BOGO Book Fair!

We have books and lots of them! Here's a little preview of a few of the hottest titles we've got: all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, Matched, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Birthmarked, Big Nate, new 39 clues series, Bluford books, Guiness book of World Records, Maximum Ride manga, the new Twilight graphic novel, Green Lantern, Justin Beiber, Rick Riordan books, Ruby Red, Paranormalcy, Dead End in Norvelt, Rot and Ruin, the Gardener, Eleventh Plague, Fat Cat, Origami Yoda and Darth Paper, and most of the titles on the new Bluebonnet list. If you have a special request, just let me know and I'll see if I can get it. So what are you waiting for? Come over and buy some books!

On Tuesday, we'll be Open before and during Open House, so parents can stop and shop. Also, check out the special prize drawing for everyone who comes to the the book fair during parent night. I'll be giving away a Dr. Seuss gift in honor of the famous writer's birthday this week!

New Newbery

I love Jack Gantos. Joey Pigza cracks me up. I even named my son Joey! Gantos' biography, Hole In My Life, was surprising, but gripping. So I really looked forward to reading Dead End in Norvelt when I learned that his latest book won the biggest award in children's literature. Soooooooo, what did I think? I don't know. I'm all over the place with this. My first impression was how hilarious it was that the main character was actually Jack himself, who did indeed grow in in Pennsylvania. Interesting. All the characters were intriguiing. Maybe characterization is what Gantos specializes in. The plot though- it was a bit random. We had the dad building a plane, though I'm not sure why, the dying town and its dying residents, Jack grounded cause he shot his dad's gun because, as we learned in the, his uncle had loaded it. That part really lost me. The uncle really came out of left field. Of course, if I'm honest with myself, I do regularly miss the big picture. Maybe I just need someone pointing it to me. Maybe my readers will tell me what they see in it that I missed. I mean I liked it, but I didn't love it.