Goodbye, Jean Craighead George

Newbery Award winning author, Jean Craighead George passed away Tuesday, May 15, 2012. She wrote over 100 books, both fiction and nonfiction and will be remembered for her love of the natural world. My favorite book is My Side of the Mountain, the story of young Sam Gribley who leaves his crowded home in NYC for a mountain in Vermont. Sam carves out a home in an old tree and finds food with the help of a falcon he names Frightful. Written as a diary, we share Sam's exciting year surviving on his own.

Visit George's author site for more information about her life and her books.

Stop in the Library and check out her books. They are perfect for a family read aloud.

A Log's Life by Wendy Pfeffer

A Log's Life by Wendy Pfeffer; Illustrations by Robin Brickman
S&S. 1997

As the weather warms up and families spend more time outdoors, A Log’s Life by Wendy Pfeffer is an excellent book to share with young readers. In simple language and amazing cut-paper collage, the book introduces to young readers the life cycle of a tree. 

Beginning with a great oak, we see it teaming with life. Squirrels live in a hole in the trunk, a woodpecker searches for insects in the rough bark, wood-boring beetles burrow under the bark chewing wood. Then, during a storm, the tree is hit by lightning and topples to the ground. Over the course of many seasons, summer, winter, fall, and summer, as many animals and insects find shelter in the downed tree, it also slowly rots. And soon, there is no log left but fertile earth. Soon, a seedling oak sprouts and grows and grows until it becomes majestic. Then, another storm and the tree falls, and the cycle begins again.

Scholastic provides lesson plans or go to YouTube for the book trailer.

It's time to plant your garden!

Here are some great books to inspire you to share gardening with your child.

Ready Set Grow!
Young gardeners learn how to grow plants from seed,  how to propagate plants, when to harvest seeds, how long different plants take to grow, what to do about pests, and much more. Features more than 30 simple gardening projects, which include flowers and vegetables, specially designed to be completed during summer vacation.

Green fingers and muddy boots : a year in the garden for children and families  by Ivor Santer  illustrated by Lucy McCrick.
 This book, with accompanying worksheets on a CD (included), presents fun and practical activities to do in the garden every month of the year, come rain or shine.

Grow it Cook It!
Shows how to grow plants and then how to use them in delicious kid-appealing recipes and encourages healthy eating in children.

Kids in the garden : growing plants for food and fun by Elizabeth McCorquodale.
A fun and accessible guide for children to use on their own or with adults, Kids in the Garden encourages children to learn about gardening, healthy eating and caring for the environment. Instructions are step-by-step with bright photography and fun illustrations. This book is aimed at children aged five upwards with adult supervision, then for older children up to 11 to complete on their own.

The vegetables we eat by Gail Gibbons.
Illustrations and simple text describe the various vegetables people eat.

Garbage helps our garden grow: a compost story by Linda Glaser ; photographs by Shelley Rotner.
Amazing things happen inside a compost bin. In this book, you can watch as one family makes compost for their garden and also learn how to start your own compost bin.

I had a wonderful afternoon on Wednesday, April 25 visiting at Wentworth during their Maine Student Book Award celebration. 65 students enjoyed ice cream, then we sat around and listened as Mrs. Merritt and others introduced the new, 2012-2013 Maine Student Book Award List.

Some of the books talked about were:

Amelia Lost by Candiace Fleming ” Between chapters on Amelia's childhood, growing up, and training to be a pilot, are chapters on the search, after contact with her was lost during her final flight, including information from Coast Guard cutters sitting in the Pacific and ordinary Americans sitting in their living rooms.”

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos “In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.”

Mission Unstoppable, Book One in the Genius Files by Dan Gutman “On a cross-country vacation with their parents, twins Coke and Pepsi, soon to be thirteen, fend off strange assassins as they try to come to terms with their being part of a top-secret government organization known as The Genius Files.”

The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell “In late nineteenth-century Maine, eleven-year-old Clara Dooley gains a friend and uncovers a magical secret that changes her life when she learns to care for the once-feared birds in the aviary attached to the Glendoveer mansion where she lives.”



Sidekicks by Dan Santat “When Captain Amazing feels he is getting too old to be a reliable superhero, he tries to hire a new sidekick, but his pets have different ideas.” This book is rarely on our shelves, it is that popular.









For a complete list of the titles, click here to visit the official Maine Student Book Award site.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. To learn about it visit Poets.org

One of my favorite poets is American poet, Valerie Worth. She was born in 1933 and died in 1994 from cancer. She is best known for her “’small poems” for children. Worth wrote about ordinary things using simple free-verse. My favorite of her poems is “Back Yard” where she describes the sun moving around the yard on a lazy summer day. It is in the book, all the small poems and fourteen more. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994)

Maine Student Book Award Winner

The 2012 Winner of the Maine Student Book Award is...

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Yeah! That book is one of the most popular children's book in our library. It is never on the shelf.

For more information about the Maine Student Book Award, click here.

New picture books

Following her success with The Red Box, which won a 2005 Caldecott Honor medal, Barbara Lehman continues to offer young readers a sophisticated story using no words. The Secret Box follows a young schoolboy from the early twentieth century who hides a candy box with secret instructions in the floorboards of his boarding school for future generations of schoolchildren to find and follow to a mysterious hidden place. You must look closely to the illustrations, done in watercolor, gouache, and ink for details that move the story forward.

Linda Ashman partners with artist Lauren Stringer in Castles, Caves and Honeycombs. This story for young children describes unique places where animals build their homes. Ashman is known for her excellent book, illustrated by S.D. Schindler, Come to the Castle! : a visit to a castle in thirteenth-century England. Using rhymed text, we see life in a medieval castle through the eyes of its many different inhabitants.

British artist, Inga Moore is known for her lush interpretation illustrating two classics, The Secret Garden and The Wind in the Willows. She has written and illustrated her own stories, which are comforting and enchanting. Her latest, A House in the Woods is a different take on a familiar tale, The Three Little Pigs. Here, two Little Pigs whose small homes in the woods have been accidentally destroyed by Bear and Moose decide to build a house they can all share, and with the help of Beaver Builders they soon have a fine new home. A charming read aloud.



Stop into the library to see other new titles throughout the Youth Services Department.