"What's your name?" Family Storytime

Tonight, we are doing stories about and including proper names. We will use:

• Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Tedd Arnold



• My Cat Jack by Patricia Casey



• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer



• Let George Do It! by George Foreman



• Daisy is a Mommy by Lisa Koppler



• There Are Cats in This Book by Vivian Schwartz (We will name the cats, despite of the fact that they are named on the jacket flap)



• The Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown by Teri Sloat , Illus. by Nadine Bernard Westcott



• Sixteen Cows by Lisa Wheeler, Illus. by Kurt Cyrus (Mudskipper! Sissy Nell! Sassafras! Maisie Bell...)

We will also say:

Higgelty, wiggelty, bumblebee

who can say their name for me?(child says name)

let's all say it (name)

Let's clap and say it (name)

Let's whisper it (name)

Kid's Halloween Read: Half-Minute Horrors

Half-Minute Horrors, edited by Susan Rich, is a timely new collection of 71 very short, fun and scary stories. This is an excellent variety of authors known for writing for adults (Faye Kellerman, Gregory Maguire) teens (Libba Bray, Melissa Marr), and of course, kids (Lane Smith, Lemony Snicket). All kinds of frightening topics are visited, such as creatures under the bed, alien takeover, unpleasant babysitting gigs and (shudder) clowns. Some of my favorite tales include "Grand Entrance," by James Patterson, "The Legend of Alexandra and Rose," by John Klassen, "Chocolate Cake," by Francine Prose and "The Final Word," by John Greenhut and illustrated by Brett Helquist.

This is a very quick read and would make good read aloud material for families and classrooms!

Scary Reading Plans for October

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/merciewinters/

I seldom read Horror, except for in October. Then, I read only creepy, scary books. True, some are for children, but that is about my speed. I also prefer ghost stories and Gothic tales to monsters and slasher stories. Some I've read and enjoyed during Octobers past:

Teen/Adult:

1. The October Country by Ray Bradbury


2. Cat in Glass by Nancy Etchemendy


3. Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield


4. It by Stephen King

Kids:

1. Sweet Miss Honeywell's Revenge by Kathryn Reiss


2. Breathe by Cliff McNish


3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This year's possibilities:

Teen/Adult:

1. The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd


2. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong


3. The House of the Lost Souls by F.G. Cottam


4. The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett


5. Bonechiller by Graham McNamee


6. Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris

Kids:

1. Seer of Shadows by Avi


2. All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn


3. Half-Minute Horrors edited by Susan Rich

Family Storytime begins again: Owls

Suggestions for an Owly storytime:

• "I'm Note Cute!" by Jonathan Allen
• Good-Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins
• The Owl and Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Jan Brett
• Whoo-oo Is It? by Megan McDonald, illus. by S.D. Schindler
• Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Jen Corace
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, illus. by Patrick Benson
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illus. by John Schoenherr

and a owl cameo:

• Dog's Noisy Day by Emma Dodd

and a song:

Owl in the Tree (Sung To: Skip to my Lou)

Submitted by an Unknown Friend

Owl in the tree says, who, who, who

Owl in the tree says, who, who, who

Owl in the tree says, who, who, who

Who, who, are you? (point to a child and have them say their name)

Keturah and Lord Death

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt, is a must for my Fairy Tale related book collection.
This was a National Book Award finalist ( in my opinion it should should have won the Young People's Literature category)and gives us an exciting, mysterious story with a brave and tenacious heroine.
Following a seemingly enchanted hart into the forest, Keturah soon becomes lost and, after several days, is close to death. Yet when she meets Lord Death, she is able to strike a bargain with him that may save her village from plague, give her friends and family their heart's desires and provide her with a chance to find her own true love. To accomplish these tasks, Keturah must deal with the village witch, hostile townsfolk, many possible loves, and her own uncertainty, not to mention the handsome and imposing figure of death.
Levine subtly references several tales, and I greatly enjoyed picking them out. I noticed :

• similarities to Scheherazade's suspenseful storytelling in One Thousand and One Nights
• a character with the sight to know if someone will live or die as in Grimms "Godfather Death"
• willful boasting spurring action such as in "Rumpelstiltskin," where the maiden's father brags that she can spin straw into gold
• a potential but frightening lover and the good woman as in "Beauty and the Beast."

There may be more. What can you find?

Best Books for Young Adults Nominations

In the delightful struggle that is trying to keep up with new teen books, I always keep tabs on the nominations in the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) list, compiled by the ALA.

Here are some of this year's choices that I'm anxious to read (descriptions come directly from the list :

• Anderson, Laure Halse. Wintergirls. Lia is haunted by her best friend's death from anorexia, as she struggles with the same eating disorder.
• Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. Cameron knew there was something wrong when he started seeing pillars of fire and angels, but he never imagined he had mad cow disease.
• Brooks, Laurie. Selkie Girl. Sixteen-year-old Elin Jean, ostracized because of her webbed fingers, discovers the reason for her mother's unhappiness after finding evidence of her own mysterious origins.
• Davies, Jacqueline. Lost. Essie, 16, sews all day for pennies at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to help feed her fatherless family and now to forget her little sister's death. Then the fire happens.
• George, Jessica Day. Princess of the Midnight Ball. When the decade long war ends, professional solider Galen finds work as a gardener in the king’s garden, only to help solve the puzzle involving twelve dancing princesses.
• Livingston, Leslie. Wondrous Strange. Faeries, pixies, Janus guards, and struggling actresses populate this fantasy that weaves Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream with a contemporary New York City setting.
• Meminger, Neesha. Shine, Coconut Moon. Samar (Sam) is a Sikh ostensibly Americanized, until her uncle shows up, igniting her interest in her culture and past in a post-9/11 world.
• Pike, Aprilynne. Wings. Laurel discovers she is a faerie when a beautiful flower blossoms out of her back, and she and her friend David seek to find out her place in the world.
• Rapp, Adam. Punkzilla. Jamie has run away from his family, military school, and his troubled past. He sets out via bus to visit his dying brother, writing letters along the way.
• Ryan, Carrie. The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Mary’s village is protected by a fence keeping out the Unconsecrated-who are undead craving human flesh-until a massive breach launches the teenage girl into a fight for survival.
• Simner, Janie Lee. Bones of Faerie. Liza is caught in a world where magic is deadly and her powers lead her on a quest to find her missing mother.
• Stiefvater, Maggie. Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception. Shy and ordinary Deirdre finds herself caught up in an ancient struggle in the faerie world when she meets Luke, a sexy musician with a very dark past.
• Stoffels, Karlijn. Heartsinger. Mee, the singer of sorrows, and Mitou, the merrymaker, are destined to meet and change the life of a princess. Can they change one another?
• Thompson, Kate. Creature of the Night. Juvenile delinquent Bobby resists his mother’s plan to move to the countryside, but his anger becomes fear as he learns about local history and the creatures who rule the fields.
• Whitcomb, Laura. The Fetch. Calder, a 350-year old "Fetch" that accompanies souls to heaven, breaks all his vows for a woman, wreaking havoc in the world of lost souls.

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence & Teenagers on Death Row

I have to confess that I didn't really want to read No Choirboy. It's dark subject matter, and I get plenty of that in the teen novels that I like to read. This is non-fiction, and I thought that it just might be too much, or else written with so much restraint that it would be dry and impersonal. But, it is on the reading list for a Minnesota reading camp that I'm counseling at this summer, so I took it home. I'm so glad that I did, because it is excellently done: compelling, heart wringing and ultimately hopeful.

The men in this book were accused of murder and sentenced to death when they were still teens. Each chapter gives voice to a different person. The focus is not on the crimes committed, but of life afterward. Three prisoners talk about their experiences, regrets and hopes for the future. One chapter is devoted to an executed man's family: the feelings of his mother and younger brother. Another is from the points of view of the siblings of a seventeen year old employee senselessly killed in a fast food restaurant robbery.

Overall, I found the stories interesting and moving. It put a human face on the issue. These people were not necessarily given fair trials. Some had no criminal records and were successful in school and life prior to their crimes. In prison they try to do more than just survive. I was especially impressed with prisoners Roy and Nanon trying to grow and improve themselves as much as the system allows.

Even if this is not your typically reading material please give it a look, especially if you work with teens. It's worth the time.