Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Who hasn’t read a good ghost story under the covers late at the night? If you were anything like me as a child, you didn’t sleep much afterwards either. Of course, that was the best part! Delicious chills, spooky delights, mysterious goings on, this book has all the things middle grade readers love. If you are looking for a spooky thrill and a fantastic mystery, Hunt for the Seventh is right up your dark alley. When Jim and Sally’s father takes a job as a gardener on a sprawling estate with a mysterious past, the kids find themselves drawn into a ghostly hunt for the histories of six children who all died on the estate under strange circumstances. Spooky statues, an ancient curse, a mystery that spans a hundred years, and a murder most fowl. How could any ghost story buff resist? Parents should be aware that though there is no violence or gore within the context of the story, it might be just a little too creepy for some younger or more sensitive readers.

Penguin and the Cupcake by Ashley Spires unpaged picture book Vancouver : Simply Read Books, c2008. Penguin is sick and tired of eating fish all the time. What he really wants is CUPCAKES !!!! He sets off on a journey to find the desired treat. Penguin does not end up where he thought he would, but it's okay because he meets some new friends. Eventually he decides to return home to his regular meals of fish. This is a silly story that might have entertained more if it weren't for the interjections that show up on lined notebook paper. These comments don't seem to fit the story and interrupt the flow. The cute characters were inspired by the author/illustrators own line of felt finger puppets. Maybe she hopes to sell more of her creations to the people who read this book, but I am not buying.

The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones by Helen Hemphill Front Street, 2008. 228 pgs. Juvenile Fiction. I grew up on Westerns, but all the action these days seems to be in Outer Space (or with what comes from there). But then along comes Deadwood Jones. Inspired by the true narrative of Nat Love (upon whom the dime-novel character of Deadwood Dick was based), the story of Deadwood Jones has a little bit of everything--faithful horses, riled-up Indians, stampeding cattle, and quick and violent death on the road North. Prometheus Jones must hightail it to the territories when he is accused of stealing a horse he won in a raffle. He an his young cousin Omer hire on with a cattle drive going north from Texas to the Dakota Territory. Prometheus is also hoping to track down his father who was sold into Texas years before. Through good times and bad, great sorrows and personal triumphs, Prometheus makes his way north where he becomes "Deadwood" Jones a cowboy through and thr...

I Saw Three Ships: a Magical Christmas Tale by Elizabeth Goudge Boston: David Godine, 2008 (reprint) "Christmas in July" is a commonplace expression but Christmas in May is even better if it shows up in the form of Elizabeth Goudge's timeless story. Polly Flowerdew wants to leave the doors open at her aunts' house for Christmas Eve so whoever comes may enter (they always left them open in the country when her parents were alive). The Aunts, having no man about the house to protect them, refuse. But Polly figures out a way to let three wise men in, even though the door is bolted against them and when Christmas morning arrives, so do three ships, bearing a most remarkable gift. Lovely in its telling, I Saw Three Ships is a tender, cheerful delight, any time of year.

Picture Book An energetic, brightly dressed man is looking for a "didgeridoo", and he won't take NO for an answer! He asks the owner of a music shop, repeatedly, and in fun, bouncy rhyme, for a didgeridoo and describes all the things he plans on doing with it. Do you do a dedgeridoo? One that blows a low wa-hoo? I'd paint it in purple, or yellow , or blue . . . The text is fun, rhythmic, and musical. The bright, colorful illustrations remind me of The Beatles Yellow Submarine . The ending to the story falls off sharply and, unfortunately, demonstrates downright rudeness on the part of the main character, who, until this point, had been quite likeable. So, check it out from the library, read it once through for the artwork, but don't spend money for a book that lets you down at the end.

I have always been drawn to Chris Wormell's illustration style using wood engravings. My family first discovered him in An Alphabet of Animals. His newest work, The Animals Came Two by Two , is just as engaging and enjoyable. Wormell tells the timeless story of Noah and the ark simply, putting the bulk of the story at the beginning and the end of the book. The middle part is filled with beautiful illustrations of all the different kinds of animals brought into the ark, arranged in pairs of opposites; From the tall (giraffes) to the short (weasels). Wormell includes a brief biosketch of each animal at the end, and includes the names of the male, female, and what a group of that particular animal is called. (Did you know that a group of falcons is called a "cast"?)The story itself is familiar enough that the religious undertones should not deter anyone from purchasing this book for a school library. And if you really don't want to hear the story again, get it for the...

Chicken Butt by Erica S. Perl ill. Henry Cole unpaged picture book New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2009. Don't deny it, every one of you at one point in your elementary school years said, "Guess what?". Then after your victim said, "What?", you gleefully responded, "CHICKEN BUTT!" That is exactly what one young boy does to his older brother in the first few pages of this book. The rest of the book is variations upon the same phrase. The illustrations are fun. Overall I wasn't too impressed with this books. Kids will love it because it will give them the excuse to say " CHICKEN BUTT !!!!" over and over and over.