Blog

December New Releases!

By on December 1, 2017   /   Book Lists, MUF Contributor Books, New Releases, STEM  

The holidays are almost here. What makes a better gift than a book? NOTHING!  As you start your shopping, consider looking for great books to buy for all of your friends, relatives, and well, just anyone. Here are a few wonderful books releasing this month to get you started…. Happy Holidays!

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgMidnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson (HMH BFYR)

It’s Mississippi in the summer of 1955, and Rose Lee Carter can’t wait to move north. For now, she’s living with her sharecropper grandparents on a white man’s cotton plantation. Then, one town over, an African American boy, Emmett Till, is killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. When Till’s murderers are unjustly acquitted, Rose realizes that the South needs a change and that she should be part of the movement. Linda Jackson’s moving debut seamlessly blends a fictional portrait of an African American family and factual events from a famous trial that provoked change in race relations in the United States.

 

 

Dog Man and Cat Kid by Dav Pilkey (Graphix)    Hot diggity dog! Dog Man, the newest hero from Dav Pilkey, the creator of CapSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgtain Underpants, is back — and this time he’s not alone. The heroic hound with a real nose for justice now has a furry feline sidekick, and together they have a mystery to sniff out! When a new kitty sitter arrives and a glamorous movie starlet goes missing, it’s up to Dog Man and Cat Kid to save the day! Will these heroes stay hot on the trail, or will Petey, the World’s Most Evil Cat, send them barking up the wrong tree?

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgthe Bad Guys in Intergalatic Gas by Aaron Blabey (Scholastic Press)

The bad news? The world is ending. The good news? The Bad Guys are back to save it! Sure, they might have to “borrow” a rocket. And there might be something nasty in one of the spacesuits. And Mr. Piranha miiiight have eaten too many bean burritos. Surviving this mission may only be one small step for man, but it’s one giant leap for the Bad Guys.
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Liberty  (Dogs of WWII) by Kirby Larson (Scholastic)

Fish has a knack for inventing. His annoying neighbor, Olympia, has a knack for messing things up. But when his latest invention leads Fish to Liberty, a beautiful stray dog who needs a home, he and Olympia work together to rescue her. At the Higgins boatyard, where the boats that just might save the Allied forces during World War II are built, the wartime workforce is integrated and includes women and the disabled. However, a friendship that crosses racial lines is not the norm in 1940s New Orleans.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org  The Slime Book by DK Children

Includes more than 30 borax-free, simple, safe, homemade slime recipes—from basic slime to edible, textured, glow-in-the-dark, and color-changing slime. Kids will be mesmerized and “slimerized” by the book’s gloopy, gooey, colorful slime recipes. The easy-to-follow recipes all use inexpensive, accessible, and safe everyday products.

 


Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgDetention of Doom by  Derek Fridolfs  (Scholastic, Inc.)

When Lex Luthor’s family company, Lexcorp(TM), invites kids from all over the country to attend an honors ceremony, Clark Kent is happy to participate. That is, until his award trophy creates a portal to another dimension and sucks him in! Lucky for Clark, his old friends Bruce and Diana along with newer friends Barry (The Flash(TM)) and Ollie (Green Arrow(TM)) are on the case! They’ll have to travel to an alternate dimension to free their friend from Lex Luthor’s grasp (and the worst detention ever) in this all-new adventure from Eisner Award winner Dustin Nguyen and Eisner Award nominee Derek Fridolfs.
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Who Was Corretta Scott? King by Gail Herman (Penguin Workshop)

The wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King was a civil rights leader in her own right, playing a prominent role in the African American struggle for racial equality in the 1960s.

Here’s a gripping portrait of a smart, remarkable woman. Growing up in Alabama, Coretta Scott King graduated valedictorian from her high school before becoming one of the first African American students at Antioch College in Ohio. It was there that she became politically active, joining the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After her marriage to Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Following her husband’s assassination in 1968, she assumed leadership of the movement. Later in life she was an advocate for the Women’s Rights Movement, LGBT rights, and she worked to end apartheid in South Africa.

Back to Top

Indie Spotlight: An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Cafe, Plainville MA

By on November 29, 2017   /   Book Lists  

Good news! A new and thriving small bookstore, founded by children’s author Jeff Kinney,  whose store’s mission statement is “To enrich our community with great books, healthy food and inspiring conversations.”  We’re speaking today with General Manager Deb Sundin.

MUF: It’s interesting and “unlikely” that a very busy and successful children’s author would take on the task of founding a bookstore. Can you tell us the whys and hows of that story?
Deb: Long before he became a famous children’s author, Jeff Kinney and his wife Julie decided to settle in the small town of Plainville, Massachusetts(population 8000 plus) after they graduated from college, and Jeff wrote his first Wimpy the Kid book there. In the middle of the town stood the grand old Falks Market, established in 1856 and once the town center, but it had been sold by the owner, Meryl Falk, almost 20 years before. Like many of the townspeople, Jeff and Julie would pass by that abandoned building and wish someone would buy it and do something with it. Finally Jeff and Julie did buy it, still not knowing what they would do with it. At last Jeff decided Plainville’s town center should have a bookstore and a café to help bring it back to life, so he combined the two and opened An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Café in 2015. Unlikely Story has three levels with an event space occupying the second floor, and the top floor being developed into Jeff’s Wimpy Kid Studio.
MUF: Describe the atmosphere you try to create in your shop. What would you want a 9 to 12 year old to experience when they visit?
Deb: We aim for an atmosphere that is very warm and friendly and whimsical There are flying books hanging from the ceiling plus a Quidditch game with snitch. Our staff is very friendly, We want people to feel like they are visiting an old friend and I believe they do.
MUF: How do you decide what books to carry in your shop?
Deb: We have a book buyer who works with 5 or 6 major book representatives plus independent small publishers’ reps.. She also consults us, reads reviews and galley proofs of upcoming books, and considers customer feedback. Naturally we carry a lot of Wimpy Kid books, and these attract visitors to the store from all over New England and the country, and beyond.
MUF: As middle-grade authors, we’d love to know what titles you find yourself recommending most often to or for this age group?
Deb: We like Australian author Andy Griffiths (sometimes called the Jeff Kinney of Australia )
and his series The Thirteen Story Treehouse, A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord, The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Llyod, Swim That Rock by John Roccos, and The Way Home Looks Now by Wendy Wang-Long Shang.

MUF: Any activities or author visits of interest to middle-graders coming up?
Deb: Yes, today at 5 Jeff Kinney will introduce the newest book in his Wimpy Kid series, The Getaway. Tomorrow best-selling author and journalist Peter Zeutlin will be here to sign his new book, Rescued: What Second –chance Dogs Teach Us About Living with Purpose, Loving with Abandon, and Finding Joy in the Little Things. On Dec. 9 the Writers’ Loft, a group of local writers,  will hold their annual Holiday bBook Bazaar in our event space.  Then on December 12, Jeff Kinney will appear again to sign books. In the week between Christmas and New Years we’ll have craft activities for both younger and older kids.

MUF: If a family visits An Unlikely Story, is your café a good place for a family snack or meal after browsing? Other places in the neighborhood? And if they can stay a little longer, are there other sights and activities nearby that they shouldn’t miss?
Deb: Yes our café would be fine for this. There is also a small diner in the neighborhood and a gluten-free restaurant. I’d recommend the Fuller Craft Museum in Boston. Providence is closer to us than Boston and a nice size city to get around in. It has a wonderful children’s museum.
MUF: Thank you, Deb, for taking time in this busy bookstore season to talk to us about An Unlikely Story.  Readers, have you visited yet?

Back to Top

STEM TUESDAY: Zoology – Interview with Author Patricia Newman and Giveaway

By on November 28, 2017   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways, STEM Tuesday, Zoology  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! 

 

Our inaugural interview is with author Patricia Newman who wrote this month’s featured book, Zoo Scientists to the Rescue.

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that inspires kids to seek connections between science, literacy, and the environment. The recipient of the Green Earth Book Award and a finalist for the AAAS/Subaru Science Books and Films Award, her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists.

Zoo Scientists to the Rescue is photo-illustrated by Annie Crawley. Newman (center) and Crawley (left) traveled to the zoos featured in the book, including Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo where Maku the black rhino (right) resides.

Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about Zoo Scientists to the Rescue and how you came to write it.

Patricia Newman: Zoo Scientists to the Rescue began as a comment from my niece, Mia, whose fifth-grade class was tasked with writing a persuasive essay about zoos, either for or against. The trouble was the teacher gave her students almost all anti-zoo material, so guess which way their essays leaned? I’ve been involved with zoos most of my adult life and I raised a zookeeper, so I knew there was more to the story than the material my niece had received. In Zoo Scientists to the Rescue I had several goals:  share some of the ground-breaking research that zoo scientists are doing to save endangered species, inspire kids to help them, and excite kids about a possible career in science.

MKC: It sounds like you spent some quality time behind-the-scenes at zoos with the featured scientists. Do you have a favorite moment or happening you’d like to share?

PN: Photographer Annie Crawley and I visited the three zoos in the book’s pages—Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. We spent some fabulous time behind-the-scenes with both the scientists and the animals. We got up close and personal with Maku the rhino—close enough that he charged Annie while shooting his portrait for the cover. We also drove through a blizzard to meet with the black-footed ferret scientists. At the zoo, we donned booties and surgical caps to visit the BFF breeding area. And we waded through drifts several feet deep to observe BFFs at boot camp–a training facility to get them ready for release into the wild. Through it all, my audio recorder whirred and Annie’s shutter clicked. Annie is also a brilliant filmmaker, and had the presence of mind to shoot video while we conducted our research. In addition to our trailer, videos featuring our interviews with Jeff Baughman at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s BFF breeding center and Rachel Santymire’s lab at the Lincoln Park Zoo are now available on YouTube. Annie and I love the way these resources broaden the reading experience.

MKC: Why do you choose to write STEM books? 

PN: When I was a kid, my best learning happened when I could make connections to the world. I graduated with a B.S. from Cornell University in the social sciences, but my writing focuses more on environmental nonfiction. I think the thing that attracts me to science is the process of discovery. The scientists I interview have fascinating stories that I hope will inspire kids to think science is cool or encourage their parents to buy deforestation-free palm oil products to protect orangutans or instigate a Ditch the Straw Campaign in their community to reduce single-use plastic. While every author wants to tell a great story, I also want to empower kids to make a difference.

MKC: For readers who loved Zoo Scientists to the Rescue, what other middle-grade books would you suggest—nonfiction and/or fiction?

PN: For fiction, I love Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot and Eliot Schrefer’s ape quartet (of which three have been published) Endangered, Threatened, and Rescued. For nonfiction, I love Sandra Markle’s The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins and Cindy Trumbore and Susan Roth’s Parrots Over Puerto Rico.

MKC: Could you give us a peek into your process by sharing where you are right now on a current project and how you’re tackling it?

PN: My newest STEM title will release in the fall of 2018. Called Eavesdropping on Elephants: How Listening Helps Conservation, the book follows scientists from Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project as they listen to the forest elephants of central Africa. Forest elephants are different from the more familiar African savanna elephants and Asian elephants and the dense vegetation of their rainforest home makes them nearly impossible to follow. But these scientists have opened a whole new world on the study—and conservation—of this endangered species. My editor and I have just finished the first revision pass—I call it the reorganization phase. We move entire paragraphs from the end to the beginning, we check to be sure concepts are developed throughout the manuscript and don’t just pop up in isolated places, and we clarify some complex scientific concepts for young readers. In this book, it’s the physics of sound. The next pass will involve more line edits and polishing. And there’s a multi-media surprise in store for readers of this book. But I won’t say more than that!

More about Zoo Scientists to the Rescue:

Win a copy of Zoo Scientists to the Rescue! Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book. Good luck!

Your host this week is Mary Kay Carson, author of Mission to Pluto and other nonfiction books for kids.

 

Back to Top