Rockwell, Anne F. LIBRARY DAY

Rockwell, Anne F.
LIBRARY DAY
New York : Aladdin Books, 2016
IL K-3, RL 3.8
ISBN 1481427318
Do you go to the public library with your parents?  This is story of Don who is going to the new library with his father. Don thinks there are just books in the library but he soon finds out there is much more to do.  First he goes to story hour and enjoys the books the librarians share.  He even makes a new friend.  While he is choosing some books to take home, he sees a lot more activity going on.  How many of these have you seen in your library?




Podcast:  http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks/mp3/rockwell_library.mp3

Morpurgo, Michael. LISTEN TO THE MOON

Morpurgo, Michael.  LISTEN TO THE MOON
New York : Feiwel & Friends, 2015
IL 5-8, RL 6.3
ISBN 1250042046
When Alfie finds a young castaway on an uninhabited island off the coast of England, he and the town are all really curious as to who she is and how she got there.  She won't speak and she doesn't interact with anyone.  At first the rumors were that she was a mermaid.  Then people began to think she was deaf and just couldn't hear when people spoke to her.  Alfie's family takes her in and names her Lucy.  Alfie tries to keep secret the fact that she was wrapped in a blanket with German writing.  He is afraid that the islanders will think she is a spy.  England is at war with Germany and everyone is afraid of Germans.  What will they do when they discover the truth?

podcast: 
http://www.nancykeane.com/booktalks/mp3/morpurgo_listen.mp3

Gephart, Donna. LILY AND DUNKIN

Gephart, Donna.
LILY AND DUNKIN
New York : Delacorte Press, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 4.6
ISBN 0553536745


Lily loves the feel of her mother's dress.  But her father wants her to dress as Tim and act like a boy.  How can she ever convince him that she is really a girl?  Her mother and sister have accepted it but not her father.  So when he sees Lily dressed up, he is furious.  And the new boy on the block sees her as well.  When school starts, the new boy, Norbert Dorfman, is confused to meet Tim.  He was sure he had seen a girl who looked just like him.  Lily befriends Norbert and nicknames him Dunkin because he is always drinking Dunkin' Donuts coffee.  The two become friend but Dunkin is recruited to join the basketball team because of his height.  These are the boys who are making Lily's life miserable.  When Lily confides in Dunkin about her desire to live openly a a girl, will that change everything?  And what is Dunkin hiding from everyone?

Podcast: https://spark.adobe.com/video/BJyL498B

McAllister, Cameron. THE TIN SNAIL

McAllister, Cameron.
THE TIN SNAIL
New York : Delacorte, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 6.4
ISBN 0553536389

Angelo's  father is an automobile designer in Italy during 1940s and has a new car design showing at the Paris auto show.  But Angelo accidentally crashes it.  Now Angelo is determined to help hi father get back his reputation and design a car for the people.  Together, they come up with a brand new concept.  The "people's car" will be economical enough that just about everyone will be able to afford it and dependable enough that they will want to.  But World War II breaks out and they must find a way to hide the car from the Germans so they cannot use the new technology.  Join Angelo and his father as they take an old lawn mower and turn it into a revolutionary car design.

Podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/ByzpDLpN

DiCamillo, Kate. RAYMIE NIGHTINGALE

DiCamillo, Kate.
RAYMIE NIGHTINGALE
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 4.2
ISBN 0763681172

Raymie Clarke is standing outside Ida Nee's waiting for her baton twirling lesson to begin.  But what she doesn't know is that this will be the start of a new chapter in her life.  She wants to learn to twirl the baton so she can enter the Little Miss Central Florida Tire 1975 competition since she believes that this will bring her father back.  He ran away with a dental hygienist and now Raymie is miserable.  Two other girls are there for the baton lesson as well.  Beverly, a tough kid whose father is a cop, and Louisiana who passes out at the first lesson.  What could these three possibly have in common?  And will they ever learn to twirl the baton?

podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/H1N3SMu4

Weatherford, Carole Boston.
YOU CAN FLY : THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 5.0
ISBN 1481449389

The story of the Tuskegee Airmen told in verse.  These brave men were the first black military pilots in the United States.  During a time when blacks were segregated, these men stepped forward and fulfilled their dream of flying and were eventually sent to fight for their country and for an opportunity to help break the color barrier.


Podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/S1adkaIN

Waudby, Jeannie. ONE OF US

• Waudby, Jeannie.
• ONE OF US
• New York : Running Press Teens, 2015
• IL YA
• ISBN 9780762457991

K lives in a group home and will soon be on her own as she ages out of the system.  Her parents were killed in a bombing years ago.  Then the unthinkable happens.  On her way to school, another bomb explodes and she is caught in this one.  She recovers but her life is about to take a dramatic turn.  She falls for a young man who convinces her to infiltrate the Brotherhood, the plaid-wearing group that has been responsible for the bombings in the past.  K is given a new identity and moves into the school with the Brotherhood.  But what she finds is not what she expected.  As she gets to know the teens in the Brotherhood, she becomes torn between the two groups.  Who is on the right side?  The Brotherhood or the Citizens?

podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/r1wTi0E4

Vande Velde, Vivian. 23 MINUTES

Vande Velde, Vivian.
23 MINUTES
New York : Boyds Mills Press. 2016
IL YA
ISBN 1629794414

Have you ever done something and wished for a do-over?  Maybe it was something embarrassing that you would love to erase!  What would you do if you suddenly had the ability to do just that?  Zoe isn't sure why she got the ability to turn back time but she knows it saved her best friend's life.  And got her classified as crazy and now she is stuck in a group home.  When she ducks into a bank to get out of the rain, she finds herself in a very bad situation.  Should she use her ability to play back 23 minutes and change things?  Or walk away?  What if she makes things worse?

Podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/ryQm1Q44

Vande Velde, Vivian. 23 MINUTES

Vande Velde, Vivian.
23 MINUTES
New York : Boyds Mills Press. 2016
IL YA
ISBN 1629794414


Have you ever done something and wished for a do-over?  Maybe it was something embarrassing that you would love to erase!  What would you do if you suddenly had the ability to do just that?  Zoe isn't sure why she got the ability to turn back time but she knows it saved her best friend's life.  And got her classified as crazy and now she is stuck in a group home.  When she ducks into a bank to get out of the rain, she finds herself in a very bad situation.  Should she use her ability to play back 23 minutes and change things?  Or walk away?  What if she makes things worse?

Podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/ryQm1Q44

Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat by Gary Paulsen

Paulsen, Gary.
SIX KIDS AND A STUFFED CAT
New York : Simon & Schuster Books, 2016
IL 3-6, RL 6.0
ISBN 1481452231


Six 8th grade boys are stuck in the boys' room during a weather lock down.  Five of the boys have known each other for years but have not really taken the time to find out what makes each other tick. There is the class clown who spends many afternoons in detention; the hostile one; the brainy one, the big man on campus; the spaced out rocker dude and there is also the new kid who has just slept through his first day at the school.  As the time passes during the lock down, the boys talk and find out much about each other.

Podcast:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/Hk9fyCGN

Book of the day 06/05/2016

Choosing News by Barb Palser

Palser, Barb. 

CHOOSING NEWS : WHAT GETS REPORTED AND WHY 

New York : Compass Point Books, 2012 

IL 5-8, RL 8.0 

ISBN 075654517X 

It seems that the news is all around us. On the television, radio, Internet and on lots of social media sites. How does the news get chosen? Lots of things happen that we don't hear about. Why do some things get the headlines and other things are never talked about? Find out about how reporters decide on what makes the news.

tags: podcasts blueduke

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Book of the day 06/04/2016

Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team by Daniel O'Brien

O'Brien, Daniel.

YOUR PRESIDENTIAL FANTASY DREAM TEAM

New York : Crown Books, 2016

IL 5-8

ISBN 0553537482

Have you ever put together a sports fantasy dream team? Maybe you know just who to choose for quarterback or point guard or pitcher. But what if we were to ask you to put together a presidential fantasy dream team?? Who would you choose? George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? Who else? And what strengths do they bring to your team. Check out this book and see if you would agree with some of the dream team picks.

tags: podcasts blueduke

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Book of the day 06/03/2016

The Flinkwater Factor by Pete Hautman

Hautman, Pete.

THE FLINKWATER FACTOR 

New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015 

IL 5-8, RL 6.8 

ISBN 1481432516 

Imagine sitting at your computer and then -- nothing. This is sort of what is going on in Flinkwater, Iowa, home of the largest manufacturer of Articulated Computerized Peripheral Devices. If you own a robot, chances are it came from Flinkwater. And now something is going terribly wrong with these devices. People who use them are turning into mental vegetables. Ginger Crump coins the expression that they are bonked. When her own father is bonked, Ginger sets out to find out what is going on. And as if people being bonked is not bad enough, throw in a talking dog and even a zombie.

tags: podcasts blueduke

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Book of the day 06/02/2016

The Fog Diver by Joel Ross

Ross, Joel. 

THE FOG DIVER 

New York : Harper, 2015 

 Imagine a time on Earth where deadly mists cover the land, and all but the highest mountaintops are uninhabitable. In this world, the rich and powerful live in beautiful houses on the high ground, while the poor struggle to survive on the lower slopes. Poorest of all are the ones who must make their living by entering the mists to recover leftover scraps from the world that existed there before, to sell to the scrap merchants above. It is children who seem to be able to resist the poison of the mist longer than the adults, so into the mists they go to support their families…. Thirteen-year-old Chess and his crew of fellow children sail in a rickety air ship just above the mist, with Chess “diving” into the fog to retrieve items for sale. Thanks to the expertise of the crew and the fact that Chess seems to resist the poison of the mist more easily than anyone else, they run a fairly successful business. But things are changing---Mrs. E, the woman who has been the closest thing to a mother the crew has ever known, is becoming ill, and they must leave their usual hunting grounds to find a cure for her. Maybe even worse, the powerful Lord Kodoc has taken notice of Chess’s abilities---and seems determined to make him a captive. Will Chess and the crew manage to evade the powerful warships of Lord Kodoc in time to find a cure for Mrs. E? If you like non-stop action and wonderful characters who inhabit a fully imagined world, you will love The Fog Diver. (Booktalk by the New Hampshire Great Stone Face committee)

tags: podcasts blueduke elementary gsf

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Book of the day 06/01/2016

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Pennypacker, Sara.  

PAX 

New York : Balzer + Bray, 2016 

IL 3-6, RL 5.7 

ISBN 0062377019 

Pax is the word for peace in Latin. Through the ancient and modern world, the word pax has many associations. In this book, Pax is the name given to an orphaned fox kit adopted by a boy named Peter. In the beginning of the story, Peter is made to return the tame fox to the wild because his father has enlisted in the military. Peter is sent to live with his grandfather 300 miles away. As soon as he arrives, Peter knows his place is with Pax. So instead of starting at his new school at his grandfather’s house, Peter packs his backpack for the long journey back to find Pax. Meanwhile, Pax is learning the ways of the wild the forest. Can Peter find his way back to Pax in a land where war is breaking out? With the help of a new friend, Peter may just discover the way that leads to Pax. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee)

tags: podcasts elementary blueduke gsf

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.