Tag Archive | competition

Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisaker (fiction) – small-town mystery, big excitement in 1920s

Jul3

Independence Day!
Pie-eating contests!
Patriotic essay competitions!
Three-legged races!

Is bad luck something you’re born with or something that you can rise above? Are bullies part of every school and neighborhood? Does the world look different when seen through your camera’s lens?

This is a great summer story as Tugs investigates a mystery that the grown-ups in town just can’t seem to see. Wishing you plenty of pie, family, and fireworks this holiday weekend!
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Book info: The Luck of the Buttons / Anne Ylvisaker. Candlewick, 2011 [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Tugs is good at reading and good at running, which keeps her ahead of the Rowdies gang in their small Iowa town in 1929. Independence Day is next week, so she writes a patriotic essay, like every other 12 year old in town, and practices with Aggie for the 3-legged race. Thank goodness, she doesn’t have to run with her short, tubby cousin Ned this year. And she has some tickets for the raffle of a Brownie camera, too! Of course, no one in the Button family is lucky at all, so she’s not getting her hopes up about anything.

Uh-oh, it’s time to worry when Mama has a pie ready for lunch (Buttons always have pie when something bad happens). Granny is moving in, taking her bedroom! Well, at least Tugs can escape to the cool quiet of the library, browsing through the dictionary and reading old newspapers. This newcomer Harvey Moore is so busy collecting money to start a newspaper in Goodhue that he isn’t really starting it at all, so Tugs starts investigating.

On the fourth of July, it’s time for the 3-legged race, the raffle drawing, and the essay contest announcement. Will it be time for pie at the Button family table again? Can Tugs stay ahead of the Rowdies? Does the world look different through a camera lens? And how did Tugs get her first name anyway?

The summer of 1929, surrounded by cornfields and caring, is a great place to be with Tugs and her pie-baking family, as she wonders about luck and persistence in this easy-reading story. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Four Seasons (fiction)

Jun23

Today is “Let It Go Day”, as Wellcat.com urges folks “Whatever it is that’s been grabbing your gut or your psyche, let it go. Just let it go. It’ll be a better day afterwards.”

Ally is having an awful time letting things go. After all, piano is her whole life. Except that perhaps it isn’t – maybe a little time with friends or an occasional sleepover would also be good for a 13 year old who happens to play piano like an angel.

Thankfully, Ally doesn’t have “helicopter parents” or “stage-manager parents” always hovering over her, pushing her to practice-practice-practice, win-win-win. Her parents are both talented musicians and know the dedication that it takes to succeed in such a competitive field, yet they somehow miss the signs that Ally could crumble under the strain.

A fascinating look into the demanding world of classical pianists, into the psyche of super-talented youth, into the gaping void of “what now?”
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Book info: Four Seasons / Jane Breskin Zalban. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: As a piano student at Julliard, Allegra must practice 6 hours every day and attend music classes all day Saturday. But the pressure is so intense that Ally wonders if she could stop. Just stop playing the piano, her chosen instrument since age 4.

Child of two wonderful musicians, Ally has a true gift for the piano, yet still wants what normal 13 year olds have – friends, sleepovers, time to relax. Her famous piano teacher is demanding and stern, quick to remind her about the 7 year olds at the school who have already won international piano competitions.

When she finally has time to talk to a nice guy from her regular school, Ally starts thinking about whether playing the piano competitively is worth it. After a disastrous summer music camp festival, who is more surprised at the choices she begins to make: her best friend? Her parents? Her piano teacher? Ally?

Much like her beloved Vivaldi concerto, Ally’s story has four distinct sections. Can the tension of these four seasons turn life into joy? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity, by Dave Roman (book review) – middle school in outer space!

Jun10

book cover of Astronaut Academy Zero Gravity by Dave Roman published by First Second BooksIt’s Fun Friday – Time for school in space! Yes, Dave Roman’s new graphic novel takes us straight to Astronaut Academy, with a curriculum you just won’t believe. Oh, some things in middle school are the same even in outer space (the principal, snarky former best friends), but Astronaut Academy’s variations on ball games and emergency drills are amazing.

Of course, Hakata Soy’s crime-fighting superhero past may catch up with him…

The former comics editor of Nickelodeon Magazine took advantage of its closing to concentrate on his own cartooning, so watch for more of his self-published minicomics to grow into full-fledged books.

Dave is married to Raina Telgemeier who wrote and drew Smile (5/13/11 featured book) – yes, he proposed to her via webcomic! Just imagine two cartoonists in the same apartment… I heard them at a Texas Library Association presentation in April, then met Dave again in May at International Reading Association. Just waiting for their next books!
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Book info: Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity / written and illustrated by Dave Roman. First Second, 2011 [author interview] [publisher site] [book trailer] [selected pages]

My Book Talk: Everyone else is already at Astronaut Academy, but Hakata is late for school! A few weeks late, since he and his mecha-friends were busy saving the world of Hoppiton from the terrible Gotcha Birds.

Senor Panda teaches Spanish (and spying), Doug just wants to wear his spacesuit and stay out on spacewalk all day, and Marcos wonders why at least one of Hakata’s hearts is broken. If the Gotcha Birds decide to attack Astronaut Academy to get the bunny students from Hoppiton, it could disrupt the Fireball Tournament!!

Students, teachers, and non-students take turns telling/showing their stories in this wacky graphic novel – does your Astronaut Academy have classes in Advanced Heart Studies, Fire Throwing, Run-on Sentences, and Wearing Cute Hats? (you can’t win Dinosaur Driving Races if you don’t wear a Cute Hat… just ask Maribelle Mellonbelly)

Action! Adventure! Oxygen gum and flashbacks! The first semester at Astronaut Academy has it all…with an extra helping of funny! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)