Geo Librarian

THICK AS THIEVES A Queen's Thief Novel (#5) by Megan Whalen Turner Greenwillow Books, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-06-256824-3 Source: purchased Ages 12 and up YA Speculative/Fantasy All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Deep within the palace of the Mede emperor, in an alcove off the main room of his master’s apartments,. Kamet minds his master’s business and his own. Carefully keeping the accounts, and his own counsel, Kamet has accumulated a few possessions, a little money stored in the household’s cashbox, and a significant amount of personal power. As a slave, his fate is tied to his master’s. If Nahuseresh’s fortunes improve, so will Kamet’s, and Nahuseresh has been working diligently to promote his fortunes since the debacle in Attolia. A soldier in the shadows offers escape, but Kamet won’t sacrifice his ambition for a meager and unreliable freedom; not until a whispered warning of poison and murder destroys all of his carefully laid plans. Wh...

BELLY UP a funjungle novel by Stuart Gibbs Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-4169-8731-4 Ages 9-12 Middle grade mystery Source: purchased All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK 12 year old Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt Fitzroy has got a murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. Henry, the hippopatamus at the brand-new nationally known FunJungle, has gone belly up. Even though it's claimed he died of natural causes, Teddy smells something fishy and it sure ain't the polar bear's lunch. Dealing with the zoo's top brass proves to be nothing but a waste of time. They want to see any trace of Henry's death disappear like yesterday's paper. So Teddy sets out to find the truth. With the help of Summer McCraken, a fiesty girl with secrets of her own, the two narrow down their prime suspects. Is it Martin Del Gato, FunJungle's head of operations who dislikes kids and hates animals even mor...

ON THE FARM ACTIVITY BOOK Just Imagine and Play! by Mélisande Luthringer Walter Foster, Jr., 2017 ISBN: 9781633222441 Ages 3-6 Source: publisher for review All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Have you ever wondered what life is like on the farm? Find out with this fun and sunny interactive activity book! Unfold this book, and there's your stand-up play scene. Customize your farm with the reusable stickers and punch-out, stand-up characters, and you're ready for action. What kinds of animals you have on your farm and what you grow is up to you! Gather eggs, feed the pigs, milk the cows, plant the crops; it's never a dull day on the farm! Includes a 48-page activity book with cool facts about farm vehicles and animals, puzzles, and games, plus punch-out characters, reusable stickers, and a fold-out barnyard scene. REVIEW When they say activity book, they aren't kidding.  This book includes exactly what is says on the cover: sti...

Welcome to Day #6 of the Emily and the Spellstone  Blog Tour! To celebrate the release of Emily and the Spellstone  by Michael Rubens (6/13/17), blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content from Michaek and 10 chances to win a copy of Emily and the Spellstone, as well as a  Grand Prize Giveaway ! Top Five Fantasy Books When I was Emily’s age I was a huge fantasy fan – in fact, I barely read anything else. In no particular order, here are my top five series / books: 1. The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper . I think I first read this series when I was around eight or nine; I reread it every year for the next five or six years (usually around Christmas, because the first book starts then). There’s so much I love about this series: the main character Will, who at 11 years old is in no way a hero but finds himself burdened with great powers and in the midst of an epic, ancient battle; the close and sometimes complicated friendships...

BULLDOZER HELPS OUT by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-4814-5894-8 Source: publisher for review Ages 3-6 All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK A very little bulldozer learns that taking care of kittens is a very big job in this follow-up to Bulldozer’s Big Day . The construction site bustled. Cement Truck was stirring…stirring…stirring. Digger Truck was scooping…scooping…scooping. Crane Truck was lifting…lifting…lifting. And Bulldozer was—watching…watching…watching. Little Bulldozer wants to help, but all the bigger trucks say he is too small. So when Crane Truck says he can clear a bit of debris out of the way, Little Bulldozer is eager for the job. He can do it, yes he can. What he doesn’t expect is to find a family of newborn kittens living in the pile of debris! Can he take care of babies? Now that’s a tough job. A job that happens to be just the right size for Little Bulldozer. REVIE...

FUNNY GIRL Funniest. Stories. EVER. edited by Betsy Bird Viking, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-451-47731-6 Source: purchased Ages 9-12 Middle grade humor All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Sharyn Novbember at Viking has acquired Funny Girl, a humor anthology for girls ages 9-12, curated by Betsy Bird and featuring short stories, personal essays, comics, and poetry from nearly 30 female writers, including Lisa Graff, Cece Bell, Jenni Holm, Shannon Hale, and Rita Williams-Garcia. A portion of the proceeds will support WriteGirl, a creative writing and mentoring organization for teen girls.  REVIEW As with most short story collections that I've read, the quality of the stories varied.  I enjoyed some of the stories a lot more than others.  Some I found rather odd such as A Most Serious Recitation of the Poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer, Rendered Most Seriously (and with the utmost care) By The Hand of Cece Bell with a pasted in picture of ...

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson Walden Pond Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-0-06-241879-1 Source: ARC from publisher for review Ages 9-12 Middle Grade Nonfiction All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Two Truths and a Lie is the first book in a fascinating new series that presents some of the most crazy-but-true stories about the living world as well as a handful of stories that are too crazy to be true—and asks readers to separate facts from the fakes! Did you know that there is a fungus that can control the mind of an ant and make it do its bidding? Would you believe there is such a thing as a corpse flower—a ten-foot-tall plant with a blossom that smells like a zombie? How about a species of octopus that doesn’t live in water but rather lurks in trees in the Pacific Northwest? Every story in this book is strange and astounding. But not all of them are real. Just like the old game in this book’s title, two out of eve...

A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA adapted by Jessica Law, illustrated by Jill McDonald, Sung by the Flannery Brothers Barefoot Books, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-84686-862-7 Source: publisher through Myrick Marketing Ages 3-6 All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Discover amazing and fascinating sea creatures as you go on a madcap journey through the world of the hole in the bottom of the sea! Based on a traditional cumulative song, each verse introduces a new creature and its place in the food chain, as the shark chases the eel, who chases the squid, who chases the snail... Enhanced CD includes video animation and audio singalong. REVIEW I have used several of Barefoot Books book/CD combinations with my kindergartners and they've been a hit every time.  I used this one with a sea life theme and I had have the class singing along before the book was halfway done.  The illustrations are bright and colorful with large font text, perfect for using as a ...