Geo Librarian

A QUILT OF STARS : Astronaut Karen Nyberg Stitches a Dream written by Dr. Karen Nyberg & Ann McCallum Staats illustrated by Alida Massari Familius LLC, 2026 ISBN: 979-8-89396-001-3 Source: Author (Ann McCallum Staats) for review Ages 4-8 All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK Stitch together a dream with astronaut Karen Nyberg as she shares her quilt with the world, the stars, and beyond. What would you do with an impossible dream? Dr. Karen Nyberg yearned to reach the stars, and when they were finally within grasp, she wanted to share the extraordinary sight with the world. Seeing that the Earth from a distance was like a quilted masterpiece of people and places, she put her skills with needle and thread to use―in space! When Nyberg lived on the International Space Station, she and NASA invited crafters from around the world to join a project to stitch together a global community quilt. Thousands of people ...

Today I am highlighting three books that look at what life can be like when one is different in significant ways from those around them or how to deal with the changes that happen to all of us.  The Splendid Spotted Snake (A Magic Ribbon Book) written by Betty Ann Schwartz, illustrated by Alexander Wilensky Workman Publishing, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-7611-6360-2 Unpaged $13.95 Grades PreK-1 Reviewed from personal copy. BLURB:  It's a marvel Every time you turn the page the little snake grows bigger. And it's a book that teaches colors: with every page his spots change color. Amazing "But how does it work "Using a unique Magic Ribbon format invented by the authors, "The Splendid Spotted Snake" follows the adventures of a little spotted snake made out of sturdy, polka-dotted cloth ribbon. "When Yellow Snake was born, he had bright red spots. But then he grew . . . His new spots were blue."Not only does the little snake double in size, ...

The Great Moon Hoax by Stephen Krensky illustrated by Josee Bisaillon Carolrhoda Books, 2011 ISBN: 9780761351108 Grades 3-5 Reviewed from copy received from publisher through netGalley. Jake and Charlie sell newspapers. Based on how well they do each day, they chose a place to sleep, varying from alleyways to boarding houses.  Often the headlines determine how well the newspapers sell. When the paper starts printing stories about a telescope that allows the moon to be seen, the boys start doing really well.  Each day the newspaper carried an article about the fantastic things that were being seen on the moon. But could Jake's and Charlie's good fortune last? I find this book very unusual, first because of the idea that such stories were believed, and second, the strangeness of the stories being told.  The illustrations are rather strange in and of themselves, which I think matches the strangeness of the stories the newspaper printed.  Unfortunately, I don't...

I am in the middle of a very busy week, with a book fair and a test to study for, so this will be a short post.  I was thinking today though about some of the places we can travel in this world we call earth.  There is one place though that we can travel to without ever leaving home and that is the world of our imagination.  This place is a lot cheaper than any other place on the planet or off.  I confess to spending many happy hours visiting different places in my daydreams, mostly real kinds of places, but when I open a great fantasy or fiction novel I can end up almost anywhere.  Nonfiction can also transport me to different places and times, places I can not go in the real world.  So today I have a couple of picture books to share that demonstrate the joys of using our imagination to go places.   Mudkin  by Stephen Gammall Carolrhoda Books, 2011 ISBN: 9780761357902 Grades PreK-2 Reviewed from copy received from publisher through Ne...