Recently, a good friend of mine and I took a little road trip to Kartchner Caverns in Southern Arizona.  When we were in the part of the cave where the ground is always wet mud from the water table, the guide had everyone be quiet for just a few moments to hear the “heartbeat of the cave”.  What we heard was the sound of water dropping from the delicate soda straws hanging from the ceiling.  It was an awe-inspiring moment to be inside the earth, quietly existing in a place of natural magic that had been created only by water, minerals, and the passage of time.  

This December essay by Pico Iyer from the New York Times, entitled The Joy of Quiet, resonated with me on a number of levels, from the simple joy of a hike in the desert, to being engrossed in a book all afternoon, to standing in a natural wonder listening to water droplets fall.  Hope you find a moment of quiet to enjoy and reflect on it.  Maybe you’ve got a simple or profound moment of quiet to share as well.

• Cori

A.C.E. Bauer’s Gil Marsh is a modern re-imagining of the Epic of Gilgamesh.  Bauer takes the age-old legend of the young prince’s heartbreaking loss and epic quest for immortality and places it in a modern American high school, centered on the charismatic, handsome cross country star, Gil.  When Canadian Enko arrives, Gil’s place as star is threatened for the first time in his life. But it doesn’t take long for steadfast, kind-hearted Enko to win over Gil and the two young men become best friends. Their friendship is cut short by Enko’s tragic death and Gil’s world is turned upside down with his anger and grief.  Determined to find Enko’s grave in Montreal and hunt down the immortal man who crafted his beloved Enko’s heirloom ring, Gil runs away from home with little money, direction, or plan.  Before long he runs into both con artists and thieves but also kind, helpful people wiling to assist a young man in need. 

Gil’s search for answers and his quest for some kind of closure is told in sparse language.  It retains a myth-like quality in the way in which time and action are telescoped to move the reader along through the story.  Certain crucial plot events and exchanges are more fleshed out, but muchof the backstory and action is told by the narrator in a “story-telling” manner, removing the immediacy and connection that the reader could have felt if more parts of the book had been narrated in an “in the now” kind of voice.  The sparcity of language, swiftness of the plot, and the overall distanced narrative style of this tale makes it an easy to read, accessible bridge-to-literature.

• Posted by Cori

Bear has lost his hat, and no one seems to know where it is (or maybe they just aren’t telling). Will he ever find his beloved hat?

This deviously charming picture book is a must read. Kids will laugh and adults will smile when they read this adorably illustrated tale of a bear who learns that he must rely on his own observational skills and not just the words (sometimes truthful and sometimes not) of others.

Klassen’s book delightfully depicts the creatures the bear comes across, from possums to rabbits, and the color palette of the book is beautifully done.  Everything enhances the simple dialogue and brings the story to life. Anyone who loved Lane Smith’s It’s a Book should pick this book up today.

• Posted by Erin

Watch the trailer:

Publisher’s Weekly (2/2/12) reports:

More good news for Maggie Stiefvater fans: hot off the author’s Printz Honor for The Scorpio Races at last week’s ALA Youth Media Awards, Scholastic has announced the publication of a new four-book series from Stiefvater. The first book in the series, The Raven Boys, will be published by Scholastic Press on September 18; three additional books in the Raven Cycle will follow. 

“Maggie has an extraordinary ability to balance epic storytelling and deeply personal truths, exploring both the mythology that surrounds us and the myths we tell about ourselves,” said David Levithan, Scholastic Press publisher and editorial director, in announcing the new series. “The Raven Boysis a remarkable next step in an already remarkable career.” Levithan acquired the Raven Cycle from Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

The book introduces Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III, a handsome private school student seeking a vanished Welsh King, and Blue Sargent, the daughter of a psychic, who has been told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. “I grew up on a diet of exceptional fantasy series for children—The Dark Is Rising, The Black Cauldron, A Wrinkle in Time, The Chronicles of Narnia—and I’ve always wanted to write one of those sprawling epic sagas built from intimate moments,” said Stiefvater in a statement.

Scholastic holds world rights to the series, which will have simultaneous launches in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The Raven Boys will be available in audio and e-book in September, as well. More than 1.7 million copies of Stiefvater’s Shiver trilogy are in print.

From eye on early education (1/31/12):

There’s more evidence of the long-term benefits of high-quality early education, this time from the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina, one of three major longitudinal studies of the impact of early education on low-income children. The low-income children who participated in the Abecedarian Project attended a high-quality, full-time, year-round early education and care program from infancy until kindergarten entry. The children engaged in activities that promoted their language, cognitive and social-emotional development.

At age 30, participants in the Abecedarian program:

• Were four times more likely than members of the control group to have earned college degrees, with 23% of participants earning college degrees, compared with 6% of the control group.
• Were five times less likely to have used public assistance, with 4% of the control group receiving benefits for at least 10% of the prior seven years, compared with 20% of the control group.
• Were roughly 1½ times more likely to have been consistently employed, with 75% of Abecedarian participants working fulltime for at least 16 of the prior 24 months, compared to 53% of the control group.
• Tended to delay parenthood by almost two years.

Read the rest of Irene Sege’s interesting article HERE

In case you missed it, on Friday 1/27/12 Debby Hipes presented her list of “What’s New in YA Lit” for the Bureau of Education and Research. 2011 was a great year for YA books and there are some good ones on Debby’s list.  Curious to see what she chose?  We’re happy to share!

Download PBC’s MS Excel order form to view the entire list and order any books you need for your collection.  Click HERE to download.

Happy Reading!

Penelope “Lo” Marin isn’t the kind of girl who makes friends easily; her family has moved almost every year she’s been in school, having stayed in Cleveland for almost 2 years is a remarkable occurrence; she’s socially awkward, shy, and nervous; she has obsessive-compulsive disorder that she tries desperately to hide; and since her beloved brother, Oren’s, death last year, she’s fallen into a pit of near-madness and despair.  Isolated within her family - her dad has become a work-aholic, and her mom never gets out of bed - Lo has taken to riding the Cleveland transit system, getting off at random spots and wandering.  And her OCD has escalated to petty theft and the need to fill her life with cast-off treasures she can save.  When her bus-ridding adventures land her in Neverland (the skid row of Cleveland), a place full of flop houses, strip clubs, the homeless, drug addicts, and young runaways, she is nearly killed in the murder of a local stripper known only as “Sapphire.” 

Sapphire’s death becomes an obsession for Lo and she believes it is up to her to ferret out the young woman’s killer.  She makes friends with Flynt, a mysterious street artist and runaway living in Neverland, relying on him to help her navigate this strange, dangerous land.  Soon, Lo is deep into a seedy underworld rife with secrets and danger for which she is little prepared. As the stress of gathering clues about Sapphire’s murder build, Lo’s rituals and obsessive compulsive behaviors escalate well beyond her control, putting her in harm’s way more than once.  Danger and lies seem to be coming at Lo from all sides and the things that she always believed were true and would keep her safe may be the very things that end up getting her killed.

Lo is a hard character to like; I mean, I feel for her, but I was agonized by the painfully repetitive rituals her disorder causes.  Her insecurities and social isolation are well portrayed and easily relatable and the deep well of grief she and her family are lost in is palpable throughout The Butterfly Clues.  At a few times while reading, I thought that Lo would find a kinship with Frank Portman’s eccentric heroine, Andromedia Klein, recalling her painful isolation on every page of Portman’s second novel.  In The Butterfly Clues, author Kate Ellison creates a girl who is so completely trapped by her own mind, it’s sometimes hard to see beyond it to the smart, caring, romantic person Lo would be if she wasn’t shackled by her disorder and drowning in grief.  Ultimately, there’s hope for Lo when she finds someone with whom she can be her true self - rituals, emotions, hopes, dreams and all.

• Posted by Cori

Publisher’s Weekly (1/19/12) reports:

Unfortunately for fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, the trilogy ended in 2010. But fortunately, the franchise gets a new lease on life with the release of the big-screen version of the first novel on March 23. So far nearly six million fans have watched the trailer for the Hunger Games movie on YouTube. Eighth-grader Amandla Stenberg, 13, who portrays Rue in the film, talked with PW reporter Karen Springen (a longtime friend of Amandla’s mother) about reading the books, shooting the post-apocalyptic story, and getting everyone on the set to sign her copy of The Hunger Games.

Is Seventh Grade the right age to enter politics?

For 12 year old baseball loving, clarinet playing Aiden Schroeckenbauer, the decision seems to be out of his hands - after a chance encounter with the new Fresh Ideas Party Presidential Candidate, Minnesota Governor Bettina Brandon, in which he not only shares his perspective on the manufacturing industry’s decline in his small hometown in Ohio, but also saves her from a falling metal sign - Aiden is recruited by the Governor and her campaign staff on their bus tour of the Midwest.  It seems Aiden’s youthful face, honest perspective, heroism, and small town values have struck a chord with the American public and the Governor’s campaign wants to capitalize on their new-found treasure.  But all too soon things start to go terribly wrong:  Aiden’s golden glow evaporates in a media firestorm that Aiden believes was caused by another kid who doesn’t want Governor Brandon to win - Emma Brandon, the Governor’s daughter.  Can Aiden muster the perseverance to set the record straight, squelch the vicious rumors the media is circulating, and get home with his dignity and reputation intact? 

Catherine Clark’s How Not to Run For President is a funny, light-hearted look at the mixed-up, media crazed world of presidential politics and one kid’s 15 minutes of fame.  This fast moving, easy to read book is full of heart and just enough zany (but all too plausible) plot twists to entertain and elucidate readers at a time when we’re already tired of the media circus surrounding this important facet of our democracy.

• Posted by Cori

In a land far away where Kings and Queens still rule over their people, civil war is looming. Jennifer A. Nielsen’s The False Prince is about an orphan named Sage. Sage is recruited along with three other boys by a nobleman named Conner. Conner is trying to unite the fractured kingdom by finding an impersonator of the King’s lost son and putting him on the throne. The four orphans, chosen because of their close resemblance to the lost prince, are forced to compete for the role of prince. Conner constantly reminds the orphans that the losers will not live once the competition is over, and so it is no longer a normal competition, but a game of life or death. The orphans are given instruction on how to be a noble. The question is, will a simple orphan be able to fool the King and his court? 

The False Princewas a really enjoyable book. This is a quick paced page turner that will make you sit on the edge of your seat with anticipation for the next secret to be revealed. Full of colorful descriptions, this novel captures your imagination in a way that will leave any reader with a perfect image of what is happening in their head. The author develops the main character with such depth that you feel as though you’ve known him your whole life. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good story with plot twists that will leave you wondering how you didn’t see it coming.

• Posted by Quinn