2012 Edgar Award Winner

The winner of the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery was announced on April 26th in New York City.  The winner is... Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby!  Congratulations!

Nim's Island...the Movie!

In 2008, Nim's Island was made into a movie starring Abigail Breslin, Jody Foster and Gerard Butler...

Check out the movie today!

Author Wendy Orr

Wendy Orr is the wonderful author of our May book, Nim's Island. She has written many books for children and lives in beautiful Australia with her family. Find out more about her by visiting her website and pick up another of her terrific books today!

Lost! A Dog Called Bear
When Logan's dog runs away as he and his mother are moving to a new home after his parents separate, a girl named Hannah, who longs for a dog of her own, finds him.








Mokie & Bik
For two rambunctious twins, living on a boat means always being underfoot or overboard.








Nim at Sea
After Alex leaves the island, and Selkie the sea lion is kidnapped, Nim accidentally stows away on the cruise ship that took Selkie, in the hopes of rescuing her and bringing Alex back.








Ark in the Park
When her parents take her to visit a very special pet store in the park across from her apartment, both Sophie and Mr. and Mrs. Noah, the pet store owners, have their secret wishes fulfilled.

May Book

Our final meeting of this school year (already!) will be held on Monday, May 7th at 3:30pm in the John Clarke Children's program Room. And our last book of the year will be....

Nim's Island by Wendy Orr!

Registration is required but new members are always welcome (even for the last meeting)! Sign up by calling the Children's Desk at 401-847-8720 ext. 204 or emailing me at cantonio@newportlibraryri.org.

Nim loves her island home and the animals she shares it with even while her scientist father is away doing research, but trouble is on the way and a new e-mail friend could be the only one who can help.

April Meeting Wrap-up

The Book Buddies Book Club met yesterday afternoon to discuss our April book, Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury. We had a great discussion followed by sand art!

We talked a lot about Calvin, who he is as a person and why he attracts so much trouble. We were split on whether or not he creates the trouble for himself by making poor choices or whether or not trouble finds him as he maintains. There seem to be examples of both in the story. We agreed that he might not be as much of a troublemaker if his dad were still around. He has so much pressure to be responsible and the "man of the house" that it's easy for him to get a little bit lost.

We liked Mr. Purdy and his boot-camp-style class and class rules. We agreed that it was nice of him not to send Calvin to the principal's office on the first day of school but to give him a chance to straighten out and make him a class greeter instead as a punishment.

We talked about the different Hawaiian foods in the story and what we might like to try and what we might be afraid to try. We also talked about foods in our lives that other people might find a little bit strange including gray sausage and chourico (something I was first introduced to after moving to Newport).

Finally we all agreed that Tito was a bully and that Calvin didn't always handle the situations he found himself in correctly. He never told an adult in his life what was going on and he never stood up for himself. We all thought that he should have handled the bullying differently.

Overall we mostly enjoyed reading Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet and look forward to reading more of his adventures in future books!

Following our discussion we made sand art and did a Hawaiian word search. It was a great meeting and thanks to all the Book Buddies members who came!

Books About Bullies

In Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet, Calvin spends much of his time trying to escape the school bully, Tito. Here are a few other books about kids dealing with bullies...

EllRay Jakes is Not a Chicken by Sally Warner
Eight-year-old EllRay's father has promised a family trip to Disneyland if EllRay can stay out of trouble for a week, but not defending himself against Jared, the class bully, proves to be a real challenge.








How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying by Scott Starkey
Rodney, an admitted coward, moves to Ohio where the middle school bully immediately singles him out, but when a stray baseball knocks the bully out just as he is about to beat Rodney up, Rodney gains an undeserved reputation as a tough guy.






The Other Felix by Keir Graff
Worrying about his father losing his job and the bully at school, fourth-grader Felix has terrifying dreams of the same monster-filled place every night until he meets someone there who looks and sounds strangely familiar.







Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House by Haven Kimmel
Third-grader Kaline's father has gone somewhere and his mother can't seem to keep everything straight, but the two brothers and one hundred dogs that live in his imaginary tree house--and his strange neighbor Mr. Osiris Putnaminski--help him cope with his father's absence, his mother's forgetfulness, and the bullies that torment him in school.

Meeting Reminder

The Book Buddies Book Club will meet this coming Monday, April 9th @ 3:30pm in the John Clarke Children's Program Room to discuss our April book, Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury. Registration is required... to sign up contact the Children's Desk at 847-8720 ext. 204.

Hope to see you there!