Read Scary: Nonfiction Monday: Face to Face with Caterpillars by Darlyne Murawski

These aren't your favorite fuzzy caterpillars. These are the weird, the frightening, and the freakish!

Murawski introduces the reader to a fascinating variety of caterpillars through the lens of her research and photography. She explains the physiology of caterpillars, their food, defenses and more.

Each section on a part of the caterpillar's life cycle or habitat includes stunning photographs with extensive captions, projects like raising a caterpillar or experimenting with caterpillar sight, and anatomical drawings.

The book finishes with instructions on helping caterpillars survive, writing topics, a summary of the facts included in the book, glossary, additional reading, index, and notes from the author.

The Face to Face series is perfect for grade school children who want more in-depth information on various animals or are writing reports for school and this title is an excellent one. I would have liked to know a little more about the author/research ala Scientists in the Field, but that's the only drawback to this series in my opinion.


Verdict: This title and the others in the Face to Face series are highly recommended. A must-have for your nonfiction section, they are the perfect book to hand to kids who want to look at amazing photographs and explore the world of animals and bugs.

ISBN: 9781426300523; Published May 2007 by National Geographic; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, knee-deep in reviews

I am deeply immersed in reading and reviewing for the Cybils (reviews will start posting soon), completely reorganizing and editing my blog (I'm up to December 2008 so far!) and lots of other fun stuff. So, very briefly...

Make it and Take it on Tuesday - meh. I killed this program by taking it to twice a month instead of weekly. But weekly was just impossible - too much work, too much publicity, too much money for crafts and projects. Oh well. A couple kids wandered in, then some middle schoolers wandered in. We ended up with two paintings (the actual craft) and a bunch of shark's teeth necklaces (the middle schoolers remembered this from last time and wanted to fiddle with them again)

Preschool Interactive on Wednesday - had a good, big group. Will be posting storytime plans in the future as part of my blog revamp.

Messy Art Club on Wednesday. Slightly larger group than we've had before this fall. Moving Wednesday afternoons to 4pm (although this was what all the parents asked for) has NOT worked. We'll go back to 3:30 in January. I had a lot of people who didn't know each other and didn't want to, so it was depressingly quiet. I'm going to play background music in the future.

Scary Storytime/Mask Making/Scary movie marathon on Friday
Tons of kids for scary storytime - I will do this again with better publicity. I had expected the toddlers from the regular Friday morning storytime, but I got a lot of prek through 2nd grade and should have had scarier stories. About 50 people by the time we got to mask making.

I planned a movie showing because my director thought we'd have a new screen and system installed. Of course, we didn't. Had about 10 people for Max and Ruby, about 5 for Monster House, which stopped playing. A couple for Nightmare before Christmas who left partway through. A couple more when it was almost over, so I restarted it. and I cancelled the last movie, Scary Godmother, and went home since there was no one there.

Now I'm going to get back to reviewing and cooking and doing laundry and dishes and more blog revamping and tidying my porch garden for the winter and sewing and reviewing and....

Read Scary: Pilot & Huxley: The first adventure by Dan McGuiness

Huxley is worried about his family's complete and unexplainable disappearance. He goes over to his best friend Pilot's house and they discover they have a bigger problem on their hands: Pilot's overdue videogame is the one thing a group of aliens need to take over the world.

Dumped into another dimension by Death (he's been looking for a job with more potential) Pilot and Huxley are suddenly trapped in a strange world with a sea of bees, their only hope a *gag* girl - probably with "interdimensional girl germs." The next thing they know, they're climbing up the nose of a giant monster and into even grosser places, just trying to get home and return Pilot's videogame.

This comic left me pretty cold - the mixture of silliness and gross humor and the "an eleven year old drew me" art style should have given this a Captain Underpants flavor, but some of the gross humor is just too gross - like the fast food restaurant that offers rat vomit dipping sauce. There isn't any overt violence, but it's definitely there behind the scenes and some of the jokes seem too old for most 8-12 year olds. All the reviews I looked at mentioned South Park in conjunction with this - I've never watched it, but...isn't that adult?

Verdict: This will certainly appeal to a lot of eleven year old kids, but it's just as likely to gross out and annoy an equal number of kids and parents. I have plenty of funny comics with...let's say, more taste, so I'll pass on this one. When I'm looking for popular culture influenced comics, I might as well get Spongebob, which has a wider audience and is less likely to line up disgusted parents at my desk. I want to see a little more justification of a plot line that includes the characters climbing up a giant slug's anus.

Other reviews
Good Comics for Kids
ICv2
Pink Me

ISBN: 9780545265041; Published January 2011 by Graphix; Borrowed from the library

Read Scary: Dragonbreath: Lair of the Bat Monster by Ursula Vernon

I adore Danny Dragonbreath. Most series, I lose interest around the second book, maybe the third if it's a really, really good series. And laughing after the first story? Nah, just doesn't happen. Dragonbreath is funny. Dragonbreath is weird. Dragonbreath is scary. Dragonbreath is hilarious and gross and exciting and imaginative. Basically, Dragonbreath is every nine or ten year old boy who walks into my library, some of my favorite patrons ever!

Danny Dragonbreath takes the back seat to his nervous friend Wendell in this bus ride to Mexico, because after some miscellaneous daydreaming, wandering through a jungle, etc. etc. he suddenly gets kidnapped! Unfortunately, his cousin Steve isn't exactly...he's not quite...he's not really a grown-up, at least not as Wendell would define it; someone who FIXES things! So it's up to Wendell. He's not prepared for this! "They had a system. Danny was fearless and Wendell was terrified, and it worked out between them."

Of course there's a happy ending, but in between there's enough terrifying moments to satisfy the shivers and goosebumps crowd with a big dose of gross and lots of bat facts. And the scene with the snake? Best. Worldbuilding. Scene. Ever.

I read this with a background accompaniment of Rocky and Bullwinkle and I think there's some similarities between the show and Ursula Vernon's writing. Both are completely insane, and both are completely logical. I mean, if you can take a bus to Japan, why not to Mexico? If you have a cousin who's a sea serpent, why not a mythical dragon figure? And if you have a mythical dragon (or any dragon) why not a.....well, I'll let you find out for yourself.

Verdict: What? You haven't bought it yet? Sheesh, put in a standing order!

ISBN: 9780803735255; Published March 2011 by Dial; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Read Scary: Nonfiction Monday: Monster Hunt by Jim Arnosky

Arnosky's exploration of mysterious creatures is more of a tribute to and celebration of wonder than it is a "scary monster" book. Framed by his own trips to Lake Champlain to search for the fabled lake monster "Champ", the exploration of the weird and wonderful moves lyrically through real and as yet mythical creatures, illustrated by Arnosky's luminescent art.

Arnosky looks first at charcharodons, massive prehistoric sharks. Could they still exist? No one knows, but it's possible. What about giant squids? Long thought to be mythical, scientists now know these "krakens" really do live in the ocean - but not much more about them.

Gorillas and Komodo dragons were thought to be myth, until they were discovered in the 1800s. What about Bigfoot? Many reliable people have reported sightings of this gorilla-like creature. If he did exist, what would he eat? How would he avoid humans?

While sea serpents seem too fantastical to be based in fact, what about lake monsters, especially the famous Loch Ness Monster and Lake Champlain's Champ. Could these creatures be plesiosaurs? Arnosky ends the exploration with the story of his own exploration of Lake Champlain with his wife and grandsons. He describes in words and paintings how they explored the bottom of the lake and discovered that large lake creatures could quite possibly survive there.

Verdict: This isn't the book for kids looking for chills and thrills or for a strictly scientific approach to cryptozoology. But it's a great book for sparking imagination and exploration and encouraging appreciation of the mysteries in the world around us. Recommended for elementary grades, especially kids who like stories about mythical monsters but nothing too scary.


ISBN: 9781423130284; Published July 2011 by Hyperion; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, Featuring staff work day (because we don't work on the other days)

Monday. Extremely Frustrating Day. Do not want to talk about it. Grrrr.

Tuesday. 2 second grade class visits - class number one, very nice. Class number two, squirrelly beyond belief! The problem, I think, it twofold. First, these are community visits, so while one class visits me, the other visits the bank. Banks are boring. Banks also give out candy. So my second group consists of sugared, bored 2nd graders. The second problem is that these kids have already done the tour, heard the spiel, etc. etc. in kindergarten and 1st grade. Also, we would like more circulation. So I'm thinking...next year...I will tell the teachers we are doing a new "program." Kindergarteners and 1st graders get a tour, storytime, and library cards. 2nd and 3rd graders get to come check out books and make a craft. I am hoping by then we will have tried out non-fine children's books and that will be an additional incentive.

Teen Cafe. This program was a mess. (hence some of my frustration on Monday). I didn't really prepare it well enough and lots of stuff went wrong at the last minute. We were supposed to make movies. Meh. I think the problem with this (besides not preparing it) is that I am really busy. My mind knows I am really busy. My mind pushes teen programming to the back because it is very low returns for the amount of effort. I have only once gotten 20 teens to attend a program - otherwise I have a few middle schoolers and that's it. I will continue to do Teen Cafe every month, but I am going to stick to low-tech, very, very, very simple things and food. It also doesn't help that I never visit the high school or 7th/8th grade at the middle school...We're doing a Breaking Dawn party next month, but one of the Friends of the library suggested that and is helping out and bringing friends so that's different. Oh, yeah, nobody came to this program. ZERO.

Wednesday. Preschool Interactive! I thought I was only going to have 3 kids, but then a bunch more came. However, it was a wiggly day and lots of them didn't want to stay in the room - but they all came back in for the art project!

Then the third 2nd grade class came - I changed my plan in mid-stride, after the "we've already seen this" remarks from the kids yesterday and the staff's "don't you ever get tired of giving that spiel? We have it memorized" so I just took the kids around and asked them what they remembered. Eh, it was ok.

And the fourth and final group, which weren't as squirrelly as yesterday's second group. Between the four groups I read: Book that eats people, Hampire, My Rhinoceros (sigh. I would really like this one, but they just don't get the humor, although they sit still for it) I'm a shark, and Pete the Cat I love my white shoes (a HUGE hit)

Lego Club - a dismal 20. I had so many parents complain that it was too early at 3:30, that when the schools started letting out 10 minutes later, I moved it to 4pm. This doesn't work - apparently more parents find it inconvenient to go home and come back again. I also think not going to the schools' open houses lost me some people - that's where a lot of my initial attendees came last year. Oh well. I'll extend the time in January to 3:30-5pm. Spent most of Lego club in the lobby talking to the Friend who is helping (i.e. doing all the work) of planning our Breaking Dawn party.

Thursday - my kindergarten group didn't show up. No idea what happened to them. Oh well. Got through a fair amount of publicity and other stuff on the desk. Doing my part for our circulation - between Cybils, my programs, and other stuff, I have hit 100 items checked out on my card!

Friday - Staff work day! Shifted all the holiday books and juvenile movies. Straightened, shifted, and dusted several sections I've been weeding so they're not as messy. Put new security cases on my Wii games and Disney/Pixar dvds. Worked on some more publicity. Everyone was done by 2pm, but I went to run errands for the library.

And that was my week!

Updated...Actually, Staff work day NEVER goes the way I think it will. I got all the holiday books shifted, which included shifting the juvenile biographies, shifting shelves, straightening, dusting, and all new signage. Got all the movies shifted, including moving our horrible metal shelves. Realized they were off. Shifted again. Shifted again. It was 3:30. I left to run errands. I'll have to do the security cases and the signage for the movies on Monday. Gah! Frustrating week.

Read Scary: Storm Runners by Roland Smith

One stormy day, Chase leaves his tools outside just before a storm. His dad goes out to get them and is struck by lightning.

One year later, Chase and his dad are following storms across the country. Although they spend more time together than ever before, even after the accident several years ago that killed his mom and little sister, Chase and his dad are farther apart than ever. Then Hurricane Emily strikes unexpectedly, and Chase must not only survive, he must do his best to help the two girls stranded with him. His dad has taught him every possibly emergency strategy, but will they stand up to gale force winds, rapidly rising floods, and Florida alligators?

After the brief setting of the prologue and a few chapters laying out Chase's new life and his arrival in Florida, the reader is plunged immediately into non-stop, heart-pounding action. The story alternates between Chase and his friends' desperate struggle for survival and Chase's dad's frantic efforts to find him in the middle of a huge hurricane while dealing with officials and reporters.

The story ends on a major cliffhanger; it's so sudden it's rather jarring. It felt as though Smith wrote a whole book and then the editor said "hey, let's make this a series" and just chopped it up. However, despite my dislike of series, I hate the massively thick volumes being churned out for middle grade readers even more, so I'll overlook the sudden ending.

Verdict: This will grab your reluctant readers by the throat and threaten them until they finish the story. I recommend waiting for at least the second volume and buying them together, since the ending is so sudden. Otherwise, you'll find yourself mobbed with desperate readers who absolutely must know what happens next NOW! I mean, really, how can you end a story in the eye of a hurricane with a leopard on the loose?

ISBN: 9780545081757; Published March 2011 by Scholastic; ARC provided by publisher at ALA Midwinter; Purchased for the library

Read Scary: Nonfiction Monday: Everything Sharks by Ruth Musgrave

I'm excited to show off a new book I bought for our library - Everything Sharks! You can never have too many "scary animal" books, and National Geographic Kids' Everything series has some great offerings.

This book is packed with tidbits of information, photos, art, facts, and more. There's a basic introduction to sharks, where we meet many different species and learn how a shark differs from a fish.
The second chapter tells us about a shark's life, from birth to diet and special abilities. We learn more about different shark species and some ancient shark history in the third chapter as well as how people study sharks and how sharks compare to humans. The last chapter includes more facts, but also blends in different activies and practical advice from avoiding shark attacks to making shark stamps.
Additional information includes how to help sharks who are threatened in the wild, where to go to see sharks in aquariums, a glossary combined with vocabulary-building exercises, and further resources.

This is a skimpier offering than National Geographic's Face to Face series, but well-suited for a younger audience that wants lots of facts and pictures. There's enough to whet the appetite of a younger reader or shark-enthusiast and the special activities are a nice touch.

Verdict: Highly recommended for all collections, add this one in conjunction with Face to Face with Sharks so kids who want to know more can move on to read further.


ISBN: 9781426308024; Published April 2011 by National Geographic; Borrowed from library; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, This is fall??

It was 80+ on Sunday. My dahlias are blooming vigorously. I am annoyed. I do not like heat! Everything should be dead by now! I should not be sneezing!

Monday was Monday was Monday. Another staff meeting and then swinging around town to deliver flyers. Angela drove, I jumped in and out of the car.

Tuesday. I've been worrying on and off about whether making sharks' teeth necklaces will work. I advertised it before I'd actually tested it (always a bad idea, but it took me a while to get to the knitting group, where the woman who donated the sharks' teeth was going to show me how to make them into necklaces). So I had cardboard boxes in addition, which they could paint and glue shells to. Then I worried that they wouldn't dry fast enough and not enough people will come....I seem to be worrying a lot these days. Maybe I need more sleep? Four kids, 2 parents, and one younger sibling ended up hanging out. The sharks' teeth necklaces were too hard, but they loved the shell boxes - and a bunch of older kids wandered in to look at the sharks' teeth before the program. I feel like I've killed this program by taking it to twice a month - who can remember 2nd and 4th Tuesdays? But I am getting different kids, and they are checking out books. Is an average of 5 kids enough to justify the program? I don't know.

Wednesday was a loooooong day. I had a big group for Preschool Interactive, and ended up throwing in a couple extra stories, Fuddles by Vischer and Is everyone ready for fun? by Jan Thomas. Chick 'n' Pug didn't go over well, too subtle for this age group, I'll need to trade that one out. Jan Thomas was a big hit, as always. I had lots of new people!

My first visit from Lakeland - that's our county's special education school. Only 8 kids and they were amazing! This is a new group for me, and I tried to do things a little differently, using what teachers and friends have said and some common sense. We did a short tour, then read I'm a Shark and Pete the Cat I love my white shoes, then a second part of the tour, and one last story, Jan Thomas' Is everyone ready for fun? the whole thing was about 25 minutes and my only worry is that I talked too fast, but I can work on that - they're coming back every month.

Next Wednesday program was Messy Art Club, fingerpaint today! This will, I think, be the last time I do fingerpaint for Messy Art Club indoors. It's getting increasingly more time-consuming to clean up - I think because I have such a wider range of ages coming, or maybe it was just the particularly collection of kids today, or maybe I should have distributed the paint differently...anyways, it took me about an hour to clean up, paint got spilled on the rug, I had to mop the kitchen, and we're sticking to glue from now on.

Final Wednesday program was a visit from some cub scouts. I was awaiting this in trepidation, since I've had some very...rough visits, but this group was good. It helped that a couple kids were regular library visitors. I took them on a long tour, showed them all the staff areas, and read The Book that eats people and I'm a shark.

Bedtime! In case you're wondering how all this fit in, I got to work at 9:30 and got home at 7:30. Phew.

Thursday. Went in to work an hour late, because of marathon day yesterday. Computers all down. Kindergarten class couldn't come b/c of rain, so I went over to the school and did a storytime. Technology, it hates us.

Friday. Entire system still down, piles of books and movies in the back waiting to be checked in, lists of requested holds and renewals on paper, have to make guest passes for every single person who wants to use a computer. Argh!

Saturday. I went in a couple hours extra because the system came back online and it was CRAZY. What a week!

I've loaded more flannels!

Read Scary: Sam & Friends Mysteries volumes 1 - 4 by Mary Labatt, illustrated by Jo Rioux

Talking dog and mystery lover Sam is back, along with her human friends Jennie and Beth. I looked at the first two books in this series back in 2009 and found them enjoyable and attractive, if a little repetitive of children's mystery tropes. I finally got around to purchasing the earlier volumes for my library and then received the fourth volume for review, so we're going to take another look at this series as a whole.

In their first adventure, Dracula Madness, Jennie, a ten year old girl, is miserable because her best friend has moved away, right before summer. Sam, a plump and furry sheepdog is miserable because she’s just been forced to move to a boring little town with no mysteries! But then Sam discovers Jennie is one of the special people she can communicate with and Jennie shows her the spookiest house in town and the mystery hunt is on! With another little girl, Beth, they solve the mystery of strange Mr. McIver – is Dracula really living in his basement?


In Lake Monster Mix-Up, Jennie, Beth, and Sam are staying at the lake. They hear some scary stories about a lake monster and decide to do a little research on their own. To their horror, they discover there really are monsters in the lake – or are there?

Their third adventure is the scariest of all – for Sam. In Mummy Mayhem, Sam is enjoying a peaceful, if boring, winter when she suddenly sees a huge white worm out of her window! Could it really be the mummy of the pharaoh Menopharsib, looking for a white dog to replace his pet dog who was mummified and then stolen? Who is leaving the mysterious – and delicious – beef jerky?

Finally, Sam and the girls team up again in Witches’ Brew to save Jennie from her new, strange neighbors. The girls and Sam are convinced the three sisters are witches, fattening up animals to eat. But Jennie’s mom won’t listen to them and hires them to babysit! Will they escape and save the animals?

These graphic novels are best suited for fans of beginning chapter mystery series like the Boxcar Children but want something with just a little spooky in it. Each mystery turns out to be a simple mix-up – Mr. McIver is an inventor, the lake monsters are scuba divers, the mummy an eccentric neighbor wrapping up against the cold, and the three sisters are animal rehabilitators. But there are plenty of chills along the way, enlivened by Sam’s sassy voice and Jennie and Beth’s wild imaginations.

The black and white panel art is simple, and well-designed for readers who have just moved on from easy readers to beginning chapter books and don’t need too much distraction from the text. All of the text is dialogue, with the action and emotions clearly shown in the art and expressions of the characters. The text is readable and clear, very important for a beginning chapter graphic novel.

Verdict: Add these to your graphic novel collection for kids who are still practicing their reading skills and want to ease slowly into comics without too much visual distraction. These are also a good suggestion for parents who want “calmer” stories and are worried about violence in the regular superhero comics. Boxcar Children meet Scooby-Doo!

Dracula Madness
ISBN: 9781554534180; Published February 2009.
Lake Monster Mix-Up
ISBN: 9781553378228; Published August 2009
Mummy Mayhem
ISBN: 9781554534708; Published September 2010
Witches’ Brew
ISBN: 9781554534722; Published March 2011

Review copies provided by publisher (Kids Can Press) through Raab Associates and/or purchased for the library.

Read scary: The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

This isn't really scary, but there are some definitely tense moments, so in it goes! Elizabeth is thrilled when her teacher recommends her for a job in the New York Circulating Material Repository. She is completely fascinated by the variety of things that are catalogued, shelved, and checked out to patrons. She's also fascinated and more than a little daunted by her fellow pages - the gorgeous and surprisingly friendly school basketball star Marc, the even more gorgeous Anjali. But then she meets the unreasonably rude and unfriendly Aaron and pretty soon she's aware that something else is Going On. And that something else centers around the marvelous, amazing, unbelievably and truly magic Grimm collection. items from fairy tales are real - and so is their magic. Elizabeth even gets to check them out! But things are going missing and there's something frightening happening. Who's to blame? Where will Elizabeth place her loyalties?

I loved the descriptions and the adventure and the fantasy. I was annoyed by the romance which seemed to fall out of nowhere and be rather unnecessary. Couldn't Elizabeth and a certain person who shall remain unnamed just be good friends fighting evil forces together? Did they have to get all mushy? The story was an exciting adventure fantasy until that point, at which it suddenly seemed to say "hey, I am a Young Adult Fantasy and all Young Adult Fantasies are supposed to have a Great Romance so I too must have a Great Romance." I did finish the book and loved the funny and clever denouement, but the romance was soooo unnecessary.

Verdict: The middle grade audience would really like this as a fantasy, and most of the romance is pretty mild, but there are a couple bits, esp. the mirror scene which say TEEN. The fantasy feels a bit young for teens though, so this book, although fun, floats for me in nowhereland. If you have the audience for a fun fantasy/adventure story with lush descriptions and a romance, go for it.

ISBN: 9780399250965; Published July 2010 by Puffin; ARC received from publisher at ALA Midwinter 2010

Nonfiction Monday: Read Scary: Stuff that scares your pants off! by Glenn Murphy, illustrated by Mike Phillips

I scooped up this ARC at ALA Midwinter because it looked like one of those gross fact books that kids of all ages and both genders revel in. It turned out to be a lot more than just gross facts, but just as intriguing.

As the title says, this book is all about scary stuff. with photographs, cartoons, and humorous drawings, Glenn Murphy explores the scary stuff that's all around us.


The book looks at all possible fears and phobias, including wildlife, disasters, diseases, and the unknown. It ranges from common but unlikely-to-ever-happen fears like shark attacks, to less well-known fears like alektorophobia (fear of chickens). Murphy deals with various fears both as a scientist and psychologist, debunking the unlikely and just plain wrong, and giving practical and common sense tips on staying safe and dealing with emotional fears.

There are plenty of weird and wacky stories, scary pictures, facts, statistics, and gross foods and disasters to satisfy every factophile in your library.

Verdict: A little different than your usual weird and wacky fact book, this will definitely be popular and is a must have for your Halloween displays!

ISBN: 9781596436336; Published Feburary 2011 by Roaring Brook; ARC received from publisher at ALA Midwinter 2011; Purchased for the library

This week at the library; or, Yay Fall!

Monday - morning on the desk, left early for a committee meeting on Storywagon. Our consortium used to have grants to supply 4 summer performers to every library in two counties. Then we had 3. Now we are all clubbing together to take part of the costs and the consortium is scrambling for grants to cover the rest. Le sigh. Anyways, we figured out the three people we want this summer (although half our committee has left for other jobs in the last month). Came back for our own library's staff meeting, much discussion of our library survey (people always ask for evening and weekend programs, but they never come!) and changes we're making to the library layout.

Exciting news! I am an official reviewer for No Flying No Tights! Look! For really and truly! I am excited! Also somewhat terrified! It's like being asked to play with the cool kids (-:)

Tuesday - I'm not sure what happened to today. Work was definitely done, but I can't remember any individual moments. It was crazy.

Wednesday - Storytime + back pain = not fun. Kinda meh. Lego Club is slowly growing back. Slowly, slowly...


Thursday Quiet evening, cleaning out papers. Baby storytime is erupting and we have to do something about it. Right now, I think we're going to move tables so there's more room.


Friday Half day since I'm working tomorrow. More meetings.


Saturday It was Saturday. Nothing much to add, other than that it's HOT. It's not supposed to be hot in Wisconsin.

In other news, I am putting my flannel boards online on Picasa, you can see the slideshow below. Only one so far, but more soon I hope!

Flannel Boards

Read Scary: Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West

Yes, I received this ARC at ALA Midwinter 2010. Yes, I didn't read it until ALA Midwinter 2011. I would like to say that I actually wrote this review last February though! Sometimes the anticipation is more fun than the book.

Not in this case though. I was drawn into the story from the first page, completely enthralled by the dark house and its mysteries and Olive, one of the most interesting middle grade characters I've met for quite some time. All the classic elements of the best middle grade fantasy adventures are there: mostly absent parents, a mysterious house, a strange kid who might just be a new friend, and of course a magical animal or two. West adds some truly frightening moments with Olive's expeditions into the world on the other side of the pictures, a terrifying villain, and sly humor with the talking cats, each of whom have their own personality.

Verdict: West's debut well deserves its Cybils award for middle grade fantasy and will charm and delight kids who like a deeply satisfying fantasy with plenty of adventure, a little humor, and some chilly touches. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9780803734401; Published June 2010 by Dial; ARC received at ALA Midwinter 2010; Purchased for the library.

Nonfiction Monday: Read Scary: Dreadful Fates by Tracey Turner, illustrated by Sally Kindberg

I'm celebrating the month of October with my own little blog series: Read Scary! We'll see if I can come up with enough scary, icky, weird, and freaky books to fill the month.

Appropriately, I'm beginning the month of scary reads with a collection of scary ends - Tracey Turner's silly, gross, and just plain weird collection of gruesome deaths, strange fates of bodies (and the pieces thereof) and last words.

The book is divided up into sections and after a brief introduction with samples of the delights to follow, we stagger right into "Squashed, Bashed, Speared and Tripped". Here we see fates from the ridiculous, like the men killed by turnips, large pieces of meat, and vending machines, to the scientifically and historically weird, like the man killed by electricity or the women strangled by their own corsets. Just in case your snickers get out of control, the next chapter is titled "Dying of Laughter" with some deadly warnings of just what laughter can do to you. Suitably sobered, we move on to "Bits and Pieces" to find out all the possible gory fates of the bits and pieces of dead bodies. We go back to weird deaths in "Fatal Food" and "Animal Encounters" then return to the afterlife; or, rather the afterdeath in "Unusual Funerals and Curious Coffins". The second half of the book includes sudden and unexpected deaths in "Died in Action", "Murders and Executions" and further gruesome fates of various bodies in "Life After Death". "Fatal Mistakes" and "Ironic Fates" present deaths which are so ridiculous and ironic they're hardly believable and the book ends, most appropriately, with "Last Words and Epitaphs."

Kindberg's illustrations are appropriately gruesome and ridiculous, with blood dripping on the edges of the pages and caricatures of everything from mummified bodies to incendiary hoop skirts.

Verdict: The perfect middle grade book for the fan of the scary and factoid. Hand this one to middle grade fans of Guiness World Records and those looking for suitably gory facts to freak out their friends.

ISBN: 9781554536443; Published February 2011 by Kids Can Press; Review copy provided by publisher through Raab Associates.

This week at the library; or, Fall Showers

Monday - started the day with rain, finished the day with rain. This is not a complaint - I like rain. Just an observation. Finished the missing list, realized I need about $1500 to replace all of the missing items, realized I do not have $1500, went home grumpy. Am missing, among many, many, many other items..

• All of Disney's Peter Pan movies, which are currently in the vault and cannot be replaced
• About half of John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series
• Cinda Williams Chima's complete oeuvre (no idea how they got an entire shelf full of thick books out!)
• Sonya Sones AGAIN which leads me to suspect it isn't kids stealing her, but jerks who don't want her books available - I'm 90% sure my missing Robie Harris titles fall into that category as well
• and the Alfred Kropp books I bought as a special request from a middle school boy
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audiobook on cd - which will cost $50-$80 to replace!!
• Several YA titles that disappeared last year almost immediately after I purchased them, including Black Hole Sun, Poison Eaters, Incarceron, Pure, Cracked up to be, Where she went, Tomorrow when the war began and more
• Several teen sex/dating books
• All of my Essential Wolverine comic collections, none of which are available through my vendor any longer
• Robin McKinley's Sunshine, missing for the 2nd? 3rd? time
• And much, much more

AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH

Tuesday - more rain. Lovely, cool rain *sighs of happiness* I love drizzly, foggy falls, it gives my garden that last burst of green before everything dies for the winter. Our second Make it and Take it session of the month, mini journals, went ok - 6 kids. My attendance goal is between 5 and 15, so this was a little on the low side. But one of the girls had read a book off my Make it and Take it display (Daisy Dawson) and loved it and I introduced a whole extended family to Dragonbreath (each cousin picked one of the books to take home).

Wednesday - even more rain! Yay! I had about 25 for Preschool Interactive, which was less than last week's record 40, but much more manageable. We ended up doing MacDonald's Squeaky Door instead of Princess Mouse b/c I didn't think the kids would sit still for the longer story and we decided we liked MaryAnn Kohl's starch and tissue paper project more than the starch and chalk project. Our Messy Art Club numbers are back up - had about 30 - and we did lots and lots and lots and lots of collage!

Thursday - my first library visit from a school group this year, just one kindergarten class. Afternoon visits = squirrely kids! But we all had fun anyways. I read Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want To Survive The School Bus by John Grandits. It was kind of long, but they all sat very still. I don't know how much of the story they grasped, but as their teacher said, they're all past the first bus ride jitters by now anyways. Then we read This Book Eats People by John Perry with lots of delighted giggling and fake screams and by the time we got to I'm a Shark by Bob Shea everyone was ready to participate (i.e. shriek at appropriate moments) Then we made butterfly masks and it was over! My visits are usually 30 minutes and this was an hour, but it went well.

Friday - it's the first Friday of the month, so thanks to the senior group that meets in our community group, there is no parking, at all, for our storytime people. Fridays are fun. Ha ha ha.

Cybils here I come!