The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle

With tears in her eyes, Taylor came in this morning to share her thoughts about Leslie Connor's new book, The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle.

I started to write a tweet with Taylor's thoughts and then realized it was going to take up more characters than my allotted 280.  I have not read the book yet but am a big Leslie Connor fan.  After reading the jacket, I realized that Taylor may have missed a few details but she was eager to share her personal thoughts.

"This book was so sad. After his best friend died, there is no one for Mason to defend him and he gets bullied a lot. Sixth grader Mason has dyslexia and is in a special class for kids like him. The other middle schoolers bully him like put mean things in his locker.  Lucky for Mason, he has a teacher he trusts. Things look brighter for Mason when Calvin offers him a pretzel in Ms. Blinny's class and they become friends. Even though Mason is still bullied, Calvin stands up for him as best as he can. Will Mason survive the bullies with his new friend by his side and get through sixth grade and the summer after?

"I liked how the story was written because it was as if Mason was writing it.  Even though at times it wasn't grammatically correct, I felt it was easy to understand and made a lot of sense.  The title matched the book because it was Mason telling the story.

"My favorite character was Ms. Blinny because she was really exciting and fun.

"I would give this book an 8 out of 10 stars.  It wasn't the best book I ever read, but I definitely liked it!"

 

Mac B. Kid Spy Mac Undercover

Izzy is back again the second time this week!  Yesterday she went home with Mac B. Kid Spy Mac Undercover, a new book by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Mike Lowery that comes out in September. She read it in one night! Here's what she had to say about it:

"This book is about Mac, just a regular kid. Then he gets a call from the Queen of England! She says that one of the crown jewels has been stolen and Mac has to find it."

One of Izzy's classmates, Gabe, stopped by and was eavesdropping in our conversation.  He started to ask Izzy some questions:

"Who's Mac? Is he cool?" Gabe asked.

"He's the main character and yeah, he's cool!" Izzy said with a smile.

"Who's the dog?" Gabe wondered while stealing a look at the cover.

"He's one of the many Queen of England's corgis! She has them as pets." Izzy replied. "Now back to the book--Someone left a note that they stole the jewel and Mac has to figure out how to get it back. Will Mac find the jewel? If he does, will he be able to outsmart the guards to get it back to the Queen? Read this sneaky spy book to figure it out! I recommend this book to kids in grades 1 and up.  You can't be too old to read a good book.

"By the way, I was on the swings when I was the reading the part when the Queen called Mac and said she wasn't paying him to eat cheeseburgers and she wasn't even paying him! That made me fall off the swing!"

 

  

 

 

 

 

Ocean Renegades!

Izzy is BAAAAACCCCKKKK! This time she's reviewing the first book in a new nonfiction graphic novel series, Earth Before Us: Ocean Renegades due out this August.

"The new book, Ocean Renegades, is an informational book but it's also pretty funny. Miss Lernin is babysitting Ronnie while his parents are away.  But the babysitting turns into quite the adventure.  All Ronnie wanted to do was go to the playground and check out the new swings.  Instead, Miss Lernin and Ronnie ended up at the aquarium. When they were looking at all the fish, they decided to time travel. They end up at the time before the dinosaurs.  They learn that even before land animals existed there were so many living creatures that are still evolving to this day. It would be awesome if when I was babysat for that I got to travel to time before the dinosaurs!

"If you want to learn about before land animals 

existed in a fun way, read this book!"

Earth Before Us: Ocean Renegades! by Abby Howard comes out this August by Abrams.

The Serpent's Secret: Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond

I saw Sayantani Dasgupta speak on a panel at TLA and bought her book for our library as soon as I returned home.  I haven't read it yet, but put it in the hands of one of my best book reviewers, Izzy. She came in first thing this morning with her thoughts.

First her summary:

"Kiranmala is just regular sixth grader in New Jersey but then on Halloween her parents are nowhere to be found.  Then two boys dressed up as princes point out that there is a demon (aka rakkhosh) right behind her, destroying her house.  They  fight the rakkhosh and escape it when it becomes unconscious. They go to the Transit Corridor in search of her parents and Kiranmala can't go through unless she passes the Transit Officer.  She is able to solve the riddles to get through but she finds out that you aren't supposed to live when you go to the Transit Officer.  So she has to run away and finds herself in a strange city in a different dimension. She's still searching for her parents.  Eventually the two boys find Kiranmala and are surprised to see that she is alive. Together the three of them go to the castle to find Tuni.  They have been told that Tuni can figure out basically anything but you first have to figure out what his poem means. Tuni tells them a poem which they figure out that Kiranmala's parents are in a well of darkness. Will she find her parents?  Read the book to find out!"

Why did you like it?

I liked it because it was a fantasy with some action.  And it was believable, too!  That's hard to do with a fantasy book! 

 

I don't know about you, but I am going to put this book at the top of my ever growing TBR pile for sure! Thank you, Izzy!

Sidenote: Izzy LOVES Adam Gidwitz and Adam was on the same panel at TLA!  Coincidence that she liked this book, too, then?

REBOUND

It's what we've all been waiting for! The prequel to The Crossover! Some spoiler alerts--Beware (especially, if you haven't read The Crossover)! No matter what, you will want to get your hands on this book ASAP--Comes out April 2!

To prep for the REBOUND ride:

Turn up your Michael Jackson (PYT, Man in the Mirror), LL Cool J, Miles Davis, Luther Vandross and of course, Horace Silver on your record player,
Search your local convenient store for a pack of Now and Laters (it wasn't too hard),
Grab yourself some KFC (or better yet, Grandma's fried chicken),
Slip into your Jordache,
Lace up your skates,
Indulge in a winning Krispy Kreme (and chocolate milk if your stomach can handle it),
Take a sip of sweet tea or grape soda,
Practice your free throws,
Root for the Washington Bullets (they don't exist anymore but pretend you are when you cheer for the Wizards)
And put aside a good few hours to read this champion of a book.

Jordan and Josh Bell of The Crossover fame are back but this time as their ancestors.  Yessir. We find out who each one was named after (Jordan, his great uncle and Josh, his grandfather) and even some other relations who I will opt not to mention at this time.  The visual learner in me had to sketch a family tree so I could get the whole Bell family straight.

Here is the story of Charlie "Chuck" Bell, Josh and JB's dad, as he is coming of age in 1988. Before.  Before basketball was his life. Before marriage. Before kids. Before it all.

March 9, 1988 Charlie's dad dies and he cannot shake the grief.  He had yet to learn to "own the sadness...[and not] let it own [him]." That summer, Mom decides to send him to stay with his grandparents in D.C. (pair this with Jason Reynolds's As Brave As You). At first this seems like an awful idea but when his basketball star cousin, Roxie, pulls him into a game, he hardly turns back. Basketball becomes his thing again. Then just as life is looking up, his game is on, he's gotta go back home.  With an ending that had my mascara running as I pulled tissue after tissue from the box, and had the need to get "all hugged up" REBOUND is a high ranking winner on the hardwood.

P.S. It's hard to believe that Kwame's still got game. I'm not sure how he does it with everything else going on but lucky for all of us and our students, he scored another one with REBOUND.  Book birthday is April 2. We are on vacation then so will be celebrating in Castleton a week later with all the aforementioned foods, basketball decorations and more.

PPS. There are even some comics in it, too!

PPSS. Oh, how I LOVE the orange cover!  You know there's a REBOUND bus, right?

American Panda

I should be getting ready for bed right now. My down comforter is whispering my name.  It will just have to wait a little longer so I can finish my hot chocolate (with extra whipped cream).

Grab your calendars folks because you are going to want to circle, highlight and star February 6.  That's the day to go out for stinky tofu with a side of American Panda by Gloria Chao.  Maybe put in for the personal day now.  If not, don't say I didn't warn you--I did not accomplish anything on this snow day until I finished this book.  I hated that I had to go out and shovel.  I considered bribing one of my kids to come out with me, not to shovel, but to read the book aloud while I labored.

17 year old Mei is a freshman at MIT. She is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants who can't shake their traditions.  She's going to be a doctor, married to Harvard educated Eugene. No where in her parents' grand plan is there something that says, "Mei, choose what you want to be. Be who you are." And yet, somehow she manages to do just that.

Only through her love of dance, the realization that a germaphobe who doesn't care for biology shouldn't be a doctor, older brother Xing and Darren, her adorable Californian Japanese suitor, does Mei break out of the mold her parents sculpted for her at birth. But it's certainly not easy.

I laughed.
There's a dinner scene at Chow Chow with Mei's aunt and grandmother that had me laughing out loud until I gasped and held my heart.
That time Mama was in Mei's dorm room and screamed so loud when she found a "candy bar wrapper."
The jabs at Dartmouth. Oh my.  I immediately had to share that with my 40 something Dartmouth alum friend who's response was, "Ouch."

I cried.
Darren is so kind. Period.  Love always makes me weepy. Weddings make me cry until...
Mama tries.  Please be happy, Mama, I pleaded.

I held my breath.
The family. The traditions. Breaking free. How was it all going to play out?

Like a panda this book IS black-and-white. There is no question that it is a one-sitting read with a side of hot chocolate and a whipped cream mustache.

As with most of my YA books, I have my friend Alicia Abdul, to thank for recommending this one. She texted me when she finished and said she wasn't going to begin a new book that night because she wanted American Panda to be the last thing she read in 2017.  If that isn't testament to a good book, I'm not sure what is.

Have you put in your paperwork for that personal day yet?

ps-Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to meet Mei before anyone else.