty of returning to the past. Kate probably says it best in a foreshadowing scene when she says “Everything lives on through history.” (14) Unfortunately for this friendship, some portions of history are more unforgetable and unforgivable than others.

“I never got it, those magazine articles I read when I was thirteen and anticipating romance. Never understood why they went on and on about finding a guy you could be yourself around. I could be me all by myself. I was already me. I wanted a boyfriend to make me more than me.
Zan was that guy. Zan was that guy, and more. I wasn’t myself with him, I was better than myself–Joy 2.0. When I was with Zan my jokes were funnier, my mind was sharper, my vanilla perfume smelled better. I was better read–quotes from books jumped into my memory during conversations with him. [...]
Without him, the world is smaller. Without him, I am smaller. Without him a place like Haven, a place that was small before, shrinks to the size of a fingernail clipping–something so small, something no one needed anyway.
I am not Haven. I shrink without Zan. But with him, I am not insignificant. (26-27)

Joy is a newcomer in the Mormon community Haven. She wasn’t entirely happy with her mid-semester move until she met Zan. Zan becoming her boyfriend made life better, but Zan can’t think of anything except getting out. After finishing high school early, Zan moves to the college at Joy’s old hometown and cuts ties to everything to his old life. Joy doesn’t understand what happened, and maintains to her friends that she needs closure. When a long weekend presents the opportunity, she and Zan’s friend Noah take off on a road trip across the desert intent to find Zan and give Joy that closure. But is Joy really ready for what she’s going to find when she gets there or along the way?

I first posted about this book with my first Waiting on Wednesday almost a year ago, and I finally made it to this book. This is another example of the fact that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The cover shows a couple sharing a library stool surrounded by books (how cute is that), and I was expecting the library to take center stage in the story. But besides Joy’s love of books and the time she spends in the library at school, there really isn’t a whole lot of emphasis on the library. I was expecting a story about a library love, and that wasn’t what I got.

Not that the story that was told was bad, it was just hard to wrap my brain around when I realized how wrong I was. I liked the story for a couple of reasons. First, this is a story about a Mormon relationship and a Mormon community, but it didn’t really stress religion. Instead, the attention was placed squarely on Joy’s feelings and her relationship with Zan. It never got preachy, which is appreciated. Second, can I just gush over Noah? The things you find out about the kind of guy he is just impresses me so much and it’s so admirable the things he does to help Joy. Noah is the real keeper and it gives readers hope that there are guys out there like Noah. Other bloggers talk about their literary crushes… I think I can safely claim Noah’s as mine. Comparing Noah to Zan, readers have a hard time figuring out why Joy is so hung up on Zan, but it’s easy to reflect on that with the hindsight of Zan’s disappearance. Readers also get exposed to Joy and the feelings she enjoyed when with Zan, and that to me solidifies the relationship she had and why she is devastated and so intent to hold onto it when it falls apart. While her fascination with Barry Manilow seems out dated to me, I guess it’s comparable to the fascination that other girls have with other singers today. For me, she’s all the more relatable when she reveals her complete cluelessness to cars, something I suffer from as well.

Overall, it was a cute, clean love story that shatters the stereotype that your first love is the one.

“You don’t want to kill me,” I said.
“Of course I don’t, Clare. But I have to.”
If I wasn’t already bleeding, with the room tilting and swaying, I would have slapped myself. I never saw this coming. I had let my personal feelings cloud my judgment. And now I was looking down the barrel of a gun. (1)

Clarity “Clare” Fern is a psychic who receives visions from touching objects. She, her mother, and her brother are all involved in the family business of giving psychic readings, with her brother Perry able to talk to ghosts and her mother able to read people’s minds (to Clare and Perry’s constant annoyance). Clare hopes that her powers can come in handy when she’s called upon to assist in the murder of a tourist in their small town. She has more than one reason to say no, especially when the mayor’s son is her cheating ex-boyfriend (“It was a mistake” — HA not likely) and the new detective in town’s son is a non-believer. But that’s before her brother becomes the prime suspect for the crime. Now, not knowing who she can trust or turn to, Clare is forced to question who people she’s known her whole life really are.

I LIKED this book, and it was a joy to finish off 2011 with this book. It was the perfect combination of mystery and romance and action. You have an escalating body count as people connected to the initial murder go missing and/or turn up dead. There are multiple suspects and multiple motives examined, all with (pardon the pun) clarity and realism. And you have the ever popular love triangle that is much more believable than some of the other ones I’ve seen recently. And it all comes to a riveting climax that keeps you on the edge of your seat and reading until the very end. It’s an enjoyable roller coaster ride.

Clarity was a clearly developed, multifaceted character, and so were the rest of the people in her life. Perry is scared out of his wits, and Clarity’s loyalty to her brother, although understandably called into question, never falters completely. Her confused and torn feelings toward both her ex-boyfriend Justin and the new detective’s hot son Gabriel are relatable. At the same time she’s trying to forgive Justin’s one drunken mistake, she’s also trying to decide if she can forgive Gabriel’s skepticism about her gift. It’s the known vs the unknown, and I for one have a good feeling about where her heart is heading at the end of the book.

There’s never a good way to say this without making me sound like a prude, but although the book references sexual acts and drinking, Clarity doesn’t partake in it and only hears about it second-hand. But there’s still enough suspense and action that you don’t miss the more controversial elements that teen fiction has become famous in having. Bravo!

This debut novel is a great first book, and while the ending comes to a satisfying conclusion, I’m hoping for a sequel. Clare is only sixteen in this summer mystery, and I’m hoping for at least one more book where we can see her in school and interact with more classmates that might or might not care for her special powers. Plus, maybe I’ll showcase my own psychic abilities and predict correctly whether Clare choses Justin or Gabe.

“Forget her.”
Hope’s father wasn’t kidding. He never kidded.
Moments before, he had ordered Honey–Hope’s little sister, a skim coat of bubble gum covering most of her small face — out of the car.
“I’ve told you a thousand times,” he said. “No laughing.”
Now, as he stepped on the gas and the car lurched back onto the highway, the first words out of his mouth were, “Forget her.”
A cyclone of dust rose up in their wake.
Dumbfounded, Hope stared out the rearview window at her sister. For a few seconds she couldn’t even make out Honey’s little body in the swirl of debris their car wheels had kicked up. By the time she could, Honey had already receded. [...]
Hope begged her parents to turn around, to go back.
Onward they sped. (13-15, 24)

Hope’s life is turned upside down when her uncaring parents leave her little sister on the side of the road and get rid of all her things. Told never to mention Honey again, Hope spends her days crying and sleeping in the garage, dreaming of Honey. She receives a summons to the World Wide Memory Bank, where her memory deposits have shrunk to almost nothing but her vivid dreams have caught the attention of Violette, whose in charge of the Dream Vault. Reluctantly allowed to stay until her accounts balance out, Hope begins to suspect that the sabotage taking place at the Bank might have some connection to her sister’s whereabouts. Will the sisters reunite, or will the war and the mischief spread and split them apart?

I was intrigued by the concept and enthralled by the story until the very end. The open ending migh encourage discussion, but readers like myself might also be a little disappointed by the ending which doesn’t explain very well the source of the problem and glazes over the almost sappy happy ending. That being said, I think for librarians looking for a summer reading themed read (dreams? really?), it might make a really cool choice for book discussions around the Summer Reading Theme this Year of “Dream Big–Read”.

The Memory Bank is a place where memories are sorted and catalogued, awaiting the time to be returned to the people they originated from. The Dream Vault is the same for dreams, and there’s an innate tension between the woman in charge of the Dream Vault and the man in charge of the Memory Bank, since memories can’t be made while someone is asleep and dreaming, and vice versa. That’s nothing compared to the tension caused by the Clean Slate Gang, who is sabotaging the Bank.

Fans of Brian Selznick’s books will almost certainly enjoy the alternating narrations, as Honey’s is told almost entirely in pictures while Hope’s story is told in words with accompanying illustrations. That’s probably why illustrator Rob Shepperson shares the author credit on the cover as his impressive artwork really conveys emotions and moves the story along. I hesitate to say that he does a better job than Coman, whose tasks it is to explain everything. When Coman finally takes over Honey’s story things become just slightly clearer, but I loved the pictures of the Clean Slate Gang and their dump truck of lollipops.

All households should have at least one collection of nursery rhymes for parents and caregivers to expose their children. This collection of nursery rhymes is a must have for any craft-minded parents. I can’t imagine the hours that Salley Mavor must have put in to delicately crafting and detailing scenes for each of the nursery rhymes. Not solely made from material, Ms. Mavor incorporates 3D objects into her creations, from buckles for “One, two, buckle my shoe” to tiny bells and shells for contrary Mary’s garden. Tiny utensils are used in Jack Sprat’s kitchen, silk flower petals (or maybe they are real) are used for some of the skirts, and the baby is rocked in the tree top quietly cocooned in what appears to be a walnut-shell. Even the stars twinkle on page 57 which includes “Star light, star bright” and “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.” And are those real eggs for Hickety pickety my black hen?

The book is filled with rhymes that you might already know, and some will sound familiar and you wouldn’t have realized you forgot them if you hadn’t been reminded. But there is still something for everyone to enjoy and learn. For me, I learned the second verses for Old King Cole and Jack and Jill. A coworker of mine was rendered speechless by the work on page 21 depicting wise old owl in a tree that is completely covered in unique cross stitching of various colors, providing a shaded look and the impression of light. I have two favorites that impress me for the same reasons. I throughly enjoyed Old King Cole’s castle, complete with individual bricks and shingles and “stonework” around the arched windows and door. That same stonework appears in the rhyme for Humpty Dumpty, who is overlooking Peter Piper picking peppers. The wall has two wooden gates, one of which has hinges and the other one is “tied” to the wooden posts.

A great choice for any new parent or grandparent. While anyone will certainly find something to ohh and ahh over, those who are crafty will probably get the most appreciation out of it. You can check out Ms. Mayor’s website/blog for more examples of her work. She recently did a post showcasing the creation of the Hornbook magazine cover, which you can read about here.

This post is in honor of Nonfiction Mondays. For the entire round-up of all the bloggers who participated, check out Mary Ann Scheuer over at Great Kids Books.

Hollis’s picture frame was on the bedside table, and I picked it up, looking over the tacky blue stones. THE BEST OF TIMES. Something in these words, and his easy, smiling face, reminded me of the chatter of my old friends as they traded stories from the school year. Not about classes, or GPAs, but other stuff things that were as foreign to me as the Taj Mahal itself, gossip and boys and getting your hearts broken. They probably had a million pictures that belonged in this frame, but I didn’t have a single one.
I looked at my brother again, backpack over his shoulder. Travel certainly did provide some kind of opportunity, as well as a change of scenery. Maybe I couldn’t take off to Greece or India. But I could still go somewhere. (18)

Auden has just graduated from college and realized that she has nothing to show for her high school years except for an impeccable GPA and giving the speech at her graduation. So when the opportunity arises to spend the summer with her father, step-mother, and brand new step-sister, she impulsively accepts. She’s hoping to find something – and become someone— different before she must immerse herself in college life as the over-achieving book-obsessed shy girl. But after a rocky start with the girls at her step-mother’s store and witnessing her father travel the same distancing path with his new wife that he did with Auden’s mother, Auden starts to believe her mother’s saying that people don’t change. Will Eli, the boy who catches her eye and is hiding from the world in his own way, change her mind and herself in ways she never expected?

I’ll admit it: This is the first Sarah Dessen novel I’ve read. I know she’s been writing books for years now and has over a half-dozen books to her name. She’s been described to me as the Nicholas Sparks for teens and college women, and I guess I can see the resemblance. And I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would. This book is not just fluff, and it does have teen drama without being overly dramatic. Auden has a split family where neither parent is very attentive, and yes there is some drinking, but I was surprised to reflect back and not be able to pinpoint excessive swearing or violence or drug use or anything that parents find so objectionable about the “dark” young adult novels that are being published and publicized so frequently.

I think what I like best about Auden and Eli, and even the girls that Auden ends up working with is that they are so normal and yet still very multifaceted. In comparison to some of the relationships in fiction, Auden and Eli have a relatively tame but unique courtship, but that’s not to say that it’s instant connection. It’s actually a very rocky start and Auden almost gets pounded to a pulp at a party. Eli sets out to expose Auden to all the normal teenager things, like bowling, she missed out on while pushing herself so hard with her school work. In a similar way, Auden forces Eli out of his comfort zone, and they seem to be well matched as they join each other on nocturnal outings around town away from the prying eyes of their peers. It’s a refreshing spin and a great first impression to an author I’ve had no previous experience. I’ll be sure to recommend her to teen girls from now on. Although by the looks of the well-worn library copy, they probably already know about her.

“Even though Dennis is the only real bully in our school this year, we had a BUNCH of them LAST year. People were constantly getting picked on at recess, so the teachers set up a station on the playground where kids could press a button if they needed to get a grown-up’s attention.
Well, the Tell-a-Teacher station just ended up being a convenient place for the bullies to hang out and find their next victims.
The teachers say TEASING counts as bullying, too, but I don’t think there’s any way they’re gonna put a stop to THAT. Kids are always calling each other names and that kind of thing at my school. In fact, one of the reasons I try to stay under the radar is because I don’t want to end up getting stuck with a nickname like Cody Johnson did.
In kindergarten Cody stepped in some dog poop at recess, and ever since then people have called him “Dookie.”
An I’m not just talking about the kids, either. I’m talking about the teachers and even the PRINCIPAL.
I’ll tell you this: If I ever get a nickname like Dookie, I’ll move to a different town. (13-15)

Greg is back debating the existence of Santa Clause and the easiest way to do a book report in the newest installment of the Wimpy Kid series. Whether it’s trying to earn money by shoveling the neighbor’s snow or trying to get his Christmas presents early, Greg is behaving just like a kid. But when an innocent get blown out of proportion, is the biggest blizzard of the year the only thing saving him from the cops?

I’d found a few other books in the series lacking and veering away from the more naive and “wholesome” aspects of childhood. In this one, Kinney returns to his roots. Probably one of my favorites of the series, bumbling Greg runs into one problem after another and is shocked at the outcomes, which really should come as no surprise to anyone else. It’s hard to summarize these books because some of the stories are so short (only a couple of pages long in most cases). The ongoing, arching plot of the tale is that Greg is trying to make money through various means, but one idea gets him in trouble at school and a freak snow storm saves him from confronting the cops, at least until the roads and power are restored.

Kinney addresses many kid-friendly issues regarding the holidays, such as having money, waiting to unwrap gifts, the existence of Santa, and how awful it would be to have your birthday on Christmas. Readers will definitely relate to the slacker Greg. And if you’re like us right now where we’re just waiting for snow, it will put you in the winter/holiday mood.

“I’m not sure we’re doing the right thing at all by holding him back.”
Claire sighed. “[...] Alex is spending all his free time alone–and frankly, I don’t blame him. Everyone’s angry with him, and he feels bad now that he’s the only one not in magical training. It’s only making matters worse.”
Mr. Today shook his head and sank back in his chair. “Oh, oh, oh,” he said quietly, “what to do? I am afraid that if Alex starts training, he will use his magic to find his brother. The powerful connection between twins . . . It’s a huge risk we don’t need right now, especially now that Aaron is in Justine’s good graces and under her watchful eye.” [...]
“You must understand, my dear lady, that it is very different with twins. There’s a connection. A loyalty that exceeds all others.” [...]
Octavia closed her lips over her teeth, folded several arms across her chest and frowned. “So it’s inevitable, you’re saying. The connection between twins is that strong that he’ll never give up?”
“That is what I believe.” (128-129)

Alex and Aaron are twins who are inseparable, until they turn 13. While Aaron is deemed Wanted and sent off to school, Alex was caught drawing in the dirt, which is an unforgivable infraction in the city of Quill. Alex and the rest of the kids who showed any sort of creativity are banished from the city and are convinced that they’re being sent the Death Farm to be tossed into the Great Lake of Boiling Oil by the Eliminators. Instead, they meet a magician named Mr. Today who has created a utopia for these cast offs. Their existence must remain a secret, but Alex can’t forget about the brother he left behind. When Alex learns about a threat to his brother, will he jeopardize everyone to try to save him?

The Kirkus review comparing this book to “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter” was the main reason for me to pick up this book. Even without it though, I probably would have tracked it down considering Lisa McMann’s success with the Wake trilogy. But I can see why the Kirkus review compared it to those two books. It starts off like Hunger Games, where chosen kids are sent to what is supposed to be their death, only to usurp the existing government’s expectations. Like Harry Potter, the teens instead are sent away to this secret magical world which is hidden away from the uninitiated. What I really liked about the book was the action without the gladiator style violence and mature relationship of Hunger Games, which has made me leery of recommending it to younger tweens.

McMann provides some unique concepts for spells and magical capabilities. Each secondary character has their own affinity for a different creative outlet. One sings spells, while another’s strength is acting and a third person uses writing and story telling. These specializations provide readers with relatable characters, as most students have some sort of creativity outlet that they enjoy. Alex’s own strength is art, and the magic he creates with paper, pencil, and other mediums sounds really cool, especially his ability to paint himself invisible. It’s also the root of the threat towards Alex’s brother.

After finishing this book, I book talked it to a group of fifth and sixth graders, and they were intrigued by this concept of creativity being banned. I told them “Alex and Aaron live in a world where creativity is banned. No singing, no dancing, no drawing, no making up stories, nothing. If you’re caught doing any of these things, you could get kicked out of the city and sent to death, and your parents wouldn’t stop them.” They immediately started questioning what could or couldn’t get them in trouble, with one kid tapping out a beat with his fingers, another kid asking about humming, and a third wondering if sports were allowed. I came back and told another librarian that we might end up with a run on this title if they all followed through and checked it out. As a new author to the upper elementary and middle school scene, it might take a little bit of time for this to hit their radar, especially considering Wimpy Kid and Inheritance have just been published. Once kids catch on though, I’m sure this book will become popular.