Title: Tales of a Fifth Grade Knight
Author: Douglas Gibson
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Anticipated publication date:  August 1, 2015
ISBN:  978-1623702557
Genre: Fantasy
Age: 8 up

A weird and wacky, Underground Town of elves and talking animals exists in Douglas Gibson’s   Tales of a Fifth Grade Knight.   Isaac’s school is anything but ordinary.   It used to be a castle but “…the townspeople took one look at this creepy, drafty, damp, heap of rocks with a dungeon and said. “Hey! Let’s turn it into a school.””  When Isaac’s sister Lily disappears from the school’s furnace room, he and his two friends follow her down a tunnel “just big enough for a fifth grader to crawl though.”   They emerge in a magical land where animals grow larger and can talk - a world where humans turn into elves, after they finish weirding.  Weirding is a time when someone might turn into a giant ear, or have a firefly backside.  There is no cure for weirding.  Isaac and his friends must find and leave with Lilly before she begins to change, even though most of the creatures are trying to keep them underground!

This book will be a fun read for elementary children who enjoy a dash of wacky with their fantasy.  While Isaac and his sister have a typical sibling relationship, Gibson’s wild imagination creates uncommon characters in Underground Town that will speak directly to the combination of imagination, humor and wackiness in older elementary readers.  Great for children who have enjoyed Dan Gutman's My Weird School series. 

Title:  Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian

Author:  Michael Rex

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Year: 2012

ISBN:  13: 978-0-399-25521-2

Genre: Graphic Novel

This book is for Ages: 7 and up.

Plot Summary:    Fangbone is a young boy from Skullbania.  Although he wants to be a warrior, the other warriors think he is just a child, or even worse, a runt.  When the clans are threatened, Fangbone is chosen to as guardian of the Big Toe of Drool.   He is sent to a land, far away from the evil armies of Drool where he must keep the Big Toe safe or  his clans will be destroyed.  Fangbone is sent to Earth where he becomes a member of Eastwood Elementary School Grade Classroom 3G.  Fangbone makes some new friends but is he safe or will Drool find him and send Dirt Devils and other evil creatures to get back his toe.

Review:   At first glance I was a little leery of this book.  While I thought many seven-year-old boys might like it because it refers to boogers, poop, and armpits.   This book is more than just silly grossness in barbarous wrapper.  It is quite clever with references to Thor, Conan, and creation stories.  It has plenty of action and humor to keep even the most reluctant reader entertained.  The images are sufficiently disgusting to keep even big boys laughing.  There are even a few jokes that just the grown-ups might get.  

I had a great time preparing and presenting this storytime.  Not everything went perfectly. I had trouble with a couple of the flannel pieces and my bubble wand. I will have to work on that next time.  I was really happy with the books.  A young boy spontaneously start calling out, “Fred!” as we read Time for Bed, Fred!   Here is a look at my plan:

Storytime Theme: Dogs

Opening Song

Book 1: Bark George  - Jules Fiefer 

Activity 1: Fingerplay “Five Dogs” by Gail Benton

The 1st little dog said "owooo".         

The 2nd little dog said "ruff".
The 3rd little dog said "woof, woof".

The 4th little dog said "arf, arf".

The 5th little dog wouldn't join in.

He just chewed his bone with a great big grin.

Book 2: Dog’s Colorful Day – Emma Dodd  Flannel Board Story

Activity 2: Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Book 3: Time for Bed, Fred! – Yasmeen Ismail

Developmental Note:  When reading books like Time for Bed Fred, encourage your child to tell you what is happening in the illustrations.  You will help your child build prereading narrative skills.

Activity 3: “Hokey Pokey”

Calming Activity: “Open, Shut Them”

Book 4: Lift a flap book - Sorry, I  forgot which one I used.

Activity 4: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in English then Spanish or Japanese.

Developmental Note:  Singing with your child is a fun way to help them learn that words are made of syllables.

Closing Song

Happy Winter or Almost Spring

It has been far to long since my last post.  I apologize to everyone.  I came across something interesting today that reminded me of "The Selection" by Kiera Cass, my last post,  and helps me introduce the new direction I will be taking in my blog.  While previously "Owl Find You a Book" focused on materials for 8-12 year-olds, I will now be posting about books for all ages.  Today I came across Epic Reads 15 Perfect Tea and Book Pairings.  I like tea.  I have a big mug of Celestial Season's Sleepytime tea at my elbow.  So I will share my thoughts with you on the books and maybe some of the teas.  I will also be sharing some picture books I prepare for Storytimes.  Some are classics some are my personal favorites. 

I read a couple good picture books today that are perfect for Groundhog Day, which is Saturday.  If we are lucky Punxsutawney Phil won't see his shadow and we will have an early spring.   If you can't make it to Punxsutawney, you can still celebrate the day with  . . .

  Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox

From Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox; illustration by Carmen Segovia

 Author:  Susan Blackaby

Illustrator: Carmen Segovia

Publisher:  Sterling Children's

Year: 2011

ISBN:  1-4027-4336-X

Genre: Picture Books

This book is for Ages: 3 up

Subjects/Themes:  Groundhog Day

Plot Summary: We all know what happens on Groundhog Day.  This story tells about the adventure of Brownie Groundhog when she ventures out to look for signs of spring and meets a hungry fox.  Brownie must out fox the fox.  Using her wits and cinnamon toast, Brownie warms fox's heart as the sun warms the snow and ice. 

Review:  This book is beautiful.   Well written and gorgeously illustrated. The high contrast images capture the feeling of winter.  Brownie and Foxes antic's are fun and playful.  Brownie and Fox are wonderful characters.  This is a book you will want to to read every year.  

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Title:  The Selection

Author:  Kiera Cass

Publisher: Harper Teen Year: 2012

ISBN:  978-0-06-205993-2

Genre: Fiction/Dystopian

This book is for grades: 6 and up    

Subjects/Themes: Marriage, Princes, Social Classes,

Plot Summary:  America Singer is a 17-year-old member of the artist’s caste of Illea. America is in love with Aspen a servant in the caste below hers.  The two secretly meet in her tree house after curfew and share kisses and dreams for the future.  Until Aspen tells her he loves her too much to allow her to live a life of poverty.  When she is selected to be one of the 35 girls from across the country to compete to marry Prince Maxon of Illea and live in the palace, America takes the opportunity to stay away until her broken heart can mend.  But living in the palace means taking part in the crazy competition to marry Prince Maxon.  Life in the palace is not all glittering jewels and fancy dresses.  Rebels attack the palace and America discovers feelings for her people and the prince that she never imagined.   

Review:   America joined the selection to help her family and escape her broken heart.  Reading is interesting as she navigates the palace and develops a friendship with Prince Maxon.  While in the story she establishes relationships with other contestants and her maids their character’s voices are not really developed.  The reasons for the dystopian environment, the rebel attacks and the type of the government are gaps that also need to be filled.  The book could have been so much better.  America is the luckiest girl in the world.  Everything just seems to fall into place for her except her relationship with Aspen.  This book ends abruptly, however, despite its flaws, readers will enjoy the book and look forward to the sequel.

Bloody Jack 
by L.A. Meyer.  

Publisher: Turtleback
Year: 2004
ISBN: 978-0613716406

Genre: Fiction/Adventure

Themes: Pirates

Rating: Ages 11 and up 
Awards:  ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Booklist Editor's Choice 
AR Points: 11.0

Fantastic Book for older readers.  Great for boys or girls interested in adventure, pirates and historical fiction.   

Text of Video: Welcome everyone.  Today’s video is all about the novel Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer.  The description on the cover says “being an account of the curious adventures of Mary Jacky Faber, Ship’s Boy.  Mary Faber is the daughter of a school teacher who has come to London to teach.  When his position falls through and the family takes ill, everyone dies except Mary.   Orphaned and alone, Mary is forced out on the streets and is taken in by a gang of street children.  Mary and the gang live on the streets.  They beg for pennies and food.  Sometimes Mary reads the news to the people in the streets and they make money that way.  When they have money, they buy a meat pie and share it between the gang.  When the leader of the gang, Charlie, is killed Mary discovers his body.  Heartbroken and crying, she steals his clothes and shiv.  She cuts her hair and dresses like a boy so she can join a ship’s crew and see the world.  Mary changes her name to Jacky and is accepted to the crew of the Dolphin because she can read.   She tells the crew she is a boy of 10 and bunks down with the 5 other ships boys near the cannons.  Jacky helps prepare the schoolroom for the midshipmen, and takes watch and does all the things the other ship’s boys do.  The British Naval ship the Dolphin travels to Palma and Jamaica in search of pirates, and treasure.  Jacky is growing up during this time and she has to hide the fact that she is becoming a woman.  She also has feelings for Jamie the young merchant’s boy who joined as a ship’s boy with her in London.  Jacky is worried about being thrown overboard when the crew finds out she is a girl, or worse being hanged.  How will Jacky ever share the truth and will she ever become a lady?

 If you love pirate tales, then you are going to love this book.  It has a sequel called Curse of the Blue tattoo.

Pirates Band of Misfits

The Pirates! 

Band of Misfits

Publisher: Aardman Animation          

Year: 2012

Media: Film   Rating: PG

Genre:  Adventure

Subjects/Themes:  Pirates,

Plot Summary:  After years of trying, the Pirate Captain has never won the Pirate of the Year Award.  He wants to enter the contest but is laughed at by the other pirates.  Despondent He is determined to win the prize.  After he attacks the ship of Charles Darwin, he is takes his band of pirates back to London and with his crew embark on an adventure where he learns to value friendship over fame.   

Review:  A silly film with sight gags galore to keep you giggling.  The movie is based on The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe.  Best for younger audiences.  The stop motion animation is fantastic but the story may leave adults longing for something more.

If you like this film you may also like:  Flushed Away (2006), which was fantastic on so many levels, and Wallace & Gromit.

Jane by Design

Jane by Design – Season One

Network:  ABC Family

Format: Television Show

Genre: Fiction

This show is for Ages: 12 up

Subjects/Themes: Growing Up, Fashion

Plot Summary:   Jane Quimby is a teenager in high school.  Jane applies for an internship at a local design house and through a clerical error is interviewed and hired as an executive assistant.  Jane keeps the two worlds separate and tells no one of her new job.  Jane enlists the help of her best friend and manages to travel to Paris, and Beverly Hills, launch a dress design at a fashion show, and design a wedding gown for a high profile client.  

Review:   If you like fashion then you will love Jane by Design.  The show is fun and flirty with lots of great fashion.  The characters are typical but engaging.  There are lots of cameos by fashion industry celebrities.  Jane by Design is in no way realistic and that makes it fun.  It is pure fantasy wrapped in pink tulle with a funky little black boot to make it edgy.

Secret Life of the American Teenager

Secret Life of the American Teenager - Season One

Network:  ABC Family

Format: Television Show

Genre: Realistic/Fiction

This show is for Ages: 13 up

Subjects/Themes: Sex, Parenting Identity

Plot Summary:  Amy Juergens, a 15-year-old band member, is pregnant as a result of her first sexual encounter with an older boy, Ricky, at summer band camp.  Amy, her family and friends must come to terms with her pregnancy.  She is faced with the difficult decision of choosing adoption, abortion or raising the baby.   Her parents are separating because of her father’s infidelity.  Other high school characters in the show struggle with complicated issues including promiscuity, sexual abuse and abstinence.  The show deals candidly with these issues and offers advice for parents and teens to talk candidly to each other about sex and pregnancy.  

Review:   Unfortunately the physical changes, difficulties of childbirth and responsibilities of a new baby are not realistically portrayed.  During labor right before having the baby Amy eats a hamburger.  The show has a place as a vehicle to promote conversation between parents and children about difficult topics and is entertaining.  Some young viewers may accept the ease and glossiness of the way networks handle teen pregnancy and fail to understand the reality of such a difficult situation.  I recommend this show for show for older teens but every family is different and parents are encouraged to watch the show with their children and evaluate it based on their values. 

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg 
by Rodman Pilbrick

Text from video: Welcome everyone.  This video is about the Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg,  written by Rodman Philbrick.  Homer and his older brother, Harold, are orphans under the care of their rotten Uncle Squinton Leach.  When Harold stops Uncle Squint from beating Homer, Uncle Squint sells Harold to the Union Army where he must serve three years or until he dies.  Homer knows that it was wrong to sell Harold because Harold is only seventeen, and not old enough to be sworn into the army. Homer is worried about Harold and wants to rescue Harold before he is killed in the war.  Homer leaves Uncle Squints farm and travels through Maine.  Where he meets slave catchers and scoundrels who steal his horse and make him stop at a house on the Underground Railroad.  Homer tricks the scoundrels and helps the slaves continue on their journey to freedom.    Mr. Brewster rewards Homer with a trip on a steamship to New York so he can find Harold.  While on the steamship Homer’s guardian is bamboozled and Homer is locked in the steerage with pigs.  Once in New York, Homer joins a traveling medicine show that follows the Union wagon trains.  Homer has one adventure after another and even ends up on a hot air balloon that takes him to a battle where he meets Coronel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.   Will Homer ever find Harold?  Will they serve the union army well?  Find out by reading The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

Title:   The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

Author:  Rodman Philbrick

Publisher: Scholastic  

Year: 2011 c 2009

ISBN:  978-0-439-66821-7

Genre: Fiction/Adventure/Historic

This book is for Ages: 9-14

Awards: Newbery Honor Book, ALA Notable Book.

AR Points: 7.0           

Subjects/Themes: Runaways, Orphans, Brother, Self Reliance, Family, Civil War

Plot Summary:  12-year-old Homer P. Figg runs away from his horrible uncle to rescue his brother Harold.  Harold was tricked into joining the union army.  Homer travels from Maine to Gettysburg hoping to free his brother and protect him from the dangers of war.  As Homer travels he meets, bandits, a Quaker, thieves and spies. The book is dedicated “To everyone whoever lied and found their way back to the truth”.  Homer is a boy like any other but his experiences are amazing. 

Review:  This book is a wild ride from beginning to end.  Homer’s tale will make you laugh.  It is an excellent read-aloud story you won’t want to put down. Homer struggles with right, wrong and telling the truth.  His story deals with serious issues like war and slavery from the point of view of a child.  Homer understands the dangers of war and is determined to save his brother.  Philbrick’s detailed descriptions bring this story to life.  I will miss Homer and his adventures.  I liked that the book includes a special section at the back with a recipe for Union hard tack and trivia about the Civil War.   

If you like this book you may also like:  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. 

Kingdom Keepers, by Ridley Pearson

Kingdom Keepers

Author:  Ridley Pearson

Publisher: Disney Editions    Year: 2005

ISBN:  0-7868-5444-8

Genre: Fiction/Adventure

This book is for Ages: 8 up

AR Points: 9.0

Subjects/Themes: Magic Good and Evil

Finn was hired so Disney Hologram Imaging could use his likeness as a Disney Host Interactive.  The Imagineers created a holographic tour guide using him and 4 other kids as models.  Lately Finn has been having bad dreams and one night he wakes up in Disney World and meets a mysterious man who tells him that it is the responsibility of all the DHIs to save from the Overtakers.  Finn gets shot at by pirates explores the magic kingdom at night and with the four other DHIs tries to solve the mystery of the stonecutters quill. 

I really like Disney, the parks the movies, all of it.  I have Disney purses, and jewelry and I go to the park several times a year, I got to the premieres, and events.  That being said, I was very disappointed with this book.  The characters were flat and the only one I had any feelings for was Dillard who plays a less than minor role in the book. I finished the book because I wanted to include it in my digital record.  Kingdom Keepers feels like a story that was patched together to market all things Disney.  It is even less substantial than a hologram. Ridley Pearson has some incredible material and the opportunity to use Disney’s characters is amazing.  So my question is really, “Wow, how did that happen?”