Classy Hamster

I have complained about books in which authors seem to kiss up to libraries and other authors.  I don't know why it bothers me, it just does.  When it doesn't seem to "fit" in with the rest of the story, it just seems like product placement.  Is it weird that a book about a talking hamster can get library-love right when so many "big time" authors get it so wrong?  There is a lot of library-love in Einstein the Class Hamster Saves the Library, I mean, it is even in the title!  But this book is not a kissy-uppy deal, it seems to me.  It is "ripped from the headlines" as we hear about more and more schools choosing to close their libraries or downsize them in the district, but this is just done so well.  And it just seems like something that Einstein, whom we have come to know and love from his previous books, would do.  It's no secret that I love all things Tashijan, but I really feel that my love for this book is not biased!

I said it many times before and I will say it again.

My Life as a...is NOT a Diary of a Wimpy Kid retread.  I don't know if anyone but me has ever thought that, but when I first saw one of the books for the first time I thought it was just going to be one. But from the very first one, which was actually the second one, I was hooked.  My Life as a Joke is just as good as that one and Derek Fallon is just as awesome.  And I can't wait for the next one.
The thing about My Life as...as I have said before, is that they have a serious side and take on real-life issues.
Great, great books from a very talented mother and son.

A Graphic Version of Home

Last year I read and loved Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children.  Huge cliff-hanger deal.  So I was super excited when Hollow City finally came out.  I bought the hardback.  The only thing was, when I tried to read it, while I had remembered MPHFPC, I didn't remember a lot of the details.  I was super bummed.  Then I saw this!  Which I bought, too!  And it was a great way to read the first book in a whole new way!  Totally caught me up, and more because the art work is awesome.  This is a great way to refresh your memory about the first book without re-reading it, not that it would be a bad thing to re-read, but this graphic novel was excellent!

Nate

I was wrong.  I thought Big Nate was a Diary of a Wimpy Kid rip-off.  I had no idea that it has actually been a comic strip since 1991!  I am very embarrassed and ashamed of those feelings!  I thought that a lot of this was funny, but the reason I didn't love it was that Nate is a jerk, really.  Greg can be jerky, but Nate is always a jerk, it seems.  There is a difference.  It is that whole Ramona vs. Junie B. deal.  But I will read the next one to give him a chance! 

Ah, a good fable...

 I was recently told that I would be super addicted to theFables series, graphic novel/comic book.  I really didn't take the warning seriously.  Not at all.  I just thought, well, I will try one.  Just one.  Then I thought, well, I'll just see what the next one is like.  And then, oh, just the third.  I will stop at three.  Now I am currently reading Sons of Empire.  And that is Vol. 9.  So yes, I was warned but I didn't listen and now I am hooked.  They are all here, Snow White, Prince Charming, Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince, everyone.
See there is this bad dude, the Adversary.  And he and his armies have taken over most of the fable world.  Many fables have escaped and now live in New York City.  Sounds weird?  Yes.
Is it addictive and wonderful?  Yes.  But you are warned!
Also, this is not, not, not for kids!

Eggplants and Cupcakes!

The young patron who recommended Frindle to me also recommended Bake Sale.  This book is such a delight!  Now this book is way better than Naples!  It has recipes, too.  But best of all, all of the characters are foods!  The art work is so unreal cute, there is just no cannot love this book if you love cuteness!  The story is about a hard-working cupcake who is trying to raise extra money for a trip to Turkey to meet Turkish Delight, the famous baker.