Blogs

The Princesses of Iowa My book review of The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes due out 5/8/12.

Esther Nelson and Davida Hirsch ( GRANNY PRESS) have just released their latest project

    A PROGRAM FOR MAGICAL STORY TIMES

     Song, Dances, Stories, and Teaching Tools for Children's Librarians

This unique program is the result of our many years of experience teaching young children, and presentintg hundreds of Workshops on the importance of music and movement in developing literacy to Childrens Librarians,, Early Childhood Teachers, Head Start Staff etc. across 26 states in the country.

Includes an 86 spiral bound book incljuding a section with 28 songs and directions for use

 A CD of the 28 songs the book

A DVD showing us in live action with a Nursery School class of 4 year told providing commentary

   about how an why these experiences foster literacy.

3 picture books in rhythm and rhyme with sheets of suggested activities for learning while have fun

This packet can be ordered from GRANNY PRESS 101 GEDNEY ST. #5d, NYACK, NY 10960 FOR $79.

Discounts are available for quantity orders from Library or School Systems. or through

webmaster@grannypress.com. You can see photos of the package at www.grannypress.com

Review from UNITED WAY OF MIAMI-DADE, Early Childhood Development Team...'enjoyed watching the DVD and listening to the songs. I have placed  these resources in our Resource LIbrary so that techer sn our community may benefit form them. We believe strongly that music and movement are essentail components of any early childhood experience, and WE'RE HAPPY YOU ARE SPREADING THE MESSAGE.'

Things I'd Rather Do Than Die
by Christine Hurley Deriso

Pub Date: 18 Sep 2018

Read courtesy of www.Netgalley.com

I recently reviewed Christine Hurley Deriso's All the Wrong Chords, which I loved. I really wanted to like Things I'd Rather Do Than Die as much, but alas, I give it 4 instead of 5 ⭐. I also read Deriso's Acknowledgment section of this novel, and I'm glad she took the advice of her editor; having the main characters tell their tale in alternating scenarios made this story more thoughtful than if it had been a one-sided story. Stereotypes of jocks, brains, Jesus freaks, popularity, race and ethnicity, financial status, family structures, and illnesses became something about which I wanted to contemplate rather than be swayed. I can picture my teen readers discussing this story.

However, it was those amount of topics Deriso tried to squeeze into this one novel that caused my rating to lose a potential star. Maybe teens with slightly shorter attention spans won't mind the topic hopping, but I found it a bit distracting. I think it will affect my ability to discuss and recommend the book to my students. Other than being able to remember the basic plot, it's the nuances that might be lost to what I usually try to relate with enthusiasm.

On the other hand, Deriso handled all of the sensitive topics well. She allowed the characters to present their different points-of-view just like 'real' teens would. Kudos to that!!

Pub Date: 02 Apr 2019
Read courtesy of netgalley.com

Mera: Tidebreaker is an origin story of Mera and Aquaman. It says so on the back cover. Otherwise, I never would have known these characters already existed. I'm not a comic book hero follower, so this was a total introduction to these characters for me.

As a graphic novel, it fell a little flat. As others have opined, the romance developed too quickly in story form; although, I could see the foreshadowing of Mera being unable to fulfill her plan and to end up loving rather than hating her father's foe. That's part of the story's flaws, too; it was really a quite predictable story. But there was confusion, too; without background knowledge of the characters, I had to read others' reviews of the graphic novel to know that Xebel was a penal colony.

I was enthralled by the drawing, however. It's difficult to give the ocean a personality, and illustrator Stephen Byrne's portrayal of water was fantastic. On the other hand, his portrayal of Mera was inconsistent.

Because of the terse treatment of the plot, I don't know whether or not this would best be recommend to fans of DC Comics or to people who are newbies of the DC Comics franchise. Both might be disappointed.

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Geoff Herbach's Felton Reinstein is one incredible character. His voice is funny, sweet, confused and just plain nice but life has not been easy for Felton and his family. At the age of five, Felton finds his father's body after he hung himself. Felton grows up insecure with some bad advice from his mother, doctors, and not having a father figure. The summer that his best friend unexpectedly leaves to take care of his grandmother; everything goes crazy- Felton's mom agrees that he will take over his best friend's paper route; he shoots up inch by inch, eats everything in sight, starts lifting weights for football, and running. Felton meets Aleah Jennings when he drops a newspaper off at his best friend's house. Aleah is a superb piano player and likes Felton. Felton begins seeing Aleah daily and they definitely have a romantic, sweet connection. But then his mother starts acting strange, cursing, drinking, and as a final threat she stops being a mother to Felton and his little brother, Andrew. Felton doesn't want to burden anyone with his family problems and his father's suicide is always a specter that keeps chipping away at his mother, brother, and Felton. I laughed at Felton's thoughts and actions but I really felt for Felton when his family was falling apart; he didn't know what to do, how to act and he withdrew by missing lifting, practices,not seeing his friends or Aleah. What will happen to Felton is worth all the drama and laughs. Herbach's book is a recommended read, I can't wait to see what my students think, since this is a Reading Olympic book selection.

View all my reviews

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22450859-the-boston-girl" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Boston Girl" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418103945m/22450859.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22450859-the-boston-girl">The Boston Girl</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/626222.Anita_Diamant">Anita Diamant</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1583167289">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I read/listened to this audiobook as part of the Hub Challenge (Amelia Bllomer YA, Top 10 List) and oh was it good. I could not stop listening to actress, Linda Lavin's beautiful retelling of her life as Addie Baum to her granddaughter. I learned so much about the 1900's in Boston as Addie was born and raised by immigrant parents from Russia who argue incessantly, the turbulence of the times with illness, death & war and the strong personality of Addie and her sister while her oldest sister has a very sensitive constitution. Addie's view of the world is humorous, honest, and forward thinking. I so enjoyed this vibrant novel; highly recommended!
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/62411-bjneary">View all my reviews</a>

Book review: All Our Broken Pieces by L. D. Crichton

Publishing date: May 7, 2019

Read courtesy of NetGalley.com

I didn't think I'd enjoy a sappy love story, but that's OK, because this wasn't sappy. I really liked these believable characters. Kyler was very romantic, and Lennon made for a very good example of how to understand OCD in others.

The OCD portion of the story was handled very well, both normalizing and explaining how it's not normal, or rather when it's not normal... when it interferes or embarrasses or makes others uncomfortable. The facial disfigurement part of the story was not quite as revealing as far as creating empathy, but it did allow for some insight.

Even though most YA novels entail hyperbolic parents, and All Our Broken Pieces is no exception, the author did a good job of reining in the parental extremes and bringing them back down to sensible characters. Any characters are good who can admit when they are wrong, and these adult characters do just that. Graciously, too.

I'll probably shelve this acquisition for my high school library in our "death/drugs/disease" genre sticker category, but it could easily just be categorized as realistic fiction or romance. In any event, I'm looking forward to recommending this title to my students.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20873145-trollhunters" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Trollhunters" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1433782391m/20873145.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20873145-trollhunters">Trollhunters</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2782638.Daniel_Kraus">Daniel Kraus</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1316818895">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Trollhunters  by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus<br>Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Book Group and Disney-Hyperion for the ARC,  Troll  by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus.  What a spellbinding read! Daniel Kraus has done it again, crafting a horror story where the evil doers are so disgusting, you root for Jim Sturges and his best friend, Tubby, to triumph.  Jim is a very normal teen with an overprotective dad, who suffered the loss of his brother 45 years ago as they rode bikes under a bridge.  When 190 children went missing along with his brother, Jack; Jim’s dad changed.  He outfitted their house with special locks and shutters and has had many hard and fast rules pertaining to safety for as long as Jim can remember.  As Jim and Tub suffer bullying daily at school, other kids are starting to disappear again.  Only now is Jim beginning to believe there really are monsters under his bed and under bridges.  When Jim is called upon to save the missing kids, his lady love and his town; will he be able to muster the courage to be a trollhunter by night?  Can he be  a trollhunter fighting evil beside his 13 year old Uncle Jack and other disgusting monsters?  Teens will love this illustrated, scary book and will want to read more, more, more; I hope a series is in the works!  Highly recommended for those who love horror, building tension, thrilling plot twists and fierce characters.<br>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/62411-bjneary">View all my reviews</a>

The Comic Book Story of Video Games by Jonathan Hennessey and Jack Mcgowan, published by Ten Speed Press, publication date October 3, 2017.

This is my first non-fiction review, so be gentle on me :o)

I'll begin by saying how surprisingly interesting I found the subject to be; I intended to read this to see if my high school Manga-loving students would like this. I've decided that, even if they wouldn't, the robotics-, engineering-, and coding-type gamers would! There were so many interesting factoids in the telling of this history. (I'm tempted to leak a few to you here, but I wouldn't want a spoiler alert tagged to this review.) Suffice it to say, that in 181 pages of story, I annotated 24 or so places with 'interesting factoid.'

The vocabulary might be a bit elevated for some high schoolers, but those with an interest in this topic will probably glean or look up the meanings of the unknown terms; it doesn't happen often enough to turn off a reader. There were a few places where I felt a chronological disconnect to the unfolding of the history, almost as if the author thought the relevance of a fact was more important in deciding its placement than pure chronology; if only that were always the case... at least twice I needed to reread sections because I thought I had 'missed' something, but rereading didn't clarify the information placements. Still, it was historical, so I tried just to absorb the significance of the information without the need to strictly enforce the chronology.

The storytelling depends heavily on Moore's Law without ever explaining it. (see http://www.wired.co.uk/article/wired-explains-moores-law if you, too, don't know Moore's law.) There were also a few places where I would have liked to have been told the source of the information being touted as fact since I practice a healthy skepticism of weighted adjectives that appear alongside data.

The distractions described were fairly minor to my overall enjoyment of the history of video games (hint: my first personal awareness of video gaming coincides with page 87 or so). I thoroughly enjoyed the many pop culture, political, and historical gaming evolutionary connections the author made throughout the story. Psychology, marketing, politics, war, engineering, computers, electricity, culture... the author included something with which a multitude of readers could engage. (Simply put: something for everyone.)

My enjoyment was OBVIOUSLY enhanced by the clever, detailed, and engaging drawings in this graphic novel. At least twice I full-stopped reading just to appreciate the humor and allusions the drawing provided to heighten the experience. The pictures were not merely embellishments; they sometimes were the story! Some of the best pictures were enough to jog my memory, explain something new, or complete a written explanation. [Note: The cover doesn't do the inside any justice.]

I'm looking forward to recommending this title to my non-fiction readers as well as my computer, gaming, coding, and Manga-ing students (and teachers!)

• Flat Classroom Project 11-1
• Flat Classroom Project 11-2
• NetGenEd Project 2011

• Each expert is asked to take at least two times to read and leave feedback on the main wiki page of the group on the discussion tab of the page.
• Your job is to provide feedback and point out resources to the team. You are an "advisor." Please join our diigo group and your bookmarks will be sent to the groups. If you're not sure of what a term is, they align to the Flatteners assigned to each team and from Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat.