FINISHED: 
Hanlon, Abby. (2018). Dory Fantasmagory: Head in the Clouds. New York: Dial/Penguin Random House.

[Dory's got a loose tooth, and Mrs. Gobble Gracker is posing as the Tooth Fairy.  When Dory can't find a banana on which to call for help, what will she do?]

STARTED:
Killermann, Sam. (2013). A Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender. Austin, TX: Impetus.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Pullman, Philip. (2017). The Book of Dust: Volume One: La Belle Sauvage. New York: Knopf.

[.]

STARTED:
Meloy, Colin. (2017). The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid. New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.

[.]

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FINISHED: 
Marciano, John Bemelmans. (2016). Mischief Season [Witches of Benevento, Book 1]. New York: Viking/Penguin Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Shevah, Emma. (2016). Dara Palmer's Major Drama. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky.

[Re-reading to review for ACL.]

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FINISHED:
Barnhill, Kelly. (2016). The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers.

[It is the annual practice of the Protectorate to leave the youngest child of the village in the woods as a sacrifice to appease a rumored witch who lives there, but that witch, Xan, actually rescues these children and delivers them to be raised in another town.  One year it is Luna whom she saves, and in doing so accidentally lets the young girl drink so much moonlight that it imbues her with magical powers, powers that Xan suppresses in Luna until her 13^th birthday when she may be more ready to deal with them.  Barnhill’s tight, thoroughly-realized fairy tale features a number of strong and determined characters including Luna, whose mission it is to find out who she is and where she came from; Antain, a young man whose mission is to find and expose the truth about the Protectorate; and a woman, deemed mad, whose mission is to prove her sanity and find the daughter that was taken from her.  Side characters Glerk, a bog creature, and Fyrian, a minute dragon, ground the story and provide much needed comic relief, respectively, and though the second quarter of the book stalls a bit, at midpoint it picks up steam again when a number of the seemingly disparate stories begin to intertwine and then doesn’t let up until the last page.  There’s a cautionary message to be gleaned here about discovering what – or who – the real evil is when one is kept in the dark with regard to the truth, especially when it is used as a means of control.  As Antain’s wife, Ethyne, says, “Knowledge is powerful, but it is a terrible power when it is hoarded and hidden.  Today, knowledge is for everyone.”]

STARTED:
Bayard, Louis. (2016).  Lucky Strikes.  New York: Henry Holt.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Schlitz, Laura Amy. (2012). Splendors and glooms. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.


[Review forthcoming...]

STARTED:
Eichler, Glen. (2011). Mush!:  Sled dogs with issues. New York: First Second.

[.]

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FINISHED:
Renier, Aaron. (2010). The unsinkable Walker Bean. New York: First Second.

[.]

STARTED:
Gidwitz, Adam. (2010). A tale dark & Grimm. New York: Dutton/Penguin.

[Reviewing for ACL - and has been on my radar for awhile.]

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FINISHED:

Dahl, Roald. (1983). The witches. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

[.]

STARTED:
Green, John. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton/Peguin.

[Reading and reviewing for ACL. Looks like this guy is a big teen writer, having won the Printz once and gotten a Printz Honor once. This one is only his 3rd book, so he's obviously important.]

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Picture Book Tuesday: HALLOWEEN

STARTED & FINISHED:

Kraus, Robert. (1973). How Spider saved Halloween. New York: Scholastic.

[D'oh! Looks like I read this one for Halloween last year, too. I was looking for a cover image to post here and MY OWN BLOG SHOWED UP! These Spider books will forever be in my possession. Most of them aren't NEARLY as enjoyable, dead-pan funny, or nostalgic as How Spider Saved Christmas but cute nonetheless. As in typical Spider fashion, in this one he can't come up with a costume that doesn't still look like himself. Eventually, he dresses up as a jack-o-lantern to scare off some bully bugs who are going around smashing pumpkins. Unfortunately, Fly (my favorite) isn't quite up to his dryly cantankerous self in this one.]



Preston, Edna Mitchell. (1969). One dark night. New York: Viking.

[An "additive tale" a la "The House that Jack Built" in which a number of kids dressed in Halloween costumes follow each other down a dark road only to be scared off by the squeeking of a mouse. I was drawn to this one because of the illustrations by Kurt Werth - must find other examples of his work. They have a fantastic "vintage" look in their simplicity. Would make a GREAT read-aloud during the Halloween season.]




Devlin, W. and H. (1972). If... New York: Parents' Magazine Press.

[Old Witch is called upon when it looks like rich old Mr. Butterbean is canceling Halloween. He locks her up and throws her in a tower so that she won't interfere, but her trusty crow comes to her rescue and after turning Mr. Butterbean into a frog, Halloween is back on! Again, the illustrations are what drew me to this one. They look super familiar and I guess it's because the duo who did this one also did a Thanksgiving one that I've seen before. There's a great sense of perspective in many of the illustrations, and by the style it is SO clear that they were done in the '70s - bold, bright colors outlined in black - super '70s styled. I'll have to do some research, but by the look of them I'd swear that these folks had something to do with some of those holiday cartoon specials of old...]

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FINISHED:

Pullman, Philip. (1997). The golden compass. New York: Del Rey/Ballantine.

[Really liked this again the second time around. Just wanted to make sure that I remembered it all before seeing the movie - which, just looks stupendous - like it has a really unique visual style. Can't imagine that it's going to be a huge success as I'm sure word of mouth will be, "It's pretty but it didn't make a lick of sense."]

STARTED:
Sanderson, Brandon. (2007). Alcatraz versus the evil librarians. New York: Scholastic.

[Reviewing for ACL.]

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