The Tale of Despereaux movie, in theaters December 19th, is based on the Newbury Award winning book written by Kate DiCamillo. Come into Newtonville Books and buy the book before you go see the movie! ~Sarah
Excerpt from the School Library Journal:
“With a masterful hand, DiCamillo weaves four story lines together in a witty, suspenseful narrative that begs to be read aloud. In her authorial asides, she hearkens back to literary traditions as old as those used by Henry Fielding. In her observations of the political machinations and follies of rodent and human societies, she reminds adult readers of George Orwell. But the unpredictable twists of plot, the fanciful characterizations, and the sweetness of tone are DiCamillo’s own. This expanded fairy tale is entertaining, heartening, and, above all, great fun.” (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com for more information)
Other helpful information:
Tale of Despereaux Sweepstakes – one school and one library will win an advance screeing: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/info/CA6605304.html
Movie website:
http://www.thetaleofdespereauxmovie.com/splash/
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New York Times Book Review released its list of 100 Notable Books of 2008 on Wednesday. The list includes, as always, a mix of veterans (Philip Roth, Marilynne Robinson, Annie Proulx, Toni Morrison, John Updike, etc) and debut novelists (Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba, Charles Bock, Beautiful Children, Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances).
For the complete list, click here.
Some Newtonville Books staff favorites that made the list include Netherland by Joseph O’Neill, The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken, and Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang.
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Meryl Streep is set to play a librarian in the upcoming cat movie adaptation of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. We get the following scoop this morning thanks to the good people over at Variety:
Meryl Streep is purring over “Dewey,” a fact-based film about a stray cat’s impact on the town of Spencer, Iowa. The project has landed at New Line Cinema. Streep is attached to star in the adaptation of the Vicki Myron book Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. Pamela Gray will pen the script.
Streep intends to play the author, who works at the library and observed the impact that a kitten had on the townsfolk once it became the library mascot after wandering in through the after-hours book return slot on a cold night.
http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/11/meryl-the-streep-streep-set-to-star-in-dewey
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Last night, at a gala event in New York, the 2008 National Book Awards were announced. And the winners are….
Fiction:
Non-fiction:
Poetry:
Young Readers:
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8th ANNUAL MASSACHUSETTS BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED
12 Books of Fiction Nonfiction, Poetry & Children’s Literature Honored;
Year-Long Reading Promotion for Award Books Launched.
Twelve outstanding books written by Massachusetts authors and/or about important Commonwealth themes have been selected for awards and honors notices. These books will now be highlighted during a year-long reading promotion initiative in Massachusetts libraries and, increasingly, bookstores.
Celebrate the 8th MassBooks at the State House on November 20, 2008, in the Great Hall at 2 p.m.
http://www.massbook.org
http://www.massbook.org/MassBook8-Release.pdf
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Since 1952 the New York Times Book Review has been selecting their picks of ”the best illustrated children’s books.” Recently a panel of judges picked “the best illustrated books of 2008″ which includes:
“A is for Art” by Stephen T. Johnson
”Pale Male” by Janet Schulman
”River of Words; The Story of JillianCarlos Williams” by Jen Bryant and llustrated by Melissa Sweet
“We are the Ship” by Kadir Nelson”
Ghosts in the house!” by Kazuno Kohara
“Wabi Sabi” by Mark Reibstein and illustrated by Ed Young
“Little Yellow Leaf” by Carin Berger
”Wave” by Suzy Lee
“Black Book of Colors” by Menena Cottin, and illustrated by Rosana Faria
”Skim” by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
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The Percy Jackson series, an enormous hit with middle school readers, is scheduled to end next May. On his blog, Riordan talked about what comes next: “My plan is for another five-book story arc, featuring a new set of demigods , but with several of the original cast from Percy jackson making appearances.” And what about the big question: Does Percy Jackson live? “Well, I should probably be secretive about that,” he wrote, “but as a general rule I do not believe in killing off main characters, especially when I’m using a first-person narrator.” Next up: The Demigod Files, due out February 10, followed by The Last Olympian in May.
“Children’s Series and Tie-Ins Bestseller” by Diane Roback. Publisher’s Weekly October 27, 2008
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Ever wonder who is in your family tree? In this novel, the main character is drawn into an adventure to discover the connection between her family and the infamous Vlad the Impaler -also known as Dracula. What unfolds is an engrossing novel that pulls you in from the start and leads you on a journey through the past to uncover the truth about the present. As soon as I put this book down, I wanted to read it again! This is a must read for anyone who loves a good story!
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Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories by Dr. Vincent Lam is a wonderful collection of 12 loosely linked stories featuring Fitz, Ming, Chen and Sri from when they are medical students and forward. The author, himself an emergency room physician, takes the reader on an unflinching journey of the medical profession and its inhabitants. In one story, medical student Ming loses the right side of the head of a dissection cadaver. In another story, Fitz, a flight doctor, is secretly sipping from a flask en route to and from Guatemala to transport a terribly sick tourist back to Toronto. Dr. Lam’s stories are illuminating, haunting and rich with dark humor. He received the 2006 Giller Prize for this debut.
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I just wrote and deleted a long, tortured post about the plight of the esoteric, niche-marketed book and the booksellers who love them. What can you do? Try and try and try to get people to understand it, or just pretend that it doesn’t exist.
I can’t pretend that this doesn’t exist:
The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac is the first book from the guys who write FreeDarko.com, the smartest basketball blog the internet ever invented. But, the blog, and this amazing new book, aren’t about basketball in the way that the sports section of the newspaper is about basketball. These guys don’t care who wins or loses, and they don’t root for the home team just because it’s the home team. FreeDarko is about recognizing the NBA’s narrative structure, identifying the characters, and following the storylines. It’s about creating your own nebulous value system and structuring your fandom around it. It’s about reading the rest of the world onto the NBA, using the “big picture” to explain the league’s plots and undertones. And, now, it’s about mindblowing drawings and diagrams:
This book is for anyone who likes the NBA, but, more importantly, it’s for anyone who actively dislikes it. If you think athletes are dumb and spoiled, if you think everything’s gone down hill since Bird retired, if you think the NBA is some blighted counterpart to the purity of college basketball… read this book and find out why you’re, eh, sort of wrong.
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