Today is a very special day!

Wow, where do I start?  Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett came to our school!  As I was standing in the back of the multi-purpose room watching their presentation, I suddenly had a moment of "Wow! These guys are at my school!"

They arrived an hour early and had a nice Togos lunch waiting for them.  And also some ninja bread men cookies that I had made.

Teachers had an opportunity to chat with the authors and after lunch we toured the library.  They got to see my author photo wall, on which they spotted themselves and several of their friends.  They stopped to say hello to Mrs. Gaither's class who were in the library at the time and then it was off to the multipurpose room for the presentation.

Mr. Scieszka spoke first.  He shared many stories from his childhood growing up with 4 brothers, including how his brother Greg broke his collar bone 5 times.  Then Mr. Barnett took a turn and ended up on an extended rant about Scooby and Scrappy Doo.  They took some questions from the students but the students were eager to hear about their new book Battle Bunny.

The premise of Battle Bunny is that a boy named Alex receives from his grandmother a super sweet book called Birthday Bunny as a birthday gift.  Alex decides the book does not suit his taste, so he 'improves' it.  So, essentially, Mr. Scieszka and Mr. Barnett wrote 2 books.  First, they wrote Birthday Bunny, which was illustrated by Matthew Myers.  Then, they went back and wrote Alex's version - Battle Bunny with additional illustrations.  The book is hilarious and really gets the kids where they live.  The authors read a portion of the book simultaneously, with Mr. Barnett reading Birthday Bunny and Mr. Scieszka reading Battle Bunny.  They then asked the students to come up with their own Bunnies and they came up with a Vampire Bunny, Volcano Bunny, Scooby Doo Bunny, and Mac Barnett Bunny, to name a few.

After the presentation, students were able to get their books signed and talk to the authors.

And of course, I got another picture to add to my author wall.

Then the day was over and they were off to Hicklebee's Children's Bookstore for their next appearance.

I'd like to thank Miss Valerie and Miss Katherine of Hicklebee's for giving Marshall Lane the opportunity to host these fabulous authors.  It makes me so happy that our students were able to experience this.

I'd also like to thank all my wonderful library volunteers who covered the library at lunch time and helped keep the event running smoothly and especially Miss Ronda who set up the sound system, directed traffic in the multi-purpose room and got Miss Katherine out of the parking lot.

And finally, I'd like to thank Mrs. Spencer, our principal, for organizing lunch and giving up her parking space.

Be sure to check out mybirthdaybunny.com for some free downloads and more information.

Yes, it truly was a special day.

I'M SO EXCITED!

Today, my loyal readers, my dream has come true!  Thanks to the best bookstore in the world Hicklebee's Children's bookstore, none other than Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett are coming to Marshall Lane!

Mr. Scieszka and Mr. Barnett have written a book together called Battle Bunny which will be coming out October 22.  Now I got very excited when I found out that these two amazing authors had collaborated on a book so when Hicklebee's called me this morning to see if we could host them I nearly spontaneously combusted!  If you have been following my blog at all, you'll know how much I adore these two authors (and how I have stalked them, check the tags!)

Here's a book trailer of Battle Bunny.



I can't wait to read this book!

So you know them when they come, this is Mac Barnett.  He wrote Extra Yarn, The Brixton Brothers Mysteries, Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem, and Chloe and the Lion among others.

This is Jon Scieszka.  He wrote The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, The Spaceheadz Trilogy, and The Time Warp Trio series, plus more!

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Battle Bunny, a flyer will be going home tomorrow for pre-ordering copies of the book or come see me in the library.

My Good Friend Mac Barnett

Okay, well, he's not really my good friend but he is a very nice fellow and also very funny.  He happened to tweet on Friday that he would be at the Burlingame Library today reading some of his books to kick off National Library Week. Well, Burlingame's not so far away so I decided to go because Mac Barnett is a great writer!  Just ask him.

I'm so glad I did because I got to hear him read from his new not-yet-published book Count the Monkeys, which is illustrated by Kevin Cornell and will be coming out in June.  It is delightful and hilarious and I cannot wait to read it to you guys!  Sadly, I won't be able to until next school year but you don't have to wait to read it for yourself once it comes out.

Here is a picture of Mr. Barnett reading from his new book with an expert page turner (she claimed to be a volunteer from the audience but I think she was a plant):

After the reading Mr. Barnett kindly signed books for the folks in attendance.  I asked him to sign a couple of books for Marshall Lane and he asked if he'd been to Marshall Lane.  I said 'no, but you've been to Hicklebee's' to which he replied, 'oh I've signed books for Marshall Lane before' and I said 'yes, many.' (Look for Mac Barnett in the list of labels to the right to see evidence of this.)

Here is a picture of me with Mr. Barnett that makes it look like we are good friends.

Mr. Barnett is a very nice man with a high tolerance for stalkery school library techs.

"I have seen my hat." - Bear

You may remember back in January, I wrote about a new book called Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.  It is such a delightful book and has become a big hit in the knitting community, especially among knitting librarians.  The library will be getting a copy from Junior Library Guild this month.  Actually, I will also be donating my old copy to the library because now I have a new copy signed by both the author and the illustrator!  Mr. Barnett and Mr. Klassen visited Hicklebee's today.  They took turns reading books and holding books.  Mr. Barnett read his hilarious book Guess Again!, then Mr. Klassen read I Want My Hat Back (squeeee!), and finally Mr. Barnett read Extra Yarn.  Here's some pictures of the action (you can see Miss Valerie in the first picture):

After the reading, Mr. Barnett explained how books are made.  It was very enlightening!  I had no idea that pirates and fire breathing sea monsters were involved in the book making process.  We also learned that the Pacific Ocean is made of Mac Barnett's tears.  Later, while taking questions from the audience, Mr. Klassen revealed the true fate of the rabbit in I Want My Hat Back.  But I won't say it here because that's not my question to answer.  All I can say is that your worst fears have probably come true.

Afterwards, Mr. Barnett and Mr. Klassen signed books and I had decided - as soon as I found out they were coming to Hicklebee's - that I would bring them a gift made from some of my extra yarn.  So last night I made them each a finger mustache.  Here's a picture:

You may also remember how I was inspired to make Bear's pointy hat.  Well, I also decided it would be fun to give that hat to Jon Klassen to thank him for writing such a fun book.  Also it would be fun to see it on his head:

Turns out is was super fun!  I'm absolutely delighted! Thanks again, Hicklebee's!  And thank you Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett for writing and illustrating (not respectively) such wonderful books!

Hey kids!  Be sure to check out the Brixton Brothers mysteries by Mac Barnett at the library.  They are hilarious!

Mythology and Fairytales

I'd like to tell you about two books that I've recently finished.  The first is The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt. This book was a Newbery Honor book for 2009.  It is the story of a hound dog who is chained to the porch of his sociopath owner's run down shack and befriends and protects a cat and her newborn kittens.  Alongside this story, we learn the mythology of Grandmother Moccasin who lies imprisoned in a clay jar for 1000 years.  The stories intertwine throughout the book and finally intersect at the end.  I don't want to give too much away because the unfolding of Grandmother Moccasin's story is far more interesting than the story of the animals under the porch.  The story of tragedy of the pets of cruel masters has been told and retold but here, with the added flavor of myth, the story is given more depth.  I thought the book was good, though I didn't love it.  It seems like the kind of book that librarians would want kids to read.  Even I want kids to read it but I fear it will have little appeal for most kids.

This next book I finished this morning.  It's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin and it was a Newbery Honor book for 2010.  As The Underneath was steeped in mythology, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is steeped in fairytales.  This is a wonderful book about a girl who seeks the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change the fortune of her family.  Along the way, she meets a variety of people and creatures, all of whom share their stories with her.  Each story she is told provides her with important information to help her on her quest.  In fact, it is the stories her father tells her that propel her on her journey in the first place.  As in fairytales, her cleverness, kindness, selflessness, and thankfulness earn her her good fortune in the end. I enjoyed this book very much.

Mythology and fairytales are very important to fiction, which is like saying water is very important to fish.  It's pretty obvious.  And while I didn't love The Underneath, I do appreciate the way that mythology was used to tell the story, to create parallels and symbolism.  I love that in fairytales, kindness, cleverness, and bravery are always rewarded and this holds true in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

In other news, some author appearances of note: Kevin Henkes will be at Hicklebees on February 28th and Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back) and Mac Barnett (The Brixton Brothers Mysteries) will be at Hicklebees on March 6 for their new collaboration Extra Yarn.  The library will be getting a copy of Extra Yarn from Junior Library Guild in about a month or so, but I plan to have a signed copy for the library before then!  (Squeeee!  I'm so excited!)

Books! Books! Books!

Two days ago, the Newbery Award Winner was revealed.  So I promptly downloaded the audio version of Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos.  I finished listening to it today and I believe it is well deserving of the Newbery Award.  The story is based partly on the author's own childhood growing up in Norvelt, Pennsylvania in the 1960's.  Grounded for the summer, Jack spends his time reading books about history and helping an elderly neighbor write obituaries for the local newspaper, all the while battling his "nose problem".  But things are changing in the little town of Norvelt.  The Hell's Angels have come to town and the little old ladies of the town are dying off.  Could these two events be related?  Jack Gantos tells his semi-autobiographical tale with great humor and reverence for history.  Several times I laughed out loud while listening to the audio book, which, by the way, is read by the author.  Incidentally, the books that Jack reads in the book are from the Landmark series which were published in the 1960's.  When I first started working at Marshall Lane, the library had many Landmark titles from the 1960's on the shelves.  Our library has been updated quite a bit since then.

 The next book I want to tell you about is The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, by Barbara O'Connor.  Barbara O'Connor is the author The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis which I wrote about here.  This adventure is slightly larger than that of Popeye and Elvis.  One night, while lying in bed trying to fall asleep, Owen Jester hears the distinct sound of a large object fall off a train.  The adventure begins when Owen and his friends search the nearby railroad tracks for the mysterious object.  What they find brings even more adventure.  This was really a delightful story.  I highly recommend it.

This next book is not yet in the library, but I hope to get a copy soon.  I had to buy this one for myself.  Extra Yarn was written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, who you may remember as the author and illustrator of one of my new favorite books I Want My Hat Back which also earned a Geisel Honor.  Anyway, I follow both Mac Barnett and Joh Klassen on Twitter and was alerted that they had this book coming out so I pre-ordered it immediately, sight unseen, because it's called Extra Yarn.  The story is about a little girl  who finds a box of extra yarn and puts it to good use, but the box never seems to run out of yarn!   I have a box of extra yarn and it never seems to run out either!  It's a sweet story and our old friend Bear makes a cameo in the illustrations.

Well, that's all I've got for now.  There's a pile of new books waiting for me to finish processing them tomorrow.  Yay new books!

14 Authors and a pair of socks.

Last Saturday, Mr. Richards and I spent the day in San Francisco and one of the things we did there was we went to the San Francisco Public library to see a couple of my favorite authors in conversation about a new book that I now have in the library. The book is called The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. It is a collection of short stories written by many famous authors inspired by the picture book by Chris Van Allsburg called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was originally published back in 1984 and the story goes that an editor was presented with a stack of pictures from 14 stories written by Harris Burdick, who wished to be published. The editor was intrigued by the pictures which were accompanied by titles and captions, hints of the larger stories, and asked Mr. Burdick to bring the complete stories to him the following day. Mr. Burdick left the pictures with the editor, but never returned. The editor could not track him down. The editor handed the pictures over to Mr. Van Allsburg who compiled them into a book to allow readers to imagine the stories that might accompany the drawings. Which is exactly what the 14 authors of The Chronicles of Harris Burdick have done. This great collection of authors includes Stephen King, Kate DiCamillo, Jon Scieszka, Lois Lowry, Louis Sachar, and Linda Sue Park with an introduction written by Lemony Snicket, who was at the San Francisco Public Library along with Chris Van Allsburg and Mac Barnett (The Brixton Brothers Mysteries). Here is a picture of me and Mr. Snicket yucking it up while he signs my book:
Here is a picture of the slightly more phlegmatic Mr. Van Allsburg signing my book. (Yes, you have to look up the word phlegmatic for yourself.)
Sadly, I didn't know that Mr. Barnett would be moderating the discussion so I didn't have a book for him to sign. I'll get him next time, though!

In other news, I finished that pair of socks I started while waiting for Brian Selznick to give his presentation a couple of weeks ago. Here is what they look like now:

In other other news, the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever has been released. I don't have it in the library yet, but the Book Fair is coming to the Library December 5th and I'm hoping I can get a couple copies for the library then. Until then, I should be getting a new shipment from Junior Library Guild very soon and there's always good stuff in those boxes! If you've already read Cabin Fever, leave a comment and tell me what you thought of it.