New books!

A box of new books just arrived this morning and it's a nice mix of picture books, novels, and nonfiction.

Picture books

LMNO peas by Keith Baker

Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton

The terrible plop by Ursula Duborsasky

Little Mouse gets ready by Jeff Smith

Novels

Calamity Jack by Shannon & Dean Hale

Tollins: explosive tales for children by Conn Iggulden

The popularity papers by Amy Ignatow

The keys to the demon prison (Fablehaven #5) by Brandon Mull

Milo: sticky notes and brain freeze by Alan Silberberg

Nonfiction

Poop happened! A history of the world from the bottom up by Susan Albee

Pea Boy and other stories from Iran by Elizabeth Laird

Baking kids love by Cindy Mushet

One well: the story of water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss

The true size of Africa

This image made the rounds online last week and since I love my maps (especially map games) I thought I'd share. It really puts into perspective how large a landmass Africa really is!

The original post I saw was on Stephen's Lighthouse, and here is the full version of the image (with supporting data) by Kai Krause.

Books at the Library - Remembrance Day books

Click on the image below to view the PRES library's collection of Remembrance Day books (opens a PDF file).

Books at the Library - International & Seasonal books

I have begun to create "Books at the library" lists for teachers at PRES that, hopefully, will be helpful and increase awareness of the books that are in the library collection. The first issue covered international books as well as selected books about the seasons.

Click here or on the image below to view the PDF.

Top 100 Children's Novels

...as voted by over 350 readers of New York children's librarian Betsy Bird's A Fuse #8 Production blog. Voters submitted top 10 lists that were scored and calculated by Ms. Bird to come up with the top 100. It is quite a list, and of course now people are figuring out how many of the 100 they have read. I come in at barely a pass (or not even) with 55 of the 100 read, which I have bolded below. The books marked with asterisks are available at the PRES library, which comes in at a more respectable 62 books out of the top 100, 26 of which are in the top 30 (not bad!).

100. The Egypt Game - Snyder (1967)
*99. The Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe - Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches - Dahl (1983)
*95. Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (1950
94. Swallows and Amazons - Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (1935)
*92. Ella Enchanted - Levine (1997)
*91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar (1978)
*90. Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (1985)
*89. Ramona and Her Father - Cleary (1977)
*88. The High King - Alexander (1968)
*87. The View from Saturday - Konigsburg (1996)
*86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling (1999)
*85. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse - Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief - Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three - Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book - Gaiman (2008)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family - Taylor (1951)
*78. Johnny Tremain - Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember - DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust - Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog - Creech (2001)
*74. The Borrowers - Norton (1953)
*73. My Side of the Mountain - George (1959)
*72. My Father's Dragon - Gannett (1948)
*71. The Bad Beginning - Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy - Lovelace (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons - Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins - Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes - Stratfeild (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago - Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake - Enright (1957)
*62. The Secret of the Old Clock - Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl - Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart - Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken (1962)
*57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Cleary (1981)
*56. Number the Stars - Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson (1978)
*54. The BFG - Dahl (1982)
*53. Wind in the Willows - Grahame (1908)
*52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays - Enright (1941)
*50. Island of the Blue Dolphins - O'Dell (1960)
49. Frindle - Clements (1996)
*48. The Penderwicks - Birdsall (2005)
*47. Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (1999)
*46. Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (1961)
*45. The Golden Compass - Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Blume (1972)
*43. Ramona the Pest - Cleary (1968)
*42. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder (1935)
*41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (1958)
*40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me - Stead (2009)
*38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling (2003)
*37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It's Me, Margaret - Blume (1970)
*35. HP and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling (2000)
*34. The Watson's Go to Birmingham - Curtis (1995)
*33. James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (1961)
*32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - O'Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic - Eager (1954)
*30. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising - Cooper (1973)
*28. A Little Princess - Burnett (1905)
*27. Alice I and II - Carroll (1865/72)
*26. Hatchet - Paulsen (1989)
*25. Little Women - Alcott (1868/9)
*24. HP and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling (2007)
*23. Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (1932)
*22. The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (2003)
*21. The Lightning Thief - Riordan (2005)
*20. Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (1975)
*19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (1964)
*18. Matilda - Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee - Spinelli (1990)
*16. Harriet the Spy - Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (2000)
*14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling (1999)
*13. Bridge to Terabithia - Paterson (1977)
*12. The Hobbit - Tolkien (1938)
*11. The Westing Game - Raskin (1978)
*10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1961)
*9. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (1908)
*8. The Secret Garden - Burnett (1911)
*7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes - Sachar (1998)
*5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Koningsburg (1967)
*4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (1950)
*3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - Rowling (1997)
*2. A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle (1962)
*1. Charlotte's Web - White (1952)

How about you? How many have you read?

Betsy Bird did a Top 100 Picture Books poll last year, which is also a great list.

"Books that became movies" display

To be honest, I had no idea that there would be so many books in the Parrsboro Elementary library that had been made into movies, but it turns out that there are almost 30! Who knew?

Books that became Movies

PRES's favorite books »

Lovely article about reading aloud

There was a wonderful article in the New York Times recently about a father who, unbelievably, read aloud to his daughter for 3,218 nights in a row. Definitely worth a look, especially for the stories of how they managed to fit in 10 daily minutes of read-aloud time between work, school, and extra-curricular activities.

New books!

Two orders of new books have recently arrived, hooray!

Picture Books

The black book of colors by Menena Cottin

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox

Dinotrux by Chris Gall

Traction Man is here! by Mini Grey

Waiting for winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser

Wink: the ninja who wanted to be noticed by J. C. Phillipps

The lion and the mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein

The snow day by Komako Sakai

Rhyming dust bunnies by Jan Thomas

Novels

The evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Half-minute horrors edited by Susan Rich

Frankie Pickle and the closet of doom by Eric Wight

Nonfiction

Swords: an artist's devotion by Ben Boos

Yummy: eight favorite fairy tales by Lucy Cousins

Mythological creatures: a classical bestiary by Lynn Curlee

Moonshot: the flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca

Dinothesaurus: prehistoric poems and paintings by Douglas Florian

An illustrated guide to mythical creatures by Anita Ganeri

Red sings from treetops by Joyce Sidman

Wangari's trees of peace by Jeannette Winter

Review: A visitor for Bear

A visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Bear is making his breakfast one morning when a mouse knocks at his door. Bear, however, does not like visitors and even has a sign on his door that states, loud and clear, "NO visitors allowed." The mouse is terribly persistent though, and manages to show up in the most unexpected of places until Bear caves and consents to share his tea and a crackling fire. Bear comes to realize how enjoyable a companion the mouse is, and that he has made a new friend.

This is an utterly charming and lovely book, and great to read aloud. The short politeness of mouse's lines just beg to be read in a British accent, and Bear certainly has thunderous tones when he is driven to the edge of sanity by the mouse's constant reappearance. The soft illustrations are evocative and the physicality of the two characters come out in spades: the mouse has excellent posture and you just know that Bear moves slowly. A must read.

Remembrance Day is less than a week away, and as always we should take this opportunity to reflect upon what members of previous generations have sacrificed for us to live the lives of freedom that we have today. Below you will find a list of the Remembrance Day books at the PRES library - it's a growing collection!

Remembrance Day books at the library

PRES's favorite books »