false 25 41 14 true 5627128 read 2 true 3809743 currently-reading 25 true 3809742 to-read 5 false 3921259 books-about-new-orleans 4 false 3921257 picture-books 3 false 4391778 adult-books 2 false 4391779 poetry 2 false 3921262 children-s-lit 1 false 4391791 books-about-new-york 1 false 5500479 professional-books http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72552792 Here Comes the Garbage Barge! (Hardcover) by Jonah Winter
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72231026 Monica's review of Sweethearts of Rhythm
by Marilyn Nelson

Monica, I agree with you that this is a beautiful book! Did you know that Marilyn and Jerry are going to be our speakers at the CLA Breakfast? Look forward to seeing you at NCTE.
April ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69556197 Dying to Meet You: 43 Old Cemetery Road (Hardcover) by Kate Klise
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67115834 The Children's Book (Hardcover) by A.S. Byatt
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60447659 to: Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children's Literature (Hardcover) by Jerry Griswold
bookshelves: professional-books
For everyone who teaches or loves children's literature, I highly recommend this book. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never heard of Jerry Griswold, the director of the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature and a professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. This is likely because he approaches children's lit from an English background while most of my friends and I come from an education background. Regardless of professional stance, this book is worth reading. Griswold asserts that there are five themes common across great (mostly classic) children's literature: Snugness--for example, the cabin in Little House in the Big Woods (I prefer the synonym Coziness); Scariness--this is pretty self-explanatory; how many of us enjoy a book that gives us a good scare? Of course, what children find scary and what adults find scary might not be the same thing; Smallness--not only tiny characters and miniature worlds like those in Stuart Little and the Borrowers, but also the feeling of powerless that accompanies being a child and therefore small; Lightness--both in terms of weight, as in when characters can fly a la Mary Poppins and Harry Potter, and in terms of attitude, where children are, hopefully, light-hearted, especially in comparison to adults; and Aliveness--this would include books where animals, toys and other objects, and the natural world take on the characteristics of humans. Griswold provides numerous examples for each theme, and the book is filled with full-color reproductions of illustrations from some of the books he discusses. He also asserts that by studying these themes in children's literature, we can learn much about the nature of childhood itself. The most fun for me was thinking of other examples of books for each theme, from both my own childhood reading as well as adult reading of children's books. I also remembered many details from my childhood while reading this book: like building forts with furniture and blankets and playing in my treehouse. Given its small format and short length (126 pages without references), this book would be an excellent supplementary text to prompt much discussion in a children's lit class. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58899875 to: Stitches: A Memoir (Hardcover) by David Small
bookshelves: adult-books
Incredible autobiography of children's illustrator David Small in graphic novel format. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63978154 Ellen's review of Stitches: A Memoir
by David Small

Read it in one day at ALA! Pretty amazing. Tough to get through but so brave of him to publish. I love David and Sarah! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/64117766 The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child (Paperback) by Donalyn Miller
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63842889 to: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
If you are a fan of Twilight, you will love Shiver. It has many of the same elements--romance, tragedy, werewolves. Grace, the main character, is much like Bella and equally prickly at times. Sam, the werewolf who steals her heart, is much more reminiscent of Edward than Jacob. He survived a horrific ordeal at the hands of his parents that left him forever scarred and melancholy, but not morose. Like Edward and Jacob, he is consumed by his love for the human girl, Grace. Unlike Stephanie Meyer's werewolves, however, the werewolves in Shiver can exercise very little control over their transformation from human to wolf form and back again. Like Meyer's vampires, the werewolves imagined by Maggie Stiefvater must be bitten by a werewolf in order to become one. This happens to Grace when she is a young child but Sam saves her from being completely devoured by his pack, and for some inexplicable reason, she never turns into a wolf. She does form a lasting connection with Sam, though, as well as developing keen senses of hearing and smell. (This mystery of why she doesn't turn plays a major role in the book.) The trigger for the human/wolf transition in Shiver is the weather. When the weather turns cold, those who have been bitten turn into wolves; when the warm weather returns, the wolves become human again. The real dilemma, though, is that at some point, they stop changing into humans and remain wolves for the rest of their lives (usually about 15 years). When Grace and Sam finally encounter each other in human form when she is 17 and he is 18--due to him saving her life--the romance that ensues is epic, but of course doomed not to last. Or will it? There is much suspense, action, and terror, but the romance between Sam and Grace is at the heart of the book and what kept me hooked as a reader. I'll admit that I'm not much of a fan of werewolf stories, but I heard the author read an excerpt at ALA and couldn't wait to begin this book, which I did immediately, and it has lingered with me ever since I finished it soon after. ]]>