Newtonville Books Community Blog

February 27, 2009

Children’s Choice Book Awards Finalists

Filed under: Literature News — admin @ 9:28 am

donut.jpg
From Shelf Awareness

On May 12, as part of Children’s Book Week, Jon Scieszka, the National
Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, will host and announce the
Children’s Choice Book Awards. Until then, from March 16 through May 3,
kids will be able to cast their votes for their favorite books, author,
and illustrator at bookstores, schools, libraries and online at www.bookweekonline.com.

The finalists were determined by close to 15,000 children and teens. The
titles are:

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year:

* The Donut Chef by Bob Staake (Golden/Random House)
* Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman (Holt)
* The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
* Sort It Out! by Barbara Mariconda, illustrated by Sherry Rogers
(Sylvan Dell)
* Those Darn Squirrels by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
(Clarion)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year:

* Babymouse: Puppy Love by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random
House)
* One Million Things by Peter Chrisp (DK)
* Spooky Cemeteries by Dinah Williams (Bearport)
* Underwear: What We Wear Under There by Ruth Freeman Swain (Holiday)
* Willow by Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan, illustrated by
Cyd Moore (Sleeping Bear)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year:

* 100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet by Anna Claybourne (Scholastic
Reference)
* Amulet, Book One: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
(Graphix/Scholastic)
* The Big Field by Mike Lupica (Philomel/Penguin)
* Swords: An Artist’s Devotion by Ben Boos (Candlewick)
* Thirteen by Lauren Myracle (Dutton/Penguin)

Note: The finalists for Book of the Year in the Kindergarten through
Sixth Grade categories above were the books that received the highest
number of votes in the IRA-CBC Children’s Choices program.

Teen Choice Book Award:

* Airhead by Meg Cabot (Point/Scholastic)
* Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)
* The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
* Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (Viking/Penguin)
* Paper Towns by John Green (Dutton/Penguin)

February 26, 2009

Huzzah for Joseph O’Neill!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized — FormerDrew @ 4:30 pm

 

After being shut out of the Autumn book award cycle, O’Neill has finally done it, making a big splash as the first Spring award winner, snagging the Pen/Faulkner award.  This came as a surprise to me, since I thought this award wasn’t announced until late spring. Oh well! Netherland is wonderful, and was picked as our store’s best novel of the year in December.  So look for what we pick next year, because we might be a Pen/Faulkner predictor!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022600006.html?hpid=moreheadlines

February 23, 2009

Oh, Anita!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Sylvia @ 10:05 am

On a plane ride back home from Atlanta, I was seated near a loud Chatty Cathy in the opposite aisle. Chatty Cathy was talking to a woman in my aisle who was reading The Shack.  I tried to tune them out and focus on my fascinating and frankly, much better book, The Nine.

Suddenly my ears pricked when I overheard Chatty Cathy say, “The Red Tent.”  I snuck a peek over to the next aisle and sure enough, Chatty Cathy was showing her copy of The Red Tent   to The Shack   woman and explaining the roles of many of the characters in  The Red Tent.  Chatty Cathy went on to sing the praises of author local Anita Diamant, whom we all adore here at the store. Anita Diamant has been a part of our bookstore community since we opened our doors more than 10 years ago, and she read at one of our first author readings here.

AD 

So, anyways,  I forgave Chatty Cathy’s inability to control the volume of her voice, based on her taste in literature.

February 21, 2009

The World Without Us

Filed under: Staff Pick — FormerMegan @ 5:15 pm

 

This past month, I finished an awesome book. It had everything a good book should have in it– mystery, disaster, the destruction of entire cities…
You might be pretty surprised to find out it was actually… a SCIENCE book. “The World Without Us,” by Alan Weisman, is a scientific look at what would happen if the human race just… disappeared. How long would it take for mother nature to reclaim her planet? Weisman provides good, concrete science (that is explained very clearly, so that non-science readers, like me, can understand) to explain how man has changed our planet… and how fast nature could unravel all of our technology. It reads fast, (at times very much like fiction).
(Chapter 3, on Manhattan, was my favorite.)
Happy Reading!

February 20, 2009

“Curbside Consultation of the Colon”

Filed under: Literature News — admin @ 10:48 pm

baboon1.jpg

The shortlist for the Bookseller.com Oddest Title of the Year award has been announced. Visit bookseller.com to vote for yourself. Personally, I’m betting on “Curbside Consultation of the Colon,” but I think the nominees are all legitimate contenders.

Baboons and sieves vie for odd title
20.02.09
from www.thebookseller.com

The shortlist for the annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has been unveiled by The Bookseller. Six titles, with subjects ranging from fromage frais to strip knitting, make up the shortlist for the hotly contested award, which is now in its 31st year.

Horace Bent, The Bookseller magazine’s legendary diarist and custodian of the prize, said: “Never have I found it so problematic to pick a shortlist of just six. At a time when the economic climate is forbidding and cost-cutting companies are ten-a-penny, I’m proud to report that the British publishing industry has remained as stubborn in the face of change as ever.”

The shortlist is as follows:

Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth (University of Chicago Press)

Curbside Consultation of the Colon by Brooks D Cash (SLACK Incorporated)

The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski (Cambridge University Press)

Strip and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski (C&T)

Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Lietai Yang (Woodhead)

The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Philip M Parker (Icon Group International)

The prestigious award was first conceived by The Diagram Group’s Bruce Robertson as a way to avoid boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Run by Horace Bent, the first ever winner was the University of Tokyo Press’ Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice, in 1978. Last year’s winner was If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.

The winner of the 2008 award will be chosen by a public vote at www.thebookseller.com, and will be announced on Friday 27th March, 2009.

February 17, 2009

Brothers by Yu Hua

Filed under: Staff Pick — Ben @ 1:07 pm

A Novel 

Brothers is a sprawling epic that takes an unflinching (and Rabelaisian) look at the contradictions and chaos that have emerged from China’s growing prosperity. It follows two brothers as they navigate the misery of the Cultural Revolution years and the frenzy unleashed by the open market reforms of the 1970s and 80s. It’s by turns obscene, hilarious, satirical, and earnest. Written by one of China’s most electrifying authors and translated into English for the first time, Brothers is a better window into the heart and soul of contemporary China than any book I’ve read. Don’t miss it!

February 14, 2009

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

Filed under: Staff Pick — Sarah @ 4:16 pm

I love mysteries . . . my last staff pick was a mystery about a scholarly work by Shakespeare and this month’s pick is a mystery about a scholarly club composed of Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell and J.T. Fields who need to find a killer whose murders reveal a passion for Dante’s Inferno. This is another excellent read and with the author, Matthew Pearl, coming on Thursday March 19th you should get your copy now!

dante-club.jpg

February 13, 2009

The Nine

Filed under: Staff Pick — Sylvia @ 3:31 pm

T9 

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin was not what I expected it to be, which was bland but informative. Instead, I discovered with delight that it was not only enjoyable and informative, it was downright hilarious as Toobin shared anecdotes about the justices and their clerks. This fascinating book offers a unique lens through which we can view American history, the Constitution, and how landmark cases were decided.

February 12, 2009

A special birthday book bash

Filed under: Literature News — FormerDanielle @ 1:02 pm

In honor of both Abraham Lincoln AND Charles Darwin’s birthday, check out these special books with your young reader.

   “Abe’s Honest Words: the Life of Abraham Lincoln” by Doreen Rappaport

  “Lincoln and his Boys” by Rosemary Wells

  “The Lincolns” by Candace Flemming

  “Tree of Life: Charles Darwin” by Peter Sis
  ”Charles Darwin” by Alan Gibbons

 ”What Darwin saw: The Journey that Changed the World” by Rosalyn Schanzer

Pig Picks

Filed under: Staff Pick — FormerDanielle @ 12:34 pm

Sure there are plenty of children’s books out there that celebrate the pig- “Charlotte’s Web,” “Babe,” “The Three Little Pigs,” “If you Give a Pig a Party,” and the list goes on…

     However, one of the truely best “pro pig” books  I’ve read is Sy Montgomery’s “The Good Good Pig: the Extraodinary Life of Christopher Hogwood.”

Montgomery’s memoir of rescuing a piglet, the runt of the litter from slaughter  and raising him to a massive 750 pounds certainly is extraordinary. Told with sincerity and humor, I laughed, I cried, I desperately wanted my very own pig. However, Christopher Hogwood was not just a pig, he was a  mender of hearts and united a community.  ’The Good Good Pig” is a must read and Montgomery reminds us that animals aren’t just for us to eat rather,  they can and do serve a greater purpose living among us. 

  Mongomery’s husband also has a book celebrating the great life of Christopher Hogwood the pig in picture book format! The perfect true story to share with children.

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress