A Tale of Two Castles

A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What would happen if Puss in Boots met Sherlock Holmes? Gail Carson Levine cleverly combines the mystery and fairytale genre in her new book. The heroine Elodie has left her family to gain an apprenticeship in the town of Two Castles. Unbeknownst to her parents, she plans on entering the exciting world of a mansioner or actress. However, she realizes when she arrives in town that she doesn't have the income to join this profession. Luckily, the dragon It steps in and takes her in as an apprentice. Elodie is soon helping It solve a mysterious case involving an ogre's missing dog. Elodie's world changes completely as she moves from farmer's daughter to a servant in a castle, and she realizes that it can be difficult to tell who is a real friend and who may be a whited sepulchre.



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Storytime Books for the Week of April 10-16

This week is National Library Week, so our preschoolers read several library oriented books in storytime. They also wrote their own books at the end of each class, which was extremely cute for us librarians to watch. It was great to see the kids working on their pre-writing skills while practicing writing the word "princess" or drawing pictures of dragons and knights. Here are the books the preschoolers read in storytime this week:

The Library Dragon by Carmen Deedy

Miss Lotta Scales is a dragon who believes her job is to protect the school's library books from the children, but when she finally realizes that books are meant to be read, the dragon turns into Miss Lotty, librarian and storyteller. The new librarian is a real fire-breathing dragon who in time learns to trust children with her books. The new librarian at Sunrise Elementary School is a real dragon!

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra A librarian named Mavis McGrew introduces the animals in the zoo to the joy of reading when she drives her bookmobile to the zoo by mistake. Book! Book! Book! By Deborah Bruss When the children go back to school, the animals on the farm are bored, so they go into the library in town trying to find something to do. The babies and toddlers used the spring weather as inspiration for their storytime, which featured rain and ducks. Miss Kim's Babies Storytime and Little Tykes class read:

Little Quack by Lauren Thompson

One by one, four ducklings find the courage to jump into the pond and paddle with Mama Duck, until only Little Quack is left in the nest, trying to be brave.

Here Comes the Rain by Mary Murphy

A cat tries to run away from a rain cloud, but when the rain comes she finds that it is cool, tickly, gentle, clean, and lovely.

Miss Rachel's (My) Bedtime Stories class and Babies and Toddlers class read:

Ten Rubber Duckies: A Wacky Quacky Counting Adventure by Dawn Bentley Young ones will love learning to count backwards from nine to one as touchable, squeaky rubber ducks race down a river.

Little White Duck by Walt Whippo Based on the song of the same title, a little white duck causes a commotion in its pond.

Bestselling Books In!

We just received in a few very popular children's fiction books. If you put a hold on any of these books now, you will be able to borrow a copy before we put them out on the shelves.

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull.
From Booklist:
Best known as the author of the popular Fablehaven series, Mull offers a new fantasy adventure, in which Jason and Rachel, two American kids, are separately drawn into an alternate world called Lyrian. They want to return home, but they don't know how. Aided by Rachel, the Blind King, and other allies, 13-year-old Jason undertakes a quest to discover the magical word needed to overthrow Maldor, Lyrian's evil emperor. The two teens set out to find the word's closely guarded syllables while thwarting the maneuvers of Maldor's crafty, vicious minions. Headlong adventure scenes, inventively conceived creatures, and surprising plot twists all figure into the mix as Jason and Rachel make their way through this treacherous world. The book's conclusion is not so much an ending as a respite before the beginning of the sequel. Readers seeking character-driven fiction should look elsewhere, but those drawn to long, action-filled fantasies may want to try Mull's latest. Grades 4-7. --Carolyn Phelan


The 39 Clues: Vespers Rising. By Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson.
Fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother Dan thought they could return to their regular lives when they found the 39 clues. But the Vespers, powerful enemies, will stop at nothing to get the clues. And with the Vespers rising, the world is in jeopardy.











Warriors:Sign of the Moon by Erin Hunter

As Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovepaw continue trying to understand the mysterious prophecy that binds them, Jayfeather receives a desperate plea for help from the Tribe of the Rushing Water.










The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: the Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood.
From Booklist *Starred Review*
When we last saw Miss Penelope Lumley, governess to three wolflike children (but making tremendous strides!), she was trying to recoup after the Incorrigibles had brought Lord and Lady Ashton's Christmas ball to a disastrous halt. Now home renovations are needed, so the Ashton household is on the move to London, where Lady Ashton hopes she will be the belle of British society, and Penelope looks forward to civilizing the Incorrigibles further with trips to the theater and museums. But the undercurrent of 'something wicked this way comes' and the signs of impending trouble for both governess and charges make the air here thick with (dreadful!) possibilities. Of course, there are some happier times in the city, too, as Penelope meets up with her beloved headmistress from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and finds a new friend in a helpful, unemployed playwright. Questions about the children's backgrounds, Penelope's connections to them, and Lord Ashton's own wolfish behavior set the stage for the next act of this most excellent adventure, the follow-up to The Mysterious Howling (2010). Interior illustrations not seen, but no doubt they'll be most satisfactory. Grades 4-6. --Ilene Cooper

Storytime Books for this Week!

We get many requests from parents for the titles of the books we have in storytime each week. I thought I would make it easier for you by listing the titles that we are reading on the web. If you are attending storytime with your child, you can also find the titles listed on the handouts your teacher passes out each class. Miss Anne's Preschool Storytime (Rainy Spring Theme): It's Raining, It's Pouring by Kin Eagle, In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, and The Puddle by David McPhail Miss Kim's and Miss Rachel's (my) Baby/Toddler Storytimes (Our Farm Friends Theme): Cock-a-Moo-Moo by Juliet Dallas-Conte, This Little Chick by John Lawrence, and Old McDonald Had a Cow by Harriet Ziefert.

Zeus: King of the Gods by George O'Connor

With the advent of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, we began to see a wonderful trend in the Greenwood Public Library: books that had not been checked out in years were being checked out. In fact, we could not keep them on the shelves. Suddenly, every nonfiction and fiction book about Greek mythology was being checked out. And we realized we needed a lot more.

Luckily for us librarians, the publishing world also seemed to get this memo. Soon we had many more books about Greek mythology to collect, some being better than others. Some were too cute, some were too confusing, but a few met the criteria kids were looking for after reading the Percy Jackson novels. They wanted action, they wanted accuracy, and they wanted Greek mythology to come alive for them.

George O'Connor has done just that with his graphic novel, Zeus: King of the Gods. He accurately describes the beginning of creation, according to Greek mythology, and the birth of Zeus. However, he doesn't just write about it, he illustrates it. He makes Greek mythology come alive for children who may have difficulty imagining how a being like Hekatonchieres could have fifty heads and one hundred hands, or how Gaea could fashion a sickle out of Adamantine. O'Connor not only illustrates these stories beautifully, but includes a glossary of Greek notes to explain to children the meaning of the names and to add more detail to the story. The only downfall to this story is that it stops with the creation of Mt. Olympus. I left it wanting to read the rest of the Olympians series, but only one other book by O'Connor, Athena: The Grey-Eyed Goddess is available at the moment. George O'Connor has already written a few graphic novels about the Olympians, and hopes to create twelve in total. Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: The Grey-Eyed Goddess have both been published and are available at the library. Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory and Hades: The Wealthy One should be out later this year. Zeus and Athena can be found in the Greenwood Public Library's juvenile graphic novel section. We also have several other books on Greek mythology at the library. They can be found under the call number 292 in the juvenile non-fiction section or the juvenile graphic novel section.

Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes

Finding good books for toddlers can be a difficult task. Finding good books for toddler that mom and dad don't mind looking at one hundred times can be an even more difficult task. Little White Rabbit is one book that actually meets the criteria. Henkes's text is short and simple, gentle and repetitive-perfect for a toddler's short attention span. But the illustrations are what really makes this story enjoyable. Little Rabbit hops along throughout the story wondering what it would be like to be green, tall, a rock, and to fly. Each illustration of Little Rabbit wondering takes up two full pages of sweet, detailed, and somewhat humorous pictures. Little White Rabbit makes for a very enchanting read that I almost enjoy more to the babies I share it with. Because it features a rabbit, it would be a good choice for an Easter or spring story. You can find Little White Rabbit at the Greenwood Public Library in our new Juvenile Picture books under Henkes.

Buster on the Farm

Buster Baxter, of Arthur fame, has his own series of early readers called Postcards from Buster. In this series, Buster visits several places and sends tales of his adventures via postcard to his friend Arthur. Buster on the Farm chronicles Buster’s visit to a farm in Indiana. On his friend’s Lauren’s farm, Buster rides a tractor, gathers eggs, milks cows, bales hay, goes to a county fair. The book contains a glossary to explain some more difficult words for beginning readers and has a page with a few facts about the state of Indiana. Buster’s blog on PBS further describes his visit to Lauren’s farm in Knox, Indiana and the Indiana State fair. You can find his blog at http://pbskids.org/buster/blog/in_knox_bl.html. Buster on the Farm is located in the juvenile easy reader section of the Greenwood Public Library under Brown.