Alaina’s Klog

A school librarian's book log (klog) about what she's been reading 



November 21, 2009

Malice by Chris Wooding

via amazon.com

This is a fantastic new hybrid of traditional text and graphic novel. The story is about an underground comic book called Malice. Malice is a creepy world in which teenagers try to evade the mechanized predators hunting them down. Horrifyingly, it turns out that Malice is not fiction. Real teens unwittingly fling themselves into this world (usually on a dare) and the writer simply records what happens to them, however gruesome their fate may be. Not surprisingly, a band of teens decides to try and put an end to Malice. The parts of the teenagers' stories that appear in the comic are told in graphic novel form. The rest of the narration is done in traditional style. I like this book for 7th & 8th graders.

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November 3, 2009

Peninsula School Library Halloween

My favorite library holiday.

         
Click here to download:
Peninsula_School_Library_Hallo.zip (601 KB)

    Often at Halloween I read the pre-school classes Big Pumpkin (Erica Silverman), a sweet and fun story with a classic "the witch pulled on the pumpkin, and then the mummy pulled on the witch and then the vamire pulled on the mummy" structure. It's fun to read and completely non-threatening to younger children who are overwhelmed by Halloween. This year, though, I decided to read the pre-school classes Vunce Upon a Time (J.otto Siebold), a story about a little vegetarian vampire whose idea of a scary costume is to dress as a puppy or a clove of garlic. More complicated than Big Pumpkin, but fun.

     During the free period when the 1st - 4th graders can come to the library to hear stories, I read Grandpas Ghost Stories (James Flora). The fun-scary adventures of grandpa as a boy when he encouters a skeleton who wants to eat him (after he puts the skeleton together), The Warty Witch who turns him into a spider, and the Ghastly Ghost, a strange lady ghost who wants him to watch bad shows on ghost TV with her. The stories and illustrations are full of silly touches that make them safe for the 1st graders but work for 4th graders, too.

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October 15, 2008

How to Eat Fried Worms: The Details

I just read the classic 1970s novel, "How to Eat Fried Worms." If you ever need recipes for serving worms to guests, this is a great place to go for ideas. Although kids might wonder why the boys in the book are hanging around outside instead of playing any video games, the book has aged well and it's a great read for boys grades 3-5. The disgusting worm-eating keep readers engrossed (ha!), as the book tells a good story of what happens to a friendship when a dare and a bet get out of hand. The book was on the American Library Association's list of 100 top banned books in the 1990s. In part, it was because some editions of the book contain one incidence of the word "bastard", but mainly, the book has been challenged on the basis of encouraging socially unacceptable behavior [eating worms]! So if you read this book and start eating worms, please let me know.

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September 30, 2008

How to Ditch Your Fairy

A very funny book about not liking the qualities you've been born with and wanting to change. The city is in this book is very similar to any US city, except most people are born with a fairy. The fairies could be anything: a never-gets-cold fairy, a finds-loose-change fairy, an all-the-boys-like-you fairy, a never-gets-in-trouble fairy... The main character, a girl of about 14, has a parking fairy (any car she's in gets a great parking spot) and she absolutely hates it. So she tries everything she can think of to ditch her fairy, while going through the usual difficulties of being a freshman in high school. Great for grades 5+. Although it's about high school, there's no sexual content: just some first kisses.

I met the very funny author, Justine Larbalestier at Keplers Books in Menlo Park this month. She's also the wife of Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies series, who coincidentally went to the Peninsula School (where I am a librarian) when he was in nursery school!

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September 30, 2008

Dealing with Dragons: a fun fantasy adventure for girls

I just read an older book called Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. It's the first in a series, published in 1990. In it, a smart, sensible princess who's bored by princess-y things runs away from home, claiming she'd rather be eaten by a dragon than marry her intended prince. She finds some dragons and becomes a dragon's princess, finally saving the dragons from some evil wizards. Full of good humor and the fun (and value) of being a smart girl. Grades 3-8, though the story is suitable to be read to somewhat younger children, too. Most boys will like the story, too.

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September 8, 2008

A school librarian dishes about what she's reading


Hi there. I'm Alaina Sloo, a librarian at the Peninsula School in Menlo Park, CA. I read a pile of children's books every week, so I've decided to keep a record of what I think of these books, for the benefit of the families at my school, as well as anyone else who's looking for something fun to read.

The books are rated roughly for age level, but consider your own child's reading and emotional level when choosing a book. And just because a book is a children's book doesn't mean it's only for children. The interesting thing about children's literature for children ages 9 and older is that they're typically very strong on story/plot and setting (rather than, e.g., delving into a character's psyche). As a result these books are often great reads for adults, too.

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