An Unforgettable Smile

A beautifully crafted book about Mona Elisabetta and her relationship with Giuliano de Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, and the tumultuous times during the fall of the Medicis and the rise of Girolamo Savonarola. Betta is a dutiful daughter, expecting her 13th birthday party to result in a betrothal. However, while planning the party, her mother unexpectedly dies, leaving her and her father stricken with grief. Her papa quickly finds another wife, which is customary in these times, but Betta is inconsolable. When she meets Giuliano de Medici, her heart is swept away and he feels the same. Guiliano gives her the pet name Mona Lisa and she savors the time spent with him. But the cruelty of the times and the relentless upward rise of power of Savonarola makes their love story impossible. Betta marries a widower to please her father, but carries a torch within her heart for her first true love. When Savonarola is ousted from power many years later, Betta has a houseful of children. When Leonardo is commissioned to paint Betta...she meets the one who desires the portrait: her own beloved Giuliano. Although their love can never be realized, the portrait captures what Giuliano loves most about his Mona Lisa, her smile. The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli is carefully researched and brings to life a time period which gave birth to some of the world's most gifted and talented artists.

Magical Blue Slippers

Creelisel Carlbrun in no damsel in distress, thank you very much! Her aunt thinks tossing Creel to the dragons will catch the eye of some prince and make the family wealthy. Instead, Creel befriends the dragons, makes a pact, and comes away with a delightful pair of unique blue slippers. Creel remains with her dragon friend, Shardas while she is working on a display of her most beautiful, colorful, and intricate embroidery to use as a showcase for her fine stitchery. She hopes to dazzle a clothier in the King's Seat to find work as a seamstress and make her fortune. When the day comes and she must leave Shardas, it is a bittersweet parting. She is leaving a friend, but making her way in the world. Shardas tells her he will always hear her call for him, but neglects to tell her that it is through the very special blue shoes that her calls will reach him. When her beautiful blue shoes are stolen by a wicked, cruel princess, the King's Seat is in a perilous predicament. What follows is an ever-increasingly cryptic series of events that are foreboding and fraught with danger for the kingdom of Feravel. Creel teams up with a prince, a mute bodyguard, and of course, her beloved dragons to attempt to defeat this calculating royal and restore her homeland to peace once again.

Many students at Prairieview know that the fantasy genre is my most-favored one. This book, however, is a magical, lyrical tale that most everyone will love. If you admire strong female characters within a fairy-tale-like story, then Dragon Slippers is the book for you. I loved Creel's no-nonsense view of danger and her willingness to put herself in peril to save the ones she loves the most. Dragon Slippers is a 2010 nominee for the Rebecca Caudill Award. This book written by a favorite author of mine, Jessica Day George, is a treasure. I hope you find the chance to pick it up...especially if you like magical blue slippers!

Happy Reading!

An Ethnic Sandwich

Joseph Calderaro is searching for his identity...a task made even tougher since he is Korean by birth, but Italian by adoption. Vinny and Maria adopted Joseph (Duk-kee) when he was but three days old. He's grown up loving calamari, pasta and tomato sauce, and his extended Italian family. But, when his social studies teacher assigns a 1500 word essay about his heritage, Joseph is left confused and bewildered, not to mention frustrated at the lack of information about his birth parents. He enlists his friend, Nash, to search online for a Korean connection and when a match seems imminent, he places all his hope and trust in a faraway stranger. Disappointment follows, yet who is there to pick up the pieces? A loving, committed, and patient man he calls dad...Vinny Calderaro.

Kimchi & Calamari, a Rebecca Caudill nominee for 2010, is both funny and poignant. Joseph is struggling to find his identity when all along he is connected to his adoptive family with ties that are more loving than life itself, stronger than blood, and more absolute than truth. Joseph calls himself an 'ethnic sandwich'...a slice of Joseph sandwiched between kimchi and calamari. A heart-warming, touching story is awaiting the reader of this book about the bonds of love.

Happy Reading!

A Collection of Words

The Monarch Nominees for 2010 have recently been announced. What a wonderful assortment of picture books and early readers are on the list! I had a difficult time deciding which one to talk about on my blog. But, the brightly colored, swirling-twirling, magical illustrations of Max's Words by Kate Banks captured my attention, as I am sure they will capture yours.

Once there were three brothers: Benjamin, Karl and Max. Benjamin collected stamps, Karl collected coins, but Max couldn't come up with anything to collect...until he brainstormed and came up with the idea to collect words...flippy-floppy words, roly-poly words, and jolly-jumpy words. Words of every color and action, big words, little words, and words that made him feel good. Soon, Max knew he collected enough words to write a story...and so, he did. Bright, imaginative illustrations in which Max's 'words' become their meanings...a true delight and a world of words to look at on every page.

By no means is this book the only delight on the list. There are books by our favorite authors and some by newcomers. The list is worth checking out; I encourage all young (and old!) readers to pick up these tempting books. Here's the link to the nominees for 2010:

http://www.islma.org/pdf/Monarch_2010MasterList.pdf

Enjoy!
Happy Reading!

Gracehope: A Dark, Icy World

A Rebecca Caudill nominee for 2010, First Light by Rebecca Stead, is the convincing science fiction venture of Peter and Thea, told in alternating chapters. These two young adults are from drastically different worlds. Much to their surprise, however, Peter and Thea have more in common than could ever been imagined, as their lives are inevitably intertwined. Dr. Gregory Solemn, his wife Rory and son Peter are spending six weeks in Greenland studying the effects of global warming on Earth. Peter's mother suffers from debilitating headaches at times and she drifts off into a numbness that Peter cannot understand. But as Peter turns 12, he begins to have similar headaches and wonders what all of it really means. One day, as Peter is out exploring Greenland's vast frozen land, he unexpectedly hears a unnerving moaning... and stumbles upon Thea, a girl about his age and her dog, Gru. Her cousin, Matthias is trapped in the ice and she needs Peter's assistance to pull him out. They are successful and she begs Peter to help get him back to her village. Little does Peter know that she will bring him deep underneath the ice to a mysterious and unknown settlement where people do not interact with "the wider world". Peter returns to his parents and does not mention this strange and bewildering experience. Then, a few days later he suffers a massive headache and faints near the entrance to Gracehope, Thea's home. Peter's dog Sasha, moans as Gru did and Rory finds her son near the entrance to this underground world...How are these seemingly unrelated and disconnected parallel worlds fused? Peter is shocked by the realization that he really doesn't know much about his mother's birth or extended family at all, but soon he is enlightened and all the puzzle pieces connect to tell the shocking story.

Thea's ancestors were driven to a world thought to be unlivable in an attempt to preserve a bloodline known for its intelligence and uncanny instincts. Gracehope, meant only to be a temporary shelter, somehow became a hidden fortress apart from a seemingly dangerous civilization. Peter's mysterious adventure under Greenland's frozen wasteland is laden with danger, urgency, and complexity. An engaging addition to the list of Rebecca Caudill nominees - 2010.
Happy Reading!

For Baseball Fans...Or Not

We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson reminds us that we, as baseball fans, owe a debt of gratitude to those immensely talented men of the Negro Baseball League who played the game with dignity, affection, and devotion. Where would our beloved game be today if we did not enjoy the talents of Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Derrek Lee, or C.C. Sabathia? These dedicated men of the Negro Baseball League who put up with bumpy bus rides, segregation, playing three-games-a-day, and jeers and insults from white fans, are a testament today of the work ethic that makes doing any job you love worth doing. I, as one overly enthusiastic baseball fan, am in awe of these men who went about their business because of the love of the game, knowing full well that it wasn't about the money, or the fame, or the perks...it was about camaraderie, the intricacies of the game, and the passion of playing and giving it your all. Kadir Nelson writes with a chatty, folksy tone and it seems as if he is sitting down next to you on the bleachers on a sun-filled summer day, eating a hot dog, and watching your favorite game. He tells the reader the unvarnished truth, with no regrets, or apologies, or sugar-coating. He simply wants you to know what came before the multi-million dollar salaries, the luxuries of the clubhouse, and the mind-numbing figures of product endorsements. As bad as some of it was, it wasn't all bad; they were playing the game they loved. As Nelson writes, "We look back and wonder, 'How did we do all of that?' It's simple. We loved the game so much, we just looked past everything else. We were ballplayers. There was nothing we would have rather spent our time doing."

If you are a baseball fan, We Are the Ship is a must-read. If you are a card-carrying member of the human race, this book should be required reading. If you are an aficionado of American History, this is a story that fills in some of the blanks about our country. If you appreciate a job well-done, devotion to a passion, or inspiring stories passed down through generations, this beautifully crafted book full of intricate, life-like illustrations must not be passed up. This is a book for kids of every age, especially 'kids' who love the game. Don't miss it.

And, if this doesn't convince you to read this fabulous book, then you should know that it was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award for 2009. In addition, We Are the Ship is a 2009 Coretta Scott King illustrator honor book. I highly recommend it!

Happy Reading!

Newbery Award Winner - 2009

This past Monday, January 26, 2009, as the Newbery Award winners were announced, I was pleased to see the renowned storyteller, Neil Gaiman, honored as his book, The Graveyard Book was selected as the winner for 2009. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to find it on my bookshelf at home, for I knew I wanted to start reading it as soon as possible. I was not disappointed and quickly realized why this unearthly tale of unconditional love was given top honors in this prestigious category for children's literature.


A master storyteller, Neil Gaiman, takes us through the mists and whispers of the eerie graveyard Nobody Owens calls home. Bod was just a toddler when his family was brutally murdered by the man Jack. Thus, he came to live with his ghostly family Mr. and Mrs. Owens and all the delightfully macabre residents of the graveyard. It takes the graveyard to raise Bod, as the tale goes. His guardian, Silas, teaches him, cares for him, and provides him with his human needs. Bod will be protected from any harm as long as he stays within the rusted and decrepit iron walls of this unearthly home, for as Silas and the others know, the man Jack has unfinished business to attend to. The man Jack, a jack-of-all-trades, has to redeem himself and prove to his fellow Jacks that he can destroy the boy who lives on the edge between this world and the next. This Newbery Award winner for 2009, The Graveyard Book is both delightfully quirky and melodiously narrated as only Gaiman can do. The story of Bod is filled with trepidation, loneliness, compassion, familial love, and luminosity, not to mention other-worldly shenanigans. Bod's story will live with the reader until the Lady on the great gray stallion meets him or her at those same rusted, decrepit gates of the graveyard.


Here is a recap of the books honored for best in children's literature - 2009:

Newbery Winner and Honor Books: 2009

Newbery Medal:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Newbery Honor Books:

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

Savvy by Ingrid Law

After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

Happy Reading!