Teens Only | And Speaking of Fathers...

Sunday, June 16th is Father's Day. Since this is a library blog, after all, I thought I would talk about a book that always reminds me of the bond between a father and child.

To me, that book is Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. By the way, the Library has this book in every format imaginable, including playaway, compact disc,and downloadable from the Library's Overdrive site, so there really is no excuse not to read it.

A little history on the book: A Wrinkle in Time, a science fiction/fantasy novel by American writer Madeleine L'Engle, was first published in 1962. It was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1963. 

What's it about? In a nutshell, it's the story of 14-year-old Meg Murry, who is seen by many as a bit of a troublesome child. Her family, though, knows she is destined for great things. By the way, her family includes her beautiful mother, her athletic 10-year-old twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, and her super-genius 5-year-old brother Charles Wallace Murry, who can sometimes read Meg's mind. It also includes Meg's scientist father, a government scientist, who has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract.

The story starts when a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and fantastic journey that will threaten their lives...and our universe! 

I'm not going to spoil the joy of reading this book for you, so I'll say no more. But suffice it to say, when I read this book for the first time, I really, really liked it. And I remember being very moved by the relationship between Meg and her father.

It's time for me to read it again. And I will do just that this weekend.

Because after all it's Father's Day. 

And a Happy Father's Day to my Dad, a truly incredible man who lives on in our hearts.

Happy Reading.

 

Book Bucket List | And the Mountain Echoed

When I read Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, it was one of the most moving and powerful books I had read in a long time.  I then went out to get A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I also loved, and got me hooked on Khaled Hosseini as an author. 

Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan.  As a child, he moved with his family to Iran, Paris, and eventually settled in San Jose, California.  Hosseini attended Santa Clara University and graduated with a degree in Biology.  He then attended UC San Diego's medical school.  He practiced medicine while writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, and continued for a year even after The Kite Runner had been released.

This May, Hosseini released his latest novel, And the Mountains Echoed.  The story follows a family across continents and generations.  The story begins with a father telling his children a fairy tale about a boy being stolen by a "div" or ogre.  However, the next day, the father gives away one of his children to a wealthy man who lives in Kabul.  That decision sets off events in that family for over fifty years where Hosseini dives into what it means to be a family, tough decisions, and loyalty.

Learning | Bon Appétit!

Hey, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, caregivers of children! Summer Reading began on June 1. You probably have heard that this year's theme is "Reading is So Delicious." Many of us are thinking about our favorite food-themed books. One recent favorite of mine is a children's picture book with the Bullwinkle Effect--ostensibly, the targeted audience is children, but I think adults will enjoy reading this book with children.

Bon Appétit: the delicious life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland was published in 2012. It's a biography of an amazing woman.  She never quite fit into the roles one might have expected for her. She made her own career as the person who introduced French cooking techniques to the American culture through her cooking show. I remember my mother watching that show every week.  

Bon Appetit does not follow the typical narrative form of a biography; there are multiple illustrations on every page, with captions that range from humorous and informative to downright wise.  This format makes it especially suited to snuggling up with your child, reading together, and discussing what you see.

You may also want to watch the DVD Julie & Julia, or read the book that inspired the movie. We even have the e-book version; just click on the link in the title of the DVD to see the formats the library offers.  Julie & Julia is based on the true story of a journalist whose blog was based on the premise of learning to cook 524 Julia Child recipes in 365 days.  

What are your favorite books about chefs?

4 Kids | A Fun Little Game For You

Now that school is out, it's time to have some fun! So I thought I'd play a little game with you. I know you, dear reader, have read lots and lots of children's books. I just know you have! So let's see how much you remember!

Below are first lines from some of the best children's books ever. Can you figure out which book each line comes from? Don't worry. I'm not going to make you wait a whole week to find out how right you were! The answers are below. But don't look at the answers until you've really given it your best.

1. "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another...his mother called him "wild thing!"

2. "These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr. Bucket."

3. "Frog ran up the path to Toad's house."

4. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

5. "'Where's Papa going with that ax?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

6. "There is no lake at Camp Green Lake."

7. "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines."

8. "Sunday: I wish I'd started keeping a journal a lot earlier on, because whoever ends up writing my biography is gonna have a lot of questions about my life in the years leading up to middle school."

9. "Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy."

 

www.rkvryquarterly.com

 A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.  -- Chinese Proverb

Ok, now here are the answers:

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 

3. Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

5. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

6. Holes by Louis Sachar

7. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

9. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

 
 

 

Just Life | Help! Zombies Are On The Loose

Welcome to the Zombie Land.

It seems like, everywhere you look, there are traces of these man-eating monsters.

From television programs to books, to movies, we are bombarded by zombies these days. Vampires move over, zombies are taking over.

We even have these hilarious zombie bookmarks at Chavez Reference Desk, courtesy of CA office of traffic safety warning us about these dangerous zombies who are apparently "driving" freely among us.

Let me introduce these zombies to you, maybe you are one of them and haven't realized it yet:

1. Glam Zombies- Those of you who put on your makeup while driving fall under this category.
2. Grubbin' Zombies- If you eat and drive at the same time, You fall under this category. (Honestly, who doesn't fall under this category)
3. Party Zombies- Those of you who dance while driving are definitely Party Zombies.
4. Day-Dreaming Zombies- Those of us who pay attention to everything on the road except driving fall under this category.

So be aware! 

Zombies are everywhere and anywhere even in your library. 

If you want to have one of these zombie bookmarks, come to the Chavez Reference Desk.  

Anyway,

Are you a fan of the Walking Dead television series? Did you know that it is based on the comic books by Robert Kirkman?

Here are a few of his books if you want to test-drive them:

The walking dead. Book 1

The walking dead : rise of the Governor 

I just finished reading Warm Bodies. It is a love story between a zombie and an ordinary girl. It is the perfect book if you don't have anything else to read. Its' movie adaptation just came out too. I tried to watch it one late night while falling in and out of sleep. The movie had too many scary skeletons. I stopped watching it and instead had nightmares that entire night. 

I tell you. I am so fearless.

There is also another zombie movie on the horizon called World War Z. It is based on the novel World War Z : an oral history of the zombie war by Max Brooks. The movie is coming out on June 21st.

Who knows, maybe I am gonna gather up my courage and read this book. I might even go and watch the movie with my dear husband who thrives on scary movies & books.
 
So tell me what Zombie books are you reading nowadays?

Signing off until next Monday- A Grubbin' Zombie

And don't forget to bite into a good book until next time.

Teens Only | In Honor of Best Friends

June 8th is Best Friends Day. I know, I know....there seems to be a "day" for everything, right? But best friends. Here's a "day" I can get behind.

Best friends are really what sustain us, support us, comfort us, stand by us, defend us, and oh so much more. I hope that as you are reading this, your best friend comes to mind. And I hope you smile (just as I am) when you think of the memories you have created with your best friend.

My best friend (or BFF to go with the current vernacular) and I have known each other for over 30 years. And in that time, let me just say: we have laughed and laughed and laughed til we have had tears rolling down our cheeks. 

We have learned many, many things together. But in the interest of not divulging too many of our secrets, I think I'll move forward to some great reading recommendations.

In celebration of best friends, here are four books that celebrate friendship in some way. Two of the titles I've mentioned before, but they're so great they're worth repeating.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This is the story of Hazel and Gus who meet in a cancer support group. One of their diagnoses is terminal. And even though this book's premise is based on facing death and handling loss, Green manages to insert quite a bit of humor in these two wonderfully-developed characters. If you haven't read it, read it. It's a beautiful celebration of friendship.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. This is a great story about how a friendship can develop between two very different people. As Aristotle and Dante grow their friendship, they learn some really important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. 

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. This is actually the companion book to Ship Breaker. I haven't read either of these books yet, one look at the review from Publishers Weekly and I'm sold. I'll be reading both this weekend! Here's the blurb about Drowned Cities:  

Set in the same horrific world as Bacigalupi's Printz-winning Ship Breaker, this superb, violent tale concerns "war maggots" Mahlia and Mouse, two kids trying to survive in an impoverished village not far from the tropical Drowned Cities that were once Washington, D.C. Life is a war zone, with gangs of marauders periodically sweeping the area-raping, pillaging, and forcibly recruiting new boy soldiers for their half-remembered patriotic and religious causes. When Mouse is taken by the United Patriot Front, Mahlia, who has already lost a hand to the war, makes a foolhardy rescue attempt, aided by Tool, a hulking, genetically enhanced half-man, a killing machine who has broken away from his masters. Tool still remembers "how he and his pack had run the streets under fire, blades and machine guns held high," but finds himself forming a new pack of sorts with the determined Mahlia. Beautifully written, filled with high-octane action, and featuring badly damaged but fascinating and endearing characters, this fine novel tops its predecessor and can only increase the author's already strong reputation.

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin. This one is set in a wilderness school, which already sounds pretty adventure and action-packed. It's about a troubled sixteen-year-old girl attending a wilderness school in the Idaho mountains who must finally face the consequences of her complicated friendships with two of the other girls at the school.Yep, this one is on my weekend reading list too!

A few books that feature friendship on this -- Best Friends Day. 

And of course, a special shout out to my BFF: Thank you for everything.

Until next week, happy reading!

Book Bucket List | Reading is Sooo Delicious!

This last Saturday marked the beginning of the 2013 Summer Reading Program! Have you signed up yet?  The library branches will be featuring a number of food related programs through July 31.  You might want to check out:

•  Summer Reading Kick Off at the Troke Library Thursday June 6 at 6:00 p.m.
• SSJCPL Cooks will be at the Manteca Branch Library on June 11 at 2:00 p.m, at the Maya Angelou library on June 18 at 5:00 p.m, and at the Ripon Branch Library on June 20 at 2:00 p.m.
• Pasta Making Workshop at the Tracy Branch Library on June 11 at 4:00 p.m.
• Cake Decorating Demonstration at the Tracy Branch Library on June 25 at 4:00 p.m.

Here at the Manteca Branch Library, we just got in some pretty delicious looking cookbooks.  So in honor of Summer Reading, I'll feature a few of them today.

Eat St. Recipes from the Tastiest, Messiest, and Most Irresistible Food Trucks by James Cunningham features two of my favorite things: food trucks and easy recipes.  The recipes in this book are from food trucks all around the country like Le Truc and Roli Roti from San Francisco and Skillet Street Food from Seattle.  This book has recipes from Maple-Bacon Cupcakes to Kimchi Quesadillas and everything in between.

Curtis Stone, host of Top Chef Masters, has a new cookbook out too.  Curtis Stone's What's for Dinner? features a lot of meals that look like they took a lot of time, but are pretty realistic for the average home

cook.  The wine-braised short ribs and spiced apple pie look particularly appetizing.

Sandra Lee's Every Dish Delivers features a whole year of recipes.  What I like about Sandra Lee is that her recipes feature ingredients that you can easily find at your local supermarket.  She has recipes for New York Grilled Strip, Breakfast for Dinner Cakes, and even Fortune Cookies.