New Books

We are fortunate to have many new books in the library this month. Here are a few of the highlights:

Shackleton's Journey by William Grill
A nonfiction text about Ernest Shackleton's famous journey on the Endurance to cross Antarctica in 1914.

Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore
This book was on many children's book awards lists last winter. It won the Robert F. Sibert award for "distinguished information texts" from the American Library Association in 2014. Beautiful collage illustrations.



No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young
This book explains where chocolate comes from and how monkeys are actually important in the process! Very engaging illustrations and format.

Bone by Bone by Sara Levine
Compares all kinds of skeletons.

Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design by Chip Kidd






What's New? The Zoo A Zippy History of Zoos by Kathleen Krull

Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty
Beautiful picture book about a boy and his dad. Illustrated by Brian Collier.

New Clothes for New Year's Day by Hyun-Ju Bae
This book demonstrates in fictional form Korean New Year's traditions. Would be a good book to use for comparison with other New Year's traditions.

Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunnane and Hoda Hadadi
A fictional account of a young girl wishing she was old enough to wear the malafa, the beautiful cloth that some Muslim women in Mauritania, West Africa wear to cover their clothing and heads in public.



Stop by and check them out (along with all the other new books) soon!

Breaking news: Kids are still BIG readers!

Nothing warms my heart more than kids who love books and if you were anywhere near Temple Ohabei Shalom last night at the corner of Kent and Beacon you saw a LOT of kids who love books (and their parents)! I think the line rivaled those outside the Mac stores for the iPhone 6! 

Rick Riordan spoke at the temple for about an hour and the line stretched forever up Kent St. for hours in advance of his talk! There were people in the crowd from Vermont, Maine, and Michigan! The reason for the event was the release of his new book The Blood of Olympus.  The ticketed event was organized by Porter Square Books in Cambridge and was a rock concert/ pep rally/ book talk/ celebrity sighting all rolled up in one! 

I loved hearing the author talk about his life, how he came to write the Percy Jackson series, and what's next for the series. He was engaging and funny and you could see his roots as a teacher.

But my favorite part was the enthusiasm of the crowd, many of whom were up well past their bedtime to see their favorite author. Pedestrians and bikers asked kids in the crowd outside the temple "what's going on?" "Why are you all in line?" and the kids replied enthusiastically that they were waiting to see their favorite author, Rick Riordan. It gives one hope that books are here to stay! 

The wait was well worth it and I hear that there were more Lawrence families who would have gone but weren't able to scoop up tickets in time. We now have The Blood of Olympus in our library-- stop by and see what all the fuss is about.