Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!

Sometime ago I applied to be a faculty review advisor with Little Brown.  I forgot about it until I received the contract.  Then I got a box of ARCs!  So exciting!  Soon I will get another box!  Now, I feel like I've arrived as a librarian!

Like Newbery, we're going to have the fifth graders read the books in book groups and then review them using the Little Brown review sheet.  This is real stuff!  And if that isn't cool enough for them, they got totally excited when we told them that they would have input on next year's Newbery list!  YES!  So cool! Maybe one of these new books from Little Brown will be our Newbery winner in 2017.  You never know!

But wait.  I don't have enough ARCs to go around the whole fifth grade. What to do?  We split those guys up into two book groups:  Esperanza Rising by our favorite, Pam Munoz Ryan, and So B. It by our other favorite, Sarah Weeks. The coolest thing about this class was the excitement over Pam!  Everyone who was in the Echo book group, chose to be in this book group and more!  Pam, if you are reading this, I want you to know that you have a HUGE fan base in Castleton, New York!  Kids really couldn't decide which group to join.  "I want to do both!" they cried.  Fortunately, we have enough time that they actually can.  I don't even know which group I'd prefer to lead.  They are both great!

So, we're excited to say the least.  And to top it all off, tomorrow Mrs. Pryde's first graders will be Skyping with the chair of the 2016 Geisel Committee to share thoughts and insights on how they chose their books  and how we selected our favorites.  Mrs. Pryde and I met Amanda today and had a great conversation.  Thanks for your time, Amanda!

So...what does this have to do with Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants!  by Bob Shea?  Well, we had some love for Ballet Cat already in our Geisel Committee and because I had ARCs on my mind, I went to NetGalley the other day.  One thing lead to another and I got approved for the newest Ballet Cat book, due out next month.

Guess what Ballet Cat is trying to get her friend, Bear, to do?! LEAP! No kidding!!!! And not just a little jump, but a "super-high leap"!  How fun is that!  Well, not too much fun for Bear because she doesn't want to do it.  Bear procrastinates putting off the leaps as long as possible and not telling Cat the real truth as to why she doesn't want to leap.  Will Bear end up leaping super high?  Will a bowl of cereal and a trip to the bathroom keep her from leaping? It's never kept me off the ground, but you'll have to wait just a few more weeks (February 2, to be exact) to find out!  Even without the illustrations in this galley copy, I still laughed and smiled and rooted for Cat to get her friend, Butter Bear, to leap into the sky! Thank you NetGalley and Disney/Hyperion for the sneak peak!

From NetGalley