Brian Selznick, Alton Brown, Peter Sis, and Calista Taylor

Jan 1 book reviews part two: 

Children and Young Adult

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Another wonderful book from author/illustrator Brian Selznick, done in a similar format to his Caldecott-winning masterpiece "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." I have been waiting months to read this book and devoured it in a few hours. 

The book is set in 1977 and follows Ben, a 12 yr old half-deaf boy who recently lost his mother in a car accident and is currently living with his aunt, uncle and cousins. One night, he discovers a book he's never seen about a museum exhibition called Wonderstruck and inside he finds a bookmark with a note from a mysterious man named Daniel. His mother has never talked about him a

nd even more curious, is the locket he discovers the same night with the picture of the mystery man. Could this man be the father he never knew? The only clues he has is an address to a bookshop in New York City. While this written story is going on, we see another illustrated story from the point of view of Rose, a deaf and mute 12 yr old girl from 1927. While Ben is experiencing things like going to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, so is Rose. Who is Rose and what is her connection with Ben? To figure out this mystery, you must read this amazing story. Recommended for ages 8+, 5 stars. 

Adult

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Crochet by Cecily Keim

Great resource for beginner crocheters or those that want to brush up on their skills. I have never been good at interpreting crochet shorthand, and I've always been a better visual learner, so this book was ideal for me. It gave you basic and advanced stitches, in addition to techniques, stitch variations, combining stitches, how to follow a pattern, stitch patterns, and troubleshooting. It also shows how to make different shapes/flowers/creatures, blocks and motifs, edgings, and patterns for everything from hats, socks, sweaters, coasters, handbacks and belts. I think I might buy this one. Recommended for all ages, 5 stars. 

Good Eats 3: The Later Years by Alton Brown 

I've loved Good Eats since the beginning, even though it is a bit campy (i.e. the Okra episode). Alton Brown is very informational and scientific though, and I love how that continues through the Good Eats cookbooks. I definitely have marked more recipes in this cookbook than in Volume 1, with recipes like Salted Caramel (my current obsession), Cauliflower Cheese, Mincemeat Pie (one of my hubby's favorite Christmas treats), homemade vanilla wafers for Banana Pudding, Beer Bread, and Meat Sauce and Spaghetti, just to name a few. 5 stars. 

The Weekend Crafter: Crochet: 20 Simple and Stylish Designs to Wear by Jane Davis

A short book on projects you can supposedly finish in a weekend (not sure that would work for me as I'm slow in finishing crochet projects). I did not like most of the patterns, but I did like the Classic Cable Scarf and Hat because the Cable pattern can usually only be done with knitting. 2 stars.

Viridis (Book 1 in the Viridis Series) by Calista Taylor

I would consider the book to be more erotica than romance as some of the scenes were pretty graphic, but I guess you could consider it romance since two of the main characters were wooing each other throughout the book. This was my first ebook for the Kindle.

The story is about Phoebe, who during the illness of her now-dead sister, tried to create an herbal cure for her. The end product was Viridis, an herbal elixir that heightens one's senses and has become the hit of London among the elites that come to Phoebe's club to enjoy themselves. She runs the club with her brother Gabriel. She gets an unexpected visit from Seth, an inventor she used to be in love with who left her over a year ago to help the Cause (whose objective is to help the poor of England against the Crown). Meanwhile, there has been the murder of one of Phoebe's clients, Lord Niles Hawthorne. Inspector William, a newly minted detective is on the case and trying to find his connection to the SS (her Majesty's Secret Service). Will William find the killer and why the young lord had been murdered? Will Phoebe ever find true happiness? To find out, read Viridis. Can't wait to read book 2! Five stars.

The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis

I had never heard of this epic poem before reading this book, but I picked this up because I heard that the author/illustrator was coming out with this illustrated graphic novel version, and it sounded intriguing. The original 4,500 word poem was written in 12th century Persia by Sufi mystic Farid Ud-Din Attar. Peter Sis named his poet in the story Attar after the mystic.

Attar, a poet, turns into a bird and confers a meeting of all the birds in the world to discuss the problems of the world. He believes that in order to find the answers of how to solve all the world's problems, the birds must take a long journey to find Simorgh, the true king. Thousands of birds set off but only a few make it to the end. What they discover in the end surprises them.

While I didn't understand all of the journey to meet the king, I got the gist of everything. What really made this book was the brilliant illustrations, which more completely explained the parts of the poem that were difficult to understand. I also really loved the thick paper he used too. 4 stars.

The Big Book of Weekend Crochet by Hilary Mackin

I've been looking for a project to do, but everything I've found is out of my talent range or really ugly. Most of the designs in here are okay, but once again, the sizes are small and I'm not skilled enough to enlarge it to my size. Also I don't think you could actually finish this in a weekend unless you were working nonstop. I did like the casual jacket, the kid's fisherman sweater (pictured on front) and the rainbow blanket. 2 stars. 

Dan Jolley and Rick Riordan

Only two books to report today. Found a Teach Yourself Visually Crochet book to help me learn new styles of stitches as I have a hard time understanding the written abbreviated instructions. Hoping to get a scarf or two done for friends. 

Children and Young Adult

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2) by Rick Riordan

I have been waiting for months to get my hands on this book, and I finally got this past weekend. I had no idea it was a book about Percy Jackson, though the title should've given me a clue. It was a very quick read, as the story was so interesting, I couldn't wait to see what happened next. 

In this second book in the Heroes of Olympus series, Percy wakes up after being asleep for 8 months and has amnesia. He is discovered by the wolf-goddess Lupus and sent along to the Roman demigod camp, Camp Jupiter. It is here that we meet our other two heroes, Hazel and Frank. I liked that these two were multicultural, African-American and Asian respectively. Percy, Hazel and Frank all end up going on a quest to free Death (called Thanatos, 2nd in charge of the Underworld after Pluto) from the clutches of an evil giant resurrected by his mother Gaea. Will Percy remember who he is and what he has done? Will he be able to save Hazel and Frank? Will they be able to free Death in time to save Camp Jupiter? To find out, check out this action packed adventure by Rick Riordan. Recommended for ages 10+, 5 stars. 

The Girl Who Owned a City: The Graphic Novel by Dan Jolley

This book was originally written by O.T. Nelson in 1975, and this version was retold by Dan Jolley. This is an ARC from Netgalley. I would've given it more stars, but I didn't like the ending. 

A virus has wiped out the entire population over the age of 12, and the story is about Lisa and her younger brother Todd surviving with the help of the neighborhood kids. Everyone bands together by moving into the local school and creating their own self-sufficient city named Glenbard, where they can protect everyone with a militia. That is, until one day, the Chidester Gang manages to break through their defenses. Will Lisa and the kids of Glenbard be able to take back the city? To find out, read this graphic novel. Recommended for ages 10+, 3 stars. 

Another great article from ALSC

ALSC, or the Association for Library Service to Children, puts out some great articles for practicing librarians. I'm thinking of joining them, but I can't decide between them and YALSA (the Teen Library Service). The one below is one from Abby Johnson, who some might know from her website:

http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/, is also a Children's Librarian. In this article, she lays out how easy, and most importantly cheap, it is to make a pinata for use in El Dia de los Ninos/Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) celebration at the end of April, or you could even use it in celebration of Cinco de Mayo or Day of the Dead. I found this very helpful as I am volunteering to help a nonprofit Latino Children's program who want to put on a Dia celebration, and maybe partner with a library, so this would be a great craft for them to do either on their own or together. 

Let’s Make a Piñata!

by ALSC - The Association for Library Service to Children on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 10:11am

Or, How I Learned to Embrace the Mess and Had a Ton of Fun.

At the ILF Children’s and Young People’s Division conference I attended a few weeks ago, I went to a session by Vicki Parker from the Westfield Washington Public Library. She talked about ways to use art (not crafts!) in programming with young children. I have to admit that I have been squeamish about using messy supplies in our children’s programs, but Vicki convinced me that it’s worth it to embrace the mess in order to encourage creativity.

So, last week we had a piñata-making program for our homeschoolers! Yes, it was messy. But it was also cheap, easy, and really, really fun. And you can do it, too!! Here’s how:

First, you’ll want to know how to make a piñata. The How to Make a Piñata video from About.com will show you the basics. There are several variations on these steps, all of which are easy to find by Googling.

I wanted to teach families how they could create their own piñatas at home, so in the program, we practiced making and working with paper-mâché. I also wanted them to be able to decorate and take home a piñata. Since piñatas need to dry between layers and they need at least three layers of paper-mâché, I pre-made about 20 piñatas so that after the kids were done putting a layer of paper-mâché on their balloon, I could switch them out and they could have a dry piñata to decorate.

I won’t lie: this was a lot of prep work. BUT if you can enlist the help of a few friends or a group of eager teen volunteers, you can get it done pretty quickly. It’s not hard, but you do need to plan ahead because it could take at least a day or two for all the layers of the piñata to dry. For the piñatas I pre-made, I only did two layers of paper-mâché, which is a flimsier piñata than I would normally make, but it was good enough for them to have the experience of decorating it. After the program, they’ll know how to make their own at home, so they can make a more sturdy piñata if they want to.

To set up the room, I had pre-cut paper strips (you can use old newspapers, magazines, or catalogs. If you get as many Oriental Trading catalogs each month as we do, you’ll have pleeenty of material to use). I set out balloons in bowls and I pre-measured the flour and water into more bowls. Of course, I had a book display with Pura Belpré Award books and books about piñatas and Latino history and crafts.

  I started off the program by sharing some information about piñatas. (Did you know that piñatas may have originated in China?!) Then I had kids mix up the paper-mâché paste (using spoons or their hands), dip paper strips in the mix, and put it on their balloons (which are sitting in plastic bowls). I explained that they needed to cover the whole balloon except for a spot at the top.

You know what? The kids totally surprised me by how well they were able to do this. Even the little ones had no problem doing it (with mom or dad helping, of course). Their first layers actually turned out really nicely. (One of my staff members saw the piñatas later and asked me, “Where are the ones the kids made?” She couldn’t believe that they had turned out so well!)

Once their balloons were covered, we switched the wet piñatas out with the pre-made, dry piñatas (in dry bowls) and passed out paint, paintbrushes, cups of water, and crepe paper. We used washable tempera paint and I took Vicki’s suggestion of adding a few drops of mild dish soap to the paint to make it easier to clean up (it really worked!! We will be doing that from now on!!). Kids painted the piñatas and added crepe paper to the wet paint if they wanted. I didn’t provide a painted sample for them, but just let them do their thing.

We had plastic bags for families to take their pinatas home and we handed out packets with information about piñatas and the complete instructions so that they can make their own at home! I didn’t provide candy and we didn’t break one open at the program, but you could do either (or both) of these things if you want to add a little something. The whole program took about 45-60 minutes.

This would be a great program to consider if you’re celebrating El dia de los niños/El dia de los libros or for the One World, Many Stories summer reading club theme!

Yes, we got messy. Yes, it was a lot of prep work beforehand. But it was so much fun that it was definitely worth it! And did I mention that it’s cheap? We had paint, crepe paper, plastic bowls, and spoons on hand. We used an old catalog for the paper strips. Balloons and flour cost less than $5.00 total (and we’ve got plenty of both to last us a long time).

So, what do you think? Are you ready to embrace the mess?

– Abby Johnson

Children’s Manager

New Albany-Floyd County Public Library

New Albany, IN

http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/