Books and Reading

Enjoy this trailer for "Legend of the Guardians," the animated movie covering the first three books in Kathryn Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole series!  The movie will be in theaters September 24th! 

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead has won the 2010 Newbery Medal!

When You Reach Me, set in 1979, is about a twelve-year-old New York City girl who is in the midst of reading A Wrinkle in Time when she begins to receive a series of mysterious notes from an anonymous source that seem to defy the laws of time and space.

Rebecca Stead is also author of First Light, about New York City boy who accompanies his parents on a research trip to Greenland where he meets a mysterious 14 year-old girl named Thea who lives below the ice.

See the other award-winning children's books!

Newbery Medal

Newbery Medal Home Page
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

I'm here in blustery, snowy Boston with about a thousand librarians and publishers gathered in the convention center to find out what books have won the prestigious awards for young people's literature.  There’s a buzz of speculation as people ask each other, “What do you think will win?” or “What is the book you gave your heart to this year?” 

The youngest people on your holiday giving list would appreciate a copy of Chris Gall’s “Dinotrux,” a proven hit with little boys (and girls, too, I’m sure).  According to Gall, many millions of years ago, dinotrux ruled the earth.  Part dinosaur and part truck, creatures like Semisaur and Garbageadon terrorized the cave men for millennia, until finally rusting away.  The trucks we see today are merely their tame descendants.

    Oliver Olson’s problem is over-protective parents.  When his third grade teacher opens a space unit by asking, “How many of you would like to walk on the moon?”, Oliver doesn’t raise his hand.  “Oliver’s parents would never let him walk on the moon.  The moon was too far away.  It was too cold.  It didn’t have enough gravity. The rocket might explode.”  And when his teacher announces that the whole class is invited to a space sleepover at school, he knows he won’t be allowed to go.  Ever since Oliver was a sickly preschooler, his parents have worried about him too much.

If you're an aspiring writer or a lover of teen fantasies, you'll want to put the date, December 21st on your calendar. Local author, Maggie Stiefvater, will be visiting the Salem Church Library to talk about books and writing. Teens and adults are invited to drop in during our regular Lit Bistro time, 3:30-5:00. Ms. Stiefvater will be joining us from 4:00-5:00. Ms. Stiefvater is the author of two fantasy series. One of her books, Shiver, has been on the New York Times bestseller list.

 A recent New York Times article on school reading has been making the rounds among librarians, teachers and parents.  In “A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like,” Motoko Rich reports on the “reading workshop” model of engaging middle school students in reading.  Unlike the traditional assignments, where the whole class reads and analyzes a classic book together, this approach encourages kids to choose their own titles.  “If your goal is simply to get them to read more, choice is the way to go,” says one literacy professor.
 At local middle schools, even kids with assigned reading can participate in a voluntary reading program. Café Book, a collaboration between the public library and eight middle schools in Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, encourages seventh and eighth graders to read from a list of twenty new books, discuss them during lunch periods, and vote on their favorites.

    “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”  This saying, attributed to Pascal, applies perfectly to books for beginning readers.  Writing a seven-hundred-page novel is quite an accomplishment, but some writers might argue that writing a thirty-two page reader with limited vocabulary is even more challenging.  Here are a few recent examples of the best.

 One of the most popular displays in our children’s rooms showcases children’s books that have been made into movies.  For every reader who complains, “the book was better!”, there’s another who delightedly discovers that a favorite movie was based on a good book.
 Currently in theaters is “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” an animated movie based on the picture book of the same name by Judi Barrett.  Translating a 32-page picture book into a 90-minute film means adding more characters and plot twists, but the critics seem to be positive about the results.