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"Then I let the stories live inside my head, again and again until the real world fades back into cricket lullabies and my own dreams." ~ from Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming
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New and Recently Released!
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| Life on Mars by Jennifer BrownFiction. Using a complicated system of light and mirrors, Arcturus Betelgeuse Chambers (better known as Arty) and his friends search the night sky in hopes of communicating with life on Mars. But Arty knows he'll have to give up both his search and his friends when his family moves from Missouri to Las Vegas, Nevada -- a move which Arty is even more reluctant to make after learning that the weird old guy next door is actually Cash Maddux, an ex-astronaut who shares Arty's extraterrestrial obsession. Combining gross humor with cosmic factoids and honest emotions, Life on Mars is a funny and (mostly) realistic read.
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| Dash by Kirby LarsonHistorical Fiction. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, 11-year-old Mitsi and her Japanese American family are forced to move to an internment camp, leaving their home -- and Mitsi's beloved dog, Dash -- behind. A neighbor agrees to foster Dash, and the letters that Mitsi receives "from Dash" give her courage despite the fear and hardships she faces during her family's imprisonment. For further heartwarming letters between a dog and a human who are separated by World War II, check out Duke, also by Kirby Lawson; for more stories of Japanese American internment camps, try Ken Mochizuki's Baseball Saved Us or Cyndthia Kadohata's Weedflower. |
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| The Only Thing Worse Than Witches by Lauren MagazinerFantasy. Fed up with his terrifying fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Frabbleknacker, and frustrated by his mom's rules about avoiding the local witches, Rupert Campbell defiantly decides to become a witch's apprentice. Witchling Two is a bit unusual -- she loves lollipops, has a pet sack, and stumbles through her spells -- but Rupert agrees to help her with her witch exams if she'll help him deal with the fearsome Mrs. Frabbleknacker. Similar to the stories of Louis Sachar and Roald Dahl, The Only Thing Worse Than Witches is a funny, easy-to-read brew of everyday events mixed with outlandish fantasy and over-the-top silliness. . |
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| Sisters by Raina TelgemeierGraphic Memoir. Fans of Smile will be delighted to revisit Raina Telgemeier's real-life adventures in this new companion book. Sisters tells the story of a fateful family road trip, with a focus on artsy, awkward Raina and her prickly younger sister, Amara. Through the vivid cartoon illustrations, you'll experience all of their funny and bittersweet family drama, as well as a memorable incident with a pet snake that will make you shriek with horror or laughter (or maybe both). Whether or not you've got siblings of your own, this memoir is a "wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline WoodsonVerse Memoir. Before she was an award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson was a kid who loved stories but had trouble reading. In this autobiography told through poetry, you'll see how young Jackie gradually found her voice as a writer, and how her loving family's various moves (from Ohio to South Carolina to New York) gave her a unique perspective on growing up African American during the Civil Rights Movement. Woodson's quietly beautiful poems and clear-eyed observations are sure to inspire writers and dreamers of all ages. If you're curious about another author's experiences of family and belonging in the 1970s, pick up Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai. |
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| Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo BacigalupiFiction. Rabi Chatterjee-Jones and his best friends Miguel and Joe live in a small town where nearly everyone works at Milrow Meat Solutions, a meat-packing plant owned by a corrupt, money-hungry corporation. When Rabi and his friends discover that the chemical treatments and filthy conditions at Milrow are turning both cows and humans into zombies, they suddenly find themselves on the front line of defense against the zombie apocalypse. You'll want to devour Zombie Baseball Beatdown for its brisk pace, offbeat humor, and gleefully gruesome action, but you'll be chewing on its thought-provoking ideas long after you turn the last page. |
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| Bearwalker by Joseph BruchacHorror. Baron Braun is the shortest kid in the 8th grade. His father has gone missing, and his mother is fighting in Iraq. And now Baron has to go on a class camping trip with the jerks who push him around in school...but bullies aren't the scariest thing at Camp Chuckamuck. A Mohawk legend tells of a bloodthirsty, half-man, half-bear monster called a Bearwalker, and Baron senses exactly such a creature at Camp Chuckamuck -- just before the only road out of camp is sealed off by an explosion. Now it's up to Baron to defeat the Bearwalker, and he'll need the strength and wisdom of his Mohawk ancestors to do it. |
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| A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam GidwitzFairy Tale Fantasy. If you think of fairy tales as nice, pretty little stories that bore children to sleep, A Tale Dark & Grimm will make you think again. Weaving the disturbing bits of several Brothers Grimm tales and plenty of his own mischief into a single story, author Adam Gidwitz tells his own version of the adventures of Hansel and Gretel. Readers who enjoy wry humor, grisly horror, and interrupting narrators (à la Lemony Snicket) will be thrilled with this book -- and might also like the dark but less bloody stories in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's collection Troll's Eye View. |
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| The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing HahnGhost Story. Twelve-year-old Florence is overjoyed to be moving in with her newly discovered great-uncle and leaving Miss Medleycoate's orphanage behind. But soon after arriving at Great-Uncle Thomas' estate, Crutchfield Hall, Florence meets the ghost of one of its former residents...who is out for revenge. Set in Victorian England, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall is a spine-tingling, unearthly tale that will satisfy fans of the author's Deep and Dark and Dangerous or of Betty Ren Wright's Crandall's Castle. |
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| The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan StroudGhost Story/Adventure. Out of all the agencies that protect the citizens of London from deadly spectral Visitors, Lockwood & Company isn't exactly the most professional. In fact, they messed up their last job so badly that they set a house on fire. Now, to save the agency from bankruptcy, teen ghost hunters Lockwood, Lucy, and George agree to take a risky job at an eerie old manor which is rumored to be haunted by the most hostile spirits in England. If you prefer horror mixed with sly humor and bloodcurdling paranormal action, this deliciously creepy series starter (followed by The Whispering Skull) is for you -- just don't read it after dark! |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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If you are having trouble unsubscribing to this newsletter, please contact The Urbandale Public Library at 515-331-4488, 3520 86th St., Urbandale, IA 50322 |
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