Children's Book Roundup - Friday Edition

DOLL BONES BY HOLLY BLACK

 

Adventure, pirates, ghosts, creepy china dolls…what’s not to love?  But this is less of a creepy ghost story (although there are shades of that within the story) and more about a group of friends caught in that great “tween stage”, between being kids and growing up.  This reminded me of a certain group of 11 year olds that I know, ehem, that it made me want to cry thinking of them all on that cusp.  Perfect for ages 10 and up.

                         

Book Description via Amazon

Release date: May 7, 2013 | Age Range: 10 and up | Lexile Measure: 840L (What's this?)

A doll that may be haunted leads three friends on a thrilling adventure in this delightfully creepy novel from the New York Times bestselling cocreator of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?

 

MONSTERS LOVE COLORS BY MIKE AUSTIN

Can’t say enough good things about this book – so, so, so great!!!  The illustrations are bright and colorful, the rhyming text is fun, and it teaches about color mixing.  Robbie and I both LOVED it.

From School Library Journal

PreS-K-Bloblike monsters in primary hues energetically scribble, mix, dance, wiggle, and otherwise enjoy playing with color. Each creature makes a statement about what its color stands for, without any particular logic: why red is the color of snore, yellow the color of growl, and blue the color of nibble are not explained. The primary colors offer to make new ones for some little gray monsters and produce orange, green, and purple in turn. On the final page, they pull together a rainbow, but while the colors are in the proper order in the word rainbow, the illustration shows red followed by yellow, not orange. Better books that describe the color-mixing process include Ellen Stoll Walsh's Mouse Paint (Harcourt, 1989) and Arnold Lobel's The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments (Harper & Row, 1968).-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJα(c) Copyright 2011..

AGAIN! BY EMILY GRAVETT

For any kid in your life that wants to hear the same story over and over and over and over… This book is for you (and them).  The illustrations are great, the story adorable and all parents will empathize with the poor tired mommy dragon.  A great bedtime story to be read AGAIN!

Book Description via Amazon

Release date: April 16, 2013 | Age Range: 2 - 6 years

A little dragon and his favorite book make for a combustible combination in this clever picture book with a surprise ending.

It’s nearly Cedric the dragon’s bedtime, and for Cedric, bedtime means storytime! When his mother reads him his favorite book, he likes the story so much that he wants to hear it again…and again…and again!

Cedric’s mom understands that the best stories are ripe for repetition, and she tries very hard to be patient. But sometimes dragons will be dragons—which is why this bedtime tale ends with an incendiary surprise!