This month’s selection has more emphasis on the text than the illustrations. I love the story, and the content of the pictures shows much personality.

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It took longer than I wanted to finish this list. I had to write some reviews for it and enter in something like 30 reviews into the database. So, many of these have not already been posted in the blog.

Nonfiction and picture books are included in the list this time, because there were not enough for separate lists.

Without further ado, my favorites for the year. Read the rest of this entry »

The last couple months have been good reading. I’ve been saving up
selections for BotM. Now it is crunch time, and I had difficulty deciding
what to do. I have to go with The Danger Box, though I could easily have picked Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman or Ringside 1925 by Jen Bryant. I want to spotlight their category, because I have read six books related to this theme in the past 2 years (not intentionally) and watched a movie besides. I’m sure the proliferation of the topic is related to 2009 being the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthdate, not to mention the hostility surrounding teaching the subject. Before reading these books I had little knowledge on the subject due to Texas schools not teaching it and my lack of desire to enlighten myself. While I still haven’t read Darwin’s books, my reading has spurred an interest, and I have a more positive outlook regarding the subject. There is great value in Darwin’s work, whether you want to believe all of his theory or not.

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Related Links

• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• The Tree That Time Built poems selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and
  Linda Winston
• Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman
• Ringside 1925 by Jen Bryant
• Inherit the Wind film with Spencer Tracy
• Other adaptations of Inherit the Wind

I realize we are a couple months past the usual time for this selection, but I saw it and couldn’t pass it up. Even though I didn’t grow up in New England, Johnny Appleseed always intrigued me. Living here in Maine, we have connections all year round. We are flirting with the snowy season now – had some and it melted – but for a few years now I have been noticing the apples that cling in the winter look like the Christmas ornaments on the trees.  Is that why people started to use balls to decorate the trees? Now that we have a wood stove, apple is one of the woods with which we heat. With apple trees in our yard, they are never out of season for me.

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I didn’t know what to expect from this month’s choice. He’s a quirky author. This book is the most complex I’ve read of his. A few stories going on at once in the book, plus a peek into a game that most people my age and under don’t know. Even so, relationships are the greater part of the story.

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This month’s selection jumped off the library’s cart at me. I enjoy looking at detailed pictures, and this book is full of them. Also full of silliness, which one needs to engage in now and then. Taken as a whole the illustrations are quite ridiculous, but if you look at segments, they are intriguing.

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Besides being the Book of the Month, this month’s selection is a Knock Your Socks Off kind of book. I love Pam Muñoz Ryan’s style of writing. It always flows well and is exciting to read. Her new book is extra special. It has an unusual subject, and even the tone of the book is inspirational.

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I like language and word play, so I’m not a huge fan of books with minimal language. I have stumbled across a few that I love. This month’s selection is one of the best. Also by one of my favorite illustrators. I reviewed the book years ago but had not used it as a monthly selection. It’s one that is fun to look at again and again. There is so much going on in this story.

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Time for fantasy again. I read this selection a month or two ago and was juggling choices. It is an excellent read, but primarily for mature readers. I was thinking to maybe include the sequel here, too, but didn’t get to read it yet.

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Concepts and illustrations combine in this month’s selection to lend a feeling of fantasy while the storyteller shares true stories with a young friend. A stranger than fiction premise is the basis of the story.

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