Hooray for Books! Independent Bookstore

Sarah Dessen Book Club

hooray4books — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:16:32 +0000

If you can’t get enough of Sarah Dessen, her newest book The Moon and More comes out on June first. Get warmed up for the new release by making this summer all about Sarah Dessen. If you buy three or more Sarah Dessen books at Hooray for Books! before July 30^th you will be entered into a raffle to win a $10 gift certificate. Any Sarah Dessen book is eligible, just ask a bookseller for the Penguin punch card. The drawing will be held at our Sarah Dessen Book Club Event on July 30^th from 6:30-7:30. You’ll have a chance to discuss your favorite Sarah Dessen books, and participate in activities and receive other Sarah Dessen goodies.

My favorite Sarah Dessen book is The Truth About Forever. Macy’s life is structured and predictable. When her boyfriend leaves for Brain Camp all summer long, her summer looks like it will be long, studious, and boring. Then she takes a job at Wish catering, and her wacky coworkers, including a gorgeous guy name Wes, show Macy that predicatbility and perfection isn’t the only way to be happy. This books got it all: romance, fantastic friends, summer job drama, a believable protagonist, and plenty of humor.

Swing by the store to pick up one of Sarah’s many books, and let us know your favorites.

Happy Summer Reading,

Erin

The Moon and More; Sarah Dessen; Viking; $19.99

The Truth About Forever; Sarah Dessen; Puffin; $9.99

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague

hooray4books — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:55:37 +0000

Between this book and The Three Ninja Pigs, a karate-tastic version by Corey Schwartz (who gave us a dramatic reading at the store the other day – check it out!), we’re loving the Big Bad Wolf here at Hooray for Books. Or in this case, the Somewhat Bad Wolf, who really isn’t bad so much as hungry. The two pigs who don’t choose sensible bricks spend most of the book eating chips and soda while the third pig works hard and starts a garden. The underlying message about healthy eating is awesome, and all the house-blowing-down antics are appropriately goofy and fun. It’s got a cute ending in which absolutely nobody gets eaten, except maybe some fresh produce from the third pig’s garden.

- Emily

The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague, Orchard Books; $16.99; 3-6 yrs

Brief Thief

hooray4books — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:13:47 +0000

Sometimes your conscience is a superhero rabbit.

I am an adult, but like most children I can find discussions of underwear and bodily functions quite amusing. If you are in this boat with me, you will enjoy Brief Thief by Michael Escoffier. Leon is a lizard who goes about his daily routine: he eats his breakfast, suns himself on a rock, and then, naturally, he has to poo. Leon makes his way to a tree and does his business, only to realize that there is no more toilet paper! He evaluates his options and settles on a pair of old and holey underpants hanging on a tree branch. Upon discarding them Leon is confronted by his conscience, “the little voice you hear inside your head whenever you get up to something naughty,” who guides Leon to the realization that taking other people’s things is wrong. To rectify the situation the conscience has Leon scrub the underpants clean and hang them to dry. Only after Leon leaves do we see that the conscience is actually a rabbit who uses the underpants as the mask to his superhero costume. And the holes? Well, the rabbit needs the holes for his ears.

This fun story is destined to be a hit with 4 and 5 year old kids who love bathroom humor and are learning rights and wrongs.

–Leah

Brief Thief, by Michael Escoffier, illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo; Enchanted Lion Books; $16.95

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

hooray4books — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:54:37 +0000

With all the current pop culture trends of vampire books and movies where love is destined and always works out in the end, it is easy to forget sometimes that first love doesn’t always last. Sometimes, the odds are stacked against you.

Eleanor and Park, the protagonists of a new young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell, know this all too well. Both are adept at navigating the hierarchy of their homes and schools: Park doesn’t speak up when the mean kids bully people at the back of the bus and Eleanor takes her baths right after school, while her stepfather is still at work. Both are misfits in their neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska of the 1980′s. Park is half-Asian, obsessed with comics and music, but never quite macho enough to please his father. Eleanor–big, with wild red hair and crazy clothes– is back with her family after a year of living with strangers after being kicked out by her stepfather. They end up sitting next to each other on the bus and eventually begin to share music, comic books and finally, personal history. As they fall in love, they will make mistakes, fight for time and space to see each other and finally–because sometimes the world and life just get in the way– have to try and let each other go.

The main characters are the great strength of this book. As a whole, the book is a little wordy and at times I questioned whether all the switching points of view between Eleanor and Park was really necessary. The 1980′s setting worked well, but wasn’t quite as vivid and clear as in other recent books (I’m thinking of The Miseducation of Cameron Post in particular). Despite being written in third person, it felt like a first person book, as each section focused in so specifically on the actions, thoughts and feelings of the two main characters. Because we are getting the story from their point of view, other characters feel flat and at times superfluous. There is absolutely no sympathy for Eleanor’s stepfather and even her mother is hard to understand. Park’s parents go through more of an arc as they gradually learn about and come to accept Eleanor, but we barely see his younger brother, to the point where it feels like the only reason he is there is to make Park feel inadequate.

Eleanor and Park are characters with an endearing combination of snark and romanticism. Eleanor, who rolls her eyes at Shakespeare, saying “Romeo and Juliet are just two rich kids who’ve always gotten every little thing they want” also thinks when looking at Park “There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat that makes me want to let him open doors for me.” Park, for his part, jokes about Star Wars while also telling Eleanor how much he loves her freckles. Readers will go back to this book again and again, hoping that the ending is just a little happier the next time around.

Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong

hooray4books — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:36:06 +0000

Tortillas are so delicious, I would probably pick up any book with the word in the title. Round is a Tortilla by Roseanne Greenfield Thong is the perfect book for those who want to introduce a little Latin culture and Spanish vocabulary along with shapes. Bright illustrations by John Parra with a light texture suggest paper cutouts and murals on walls. They show the parks, kitchens and backyards of a welcoming town and loving family.

This book covers simple shapes: round, square, rectangle, triangle, oval and star. The rhyming text describes various objects for each shape, including at least one in Spanish. The final line of each couplet asks the reader what other round or square or triangle things you can name. Food and furniture are recurring items, with paletas, sandias and huevos all making appearances and then making me hungry!

Pick up this book to share when your toddler is ready to learn shapes, or you’re eating some sandias in the summertime. It also makes a great gift for a preschool teacher or school librarian looking for a good read aloud for Hispanic Heritage Month. Language teachers can use it as the basis for a lesson on shapes and have students create their own pictures and illustrations to put together a class bulletin board. So many possibilities!

– Cecilia

Those Dangerous Vegetables

hooray4books — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:19:41 +0000

It’s always nice to find a brand-new picture book that provides the perfect companion to an older classic. It’s even better when the two together create a framework for a great classroom writing activity! As soon as I read How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, a new book by David LaRochelle, I immediately thought of The Secret Knowledge of Grownups, by David Wisniewski. I had already used Wisnewski’s book for several read and think aloud activities when I was doing my school librarian internship. This new tale just gave me even more ideas.

Martha refuses to eat her green beans every Tuesday, despite her parents’ assurance that they “…are you good for you” and “…will make you big and strong.” Martha’s conviction that green beans are bad is proven one day when a gang of mean green beans (led by a mustachioed giant in a cowboy hat) marches into town and begins to terrorize the green-bean eating populace. Eventually they capture Martha’s parents, leaving her alone in the house to eat junk food and watch television. However, as other book characters have discovered, losing your parents often has the uncomfortable side effect of making you miss them, so Martha, accompanied by her dog, sets off on a rescue mission. And when the mean green beans scoff at her threats to eat them, she shows them that she means business. The fantastic illustrations by Mark Fearing punctuate the buildup of the story perfectly, making this a great read-aloud or classroom book.

In The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups, David Wisniewski explains the real reasons why grown-ups tell you to do things like eat your vegetables or not do things like jump on the bed. It was the eating your vegetables tale (the real reason: so they don’t take over the world!) that popped into my head when I first read How Martha Saved her Parents from Green Beans. The brilliant part of the story, I think, is that the child has to do something she didn’t want to do (eat green beans) but she was still right about them being bad! It’s the perfect combination of a comeuppance for both parent and child. The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups works on a similar structure of requiring the reader to consider two truths at once; the ‘truth’ behind each parental rule as well as the greater truth that no, many of these are probably not true.

But they could be true, which is what makes both these books such a great jumping off point for writing. Many teachers have used Wisniewski’s books as a writing prompt, sharing some or all of the text and then asking students to brainstorm their own parental rule and the real, wacky reason behind it. I might go further and share LaRochelle’s story, then ask students to swap rules and write a short story where a character has to deal with the reality behind the rule, whether it is green beans or rampaging mattresses awoken by children jumping. After all, everyday things can be deadly. Just ask the green beans.

– Cecilia

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne

hooray4books — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:52:55 +0000

Does your child refuse to wear socks? You could be looking at the next Einstein. Jennifer Berne’s heartwarming account of Einstein’s life touches on not only his famous works but also his famous idiosyncrasies, such as wearing the same baggy pants everywhere and not speaking for almost three years after he was born. Kids will love the simple explanations of Einstein’s big ideas, and the sympathetic portrayal of a boy who doesn’t do great in school but loves to think and figure things out. Vladimir Radunsky’s gorgeous, messy illustrations make Einstein’s creativity leap off the page. Berne and Radunsky do a great job of humanizing Einstein, who is such an institution that children may only know him as an equation. On a Beam of Light reminds us that imagination is important, and that thinking is valuable. A great message for the little scientist in your life!

- Emily

On a Beam of Light by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky; Chronicle Books; $17.99; 6-9 yrs

Darth Vader = Dad?

hooray4books — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:17:43 +0000

May the 4th be with you! (and with your son and little princess)

Don’t just celebrate May the 4th with your little Luke: Jeffrey Brown delivers a much anticipated Vader’s Little Princess so your little Leia can participate in May the 4th too! Just like Darth Vader and Son, Brown plays on scenes and language from the movies to create a story of what Vader may have had to encounter while parenting Leia. The difference with this iteration is that Vader also has to deal with teenage Leia and learning to drive, her relationship with Han Solo, and her fashion choices. It’s an adorable, quick read and the latest must-have for Star Wars fans!

TO CELEBRATE STAR WARS DAY, WE’LL BE GIVING AWAY INFLATABLE LIGHT SABERS WITH A PURCHASE OF $25 OR MORE ON SATURDAY, MAY 4! YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE!

Celebrate Screen-Free Week Part 2

hooray4books — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:58:19 +0000

To celebrate Screen-Free Week we will have activities every weekday afternoon from 3:30-5:00 pm. All ages are welcome, stop in and unplug with us. And check out these great books that will inspire you to unplug!

In this Caldecott-winning book, a neighborhood comes alive when the power goes out on a hot summer night. One family decides they prefer spending time together, even after the power comes back on.

Blackout by John Rocco; Hyperion; $16.99

The star of this story has absolutely nothing to do. She’s bored. Until she meets a potato who finds children incredibly boring. To prove him wrong she demonstrates all the amazing things a kid can do! It’s quirky and silly and sure to get your child’s imagination rolling.

I’m Bored by Michael Ian Black; Simon & Schuster; $16.99

For children of all ages who may need a little help turning off those electronics.

Goodnight iPad: a Parody for the Next Generation by Ann Droyd; Penguin; $14.95

Celebrate Screen-Free Week Part 1

hooray4books — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:06:24 +0000

To celebrate Screen-Free Week (April 28-May 5) we will have activities every weekday afternoon from 3:30-5:00 pm. All ages are welcome, stop in and unplug with us. And check out these great books that will inspire you to unplug!

Before she created Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins wrote this zany little picture book. When the power goes out and Charlie can’t play his video games, he loses control. Only imagination can temper this tantrum.

When Charlie McButton Lost Power by Suzanne Collins; Putnam; $5.99

Doug the Robot learns a lot by downloading, but only when he unplugs does he discover the vibrancy of life. As Doug explores the city he also learns how to use his knowledge to help a new-found friend.

Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino; Knopf; $16.99

In this cute picture book Lydia discovers there is a whole world waiting for her, away from all of the electronic devices that distract the other members of her family. The simple text in this book make it great for younger audiences.

Hello! Hello! By Matthew Cordell; Hyperion; $16.99

Erin