Staff Selections Kids
Carol
Elena De Roo's train poem transports a child from the busy activities of the day through a rainy night and into sleep. The reader of this bedtime adventure will share (and share in) the sights, sounds, and motion of travel.
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Mary
Two little girls explore nature together, and find a woodland world that is just made for them in CHIRRI & CHIRRA. With the ring of their bike bells, the girls are off again, discovering a lively adventure in the tall grass, where they follow busy insects, and help a candy-making lizard. Fireflies light their way home. Young picturebook audiences will be transported into a serene, luminous nature fantasy with this sweet series.
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Tim
The sequel to Seraphina has arrived! The story picks up right where we left it, with the kingdom of Goredd preparing for war with the dragons of the north. Seraphina has set out for the countryside to find the other half-human, half-dragons from her visions to unite them as part of Goredd's defense. But building a coalition is not easy for a court musician with little experience in diplomacy or war, and Seraphina is forced to improvise and compromise along the way. Author Rachel Hartman gives us a stunning conclusion to Seraphina's story, complete with eye-opening revelations about love, betrayal, religion, and allies likely and unlikely, climaxed by a battle scene I guarantee you'll remember long after you've finished the book. Seraphina and Shadow Scale are a two-volume set of one of the best YA fantasies I've read in a long time. Wow!
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Victoria
Humor, sense of place, quirky characters, a missing person, and a murder mystery add up to a page-turning Southern series with heart. Spending time with Mo LoBeau, the plucky detective-protagonist introduced in the first book Three Times Lucky, and her detective buddies, Dale and Harm, is an exceptional treat. One of Mo’s many memorable rambles: “… Anna Celeste is my Sworn Enemy for Life and I’d rather go face-down in a plate of raw chicken entrails than go to her party. Plus I’m not invited.” Once you solve the mystery with Mo and her crew in Three Times Lucky, dive into the sequels, Ghosts of Tupelo Landing and The Odds of Getting Even. If you are anxious to know what Mo finally discovers about her Upstream Mother, even the author Sheila Turnage would agree that you could read the riveting final book in the series, The Law of Finders Keepers, as soon as you come to the end of Three Times Lucky. Oh, so fine, these mysteries! (Ages 9-13)
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Barb
Sophmore Darius Kellner is bullied at school, takes medication for clinical depression, and feels he is nothing but a big disappointment to his father. He is sure he will have a terrible experience in Iran, where the family is going to stay with grandparents he has never met except by computer moniter. He is in for many surprises in the village where his mother grew up: a loving grandmother, a gruff granddad who is dying, and a new friend named Sohrab all add to the mix to make him feel he belongs for the first time ever. This book is both funny and moving as this teen boy makes many discoveries about himself and the world. He is a changed person when he returns to his high school and others take notice.
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Zoey
Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans is a moving and startling portrayal of Hurricane Katrina in the days after it hit shore, destroying the city. This graphic novel is an incredibly honest telling of the storm’s destruction and the suffering that followed and may in fact be too grim or graphic for younger readers. However, it will certainly lead advanced readers to understand the grave, brutal experience of this contemporary American natural disaster. The careful and affecting drawings magnify the weight of this important book.
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Sarah
From Sydney Smith, a story of shifting perspectives—both in the prose and the stunning illustrations. This is a truly exceptional book that seems like a simple story, one that kid readers will respond to—it’s about what it’s like to be small in a big, busy world. But as the snow falls and it becomes evident what’s really happening, adult readers will be drawn in, too, until they reach an ending that leaves all readers thinking and wondering and feeling just a taste of bittersweet. I’m going to call it now: this book will be on everyone’s Caldecott awards list. My favorite picture book of the year so far, and apparently the kids book world agrees—it has received five starred reviews.
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