Nonfiction

July New Releases

Happy Summer!! Whether you are lounging by the pool, taking a break from playing in the waves, or just sitting in your backyard getting some sun, you can read a book. Take a look at some of the great new ones hitting the stores this month!

 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One & Two (Special Rehearsal Edition Script): The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production  by J.K. Rowling ( Arthur A. Levine Books)

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne,Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

 

 

The World of Norm: Norm 10 Paperback by Jonathan Meres (Orchard Books)

Norm knew it was going to be one of those days when he lost his house…But even when he finds it, things don’t get much better. What could be worse than imagining your parents at a salsa dancing event – with your best friend?! Norm’s not sure what’s got into Mikey, but he suspects hormones may be involved. Flipping typical!

 

Michelangelo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities (For Kids series)
by Simonetta Carr (Chicago Review Press)

Michelangelo Buonarroti—known simply as Michelangelo—has been called the greatest artist who has ever lived. His impressive masterpieces astonished his contemporaries and remain some of today’s most famous artworks. Young readers will come to know Michelangelo the man as well as the artistic giant, following his life from his childhood in rural Italy to his emergence as a rather egotistical teenager to a humble and caring old man. They’ll learn that he did exhausting, back-breaking labor to create his art yet worked well, even with humor, with others in the stone quarry and in his workshop. Michelangelo for Kids offers an in-depth look at his life, ideas, and accomplishments, while providing a fascinating view of the Italian Renaissance and how it shaped and affected his work.

The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer by Davide Cali and Benjamin Chaud (Chronicle Books)

What really happened over the summer break? A curious teacher wants to know. The epic explanation? What started out as a day at the beach turned into a globe-spanning treasure hunt with high-flying hijinks, exotic detours, an outrageous cast of characters, and one very mischievous bird! Is this yet another tall tale, or is the truth just waiting to be revealed? From the team behind I Didn’t Do My Homework Because . . . and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School . . . comes a fantastical fast-paced, detail-rich illustrated summer adventure that’s so unbelievable, it just might be true!

 

The Voyage to Magical North by Claire Fayers (Henry Holt & Co.)


Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past–if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she’s spent the past years keeping house for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.
When Brine and Peter get themselves into a load of trouble and flee, they blunder into the path of the legendary pirate ship the Onion. Before you can say “pieces of eight,” they’re up to their necks in the pirates’ quest to find Magical North, a place so shrouded in secrets and myth that most people don’t even think it exists. If Brine is lucky, she’ll find her place in the world. And if she’s unlucky, everyone on the ship will be eaten by sea monsters. It could really go either way.

 

Sticks & Stones by Abby Cooper (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux)

Ever since she was a baby, the words people use to describe Elyse have instantly appeared on her arms and legs. At first it was just “cute” and “adorable,” but as she’s gotten older and kids have gotten meaner, words like “loser” and “pathetic” appear, and those words bubble up and itch. And then there are words like “interesting,” which she’s not really sure how to feel about. Now, at age twelve, she’s starting middle school, and just when her friends who used to accept and protect her are drifting away, she receives an anonymous note saying “I know who you are, and I know what you’re dealing with. I want to help.” As Elyse works to solve the mystery of who is sending her these notes, she also finds new ways to accept who she is and to become her best self.

 

 


Sweet Reads & A Giveaway For National Donut Day

There’s good news if you like donuts (or doughnuts)! Today is National Donut Day—a good excuse to indulge. Even better, some shops traditionally give out free donuts today to celebrate the event.

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Surprisingly, a company with the words Dunkin or Krispy in their names did not invent this holiday. It was created in 1938 by the Salvation Army to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers on the front lines in Europe during World War I. (Fun, but slightly gross, fact: The donuts were often cooked in oil inside the soldiers’ helmets.) While the holiday began as a fund-raiser in Chicago to help those in need during the Great Depression, the tradition of celebrating this delicious dessert continues.

For those of you who want to skip the sugar and calories, but still observe the holiday, here are some great books in which donuts figure prominently. Whether the donuts represent the bond between characters, the pride of a town honoring its founder, or a sought after breakfast treat, they’re a sweet addition to any story.

Read on to find out about these fabulous books and to see how you could win an autographed copy of Lily and Dunkin and a ten dollar gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts.

9780553536744Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

In this poignant novel that tackles transgender and bipolar issues, Norbert Dorfman, who hates his name and loves donuts, is nicknamed Dunkin by his new friend Lily Jo McGrother, who was born Timothy McGrother. Early in the novel, a heartfelt passage shows readers the importance of donuts in Dunkin’s difficult life: “I wish Dad were here. He loves Boston Kreme donuts, too. I doubt they have donuts where he is. When Dad was in a good mood, he could chow down half a dozen donuts in one sitting. Sometimes a whole dozen, except for the couple Mom and I would eat. And Dad wouldn’t even get big from eating all those donuts, except that one time when they changed his meds and he ballooned like the Goodyear Blimp.” In a starred review, Booklist called the novel a “sensitively written work of character-driven fiction that dramatically addresses two important subjects that deserve more widespread attention.”

9780544340695The Center of Everything by Linda Urban

Soon-to-be-twelve-year-old Ruby Pepperdine is trying to make things right in her life since her beloved grandmother passed away. The story is set in a town founded by a fictional character, Captain Bunning, who invented the donut in 1847. (In a note from the author, Urban tells how she made up the story after reading about Captain Hanson Gregory’s invention of the donut. See The Hole Story of the Donut below for more about Captain Hanson.) Ruby hopes her problems can be solved by a town tradition that involves making a wish on your birthday and tossing a quarter through a hole in a bronze donut held by the statue of Captain Bunning. While donuts play an important role in the plot, according to one reviewer, donuts also figure into the structure of the story. Meg Wolitzer writes that the novel “travels a satisfying, circular path that deliberately echoes the shape of a donut …” The novel earned several starred reviews and has been praised for its depiction of family, friends, and community.

9780147508577Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

In this novel about Albie, an only child who struggles with learning difficulties, donuts represent an important bond between Albie and his babysitter, Calista. Not only does she let Albie use his allowance to buy donuts each day, she also helps Albie forget about the bullies in his life by drawing The Adventures of Donut Boy and Art Girl, a comic based on Albie’s love for donuts and Calista’s love for art. Albie soon learns to take pride in the things he does best, and Calista learns a bit from Albie, too. In a starred review, Booklist called the book “a heartfelt portrait of a child searching for nothing more than a safe place to thrive.”

9780142404157Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

Originally published in nineteen forty-three, this classic tells about Homer Price, who lives in a small town in Ohio called Centerburg. It’s a place where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the donuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where Homer can foil four bandits using nothing but his wits and his pet skunk. In one story, Homer’s tendencies to get involved in outrageous incidents find him tending to an out-of-control donut-making machine in his uncle’s diner. Generations of reviewers have praised the humor in these stories.


9781492614012Danny’s Doodles: The Squirting Donuts
by David Adler

Something has gone wrong in Danny and Calvin’s fourth-grade classroom. Mrs. Cakel has transformed from a rampant rule-enforcer to a quiet excuse-accepter. Has she been replaced with an alien? Has she undergone a top-secret personality makeover? Danny and Calvin decide there’s only one way to find out what’s really going on: spy. But spying soon leads to a greater mystery filled with dog chasing, jelly-injected donuts, prune butter-included experiments, riddle mania, and more! Booklist wrote that “the book artfully portrays a dynamic friendship between seeming opposites that points to ways of making better choices without losing the fun.”

9780062343208Stick Dog Tries to Take the Donuts by Tom Watson

It’s morning, and the dogs are hungry. So Stick Dog and his team of strays are off on another outrageous canine caper—this time to take the donuts. To snatch some breakfast treats for his hungry pals, Stick Dog will need to stop a moving truck, outfox a man on a telephone pole, and calm down a very caffeinated Karen. But that’s not all. He’ll also need to manage the greatest confrontation in history when his good friend Poo-Poo comes face-to-face with the ultimate enemy—a squirrel.

9780544319615The Hole Story of the Donut by Pat Miller, illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch

Who knew the donut was invented by a New England mariner? Turns out in 1847 the inventor, Hanson Crockett Gregory, worked as a ship’s cook. But hungry sailors complained that his breakfast of sugary fried dough balls had greasy, raw centers. That’s when Gregory got the idea to cut holes out of the center and fry the dough like that. The rest, of course, is pastry history.

To celebrate Donut Day, Donna Gephart has generously donated an autographed copy of Lily and Dunkin, and I’m offering a ten-dollar gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts. For a chance to win one of these prizes, tell us in the comment section about a kids’ book that features donuts or just tell us about your favorite donut before midnight Sunday, June 5. I’ll pick two winners at random and announce who they are on Tuesday, June 7. (Continental U.S. only, please.)

Dorian Cirrone has written several books for children and teens. Her middle-grade novel, The First Last Day ( June 2016, S&S/Aladdin) is available for preorder. You can find her on Facebook and on Twitter as @DorianCirrone. She gives writing tips and does occasional giveaways on her blog at: http://doriancirrone.com/welcome/blog/

Books to Knock Your Socks Off

Raise your hand if you’ve ever lost a sock in the washing machine.

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I thought so. Well, today is your lucky day. It’s National Lost Sock Memorial Day, a day in which somebody somewhere decided to give us all permission to stop the sock search.

So give up trying to find a match for your single stockings and give them a proper send-off by recycling them into sock puppets, cleaning rags, or cold drink cozies.

And if you’re still feeling like a heel for not toeing the line in the sock security department, here are some books to help you memorialize those lost sole mates:

 

51dqtB3hbqL._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_Standing For Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman

Who knew that socks could cause so many problems? Twelve-year-old Fara Ross started wearing mismatched socks so she’d stand out from the crowd—but now instead of listening to her great ideas about recycling and school fundraisers, kids only notice her socks! And since she’s running for
sixth-grade class president, Fara really needs to get the right kind of attention. If she could, she’d stop wearing socks forever, but how can she get rid of what made her popular to begin with? And what is she going to do about her best friend, Jody, who thinks Fara only cares about winning?

9781442498419The Secrets of Eastcliff–by-the-Sea: The Story of Annaliese Easterling & Throckmorton, Her Simply Remarkable Sock Monkey by Eileen Beha

Meet Throckmorton S. Monkey. He’s everything a sock monkey is supposed to be: Loving. Loyal. A very good listener. And he’s never, ever—not even once!—stopped smiling. Yet Throckmorton has been long forgotten by his keeper Annaliese Easterling, and he seems doomed to live out his days lost and lonely among other abandoned stuffed animals. But then one day Great Grand Mama Easterling sends engraved invitations to forty-nine sock monkeys to attend her ninetieth birthday along with their human keepers. Throckmorton is thrilled! The arrival of his invitation brings him back together with Annaliese. And he vows to do something so remarkable, so amazing, she will never want to be separated from him again. Indeed, over just a few days, Throckmorton will survive being buried in a blizzard. He’ll be spared from a vicious attacker. But best of all, he’ll find a way to reunite Annaliese with the one person she most longs to know. Not bad for a stuffed toy—if you’re to believe that’s all Throckmorton S. Monkey really is… “This unusual novel is old-fashioned in the best sense of the word, conveying universal truths and values through the use of sentient toys” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

51WC-0W4jeL._SX340_BO1,204,203,200_

Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez

 Apolonia “Lina” Flores is a sock enthusiast, a volleyball player, a science lover, and a girl who’s just looking for answers. Even though her house is crammed full of books (her dad’s a bibliophile), she’s having trouble figuring out some very big questions, like why her dad seems to care about books more than her, why her best friend’s divorced mom is obsessed with making cascarones (hollowed eggshells filled with colorful confetti), and, most of all, why her mom died last year. Like colors in cascarones, Lina’s life is a rainbow of people, interests, and unexpected changes.

51hgkIOMARL._SX305_BO1,204,203,200_The Return of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks by Nancy McArthur

McArthur’s series just might answer the age-old question of where all those socks went—a sock-eating plant! Brothers Michael and Norman and their parents are off on a fun-filled Florida family vacation in an RV. They have to take along their weird sock-eating plants, Stanley and Fluffy, because they act up and can’t be left at home alone. At a campground they meet a plant scientist and her kids, who start nosing around to find out more about Stanley and Fluffy, while the plants cause more funny uproars.

518gwMKBuVL._SX310_BO1,204,203,200_The Escape of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks by Nancy McArthur

Here’s another one in McArthur’s series about plant-eating socks. Michael and Norman’s weird sock-eating giant plants, Stanley and Fluffy, have learned to pull themselves around on skateboards. Now they’re on the loose, out of the house, leading the family on wild chases while the boys try to get back the baby plants sprouting from seeds all over town.

 

51BtpysblFL._SY358_BO1,204,203,200_Sock Monkeys Have Issues by Greg Stones

Sock Monkeys have issues with moths. They also have trouble with pterodactyls, home improvement projects, kittens (who tend to unravel them), and paparazzi. They really like bananas, jet packs, sock puppies, and romance, but have MAJOR issues with clowns, embarrassing relatives (King Kong), and gym socks. Through it all, they really adore one thing. Author of the breakout hit Zombies Hate Stuff, Greg Stones turns his popular, playfully absurd illustration style and subversive humor to the lovable but issue-fraught world of sock monkeys, detailing their inner lives and misadventures with a playful wit that will appeal to cheeky monkeys of all ages.

61532mb3JML._AC_SY200_Sew Cute and Collectible Sock Monkeys: For Red-Heel Sock Monkey Crafters and Collectors by Dee Lindner

In Sew Cute and Collectible Sock Monkeys, over 200 colorful photographs of cute, collectible, charming, funny, and funky sock monkeys will put readers in stitches. This craft book by award-winning photographer, Dee Lindner, known as the Sock Monkey Lady(R), highlights the humor behind the history and crafting of sock monkeys. Filled with tips and quips, Sew Cute and Collectible Sock Monkeys highlights detailed techniques to create and dress one’s own hand-made sock monkey. Fun ideas to bring your sock monkey to life come together amidst endearing sock monkey photographs of ‘action art,’ included to give inspiration to rock, sock, cut, and sew! Whether you’re creating a sock monkey to gift, collect, or sell, this clear and comprehensive book is a must have reference. So grab a pair of socks and get ready to create wonderful memories!

Dorian Cirrone has written several books for children and teens. Her middle-grade novel, The First Last Day ( June 2016, S&S/Aladdin) is available for preorder. You can find her on Facebook and on Twitter as @DorianCirrone. She gives writing tips and does occasional giveaways on her blog at: http://doriancirrone.com/welcome/blog/