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What We're Reading:
Current Picks from the Watermark Staff
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Watermark Teacher Feature – May 14, 2008
In this issue:
FRESH TITLES:
* “It’s Not Fair!” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld
* “United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds” by Hudson Hudson
* “Found: The Missing, Book 1” by Margaret Peterson Haddix
* “Savvy” by Ingrid Law
UPCOMING EVENTS:
* Elizabeth Berg reading & signing: Wednesday, May 21. 7:00 p.m.
* Tony Horwitz reading & signing: Tuesday, May 27. 7:00 p.m.
* June KMUW Literary Feast: Tony Horwitz
* Watermark’s Summer War & Peace Challenge
FEATURES: Watermark’s Cool Summer Reads
* Cool Summer Read #1: “The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan
* Cool Summer Read #2: “Cool Zone with the Pain and the Great One” by Judy Blume
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This and previous issues of Teacher Feature are available on the Watermark Web
site. You can read on-line, complete with pictures and clickable links, here:
www.watermarkbooks.com/teach.html
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Greetings and salutations,
I can almost feel summer breathing down the back of my neck. It makes me shiver,
but in a good way. I’m ready to say Hello to milkshakes and iced tea, cool
salads and prairie lightning flashes. But most of all, I look forward to
summertime reading: it’s a completely welcome pleasure.
Rest assured that Teacher Feature will keep bringing you word of great new books
for young readers. We’ll also devote space to new books to help teachers and
educators stay at the top of their game. This week, look below for new titles,
upcoming events to enjoy in your (hopefully) less-busy months, and a super
summer special: the beginning of Watermark’s latest way to help keep youngsters
reading. It’s a series of new book recommendations called Cool Summer Reads.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear “Pomp and Circumstance” playing...
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FRESH TITLES
Picture books:
“It’s Not Fair” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illus. by Tom Lichtenheld
(HarperCollins, 9780061152573, $16.99, 40 pages, for ages 4 to 8) This new
picture book from the author of “Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons” and “The OK
Book” offers many instances (some true-to-life, others a little more
far-fetched) of life’s unfairness. With rhymes and clever pictures, it turns the
tables on whining and self-pity and is sure to make youngsters smile and flex
their own creative muscles in thinking up more moments of unfair silliness:
Read review
“United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds, Their Stories, Their Glories” by
Hudson Talbot (Putnam Juvenile, 9780399245206, $17.99, 64 pages, for ages 4
and older) This fun, fact-filled picture book uses the premise of a beauty
pageant for official U.S. state birds to inform readers of all ages about state
emblems, mottoes, nicknames, history, wildlife, and more. Each state gets each
own page, loaded with plenty of captions and illustrations, and each flighty
bird gets to strut his or her stuff in some memorable way that will help readers
recall bits of intriguing trivia:
Read review
Middle-readers fiction:
“Found: The Missing, Book 1” by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon &
Schuster Children's Publishing, 9781416954170, $15.99, 320 pages, for ages 9 to
12) Haddix’s latest novel launches a brand-new series with an irresistible hook:
an airplane appears mysteriously at a crowded terminal with no crew and only
babies on board. The incident is hushed up by the government until thirteen
years later, when two young friends begin digging into the details of their
adoptions. What they uncover will not only answer the mystery of the plane, it
will also change their lives and lead them into unimaginable adventures. This is
a rip-roaring, page-turning book for even the most reluctant readers!
Read review
Young adult:
"Savvy" by Ingrid Law (Dial Books for Young Readers, ISBN 9780803733060,
$16.99) Just before Mississippi "Mibs" Beaumont turns thirteen, her father is
critically injured in a car accident and left comatose in Salina Hope Hospital.
Coming of age in Mibs' family is special, though--her mom's side of the family
all have "savvies," superpowers of sorts ranging from doing everything perfectly
(her mother) to her brother Rocket’s command of electricity to her Grandpa
Bomba's ability to make new land, like the strip of "Kansaska-Nebransas" where
the family lives. So when, on the morning of her birthday, Mibs' brother's dead
pet turtle seems to wake up at her approach, she's sure she's been blessed with
a savvy that can save her dad:
Read review
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UPCOMING WATERMARK EVENTS
Elizabeth Berg reading & signing: Wednesday, May 21. 7:00 p.m.
Join us as we host bestselling novelist Elizabeth Berg for a reading & signing
of her latest book, “The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: and Other Small Acts of
Liberation.” This is a thoughtful, whimsical, entertaining collection of short
stories about food and family, love and loneliness, denial and the triumph of
desires. Berg’s most recent novel “Dream When You’re Feeling Blue” is also new
in paperback. Visit her Web site at:
http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/
Tony Horwitz reading & signing. Tuesday, May 27. 7:00 p.m.
Join us as we host Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz for a reading
& signing of his latest book, “A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New
World.” It's a travel-filled history of North America from Columbus to
Jamestown, focusing on a nearly forgotten century of American history.
June KMUW Literary Feast: Friday, June 6. 7:00 p.m.
The June book will be “A Voyage Long & Strange” by Tony Horwitz, a Pulitizer
Prize-winning journalist. This new non-fiction book digs into the fascinating,
and nearly forgotten, history of North America in the century between the voyage
of Columbus and the settlement at Jamestown.
Tickets for the feast are available at the Watermark book counter or by calling
(316) 682-1181. Places are limited, and we recommend purchasing your ticket well
in advance. Read more about the book and author on the KMUW Web site:
http://www.kmuw.org/LiteraryFeasts.html
Watermark’s
Summer War & Peace Challenge: First meeting, Wed. June 4, 11 a.m.
Join other intrepid readers for a summer-long book club devoted to reading the
new Pevear & Volokhonsky translation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “War and
Peace.” We’ll sample Russian history, egg each other on, and enjoy one of the
great masterpieces of world literature. Call (316) 682-1181 to reserve your copy
of the book. Further details of the challenge are available on Watermark’s Web
site at:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/warandpeacechallenge.html
For a full listing of Watermark events, including book clubs and art openings,
visit the Events page of our Web site at:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/events.html
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FEATURES: Watermark’s Cool Summer Reads
Each Thursday this summer, Watermark’s News & Notes e-mail newsletter will
feature a top-notch book recommendation for young readers ages 7 to 17. While we
eagerly await new books in Christopher Paolini's "Eragon" series (September 20)
and Stephenie Meyers's "Twilight" saga (August 2), we'll help young readers find
the smartest, funniest, most exciting summer blockbusters-on-the-page, books
guaranteed to hold their attention and plenty of series and quality sequels to
kepp them busy.
Read below to find the first two selections for Cool Summer Reads, and remember
that all the picks will be available throughout the summer on Watermark’s Web
site (www.watermarkbooks.com/reviews.html) and in the bookstore. If you aren’t
currently subscribed to News & Notes, just e-mail beth.golay@watermarkbooks.com,
and we’ll sign you up.
Watermark Cool Summer Read #1:
"The Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson & the
Olympians, Book 4" by Rick Riordan (Hyperion, 9781423101468, $17.99, for
ages 9 and older)
Packed with action and magic, the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series follows
a group of modern-day kids as they battle mythical monsters and embark on
legendary quests. Each summer, Percy goes to a secret summer camp to learn to be
a hero, just like the heroes of Greek myth, and it's now up to him to save the
world from an approaching clash of titans--the original Titans!
In this newly released fourth book, Percy and his stalwart friends must defend
their hidden campground from an invasion, then navigate the twisting underground
maze of the Labyrinth. Of course, where there's a Labyrinth, there's bound to be
a Minotaur, but Percy, Annabeth, Rachel, and Grover have more savvy and more
magical weapons than ever before.
Riordan got his start as a thriller writer, and this series is filled with
exciting adventure, action-movie-style humor, and lots of clever details from
Greek mythology. Young readers will love the quick pace and the thrills, and
along the way, they'll learn all about Zeus and Mount Olympus, Medusa the
Gorgon, the Pegasus, and more. These books are especially appealing to younger
fans of Harry Potter because they're all about youngsters who attend a special
school and discover that there's a secret magical world alongside our own.
With four books already available, this series will give an avid reader a lot to
enjoy. New readers should begin with book one, "The Lightning Thief" and go from
there. Once they start, they'll want to read them all--and probably a good
collection of Greek myths, too.
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Watermark Cool Summer Read #2
“Cool Zone with the Pain & the Great One” by Judy Blume (Delacorte Books
for Young Readers, 9780385733069, $12.99, 128 pages, for ages 6 to 10)
The Pain’s real name is Jake, and he’s a first-grader. The Great One is his
sister Abigail, who’s in the third grade. Together they star in Judy Blume’s
newest chapter book, which tells short stories about their many adventures at
school. The book is laugh-out-loud funny, and Blume perfectly captures the
friendship and rivalry between two affectionate, but competitive, siblings.
When Jake loses a tooth at the school bus-stop, the Great One promises to keep
it safe for him all day long--for a cut of his tooth-fairy money, of course.
When a bully steals Jake’s new magnifying glass, Abigail again flies to his
rescue like Superman’s sister. (“Does Superman have a sister?” the Great One
asked. “I don’t know,” Jake told her. “But he should.”) And it’s the Great One
who steps in on show-and-tell day when an out-of-control dog makes off with
Bruno, Jake’s favorite stuffed elephant. (It was quite a surprise because, as
Jake says, “Elephants have no natural predators.”)
For his part, the Pain is the only person who remembers to use the Great One’s
new name after she decides to trade in tired old “Abigail” for fresh, snazzy
“Violet Rose” (“the girl with two flower names”). In fact, he continues to use
her new moniker even long, long after she gives up on it herself. (He really can
be a pain sometimes.)
The “Pain & the Great One” stories are stand-out chapter books, perfect for fans
of Clementine or Junie B Jones. Start with this book or the earlier “Soupy
Saturdays with the Pain & the Great One” and look for a third volume to follow
in August.
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Past reviews and archived issues of Teacher Feature can be read on-line on the
Watermark Web site at:
http://www.watermarkbooks.com/teacharchives.html
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Later educators,
Mark David Bradshaw
Click here for the Teacher Feature Archives
Peruse
back issues of teacher feature since its inception in April
2003.
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