Geo Librarian

Welcome to Day #7 of the On Gull Beach Blog Tour! To celebrate the release of On Gull Beach  by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Bob Marstall on March 27th , blogs across the web are featuring a scavenger hunt interview with Jane, plus 10 chances to win a set of On Bird Hill,   On Duck Pond, and On Gull Beach ! Follow along each day to see a new answer or poem from Jane! And this one, too, [happened to me] though slightly exaggerated. Once I Stood On That Peak Once I stood on that peak, looking down on the vast blue slate, where dolphins wrote the news with spumy script, and the mystical breath of whales punctuated each sentence. Once I stood on that peak where gulls read out the news, cormorants commenting on every passage, waving feathered arms to underline the message. Once I stood on that peak and heard the waves chorus sonnets of praise and forgiveness, knowing at that moment I was but one small reader of the sea. ©2018 Jane Yole...

VIETNAM A History of the War by Russell Freedman Holiday House, 2016 ISBN: 978-0-8234-3658-3 YA Narrative Nonfiction Source: purchased All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Was the Vietnam War a tragic mistake? Or was it, as President Ronald Reagan would claim, "a noble cause"? In an enthralling book, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman provides a succinct account of perhaps the most puzzling and contentious of America s wars. Describing how a superpower caught up in Cold War politics became increasingly enmeshed in a conflict over 8,000 miles away, he then explains why twenty years later an exit was so difficult. In words and photographs he chronicles the unfolding events in Vietnam and at home as increasing numbers of young men were sent into the jungles to fight. After assessing the catastrophic damage, Freedman concludes the book with a hopeful epilogue on Vietnam today. A glossary, source notes, bibliography and index are incl...

DUDE! word by Aaron Reynolds, Art by Dan Santat Roaring Brook Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-62672-603-1 Source: purchased Ages 4 and up All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Aaron Reynolds, the author of Nerdy Berdy and Creepy Carrots! teams up with Dan Santat, the Caldecott–winning illustrator behind The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend to create the hilarious, gnarly summer adventure picture book, Dude! Dude! You have to read this book. It's totally about this platypus and this beaver who are friends. They want to go surfing but dude, there's this shark who's in the ocean, too. But don't worry. This shark approaches and you'll never guess what happens. REVIEW This is one of my new favorite books.  After reading it to several groups of kindergartners I can safely say that this is a winning book.  Aaron Reynolds and Dan Santat make for a thoroughly marvelous team.  While the book only uses one word throughout (Dud...

VOLCANOES: FIRE AND LIFE Science Comics by Jon Chad First Second, 2016 ISBN: 978-1-62672-360-3 Source: purchased Graphic Nonfiction Ages 9-12 All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Get ready to explore the depths of the ocean, the farthest reaches of space, and everything in between! Volcanic eruptions, vampire bats, feathered velociraptors, and more await you in SCIENCE COMICS. In a not-so-distant future our world is as cold as a frozen burrito. But can humanity save itself by harnessing a power that dwells inside the Earth? Explode into the world of geology in Volcanoes: Fire and Life! A lot of magic happens under the Earth's crust. Thanks to magma vents, shifting continental plates, and volcanic eruptions, we know that our planet is alive and in motion. Alongside Aurora, a young explorer, you'll learn that volcanoes are just one of the massively powerful forces at work on our planet. From catastrophic destruction to the cre...

BOWWOW POWWOW   by Brenda J. Child, Translation by Gordon Jourdain illustrations by Jonathan Thunder Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-68134-077-7 Source: purchased Ages 4-8 All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Windy Girl is blessed with a vivid imagination. From Uncle she gathers stories of long-ago traditions, about dances and sharing and gratitude. Windy can tell such stories herself–about her dog, Itchy Boy, and the way he dances to request a treat and how he wriggles with joy in response to, well, just about everything. When Uncle and Windy Girl and Itchy Boy attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Now Uncle's stories inspire other visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a...

A NIGHT DIVIDED by Jennifer A. Nielsen Scholastic Press, 2015 ISBN: 978-0-545-68242-8 Source: purchased Ages 9-12 Historical Fiction All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west. With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city. But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta sp...

LOST IN THE AMAZON A Battle for Survival in the Heart of the Rainforest by Tod Olson Scholastic, 2018 ISBN: 978-0-545-92827-4 Source: purchased Ages 9-12 Middle grade nonfiction All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Peru, Christmas Eve, 1970. It was supposed to be a routine flight, carrying 86 passengers across the Andes Mountains and home for the holiday. But high above the Amazon rainforest, a roiling storm engulfs the plane. Lightning strikes. A deafening whoosh sweeps through the cabin. And suddenly, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke is alone. The plane has vanished. She is strapped to her seat and plunging 3,500 feet to the forest floor. On Christmas Day, she wakes. She is injured, covered in mud, but strangely--miraculously--alive. And now, in a remote corner of the largest rainforest on Earth, the real battle for survival begins. REVIEW I really enjoyed the two previous Lost books by Tod Olson so I was excited to pick this one up....

MY ROTTEN STEPBROTHER RUINED CINDERELLA by Jerry Mahoney Stone Arch Books, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-4965-4470-4 Ages 8-12 Middle grade fantasy/speculative (fairy tale) Source: author for review All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK It wasn't enough to ruin Maddie's report on Cinderella - her stepbrother, Holden, has somehow broken the ACTUAL fairy tale. The ugly stepsister is marrying the prince, and there's no happy ever after! The only way to fix it is by entering the story. But if Holden and Maddie can't solve the problem, they'll be stuck in the fairy tale world forever.   REVIEW   Fairy Tale retellings have become popular in recent years and yet I never seem to get tired of them. Maybe it's because each author comes at the story in such a unique way that I never feel that the retellings overlap too much.  The thing I found most interesting about this retelling is the way one of the characters (...

THE JOLLY REGINA The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters #1 by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Jen Hill Amulet Books, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-4197-2136-6 Ages 9-12 Middle grade adventure Source: purchased All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK This new series features the blandest sisters who ever embarked on a rollicking, swashbuckling, and entirely unintentional adventure In the spirit of A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters will captivate middle-grade readers looking for humor, hijinks, and a swashbuckling good time. Meet Jaundice and Kale Bland, two sisters who avoid excitement at any cost. Together, they patiently await the return of their parents, who left on an errand years ago and have never returned. One day, the Bland sisters are kidnapped by an all-female band of pirates. They’re unwillingly swept into a high-seas romp that might just l...

THE BASEBALL FANBOOK Everything You Need to Become a Hardball Know-It-All A Sports Illustrated Kids book by Gary Gramling, Editors of Sports Illustrated for Kids Sports Illustrated, 2018 ISBN: 978-1-68330-069-4 Source: Nicole Banholzer PR LLC Ages 9-12 All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK The next book in the Fanbook series from Sports Illustrated Kids, The Baseball Fanbook has all the nerdy-cool insider knowledge that fans ready for next-level, in-depth stats need to know to impress their friends, family, coaches, and any season ticket holders they may meet. Tailor-made for baseball fanatics ages 8 and up who know the basics of the sport they love, may play it, and are looking to become super fans, this new fanbook is filled with fun trivia, unique lingo, and illustrated behind-the-skills how-to's. Chapters include Team Tidbits (salient baseball facts about every MLB team), Think Like a Manager (essential strategies to understand), He Remi...