Knucklehead

Title: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka Author: Jon Scieszka ISBN: 9780670011063 Pages: 106 pages Publisher/Date: Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, c2008. The first time I heard the name Knucklehead, it wasn’t being used as a particularly good name. I think it was my dad, finding that [...]

Pocketful of Posies

Title: Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes Author: Salley Mavor ISBN: 9780618737406 Pages: 62 pages Publisher/Date: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, c2010. 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 [...]

Amelia Lost

Title: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart Author: Candace Fleming ISBN: 970375814989 Pages: 118 pages Publisher/Date: Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House, c2011. The fear in Earhart’s voice made Leo Bellarts’s skin prickle. “I’m telling you, it sounded as if she would have broken out in a scream. . . [...]

Soar, Elinor!

Title: Soar Elinor! Author: Tami Lewis Brown Illustrator: Francois Roca ISBN: 9780374371159 Pages: Picture Book Publisher/Date: Farrar Straus Giroux, c2010. Six-year-old Elinor Smith took her first airplane ride in 1917. Less than fourteen years later, she had become the youngest licensed pilot in the United States, male or female. A successful and acclaimed pilot in [...]

The Booktalker’s Bible

Title: The Booktalker’s Bible: How to Talk About the Books You Love to Any Audience Author: Chapple Langemack ISBN: 1563089440 Pages: 199 pages Publisher/Date: Libraries Unlimited, c2003. I’ll give you that I’m biased in a big way, but I think a better question is why not booktalk? If you are trying to generate enthusiasm for [...]

Spies of Mississippi

Title: Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement Author: Rick Bowers ISBN: 9781426305955 Pages: 120 pages Publisher/Date: National Geographic, c2010. “Twelve of the most powerful men in the state controlled a secretive network of spies and informants. A cadre of covert operatives used code [...]

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

This post starts my week long feature of Russell Freedman, Newbery Honor and Award Winning author of over 50 books. Check back here every day this week, with a special bibliography of his works and awards at the end of the week. Title: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Author: Russell Freedman ISBN: 0823420310 [...]

Secret Subway: The Fascinating Tale of an Amazing Feat of Engineering

Title: Secret Subway: The Fascinating Tale of An Amazing Feat of Engineering Author: Martin W. Sandler ISBN: 9781426304620 Pages: 96 pages Publisher/Date: National Geographic Society, c2009. He was ready to begin. But in order to do so he would have to do something that no one in the world had ever done. Not only would [...]

Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures that May or May Not Exist

Title: Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures that May or May Not Exist Author: Kelly Milner Halls, Rick Spears, and Roxyanne Young ISBN: 9781581960495 Pages: 72 pages Publisher/Date: Darby Creek Publishing, c2006. Cryptozoology is one big word that is easily decoded. “Crypto” comes from a Greek word meaning “hidden or covered,” and “zoology” is the [...]

Almost Astronauts

Title: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream Author: Tanya Lee Stone ISBN: 9780763636111 Pages: 133 pages Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press, c2009. “Their original group was thirteen. [...] It was 1969 when they took their shot at being astronauts. Back then, women weren’t allowed to rent a car or take out a loan from the [...]