Books Available for Sale at MVE!

I was very happy to find five Maine Student Book Awards titles available for sale at the Mount View Elementary PTC Book Fair going on this week! Look for these displayed along with the list on the back set of bookcases:

*My Life as a Book

*We The Children (Keepers of the School)

*The Batboy

*The Red Pyramid

*The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda

*Guys Read: Funny Business

*The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

*Spilling Ink

*Out of my Mind

Out of My Mind

I personally can not recommend this book highly enough!

And from the School Library Journal:
Starred Review. Grade 4–6—Born with cerebral palsy, Melody, 10, has never spoken a word. She is a brilliant fifth grader trapped in an uncontrollable body. Her world is enhanced by insight and intellect, but gypped by physical limitations and misunderstandings. She will never sing or dance, talk on the phone, or whisper secrets to her friends. She's not complaining, though; she's planning and fighting the odds. In her court are family, good neighbors, and an attentive student teacher. Pitted against her is the "normal" world: schools with limited resources, cliquish girls, superficial assumptions, and her own disability. Melody's life is tragically complicated. She is mainly placed in the special-ed classroom where education means being babysat in a room with replayed cartoons and nursery tunes. Her supportive family sets her up with a computer. She learns the strength of thumbs as she taps on a special keyboard that finally lets her "talk." When she is transitioned into the regular classroom, Melody's undeniable contribution enables her class to make it to the national quiz team finals. Then something happens that causes her to miss the finals, and she is devastated by her classmates' actions. Kids will benefit from being introduced to Melody and her gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes and reveals the quiet strength and fortitude it takes to overcome disabilities and the misconceptions that go with them. by Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reviews

Remember, if you read one of the MSBA books mentioned in a post here, you can write your opinions and reviews in the "comments" section beneath!

You can also submit your review to the MSBA Book Buzz Blog by filling out their form here

Books to Borrow

Teachers, these are the books I currently have available for read-aloud or to loan out:

*The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

*We the Children (Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School)

*Out of My Mind

*A Tale Dark & Grimm

*The Batboy

*The Sixty-Eight Rooms

*The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester

*Cloud Tea Monkeys

*The Red Pyramid

*Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Letter to MVE 4th & 5th Grade Teachers:

This school year, all 4th & 5th grade Mount View Elementary School students are invited to take part in the MSBA program, which will run through March 2012, with the students then voting in April for their favorite book from the list. As the school year gets underway, I expect the program to be a part of the students’ regular library time coordinated by Ms. Harrington, but I am also available to individual classrooms to schedule book discussions, read alouds, or help with students’ reading. Along the way will be several engaging activities, including a “Battle of the Books”!

We the Children (Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School)

Benjamin Pratt’s school is about to become the site of a new amusement park. It sounds like a dream come true! But lately, Ben has been wondering if he’s going to like an amusement park in the middle of his town—with all the buses and traffic and eight dollar slices of pizza. It’s going to change everything. And, Ben is not so big on all the new changes in his life, like how his dad has moved out and started living in the marina on what used to be the "family” sailboat. Maybe it would be nice if the school just stayed as it is. He likes the school. Loves it, actually. It’s over 200 years old and sits right on the harbor. The playground has ocean breezes and the classrooms have million dollar views. And after a chance—and final—run-in with the school janitor, Ben starts to discover that these million dollar views have a lot to do with the deal to sell the school property. But, as much as the town wants to believe it, the school does not belong to the local government. It belongs to the children and these children have the right to defend it!

The Search for Wondla

Written by Tony DiTerlizzi? What else needs to be said, other than I'm very anxious to read the second book of the series when it's released in the Spring of 2012!

From the School Library Journal:

Gr 5-8–Twelve-year-old Eva Nine is being raised by Muthr, a pale blue robot who is loving and maternal (she speaks in the sweet, unflappable tones of a 1950s sit-com mom), in an underground home on the planet Orbona. When a marauder destroys her home, she leaves Sanctuary in a quest to find other humans like herself. Aboveground she finds a fantastic and frightening world populated by malevolent wandering trees, a giant beast who is pursuing her, nasty sand-snipers, and more. With the aid of Rovender, a lanky blue creature with backward-bending knees, and Otto, a giant water bear with whom she can communicate telepathically, Eva faces many dangers, including capture by a taxidermist who wants to skin her in order to create a living fossil for display. This first book in the series concludes with her arrival at her destination in the ancient city of ruins. The abundant illustrations, drawn in a flat, two-tone style, are lush and enhance readers' understanding of this unique universe. In addition, augmented reality is used in three places. By holding up the page from the book to a webcam, an interactive map appears on the screen. Readers can watch as the landscape where Eva Nine is traveling unfolds. DiTerlizzi is pushing the envelope in his latest work, nearly creating a new format that combines a traditional novel with a graphic novel and with the interactivity of the computer. Yet, beneath this impressive package lies a theme readers will easily relate to: the need to belong, to connect, to figure out one's place in the world. The novel's ending is a stunning shocker that will leave kids frantically awaiting the next installment. -Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.