The Fall Is Falling!

Whew! We have been bustling this week! School is closing in on our students, and there's still time for some last-minute vacation reading on top of those assigned books (which, by the way, you can still find at the back of the kids' department). Meanwhile, in the book world, FALL is closing in. Fall is book season in the same way that fall is apple season--you can get new and delicious books all year around, but when fall arrives, the books come out in bushels. I have definitely caught the first hints of autumn air on my walks to work this week--and in the store, it's getting harder to pick which amazing new release to talk about first.

Aside from Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes and The Day the Crayons Came Home, here are a few more (okay, more than a few) titles that have come out in the last month or so that we are delighted to share with you.

Clarissa's Picks:

Baba Yaga's Assistant is a witchy, folk lore-ish graphic novel by Marika McCoola, with art by Emily Carroll of Into the Woods. In this graphic novel a girl named Masha does the unlikely--instead of keeping out of notorious witch Baba Yaga's way, she figures out how to become her apprentice. It's a great new take on Russian folklore if you've heard the stories before, and a great introduction if you haven't.
 
Court of Fives is fantasy writer Kate Elliott's first young adult novel. High-stakes sports in an otherworldly setting mix with the complex and inescapable forces of class and race in a dense but pacy fantasy with a heroine you will love.

Amy's Picks:

Moira Fowley-Doyle's The Accident Season is a YA novel about secrets, family, and one family in particular that, each October, suffers violently bad luck. If you like Holly Black, or Diana Wynne Jones's Time of the Ghost (unforgivably out of print), this book should be very much up your alley.

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia is about Alex, a girl whose schizophrenia gives her delusions that she can't always separate from reality. It's manageable, until she meets a boy named Miles. Miles starts to change Alex's ideas about what kind of life she's allowed to live--the question is, did Alex make him up?


Alex's Picks:

I have been waiting MONTHS for Alex Gino's George. It's a middle grade novel, accessible, heartfelt, and with wonderfully real fourth-grade voices, about a transgender girl named George. She's still figuring herself out and hasn't come out to her family when the book begins, but George wants to live as the glorious girl that she is. It will just take a little planning. Great for fans of Wonder or Fish in a Tree.

The Sky Is Falling by Mark Teague is the story of Chicken Little, but with way more dancing. Can chickens outsmart a fox with their smooth moves? Well, if you have read James Marshall's wonderful Wings, you know a chicken can do anything she sets her mind to.

The last books up there are officially multi-bookseller picks: 

Amy has read Stephanie Tromly's Trouble Is a Friend of Mine THREE TIMES. I have read it once. (I haven't given Amy her book back. Yet. Yet!) Zoe has new girl problems--and then she has Digby, the obnoxious, obsessive, voracious food-thief who suddenly wants her to break all kinds of laws to solve one or two missing persons cases. It's a quick read that will happily blindside anyone who loves Sherlock Holmes, but also kind of wants to give him a punch in the nose.

Finally, a new and terrifying YA horror anthology: Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, edited by  April Genevieve Tucholke. We've all been passing around our staff advanced copy of this one, and I saw bookseller Kat taking her own copy home. If you're already preparing yourself emotionally for Halloween (and I assume you are), start here. Here is a very good place to start.

Alex Is Reading...LOIS LANE: FALLOUT

Lois Lane: Fallout is a YA novel about amazingly wonderful teenager Lois Lane moving to Metropolis, joining the Daily Planet's experimental student arm, and immediately putting it at jeopardy by threatening the big, the bad, the powerful, and their crafty weapon design program that uses zombiefied teenage virtual reality MMORPG players as guinea pigs.

It is kind of like reading the book distillation of Veronica Mars (or iZombie, maybe?)  plus Batman Beyond. There is peril, there is bravado, there is technologically questionable science, there is THIS MYSTERIOUS AND CHARMING PERSON ON THE INTERNET WHO ONLY GOES BY SMALLVILLEGUY. I really love these things, you guys. They make such a fun book together. SUCH a fun book.

Also, THERE IS GOING TO BE A SEQUEL.

But Lois is not the only mystery-solving girl in the world of kid/YA fiction. There are more, and they are so wonderful, and you should read about all of them.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN GIRL DETECTIVE

Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler -- Even more than Nate the Great, Cam Jansen introduced me to mystery stories. She is one cool character. Also, she has a photographic memory, which I pretended I also had for about two years after my first Cam Jansen book. You can find her BOTH in our leveled readers and in First Chapter Books.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry -- I think I threw this at every gift-buying adult shopping for a 9-13 year old that I met in November and December. This is the completely delightful and very funny story of a Victorian girls' school after the headmistress and her brother die mysteriously one night at dinner. With these two buried in the back garden, the girls are free for the first time ever! But someone is going to find those bodies...and someone killed them to begin with.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction et. al. -- Yessss, at last a Marvel comic gets onto one of my blog posts. Hawkeye is about two Hawkeyes: the sad Clint Barton man Hawkeye, and the exceptionally perfect, sublime, and superior Hawkeye Kate Bishop. The first two books are about both of them (and you should read them, because they completely rethink what superhero comics are allowed to do, and are beautiful), but in book three, Kate is all on her own. How does that go? We just got this series into the store, and I am so stoked about it.

Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene -- THE CLASSIC. We have the first couple books in stock in Intermediate fiction, as well as some volumes of three different spinoff series in our First Chapter Books section! You may also find some vintage books in our Used Book Cellar, in various states of expurgation.

Scarlet Undercover by Jennifer Latham -- What is this?! A black Muslim orphan girl detective? OH YES. If you like Gwenda Bond's Lois Lane, you will definitely love Scarlet, whose gradeschool client is absolutely right in thinking that her brother is up to something really, really not quite right.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin -- Okay, I've DEFINITELY written about this before, but come on! Halloween, dead millionaires, an underwhelming girl named Turtle who is secretly (not that secretly--how could you love any character more than Turtle?) the very, very best, and a delicious ending that is probably only one small part of what got this book its Newbery.

Sammy Keyes series by Wendelin Van Draanen -- I ate these up so fast in middle school. Sammy is just the coolest and best. Her adventures are always action-packed, the plots are quirky, and at least one of them involves nuns. You can sometimes find a few of the books used downstairs, sold only, I imagine, in a truly desperate moment by their former owners.

In conclusion: if you have other favorite girl detectives, please immediately tell me everything.

Alex Is Reading...MAGONIA

Maria Dahvana Headley's Magonia isn't exactly the book you think it's going to be. When it starts off, its protagonist is on the verge of dying from a mysterious respiratory illness that has plagued her for her entire life. All right, you think. Here goes another acerbic, wonderful dying teen girl, leaving behind her grieving best friend, and his analytical genius mind, and his tendency to recite pi when he's upset.

Okay, so that already sounds like some darn good writing in the sick teens genre. The thing is, that is not the whole story. The rest of the story is the explanation for this setup: that Aza Ray, seemingly unsuited to the basic facts of life on Earth, isn't strictly speaking of the Earth. That while she wheezes through hospital visits, ships fill the skies invisible to humankind, and birds who sing heart-songs live in people's chests. That while she waits for the day she will die (too young), shapeshifters and flying cities and missing mothers and brutal politics close in. They are coming to rip Aza Ray out of the only world she remembers, into one where she is told that she belongs.

Magonia is a brand-new book, inventive, soaring, and unique, and definitely one to check out.

FIVE BOOKS TO READ ALONGSIDE MAGONIA

1. Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Boy crosses forbidden wall in normal English village; nine months later, boy is left with a baby. Some years after that, the baby goes back across the wall to catch a fallen star for the girl he thinks is the love of his life. Instead he finds out the the star is a (very interesting) person, gets in a lot of trouble at the hands of greedy witches and power-hungry princes, and discovers that his birthright has been on that side of the wall all along...

2. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina has been hiding her half-dragon heritage for her entire life. That has meant hiding herself. But her music is beginning to draw her into the limelight, dragon-human politics are becoming increasingly tense, and Seraphina has just learned that she and other half-dragons can find each other telepathically. Soon Seraphina may have to take a stand--where everyone can see it. The long-long-long anticipated sequel to this one just came out, and you'll be glad you don't have to wait.

3. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

After Gemma Doyle's mother is murdered, Gemma is sent packing from India to attend her mother's old boarding school. The only saving grace of the school, aside from Gemma's few friends, is a magical discovery: a haunting other world where they have the power to make everything they dream of real. But they're not the only people who know about this magical country--and some of what lurks there is deadly and heartless.

4. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

The first thing that happens is that Elizabeth Marie Hall dies in a car crash. Then, the story begins: Liz arrives in a strange, quiet place--not quite heaven, not hell, just...elsewhere. As she adjusts to life after death, her family grieves her in their life after her death. Will any of them be able to let go? Surprisingly, Elsewhere isn't a devastating book--it's thoughtful, original, and about learning to look for what comes next.

5. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Impetuous Lyra has grown up sheltered by Oxford's many walls, with only herself and Pan, the animal embodiment of her soul, for company. But thanks to the machinations of distant parents and heartless strangers, she is thrust into a world of witches, portals, armored bears, missing children, and cruel plots that could forever twist her world into an ugly, death-filled place.

~

So those are my recommendations for if you want to get your head into the clouds instead of out of them. None of them are entirely safe, but they're sure to be exhilarating. Happy reading!

April's Television Inspired Literature

We love fairy tales, fairy tale adaptations, and spunky princesses who defy gender norms, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that we love, love, love ABC's Once Upon A Time!

Here are some books we think you'll like if you're a fan of the show:

Alex Is Reading...THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

This is one of those books that I've thought about picking up over and over, and when I finally started reading it I kicked myself--why didn't I read it earlier?! The Cabinet of Curiosities is basically a game where four authors come up with a topic (fairies! cake! love!) and then take turns telling horrible stories about it. IT'S GREAT. Our four authors are Stefan Bachmann (The Peculiar), Claire Legrand (Winterspell), Katherine Catmull (Summer and Bird) and Emma Trevayne (Coda), and they serve up a delicious three dozen short stories that will give you the creeping and excellent sensation of reading Roald Dahl crossed with Coraline.

If after you've finished that you should want more spine-tinglers, try some of these--

WELL, THAT WAS TERRIFYING!

some satisfyingly scary books for kids and young adults

The Diviners by Libba Bray -- (YA) It's Evie's flapper tendencies that get her in trouble, not her possible psychic powers--until she lands in New York just as a ghostly serial murderer begins a terrifying spree across the city.

Heap House by Edward Carey -- In a vast mansion surrounded by a sea of garbage, our hero hears the haunting whispers of inanimate objects that can only desperately speak their human names.

Seventh Son by Joseph Delaney -- I mentioned the Last Apprentice series in my holiday post, but let me reiterate: HAIR-RAISING witches and adrenaline to spare.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman -- When your alternate universe family has buttons for eyes, you have to know something is not right. Dave McKean's spidery illustrations only add to the shivers.

The Fall by Bethany Griffin -- (YA) Poe's Fall of the House of Usher retold from the perspective of the teenage girl who lives there at the end. Do they live? Do they die?

Wait Til Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn -- (Available online & used) Molly's little stepsister isn't very nice, but at least the raging ghost she's threatening Molly with doesn't exist...right?

Clockwork by Phillip Pullman -- (Available online) A chilling fairy tale set in deep winter in a fictional Germany, where stories may come to life....but not everyone gets out alive.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz -- The absolute classic of terrifying kids' books, filled with suspenseful, ghastly legends that will haunt your dreams.

Happy reading! And keep your lights on.

Alex Is Reading...SWIM THAT ROCK

Swim That Rock is a classic. I mean, it's a new book, but it's put together like a classic--our main character has lost his father, and he and his mother are close to losing their diner. In a small Rhode Island town, the solution for being trapped in grief and strapped for cash may be one and the same: the biggest opportunity to pull quahogs that anyone's seen for decades. It's satisfyingly filled to the brim, like a quahogger's bullrake, with perseverance, personal strength, and tantalizing details of the fisherman's trade--with a side of mobsters and pirates.

There's really nothing quite like a book on the water--here are some more that might catch you in their wake.

My Heart Is On the Water

Kids' Books for the Roving Reader

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome -- 1939 classic in every sense, about kids who actually get to sail off from their parents and have adventures on islands.

The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye -- Aref is devastated to leave his home in Oman for Michigan, but like a sea turtle, he will find his way home no matter where he travels.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell -- Stranded on her island when the rest of her tribe leaves for better grounds, Karana survives the elements of the Pacific alone. We have this in the UBC.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi -- It's 1832, and Charlotte Doyle is returning to Rhode Island from England. Her voyage goes awry, and she is trapped aboard a mutinying ship with a cruel captain at the helm. Worse yet, she's soon on trial for murder.

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper -- A holiday on the coast of Cornwall takes a menacing and mythological turn--as they may be one step ahead of some much more frightening people in finding the Holy Grail.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson -- You know the story, but trust me, it is well worth the time to go back to the original swashbuckler.

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus --In 1841, Manjiro is trapped on a deserted island and unable to return home through Japan's closed borders. So instead, he travels the world, breaking all expectations as he goes.

YA Books:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater -- Man-eating horses rise from the waters, trapped and raced once a year by the ambitious and the fearful. Sean is a champion racer. Puck never meant to race at all. But now that she is racing--the first girl ever--she can't hesitate for a moment.

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick -- This journey will take you through time and through lifetimes, over water and across the strange, treacherous territory of Blessed Island, whose blessing is bloody, and whose story never moves in a straight line.

Tides by Betsy Cornwell -- Selkies, and the girl who finds them. Different, eerie, and romantic. You can order this book through us.

I also, on the YA side, highly recommend Monstrous Affections, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant,  which includes some snippets of the high, and extremely monstrous, seas.

For the ambitious, also please see Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian and the twenty-some books that follow it. Seaborne adventuring through storm, battle, and more, with exquisite detail and wonderful characters. You can usually find some in the UBC, or order them from our website.

Happy reading!

Alex Is Reading...EVERY BOOK IN THE SERIES

HELLO, BLOGSMITH READERS. If you're anything like us, then you have been REALLY REALLY BUSY THIS WEEK. So with two more days of Hanukkah and Christmas hurtling towards us, let me make one last-minute holiday kids' gift suggestion. The suggestion is one word. The word is:

OMNIBUS.

An omnibus, for those who do not know, is a single volume containing multiple full books. Often these are very good books (at, might I add, a relatively low price). So here in the days of desperate end-of-the-holidays shopping, let me bring you a few of my favorite omnibuses in the kids' department.

PICTURE BOOKS

Miss Nelson Collection by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall -- A sweet schoolteacher tricks her bad students into being good through her witchy substitute alter-ego.

Madeline Treasury by Ludwig Bemelmen -- The classic adventures of the little French orphan, complete with appendicitis and Bat Hats. This is a gorgeous hardcover collection.

My Favorite Dr. Seuss Treasury by Dr. Seuss -- A newly published collection of Dr. Seuss classics. Like the Madeline, it's big, pretty, and it will be in the family for decades.

BEGINNING READERS

The Frog and Toad Treasury by Arnold Lobel -- The hapless, charming, best-friend adventures of Frog and Toad all in one book. It's a nice edition and it's also twelve dollars. (?!)

FIRST CHAPTER BOOKS

My Father's Dragon collection by Ruth Stiles Gannett -- The gentle, imaginative fantasy classics in a very pretty hardcover edition.

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

The Complete Oz Volume 1 by L. Frank Baum -- The first three books of the Oz series, which are funnier, weirder, and way better than you remember from your childhood. This is the first in a series of paperback collections.

The Wrinkle in Time Trilogy by Madeleine L'Engle -- Imagination-stretching, emotional, wonderful science fiction that you won't ever forget. The paperback collection is pretty and readable (and no one wants to stop after just one book...).

YOUNG ADULT

The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper -- Mythological villains, everyday heroes, Arthurian legend, dark powers, and the ultimate quest to preserve what's good, all set in a stark, fascinating England that will stick in your mind years after you've read them. This volume is the entire five-book series, which won two Newbery Honors and a Newbery Medal between them. 

ADULT FANTASY/SCIFI

Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervin Peake -- If you have any precocious teenage readers of weird stuff on your list this year, try Gormenghast, the peculiar classic about young Titus Groan, a prince protecting his crumbling kingdom from the evil intentions of a power-hungry kitchen boy.

So that's what you can find on our shelves as of this writing. And of course, we the children's booksellers will be here too. Happy shopping, happy holidays, happy reading!

Alex Is Reading...BROWN GIRL DREAMING

Today I'm reading BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson, which just won the National Book Award and deserved it a dozen times over. Every perfectly chosen word carries its weight in this book. You feel like you are stepping right into how she sees her own life. It's poetic, it's inspired, you will cry. I promise.

And if after that you still want to feel strongly emotional, try these...

FIVE HEARTBREAKINGLY GOOD BOOKS FOR KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi -- A striking two volume graphic novel autobiography of a girl growing up in Iran amidst political unrest. 12+

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz -- Aristotle and Dante are best friends, but there's always a distance between them, coming from Ari's side. This is a novel about friendship, love, and fear of yourself. It's about secrets, heroism, identity, and opening up. It's wonderful. 13+

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan -- Precocious Willow Chance only feels at home with her loving parents and her impressive garden. But an accident takes those things away. Willow is left to learn in her achingly precise and perfect language how to find love and understanding among different people, and how to build a new life from what she's lost. 11+

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin -- Rose Howard has a hard time fitting in with people because of her Asperger's syndrome, but her dog Rain understands her perfectly. When she loses Rain in a hurricane, Rose searches everywhere for her. When Rain does come back, Rose learns something about her dog that she doesn't want to know. Suddenly the happy reunion is a hard choice. [Disclaimer: NO DOG DIES IN THIS BOOK.] 9+

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie -- Junior is a disabled kid from the reservation. He wants to be a cartoonist, but that probably won't ever happen as long as he stays put. So he does the worst thing a rez kid can do, and goes to the white school in the next town. Alexie knows about humor, anger, loss, and the impossibly choice between loyalty to the people you love and wanting something better. 13+

Enjoy the extremely fulfilling tears you will cry as you read these perfect books.

Alex Is Reading...THE HERO'S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM

Hi! I'm Alex. Nice to meet you. I've been working in the kids section for a couple months and now I am going to blog to you, with book lists, and approximate age recommendations that you can totally disregard.

Today I am reading THE HERO'S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM by Christopher Healy *Kylie Recommends*. This is a funny book. No, it is: it's about a bunch of hapless fairy tale Prince Charmings wandering around the countryside trying to accomplish things but mostly just getting in trouble. It is also about fairy tale princesses having strong opinions. I am a big fan of ALL these princesses, including the mean one. There are polite giants, punk kid Bandit Kings, genius little sisters, and dragons. This book is great. (It is also good for ages 9+ and as of this writing you can find it in our intermediate fiction section.)

In keeping with this awesome book I am reading and enjoying greatly, here are a few more books you might like if you like...

FAIRY TALE BOOKS

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch -- Was this the first book about a princess that does what she wants? It's definitely one of the best. Girl meets dragon, girl beats dragon, girl ignores a disappointed prince to run off into the sunset an independent hero. We usually have this as a board book and in our spinner rack. 2+

Beauty and the Beast and other fairy tale picture books by Ursula Jones and Sarah Gibb *Clarissa Recommends* -- Absolutely stunning illustrations over excellent, traditional fairy tale retellings. Check our folk lore/mythology section for these--they're often on display! 3+

The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and LeUyen Pham *Alex Recommends* -- GO NOW AND READ THIS BOOK. Princess Magnolia is a dainty pink-wearing hostess with perfect manners...but she becomes the heroic PRINCESS IN BLACK to fight monsters and rescue sheep herders! You can find it in young chapterbooks--recommended ages 5+. Good for young independent readers.

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede *Alex Recommends* -- Princess Cimorene doesn't want to embroider or get married to a boring prince. Or any other prince. So she runs away from home to work for dragon Kazul, fights a lot of wizards, and learns to make a mean cherries jubilee. 10+

Twice Upon A Time series by Wendy Mass -- Retold fairy tales by the author of The Candymakers. 8+

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine *Alex Recommends* -- Absolutely my favorite fairytale retelling ever. This Cinderella is "blessed" by a fairy as a baby...to obey every single direct order that's given to her for her entire life. Ella is brilliant. You will read this book over and over. 9+

Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull *Alex Recommends* -- This is a weird, beautiful book. Two girls find their parents missing--their mother is the swan princess and their father took her feathered skin. They travel into a world of only birds, where a vicious, terrifying false queen is asserting her power--a queen Bird falls for like Edmund and the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 10+

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones *Amy Recommends* -- Everyone buys into the fairy tale stereotypes in Sophie's town, and it's clear she's going to be a docile hatmaking third sister forever. WAIT, NO SHE'S NOT. She's going to be cursed by a witch to look like an old woman and run off on an adventure in the moving magical house of the dread wizard Howl, who as it turns out is the most obnoxious wizard ever. Stop here for sentient scarecrows, fire demons, and wizards obsessed with their hair. 10+

Ever After High series by Shannon Hale -- Shannon Hale writes the best fairy tale retellings. This series is good for 10+.

Ash by Malinda Lo *Anna Recommends* -- A YA Cinderella story with POC main characters, beguiling fairies, personal strength, and a Cinderella who falls in love, not with a prince, but his Huntress. 13+

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge *Clarissa Recommends* -- A sharp, fierce, beguiling Beauty and the Beast story about a demon prince and one angry beauty. 14+

Poisoned Apples by Christine Hepperman *Alex Recommends* -- This poetry collection uses the language of fairy tales to take on the pressures and pains of being a teenage girl. Watch out--there's some dark and personal stuff in this little book--but its intensity is full of truth and Hepperman has a excellent grip on her language. 14+

Cinder by Marissa Meyer *Kylie Recommends* -- Welcome to cyborg Cinderella. This is a very cool scifi take on the story, and the first of a series. 13+

 Happy reading!

Summers Are For Bucket Lists

Three exciting books!

1. Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The beginning of the Beautiful Creatures spin-off series. This time we get to follow Ridley.

2. I am Cow, Hear me Moo by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Gus Gordon
I was shrink-wrapping when I found this book. I read segments of it out loud and laughed, loudly. It's clever and delightful and it rhymes.

3.Odin's Ravens by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr
I'm excited to see who else Matt, Fen, and Laurie find, who else they have to stand against, and just how close Ragnarok really is.


As summer approaches we all  (theoretically) have more free-time. Or at least, we all think more about the free time we do have. More things seem possible. Maybe not having ice and snow to trek through or coats and gloves to lug around makes the idea of going on an adventure more desirable. Whatever the reason, the feeling is there.

My work schedule won't change but I've been gearing up to go out and do more things and thinking about all of the things that I want to do. So, here, on this blog, I'm going to come up with my children's book inspired bucket list. These can't all be done this summer but maybe someday.

And off we go!

1. Take an Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins) tour of Paris.

2. Go on a spontaneous, heavily budgeted, backpack tour of Europe. (Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson)

3. Find a moose and name it Marcel. (This Moose Belongs to Me, Oliver Jeffers)

4. Find and go to a paper town. (Paper Towns, John Green)

5. Jump on and off of a moving train. (Divergent, Veronica Roth) (Note: Not over a gap in buildings, I would die)

6. Climb a tall tree and sketch the landscape. (Page, Tamora Pierce) (Note: I, like Kel, am afraid of heights)

7. Learn to shoot a bow. (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins)

8. Find Glendower (or, at the very least, waken a ley line) (The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater)

9. Draw a picture that makes all of the crayons happy. (The Day the Crayon's Quit, Drew Daywalt)

10. Live in an art museum (for a couple of days). (From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg)

11. Be the baddest witch in the whole world in a Halloween parade. (Ramona the Pest, Beverly Cleary)

12. Put a doll to rest with it's original owner (preferably in a way involving a boat and a bus). (Doll Bones, Holly Black)

13. Press here. (Press Here, Herve Tullet)

14. Find a pet friend brontosaurus. (Lulu and the Brontosaurus, Judith Viorst)

15. Exeunt on a leopard. (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making, Catherine M. Valente)

I think I can knock a couple of these out this summer.

What's on your book inspired bucket list?

-Amy

Excerpts Versus Preview Chapters

Three new and super thrilling kids books:

1. The Battle for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi
It's HERE! Read it. Be excited. Find Clarissa when you're here and gush about it.

2. Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan
Guys. Shaun Tan. This book is quirky and wonderful and despite being totally outlandish reminds me of being a little kid again.

3. Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
Why am I excited by yet another set of Nancy Drew? Because they just rereleased the first four and they're BEAUTIFUL.

Sometimes in the months leading up to the release of a new a book authors and publishers will offer sneak peaks. I am all for misleading, potentially soul destroying snippets of books. I love teaser scenes. I love when they're scenes that make me think I know what's going on and then I read the book and I'm totally blown away by how wrong I was. I love seeing how important context is.

The other day I ripped through the scenes Leigh Bardugo released from Ruin and Rising, the final book in the Grisha trilogy. They were good length scenes and some of them ended on cliffhangers.

What I can never bring myself to do though, is read preview chapters. Sometimes the whole prologue or first couple of chapters are released. I just can't do it. I can't read it. It's too much.

This is fresh in my head because yesterday Stephanie Perkins released the first two chapters of Isla and the Happily Ever After. I cannot tell you how happy I will be when this book is finally in my hands. I might die. Not really, that would be tragic if I died without reading it. I squealed in utter delight when I saw her tweet about the excerpt.

And then I read the blog post and saw the words "first two chapters."  I just couldn't. And I wondered about it, especially so soon after devouring the scenes from Ruin and Rising.

There's something about getting full chapters that's too much. It's just enough to get really into and then have your hopes and dreams dashed because there's no more. It's not teasing it's torturing. I can't do it.

Instead I skimmed the chapters, reading pieces of them at random. And I was delighted, giggling already just from the couple of sentences I had. I finished with a sigh of wonderment. The book is real and it's coming.

I know some people dive into preview chapters. I just can't do it. But give me snippets galore and I will be happy.

-Amy

Perseverance of Faeries

First books...so many exciting books...

1. Noggin by John Corey Whaley
IT'S HERE!
Before I say something about this book there are two things you should know about me:
1. I am not a Boston native. 2. I don't have a smartphone so I get around by walking around with Googlemaps directions written on post-it notes. If I get lost I can't easily find my way out. This makes me extra neurotic about knowing where I am.
I was so caught up reading this book I got on the wrong train, going the wrong direction.While not the most egregious error, it's pretty notable for me. This book is AMAZING.

2. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
The conclusion to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Do I need to say anything else?

3. Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
This book is adorable. It doesn't hurt that Beekle looks like an Adipose. But my favorite is the Day-of-the-Dead-looking Octopus.

There have been a number of trends in the YA book world. Some of them are noticeably big. Some of them are thought to be "the next big thing" but never quite make it. Others are a constant stream through the YA world that never really seem to make a huge splash, even if they're always there.

One of these undercurrents that I've always loved are the faerie books. Faeries have made appearances in popular series and even have quite a few of their own.

They've always seemed like such an obvious choice of topic to write about. There's so much myth and legend readily available to play around with that I've always felt like there should be more books that utilize it. I think it's easy for people to dismiss the idea of faeries as little balls of light with wings and flower skirts, or even the little fiery pixies like Tinkerbell. But the faeries of myth of dark, bitter, blood-splattered things .

In many traditional stories these creatures are cold and cruel. They can't lie so they play games with people, revealing truths in ways that hurt others. They're tricksters. They steal children and replace them with faerie children.

This sort of dark, cynical cruelty is right up the alley of the sort of stories that are popular now.

That careful, tense, knife-edged diplomacy that's become so big in response to Game of Thrones' popularity can be easily transferred to the Seelie and Unseelie (roughly, light and dark) or season based faerie courts. The relationships between these courts are always strained, at best.

The eternally attempted retellings are often seen in alterations or flat revamps of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. And as big as mythology and folklore is now there are plenty of other books that just explore the Celtic ideas of the fae. The trickster ways and the old lore of how they are warded against, or summoned, or controlled.

There's so much material to work with and so many amazing things that people can do with it and I've read some really awesome and original work.

Some of my favorites are:
Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside) Heavily involved in the politics of the Seelie and Unseelie courts and how lore impacts faerie/human relationships

Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. (Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Radiant Shadows, Darkest Mercy) Season bases courts and politics.

Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series (Iron King, Iron Daughter, Iron Queen, Iron Knight) Season based courts with a definite twist and some Shakespeare thrown in for good measure (I mean, Puck is in it! You can never go wrong with Puck).

O.R. Melling's Chronicles of Faerie (Hunter's Moon, Summer King, Light-bearer's Daughter, Book of Dreams). Heavily based on different Celtic myths and lores.

Maggie Stiefvater's Books of Faerie (Lament and Ballad) Lesser known Celtic myths with a music twist.

Leslie Livingston's Wondrous Strange series (Wondrous Strange, Darklight, Tempestuous) Some season courts, mostly Shakespeare.

All of these books are such different tones and utilize such different parts of the faerie lore. At the same time they've all a darkness to them that I think appeals to readers right now.

I'd love to see Faerie books really get their chance to rise and show people just how amazing they are.

-Amy

Loss Drives People and Makes For Excellent Books

Three exciting books!
1.Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi and Brendan Wenzel
A few of us giggled over this book then we decided who in the store was which bug. I'm the distressed looking bumblebee.

2.Going Places by Peter and Paul Reynolds
I have a major Peter Reynolds weakness. He just makes me so happy.

3. Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland
A girl is a harpy. How cool is that?

Every once in a while, for any number of reasons, I end up reading a book or two out of my usual comfort zone. My comfort zone/preference is the YA dystopian/urban fantasy/fantasy sort of area. I don't read too much realistic fiction, though I certainly have a couple of favorites in there too.

When I do step out of my usual preference I'm always surprised. Sometimes it's by how much I love a book I hadn't expected to. Sometimes it's the way an issue or topic will be handled. Sometimes it's how much a realistic fiction book will remind me of a less realistic book.

I recently read a pretty eclectic assortment of YA and I was amazed by how connected I found the books that are, on the surface, so different.

My crazy reading binge consisted of:
Mistwood and Death Sworn by Leah Cypess
Scarlet and Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen
Send Me a Sign and Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt
Archived, Unbound, and The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

As I was reading the last book in this group I was sort of struck by just how much all of these very different books focus on the main character coping with a loss.

Loss isn't an uncommon theme in literature, not by any means, but all of these books deal with it so heavily and in such different ways that I was reminded of one of the many reasons that I adore literature. That as different as it all is, it's all about being human.

The losses in these books are people, innocence, magic, home, health, identity, memory. If there is something to lose it's lost and it's handled brilliantly in all of them.

In Mistwood, Isabel wakes up with no memory of who she is and what she's done. All she knows is that she's not human and that she has a mission to protect the prince. She spends so much of the book trying to figure how who she is and how that coincides with the legend of what she is. When everyone tells you that you are one thing how can you make yourself into something else?

In Death Sworn, Ileni once the most powerful sorcerer, has lost her magic. As a consequence she is sent to the training ground of assassins to find out just how and why their previous teachers were killed. Ileni loses who she always thought she was, and the thing that always made her what she was. And through the book we see her adapt to the change in her world in a way that surprises even her.

Losing your identity is such a big theme in YA and it's amazing to see how it's handled in a magical setting and how Cypess entwines the familiar trope into stories that are unfamiliar.

Scarlet and Lady Thief are the first two books in a Robin Hood retelling. Through her life, Scarlet loses her family, her identity, her innocence, her home. She hides who she is and uses what's happened to her as a way to help people who need it. Gaughen puts this girl through so much and never once does Scarlet's character fade beneath her decisions. She loses faith in the world but never in her own power to act and help herself.

Gaughen's Scarlet is a brilliant example of what can happen when you lose everything you thought mattered and how becoming something else can be the best thing for you. The extremity of her loss and her trauma don't lessen the impact that they have on the reader and Gaughen shows that there really is no 'right' way to cope.

Mia from Send Me a Sign finds out she has cancer and at her mother's insistence that she keep it a secret she distances herself from everyone in her life. A lie like that can only work for so long and everything comes crashing down.

In Bright Before Sunrise, Brighton is still dealing with the loss of her father, years after it's happened. Her family fell apart and she's the one who is attempting to hold everything together. The book is split point of view and the other character, Jonah, deals with his father's abandonment and the forced move to a new town. He's lost his old status, his home, his father. He deals with it by secluding himself.

Send Me a Sign a perfect example of how one loss so often leads directly to another and how impossible it can feel to rely on anyone when you feel like you're losing everything. While Mia's loss stems from her cancer the way she reacts can easily be connected to other loss and the need to pretend like everything is okay. Bright Before Sunrise shows how often feeling in control is the only way to feel like everything is okay, even if it's not. Both are excellent examples of how other people are often the only thing that will get you through.

Victoria Schwab's Archived and Unbound follow Mackenzie, a girl who hunts down the wakened memories of the dead. When Archived starts Mackenzie has just lost her little brother. Additionally the book flashes back to her relationship with her grandfather, the man who passed on this task of hunting before dying himself. She hasn't recovered from either loss and what she does keeps them both so firmly in her mind. In Unbound she is dealing with the loss of faith in who she serves and in her own abilities.

Near Witch reads much like a folktale. Lexi's family is still reeling from the loss of her father, the one who understood her interest in tracking and hunting. When a stranger comes to her village and children start to disappear she gets tangled in an old legend that's not what she thought. Lexi's loss of innocence is a little more subtle in this one. She loses faith in her village and that naïve belief that elders look for justice.

Schwab's books explore what it means to lose family and how that loss often makes you more determined. Both Mackenzie and Lexi fight harder in the memory of their loss. They continue with a stubbornness and a need to prove themselves as capable and in control of what happens to them.

The last book in my binge was Faking Normal, the story of Alexi recovering from an assault. She turns into herself before finding the comfort of another person she sees as damaged. Alexi loses her innocence with the attack and her herself. She no longer sees herself as the same person and at the same time loses the ability to confide in people. She isolates herself.

Faking Normal looks at how easy it is to turn on and blame ourselves when we try to cope with loss. And how much easier it is to face loss when we have someone to turn to. That's how people cope by relating to each other.

It's easy to lose sight of the importance of the losses when reading a less realistic book. There is so much else to catch your attention. But in all of these books it's the loss that keeps the story and the characters moving. It's the driving force in all of the plots, as different as they are.

I think they're all worth a read and I think they're especially interesting when read together.

There's something else all of these awesome books have in common, all of the authors will be here next Monday March 24th, at seven!

Guys, I'm so excited. I'm going to panic. You should come! Not to see me panic, but to see these awesome authors.

Monday. 24. 7 PM.

-Amy

Does That Book Really Need a Tagline?

Hullo!

Hokay! My three new exciting books...

1. Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
The first one is such a fun take on the dystopian and Rossi just gets better.

2. 29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy by Lemony Snicket
This little picture book reminds me of being young and picking one building to shove all of my mystery and curiosity on. That one building that you know nothing about but is probably unremarkable. That building where weird things must happen. Wait...did I say when I was young?

3. Seven Wild Sisters by Charles De Lint
I'm pretty much a sucker for anything with fairies. Or anything that says 'Modern Fairy Tale.'

I have distinct memories of standing in the book aisle of Giant Eagle (it's a grocery store, I'm from Ohio) with my friend reading taglines from romance novels out loud in terribly overdramatic voices. I mean, really, they're just begging for it. It's not so much romance novels that I feel any need to mock, it's taglines.

Generally speaking, I really dislike taglines on books. A good tagline is a rare commodity and usually I think a book would be better off without one. I'd like to think that there's some profound marketing reason for a tagline that I know nothing about. But if that is the case why don't more "literary fiction" books have taglines? For the most part they seem to reserved for YA and romance novels but not all of either of these books have taglines either (note: I am sitting at the info desk and have just spotted a bargain book with the tagline: "Every family has secrets. Every murder has a motive" (Lackberg's The Lost Boy) so maybe I should check out mystery books for taglines as well. I'm willing to bet there are some good ones).

So, perhaps it's just the decision of someone or another who has a deep unabiding love for taglines. To each there own.

But I thought I would share with you some YA section taglines. Some are really terrible. Some are okay...ish. Others are bordering on decent. I've read some of these books and haven't others.

"Bound Together. Worlds Apart."
"Free From Bonds. But Not Each Other."
-Unspoken and Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Initial reaction to tagline: Wait...what? Worlds? Space? What?

I really love these books. Love them. The taglines are terrible.
                                                                     
----------------------------------------------------------

"Something Dark and Evil Has Awakened."
-Diviners by Libba Bray

Initial reaction: Delightfully terrible b-movie horror.

This one isn't as bad but it does make me think of a movie trailer. Alternately, the UK edition says: "Bright Lights are Hiding Dark Secrets" which I like more. This is another book that I really love and it makes sense for the book but I don't think it does the creepiness justice.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Her Mission Was To Kill Him. Her Destiny Was To Love Him."
-Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Initial Reaction: Bad High Fantasy Assassin Love Triangle.

Admittedly, I haven't read this one yet but I am a sucker for retellings (this one is Beauty and the Beast) and Clarissa really liked it so I imagine I'll read it sooner rather than later.

----------------------------------------------------------

"The End is Only the Beginning."
-Kill Order by James Dashner

Initial Reaction: Dystopian revenge story (also Smashing Pumpkins).

I will say this, this is a good tagline for a prequel. But I also sort of hear this deep booming voice and a battle-torn kid holding a knife and vowing to overturn the system.

----------------------------------------------------------

"How far would you go to Cross it?"
-The Line by Terri Hall

Initial Reaction: Hidden walled sanctuary. Crossing it (with a capital 'C' no less) is strictly forbidden.

The tagline is a little over dramatic and just so obvious. But I want still want to read it because it's supposed to be awesome.

----------------------------------------------------------

"In the darkest places, even love is deadly."
-The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Initial Reaction: Honestly, this one intrigues me. Though it does sound a little more romance based than I might prefer.

It's not a bad tagline but it does make it sound like there's going to be a really dramatic forbidden romance.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Can You Know the Truth if Your Mind Has Been Wiped?"
-Slated by Teri Terry

Initial Reaction: ...probably not?

I find it really interesting that I've seen a different one for this one that says "...if Your Memory Has Been Erased?" instead. Oddly I find the first one more high tech sounding and it makes me lean toward a sci-fi sort of feel. The second seems to leave it more vague.

----------------------------------------------------------

"The Weather Finally Broke...For Good."
-Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Initial Reaction: Natural Disaster Action Movie

The tagline really isn't bad and I've heard such remarkable things about this book. Also, I'm instantly intrigued based on the fact that it doesn't mention romance.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Iron. Ice. A Love Doomed From The Start."
-The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Initial Reaction: Someone has to die. If the love is really doomed someone has to die.

No one dies. Not in this one but I still really love the book. It's such a cool idea I wish the tagline hadn't focused so much on the romance.

----------------------------------------------------------

"A Million Ways to Die. One Way to Live."
-Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Initial Reaction: I have mixed reactions to the two statements. There's such threat in the first but the second falls a little flat.

I really like this series. Some of the taglines for the later books lean toward the relationship aspects but I appreciate that this one didn't. This isn't a dystopian that fits into the Hunger Games mold as much.


I had more on my example list but I'll stop here. Taglines can make such an impact on how someone perceives a book. I think I prefer when they're on the back (you know, big font across the top). I have never seen a book with a tagline that made me want to pick it up. I think more often than not they make me hesitate.

Why do we keep using them? Can a story really be summed up in one short, catchy statement like that? It doesn't seem like it.

-Amy

The Eight Nights of Thanksgivukkah: A muddled holiday song

On the first of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...


a book with a wordless journey.

On the second of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...



twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

On the third of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...

 

three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

 

On the fourth of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...

 

four Penderwicks, three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

 

On the fifth of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...

    

five festive tales! Four Penderwicks, three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

On the sixth of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...




six pairs of kids, five festive tales! Four Penderwicks, three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

On the seventh of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...



seven stacking spines, six pairs of kids, five festive tales! Four Penderwicks, three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.


On the eighth of Thanksgivukkah, the Booksmith gave to me...



Eight: hard green luck, seven stacking spines, six pairs of kids, five festive tales! Four Penderwicks, three factioned books, twins Ling and Ting, and a book with a wordless journey.

It's coming. Come on in.