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If B.B.W. weren’t the toughest, fiercest wolf on the block, he’d be a pirate sailing the 7 seas, living a life of fun, adventure and causing trouble!  Which is why his pick this week for a fun book & puppet combo is Margaret Mahy’s The Horrendous Hullabaloo and the Scarlett Macaw puppet.  When Peregrine the Pirate isn’t out at sea, he loves to attend pirate parties and he has fun, fun, fun! The Three P’s like this story too since Peregrine’s Aunt and his parrot, who aren’t invited to the pirate parties, decide to have a party of their own. When all the parrot’s friendsRead More →

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The four 12-year-olds who are enrolled in the summer program at the highly secretive, highly selective School of Fear have got some real issues:Madeline lives in abject terror of spiders and bugs; Theo is petrified by the thought of either himself or anyone in his family dying; Lulu’s claustrophobia overwhelms her and everyone around her; and sports star Garrison breaks out into an uncontrollable sweat at the thought of coming in contact with water.  Their parents, at wits end, all seek help from the School of Fear, reputed to be able to cure the most overwhelming, life debilitating fears in its students. Maddie, Theo, LuluRead More →

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This week the Three P’s recommend Jane & The Magician as a great story about a brave knight, Jane, and her Dragon, who go on a quest through the kingdom to find the Missing Magician.  The Magician has been up to some mischief, making a terrible storm, full of lightning & thunder and gallons & gallons of rain.  His great storm is flooding the kingdom, and it’s up to Jane and her dragon to convince the Magician to make things right. BBW recommends this awesome new dragon puppet from Folkmanis as a perfect accompaniment to this great adventure story.  Who doesn’t love the teeth on this guy?Read More →

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Our pick for best book & puppet combo this week is our friend the Scaredy Squirrel.  Life in his tree is safe (“we Three P’s like safe”) but boring.  Look at the view, eat a nut, be afraid of all the scary things in the world (killer bees, sharks, germs); that’s Squirrel’s day in a nutshell (pun intended).  But then something happens and Squirrel has to leave the tree in a hurry and discovers – wow! the world isn’t as scary as he thought!  He will be Ok; heck, he can even have some fun!  We think this is a great book, especially for thoseRead More →

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When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead’s, second book for young readers, is a charming, lovingly crafted story about friendship, hope, and growing up.  I’ll even go so far as to say it will be a contender for the Newbery Medal. Set in New York City in the Fall of 1979, 12-year old Mira’s life is getting complicated: her best friend Sal has suddenly decided he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, and after an encounter with the school bully, Sal avoids her and won’t say why;  Mira makes some new friends at school and gets a lunchtime job in the local sandwich shop;  a strange, sometimes frightening homelessRead More →

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In screenwriter Greg Taylor’s first novel, Killer Pizza, 14 year old Toby just landed a great job for a guy who dreams of being a celebrity chef – in the kitchen of a cool new franchise, Killer Pizza.  Along with his teen co-workers, Strobe and Annabel, Toby soon discovers the pizza shop is actually a front for a nationwide network of monster hunters – wait?! Monster Hunters? Yep, monsters!  They quickly accept the reality that fearsome monsters exist in their midst, and undergo weeks of combat, technical, and weapons training in order to discover and defeat them. The main ingredient in this recipe is action, action, and more action.  It’s like aRead More →

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In the Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Freezeby Alex Williams, the town of Pinrut has been covered in blizzard conditions for at least 20 years: no sunshine, no warmth, no happiness.  Residents scrape out a meager existence in the frozen turnip fields of their overlord, the selfish, wealthy bully, Bartholomew Tullock. Everyone except for the Breeze family, however.  Rufus and his sister Madeline, together with their parents Elizabeth and Philip, believe that the sun will one day return and they just have to hold out hope that their fan-inventing family tradition will survive until the summer sun returns.  They are, however, the focus of Tullock’s wrath and jealousy, and just when their situation becomes most dire, a strange visitor and hisRead More →

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Marie Rutkoski’s debut novel, The Cabinet of Wonders, is an enchanting adventure story, full of magic, friendship, danger, and wonder. 12 year old Petra Kronos lives in a small village outside Prague in the late 16th century. Her father is both an inventor and a magician with a special power over metal. Her favorite companion is a wise, magical tin spider her father created, and her best friend captures lightning into glass spheres.  When the novel opens, her father is returned to the family after having been commissioned to build a magical clock for their Prince; after completing his work, he is blinded by the PriceRead More →

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In James Roy’s Max Quigley: Technically Not a Bully, Australian 6th grader Max Quigley is the biggest kid at school. He and his mate Jared casually torment, tease, and bully just about everyone around them. He’s confident, self-centered, and completely clueless about how his behavior impacts other people.  He claims, repeatedly, not to be a bully since he doesn’t physically hurt people, steal or make them cry; instead, he’s really proud of his powers of “persuasion.” Things start to change when the mother of his favorite victim,  Nerdstrom, suggests a plan to help both boys work through this: Triffin will tutor Max in math and both boys willRead More →