Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary/Humor

Release Date: 2/5/2013

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About the Book: Thirteen-year-old Nate is from a small town in Pennsylvania and he dreams of being on Broadway. When his best friend Libby tells him of an open audition of ET: The Musical, Nate and Libby devise a plan for Nate to run away to New York City and audition. Will this be Nate's chance to move out of his small town and become a star?

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I knew I was going to love this book from the moment I heard it booktalked at ALA. I love musicals, I love show tunes, I love Broadway. I spent every summer from fourth grade into college attending and working at a fine arts summer camp. I was a drama and choir kid all throughout my school years. I knew Nate and I would become kindred spirits. And I was not disappointed one bit.

Nate is a kid that I would love to have in my library and we would talk Broadway and it would be awesome. I love Nate that much. He has the perfect blend of humor and heart that you just have to adore in a main character. He's from a small town, so he's a bit naive at times, but I believed it all-this is the first time Nate's ever been out of Jankburg PA (except for that trip to Disney) and this is first trip to a big city. His innocence about New York is part of his charm-he sees the good in everything which makes you want to cheer Nate on.

In New York, Nate discovers what Broadway is like-from auditioning in a room full of adults to pushy stage moms and incredibly talented kids up for the same role as you. Tim Federle is obviously writing about a subject he knows-and knows well. He captures the craziness of a show, the excitement and nervousness of auditions and the painstaking wait as you wonder if you'll hear more.

This isn't just Nate's journey to New York, but also to accepting who he is. Nate is teased back home for liking musicals. He's a bit of an outsider and doesn't feel like he fits in. He's teased for being gay, but as Nate says, he's thirteen and he doesn't know who he likes and why should it matter anyway? Nate's journey to New York opens him up not only to the world of Broadway, but to a larger world outside the small minded town he's used to. What I appreciated about Nate's story was that it was a story about Nate learning that he's awesome and it's OK to love musicals-gay or straight-and that he can be a boy who  loves to sing and use Broadway flops and curse words.

I was lucky enough to listen to this one on audiobook and there are some authors that are just meant to narrate their books and Tim Federle is one of them. He gives Nate a wonderful voice and blends his optimism, innocence and passion for musicals in a brilliant way. He also plays the jokes well and really adds to Nate's humor. I'm sure I would have laughed if I had read this book, but listening to it I was laughing out loud the entire time. It's well worth listening to!

 A funny and heartwarming read that has worked it's way into my heart. It's the perfect book to hand over to kids who feel as though they a bit of an outsider and are looking for a place to belong. I hope this debut isn't the last from Federle-he's a writer to look forward to.

Book Pairings: Withering Tights by Louise Rennison, Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt,

Full Disclosure: Reviewed from audiobook provided by the publisher for review

Caldecott Storytime: Week 14 & Week 15

I'm doing Caldecott themed storytime for preschool storytime in January-April.Check out all my Caldecott Storytime plans here.

So I did two storytimes with this years winner, but silly me forgot to keep my full plan for Week 14. That week I introduced the winners from this year and read Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, and Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. My group was a little young, so I abridged some of Extra Yarn. I also wasn't sure if they really liked Creepy Carrots, but we made our own carrots for a craft and after I heard them playing in the department saying "my creepy carrot will get you!" so it must have been a hit!

For Week 15, I saved this year's winner for last. It was lots of fun and a great way to end our Caldecott series. Here's what I did:

Open: Where Is Thumbkin and Shake My Sillies Out by The Wiggles


Read: 

Swimmy by Leo Lionni 

-A couple of the kids new this one because they had read it before and they were excited to talk about the big black fish the fish make in the end.

Song: These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner

Read: 

Have You Seen My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri

Song: Octopus by Charlotte Diamond (the kids loved this song!)

Read: 

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

Song: Ten Little Fishes (I got this from my mom and I'm not sure where she got 

it!) I printed out little fishes and had each kid hold a fish and walk around so their fish could swim. My mom uses this in her music class and tells the kids that the fish swim around and greet each other by getting very close to another fish and saying "hello". So as the kids walk around with their fish, they can go around the room and greet the other kids and their fish. As we walked we sang:

"One little, two little, three little fishies

Four little, five little, six little fishies

Seven little, eight little, nine little fishies,

Ten little  fishes in the sea."

Then I added a verse about the "fishies swim high" and "fishies swim low" and had the kids move their fish higher in the air and then low to the ground.

"Fishies swim high in the water

Fishies swim high in the water

Fishies swim high in the water

Ten little fishies in the sea."

"Fishies swim low in the water

Fishies swim low in the water

Fishies swim low in the water

Ten little fishies in the sea."

The kids loved this song and loved having fish props to use. I plan to use it again in storytime.

Activities: 

-Rubber Ducks in a tub of water 

-Blocks with bubbles inside 

-Reading station (I put out other Caldecott winning titles and had a mat set up where the kids could read and check out other Caldecott titles)

-Puppets-we made fish puppets to go with our story

Overall this was a great storytime and I loved doing the Caldecott theme with the kids. As the weeks went by the kids knew what the award was and become  more interested in checking out Caldecott winning titles. It was a great success!

All About Summer Reading

I love this photo of Nedd Stark warning everyone that Summer Reading is coming! It makes me laugh every time.

So Summer Reading is coming! I love learning how libraries run their summer reading programs, so I thought this summer I would do a weekly breakdown of what exactly it is librarians do during the summer. I've learned that my non-librarian friends have no idea how much time and effort goes into summer reading-and it's a ton of work and also a ton of fun. So after giving my summer reading spiel to thousands of kids over the past few weeks, now I'll give it you! (Sorry, this will be a long post!)

About Summer Reading Program:

-Kids can read anything they want! Books from home, school, library, bookstore, friends, etc. ANYTHING! We let them read various formats as well-fiction, nonfiction, comics, ebooks, audiobooks, reading aloud to someone, being read aloud to-all that counts for summer reading.

-We count hours, not books. Each level is four hours of reading.

-Participants do not need to have a library card, live in the county, or check out books from the library to participate. We of course encourage summer readers to get library cards and check out books, but it's not required.

-Program attendance is not required. Again, we encourage it, but it's not required to take part in summer reading.

-Our program runs for 11 weeks which I'm learning is a crazy long summer reading program in the library world. We start Saturday May 18 and end Saturday August 3. Nothing is passed out or ready to be picked up until the start date and the end date of the program is the final day to pick up prizes.

Tiny Tots (birth-36 months): This is a new program we're trying this year, so we'll see how it goes. In years past, I would get frustrated when parents were surprised they could do the summer reading program babies and toddlers. "But they can't read yet!" And I would say, "yes, but it's the summer reading & listening program-you can read to your baby!"

So this year, the Tiny Tots program features a simplified reading program. Adults will receive a brochure-type piece with a place for baby's photo, a place to list ten books they read this summer, and a fun flow-chart-type of activities for various moods. After reading ten books and five activities, babies receive a board book of their choice from the prize book cart. They are also entered into a drawing for a gift basket that includes a rubber ducky, board books, blocks, and more. There's one drawing per branch (we have 10 plus a Mobile Library).

Kids Program (ages birth-grade 5): Since Tiny Tots is new this year, we're easing everyone into it by giving them a choice. For the kids program, kids pick up a game board and complete three levels. Each level is made up of four hours of reading and three activities. The activities are listed on the back of the game board and include things like "write the library a postcard about what you did this summer" or "check out a library book on dinosaurs" or "build a reading fort" or "get a library card" or "attend a library program".

Level 1: The Food and Fun Flip Card. I'll be honest and say that I have love/hate relationship with this card. The Flip Card is a card that offers free and discounted offers all around town-free bowling, skating, ice cream, cupcakes, swimming, discounts at the local arcade, the zoo, and local inflatable places are all included. It's a great idea and it gets the kids excited, but sometimes people sometimes get greedy about it and that's not the point of summer reading. This card has become very known in the community and it's why people start gearing up for summer reading in March-they want this card!

Level 2: Choice of a bookmark, coloring sticker, or tattoo and a Fine Waiver Card-good for waiving overdue/late fees on your library card one time during the summer. Also a very big prize that people can't wait for!

Level 3: Free Book! (The best prize of course!) And as I tell the kids-"do you have to bring this book back to the library? NO! Do you just get whatever book I hand you? NO! You get to pick out whatever book you would like from the book prize cart and keep it forever!!!"

Each child can only do the game board once during the summer, but if they finish the game board and want to keep going, we have what we call the Eager Reader Challenge. It used to be just read another four hours and you get entered into a drawing, but this year we changed it up to be a challenge of five things like "read a book of poetry" or "listen to a book" or "read a book that became a movie" or "tell a librarian a book you read this summer". I love the extra challenges and I think the kids will really like it too. At the end of summer, all the eager reader entries are entered into a drawing for summer reading t-shirts and gift cards. And again, these are done by branch, so because I'm at the headquarters branch, we end up with a bunch of prizes to draw for at the end.

Teen Program: Our teen program has been online now for about five years and it's really made a difference in our numbers and helping the teen summer reading program grow. As I tell the teens, "you can do the summer reading program at home, in your PJs at 2:00 in the morning!"

The teen program is all about reading and there are no activities. The level one and level 2 prizes are the same as the kids program, except the teens get something from the treasure box in addition their Fine Waiver Card (these things include tattoos, pencils, various other tchotchkes)

The big difference in the teen program is that after 8 hours of reading, they have two entries into the drawings. Any additional four hours of reading earns them another entry. We pull names for weekly prize drawings (books, journals, movie size candy, water bottles, backpacks, pens, earbuds). At the end of summer reading, we do a grand prize drawing (which is system wide) for a Kindle Fire. (Last year it was a Nook Color and we've done iPods in the past). We also do a drawing at each branch for a gift basket of books, candy, and various other prizes-one per branch.

So that's our Summer Reading Program! In addition to all that, my branch hosts seven weekly storytimes (three for toddlers, three for preschoolers and one for ages 4-8), will do outreach to two offsite locations once a month, host a weekly performer for two performances, host monthly Baby storytimes and play group, monthly dance parties, monthly evening storytimes, and a huge crazy amount of other special programs happening throughout summer.

And to give you an idea of the population we serve, last year we had 3,609 kids participate in the summer reading program and 962 teens participate in the summer reading program-just at my branch alone!

So if you see a librarian this summer, you know why we always look so exhausted! Give us a hug-and maybe some chocolate!

How does your library run their summer reading program? Anything you like or dislike about it?

YA Movie News

Lots of exciting movie news this week!

Tris goes Dauntless in the newest photo from Divergent thanks to Entertainment Weekly:

-Catching Fire has a new poster:

-Ansel Elgort has been cast as Gus in The Fault in Our Stars opposite Shailene Woodley. Both actors are starring in Divergent, in which they play brother and sister. Hollywood is a small world!

-Downton Abbey Seasn 4 will premier in the US on January 5th. 

-Vampire Academy has added more actors to the cast.

-Lionsgate is making a nice little niche with  YA novels turned movies and Wonder by R. J. Palacio is next on their list. Early Word reports that the film has been optioned. 

-Debut novel School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani has been optioned for a film.

It's the time of year when TV Networks announce their Fall lineup, which includes several book and comic based shows. Fox has passed on Delirium and it doesn't look like The Selection will be happening at The CW either.

Several of the shows have released trailers, so here's what's coming up based on books (or loosely based on books this Fall):





















 And while Reign on The CW is not based on a book, it looks ripe for YA novel tie ins, don't you think? Plus, I might just watch it because it has Anne Shirley in it!! :)

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Genre: Graphic Novel

Release Date: 5/7/2013

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About the Book: Nate and Charlie have an unlikely friendship. Nate is the president of the robotics club and Charlie is the popular basketball captain. The two friends find themselves pitted against each other in a student council election-and it's war. The cheerleaders, including Charlie's ex-girlfriend, want money for new uniforms and the robotics club want money to attend a robotics competition. Only one can win-and it's up to student council to decide who gets the money. And what will happen if the two decide to team up?

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I love a fun graphic novel and Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is a very fun graphic novel! The premise is hilarious and unique-when have you seen robotics club represented in YA and when have you seen robotics teams partnering with cheerleaders? It's a heartwarming and laugh out loud funny story of friendship and the unexpected with high school politics.

Nate and Charlie are both great characters and Faith Erin Hicks helps show their personalities with her illustrations. I love Prudence Shen's characters and story and the illustrations just add to the format, showing off Nate's neurotic side and Charlie's shyness. The supporting cast of characters is well done and even if we don't get to see some of them very often, the storytelling and the artwork blend well to make them fully fleshed characters. The robot action scenes are fantastic and the illustrations really excel at showing what a competition is like, how much blood, sweat and tears goes into building a robot, and the teamwork that happens throughout.

What I really loved and appreciated about this graphic novel was how it bent stereotypes. Charlie is the popular athlete, but he's kind of shy and doesn't really know how to embrace his popularity. He also maintains a friendship with Nate, even though their paths don't cross much. The cheerleaders are a bit icy and mean, but they have some redeeming qualities. And Nate is just overall lovable and so into robotics you can't help but cheer for his passion. Yet the part that really stood out to me is that this is a story about friendships and breaking high school stereotypes, not a romance. There maybe could be a slight romance that is inferred, but it's such a tiny part of the plot that it's not a big deal. I loved that! It made the whole book seem even more realistic to me.

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is one of new favorite graphic novels and a must read from this year. It would be perfect for teens looking for a graphic novel that is fun and just a bit different. It's a ton of fun and I loved being part of Nate and Charlie's world.

Book Pairings: Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Full Disclosure: Reviewed from finished copy sent by the publisher

Summer Reading Is Coming: Start With a Book Blog Tour

I am so excited to part of this lovely blog tour promoting Start With a Book. When Amy at Show Me Librarian asked me to be part of this tour and talk about this great resource, I jumped at the chance. Start With a Book is a great resource for parents, librarians, educators-really anyone who wants to read with a child!

As a librarian, I know the value of having storytime and reading to kids. Reading at all ages is important! It's a great way to develop skills that kids need like growing their vocabulary, learning how stories are told, hearing the rhythm and sound of words, and beginning to recognize letters and words and start to read. Not only that, but it's a fun way for adults and kids to share in an activity that will help them bond. Nothing is more fun than sharing a book with a child.

Even if a child can read on their own, they still should be read to! I've been out doing summer reading promotion at area schools and each class I visit-even high school-I ask if I can read them a picture book and tell them they are never too old to be read to. They are always eager to listen to a story and are so engaged in the books I bring-they love being read to.

One thing we often joke about at my library is that we could do storytime every minute of every day and have an audience waiting to read books. It would be fun (and very crazy!), but it's not possible for librarians to always be the ones doing storytime. That's why I love Start With a Book. We are always encouraging parents to check out books and have storytime at home, but so often I get asked about what books parents should read or how do they even find a book to read at home? It can be intimidating to walk into a library and see shelves and shelves of books and not know where to start or what book is the perfect book for you.

Start With a Book offers adults a great resource with their themed booklists. Every day I am asked for books on various topics and themes and Start With a Book has created fantastic themed booklists that give kids and adults a chance to pick a topic and create a storytime at home. The lists include a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles as well as a target age group, which is so helpful when adults are looking for a good fit for their child.

Not only does the Start With a Book themed booklists include books, but ways to take the reading experience further by including activities, crafts and websites to help kids and adults explore each theme. It's like having a storytime at your fingertips planned and ready to go!

Every kid deserves storytime-at the library and at home. So Start With a Book and go exploring this summer!

Tween Tuesday: Feedback from Chat & Chew Bookclubs Part 2

In Missouri, we have a state book award for fourth-sixth grade called the Mark Twain Award. This year my library has partnered with seven area elementary schools for a program we call Chat & Chew. Each month we meet with a group of fourth & fifth graders to talk about a selected book from the Mark Twain list (chat) while the kids eat lunch (chew). It's been a lot of fun and the kids have had lots of great feedback about the books we've read so far. I posted about the first half of the year in January and here's our second half round up:


Drizzle
Hide and Seek
Half Upon a Time

The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson

-

-"It started off with a lot of action and it made me want to keep reading."

-"It has something for everyone-adventure, action, animals, magic."

-"It was the best book-it's going to win!" (I thought so too, but our winner ended up being Out of My Mind)

-"I was surprised by the ending." (everyone agreed it was a great surprise ending!)

Gilbert and Aldwyn were the most popular characters

Undecided on Skyler-lots of mystery surrounding her character!!

Everyone wanted a familiar and the animals they would like ranged from dogs, snails, and birds to horses and unicorns. The most popular ability for a familiar to have would be telekinesis or flying. Mostly they wanted telekinesis so they could move objects and hit people with the flying objects and surprise them-this was a common theme throughout all the groups! Ahh..tweens. :)

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve

-"This one had some mystery to it."

-"I liked the farm-I wanted to visit."

-"I was afraid of what would happen in the end-it kept me reading."

The groups seemed a bit mixed on this one. They liked the magical farm setting and thought it had suspense with Polly's powers and her brother. But there were some tweens that thought this one was a bit slow. 

Hide & Seek by Katy Grant

-"I liked the geocaching."

-"It was a god mystery."

-"The Dad might not have always been bad, but he made bad choices."

-"It made me think about what I would do."

The groups really liked this one. It was a mystery which they all enjoyed. We had a great discussion about the characters, if Chase should have told about what he discovered, and if the characters were all good or bad or maybe a bit of both. It was really cool to hear their insight about what Chase should do, what they would do in a similar situation (finding missing kids), and when and how to get adults involved. 

Half Upon a Time by James Riley

-"The best book ever!!!"

-"My favorite book-I've already read the sequel!"

-"I loved this one the most-I want to change my vote because I read Half Upon a Time and now it's my favorite!"

-"I liked the fairy tales."

-"The fairy tale mix was really fun to read."

-"The fairy tales were the best part-you never knew what was going to happen."

-"It should be a movie!"

This was by far the most popular book we read in Chat & Chew. After hearing all the groups rave about this book, I was surprised that this one didn't end up winning. Both guys and girls liked this one and I think it was the most agreement we had from all the groups about everyone liking a title. They loved the fairy tale mashup, the twists in the plot, and the adventure throughout. Not one student said they didn't like this one. Many of them had already gone on to read the sequel and we had a long waiting list for book three at the library!