Breaking with tradition...

Okay, so because so many of you have told me that you are ALREADY done with Love That Dog, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what the January book will be. That way you can get started now and not have to wait. I usually like to keep it a surprise until the day of the book club meeting, but this time I'll tell you ahead. This will also be good because our January book is slightly longer and maybe just slightly more difficult. But I know you are going to love it!

In keeping with our decision to branch out into different genres, our January book is a mystery/historical fiction. It is The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer. I read this book a couple of years ago and LOVED it. Enola is an awesome main character. The book is set in Victorian London and Enola is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. She sets out to find her missing mother and stay two steps ahead of her older brothers who want to send her away to school. It's a great mystery with a fantastic setting....

I'm in the process of requesting copies of the book and I have a couple already so feel free to stop by the Children's Desk and pick one up. Remember if you check one out early, you'll need to renew it in order to have it at the January meeting. If you want to request a copy on your own you can do so by going to the Ocean State Libraries Catalog and typing in your library card number.

Happy reading!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe if you are traveling and enjoy the day off tomorrow! Also, a reminder that the library will be closing early tonight at 6pm and we'll be closed all day on Thanksgiving.

See you on Friday!

Nancy Drew

Hi everyone,

At the last Book Buddies meeting we discussed what types of books we might want to read in 2009. We've read a lot of realistic fiction and in November we read our first fantasy novel. Club members expressed interest in reading other types of fiction including mystery and historical fiction in the coming months. A number of people mentioned that they'd like to read a Nancy Drew book. There are a lot of different Nancy Drew series out there right now so I'd like to get an idea of what type of Nancy Drew you might want to read. I've created a poll on the right hand side of this blog asking for your input. Would you like to read a classic Nancy Drew, one of the new Nancy Drew, Girl Detective graphic novels or a Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys mystery? Vote now through the end of December for what type of Nancy you think we should read!

December Book: Love That Dog

Our December book selection is Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. We will meet on Monday, December 22nd at 3:30pm in the Children's Program Room for book discussion, snacks and a craft or related activity.

Jack

Room 105 - Miss Stretchberry

I don't want to

because boys

don't write poetry.

Girls do.

September 21

I tried.

Can't do it.

Brain's empty.

This is the story of Jack

who finds his voice

with the help of

paper

pencil

teacher

and

dog.

November Meeting Wrap-Up

We had a really fun meeting on Monday and a great discussion of The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall! Since it was our first fantasy novel we spent some time discussing what fantasy is and what elements of Spoon make it a fantasy. We all agreed that fantasy fiction is characterized by "stuff that can't happen" in real life as well as dragons and princesses and "fairytale stuff." Fantastical elements we identified in Spoon include the talking spoon, the griffin, and the dancing eggs. Other fantasy books that club members have read and enjoyed include the Emily Windsnap books by Liz Kessler, Stuart Little by E.B. White and the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.

We all liked Martha especially the way she stood up for the other students at the Bloggins school. One club member liked Rufus, the school bully, because she felt he made the story exciting. We unanimously agreed that it was wrong for Martha to steal Mrs. Ferlin's eggs, even though she did it to protect her father. Some thought she should have secretly told Mrs. Ferlin what Rufus wanted her to do and maybe Mrs. Ferlin could have switched the eggs or come up with some other way for Martha to deal with Rufus.

We had snacks and for our craft we all made special souvenir spoons. We painted them silver and blue and added special gems. Everyone designed their spoon in a different way and they all came out great!

I also put together a display of other fantasy books our club members might enjoy, as well as books about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, The Sword in the Stone, other books by Tony Johnston and books about Langston Hughes whose poem, "Dreams", was such a source of inspiration for Martha and her father.

Overall we really liked The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall and would recommend it to our friends. Club members also expressed interest in exploring other fiction genres including historical fiction, science fiction and mystery. So stay tuned for future book selections! You never know what we might read next!

Book Club Meeting Monday!

Just a reminder that the Book Buddies Book Club is meeting this Monday, November 17th at 3:30pm in the Children's Program Room to discuss the book The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall by Tony Johnston. We will have snacks and do a fun craft project.

See you Monday!

The Sword in the Stone

The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall is a spoof of The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, a book "about a young boy named Wart who befriends a magician named Merlyn. As we suspect all along, but only find out for sure at the end, Wart is actually the future King Arthur. The title refers to a sword that was magically embedded in a stone so that only the future, true-born king of England would be able to remove it." (Wikipedia article "The Sword in the Stone") Disney made an animated movie version in 1963 which is loosely based on the originally story. The sword is called Excalibur but in The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall, the spoon which Martha (Marthur) pulls from the wall thereby making her the king of Horace E. Bloggins school has been renamed X-Cauliflower.

The stories of King Arthur, Excalibur and The Sword in the Stone are fascinating - come in to the library and check them out. It will make your reading of The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall that much more enjoyable!

Fantasy Literature for Kids

Hello! I hope you are all enjoying our November book, The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall. So far I've heard from a few of you and it seems to be a hit! Spoon is our first adventure into the world of fantasy literature (a type of fiction where magic and the supernatural are important to the plot) so I thought I would take this opportunity to recommend some other fantasies you might like. There are LOTS and LOTS of great fantasy books out there right now (Harry Potter, Eragon, Inkheart, Chronicles of Narnia, just to name a few) but here are a few that are similar to Spoon that you should try...

Golden & Grey by Louise Arnold (art by Brett Helquist - we know all about him!)

When a downhearted ghost becomes the "invisible friend" of an eleven-year-old boy who is an outcast in his new school, the two help each other find their place in their respective worlds.

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera

In order to save the town of Sherbet, four girls with very little in common become involved with some people and events that seem to bear a resemblance to "The Wizard of Oz."

May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Lonely and shy, ten-year-old May Ellen Bird has no idea what awaits her when she falls into the lake and enters The Ever After, home of ghosts and the Bogeyman.

Artist Brett Helquist

Brett Helquist is the amazing illustrator who did the cover art for The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall. He has illustrated many popular children's books including Chasing Vermeer, The Calder Game, Golden & Grey, A Series of Unfortunate Events and James Howe's Tales from the House of Bunnicula among many others.

Check out his BookPage interview as well as his How I Draw feature on the Scholastic website.

Author Tony Johnston

Tony Johnston is the fantastic author of our November book, The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall. She has written many books for children including Any Small Goodness and the Mole and Troll books. She lives in Southern California. For more about her, visit Penguin Publishers.

Also check out this Harcourt Publishers interview with Tony Johnston in which she talks about writing The Spoon in the Bathroom Wall and her life an an author.