Blog Post
Texts from Jane Eyre
by eapearce
In the hilarious new book Texts from Jane Eyre, and Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters, readers get to see goofy, imagined text conversations involving characters from many well-known books. This fun book is a quick read, and definitely offers some hearty chuckles by placing centuries-old characters in the modern day. I was especially pleased by how well the author, Mallory Ortberg, takes the often-humorous neuroses of these characters and accurately imagines how they would come through via text message. Even the writing style of the book that each character appears in is maintained in the texts. Ortberg initially wrote some “text” series for the website The Toast and you can see those—and get a preview of the book!— here.
Blog Post
Hilarious new BIRD picture books!
by eapearce
School is back in session, but not everyone goes to elementary school: little birdies have to attend flight school! Or at least, those little birdies do who are SUPPOSED to learn how to fly. When Penguin arrives for HIS first day of flight school, Teacher is taken aback.
"But you, dear, are a penguin," she says.
"Undeniable," Penguin replies, "but I have the soul of an eagle."
So begins the hilariously told and illustrated story of Penguin's attempts to learn to fly in Lita Judge's Flight School. And just imagine what happens when Penguin decides to bring his friend Ostrich along for a lesson!
If you're interested in other goofy bird books, The ABC of Fabulous Princesses, by Willy Puchner, is a must-read. Prince William must find a wife, and all of the bird empresses are eager to impress him. Some are big, some are small, some are quiet, some are loud... but they all come from different countries bearing a unique gift for Prince William. Puchner's illustrations and rhymes are funny and fantastic. This is a great book not meant just for folks first learning their alphabet!
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A Princess and a Pig Switch Places...
by skcramer
What would happen if a princess and a pig switched places? If you guessed a lot of laughs, you’re right! Check out Jonathan Emmett’s hilarious picture book The Princess and the Pig to find out exactly what happens when a princess is raised by pig farmers and a pig is raised… as a princess! Perfect for fans of Robert Munsch’s classic picture book The Paper Bag Princess, and my favorite picture book discovery this year.
Blog Post
Wonderful Youth Poetry Books
by LibraryMaven
The summer may be starting to wind down, but there's still plenty of time to read! One often-forgotten genre in the world of kid's books is poetry. There is a ton of great youth poetry out there beyond Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky (beloved as they are) and it's often short, sweet, and funny. Poetry can sometimes seem intimidating to get into, but the books below are anything but! With the summertime left to us, why not try out some of this awesome genre?
Mirror Mirror: A book of reversible verse and Follow Follow: a book of reverso verse, both by Marilyn Singer, are retellings of fairy tales with a twist: they tell one point of view read top to bottom, and another point of view when read bottom to top. Figuring out which fairy tale each story is telling is a lot of fun, plus the illustrations are gorgeous.
Following up the fairy tale theme, Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: false apology poems by Gail Carson Levine is full of fairy tale characters who aren't REALLY sorry for their misbehavior and use poems to falsely apologize a la William Carlo William's poem "This is Just to Say."
Last, but not least, we have This Is Just to Say: poems of apology and forgiveness by Joyce Sidman. This book features a (fictional) class of sixth graders writing poems asking for forgiveness for various infractions, both serious and less so, with a corresponding second half in which the poem recipients write their own poems in response. If you like your poetry to have a little narrative to it, this one is for you.
Go forth and explore poetry!
Blog Post
Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell
by manz
After reading Rainbow Rowell’s Printz Honor winning teen novel Eleanor & Park and falling in love with it, I was very excited about what was next from her. I then ate up the next teen novel Fangirl, even though it didn’t taste quite the same as Eleanor & Park. While waiting for another teen book by her I went back and grabbed her adult novel, Attachments – and it was a delightful read.
In Attachments it’s 1999 and Lincoln’s job as “internet security officer” is to monitor company email, reading and flagging any inappropriate work emails being sent. He gets caught up in reading email conversations between Beth and Jennifer. They talk about life as best girlfriends should, sharing many intimate details. He knows he should flag the emails and turn them in, but he can’t – he has to continue reading their saga. Lincoln falls for Beth through reading these emails, which are just hilarious. (I want to hang out with Beth and Jennifer and laugh at their quips.) But how will Lincoln ever be able to meet Beth in person and not mention that he’s been reading about her life and that he feels like he knows her?
Oh, does Rowell write some funny dialog! I really enjoyed the alternating format of reading Beth and Jennifer’s email exchanges laced with chapters about Lincoln’s life – living with his mother, playing Dungeons & Dragons, joining a gym, and reconnecting with a college buddy in order to force social interactions on his awkward self. It's a great summer read, even for those not into love stories.
Next up from Rowell is Landline, and she’s also collaborating on writing two graphic novels, according to her wonderfully designed website.
Blog Post
Hogwarts for Fairy Tales
by skcramer
School may be out for the summer, but this summer is the perfect time to discover The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani.
At this school, students learn how to be fairy-tale heroes and villains, with good students (known as Evers) attending classes like princess etiquette and animal communication and evil students (known as Nevers) tackling subjects like uglification and henchman training. The story focuses on two new students, best friends Sophie and Agatha, who seem to have been mixed up in the wrong schools. As golden-haired Sophie struggles in the School for Evil, trying to convince everyone she really belongs in the School for Good, foul-tempered Agatha just wants to escape the School for Good and return home.
Fans of the Harry Potter series will enjoy this new twist on a magical boarding school, complete with its own annual traditions, mythical creatures and unusual headmaster, while fans of ’s A Tale Dark and Grimm will appreciate its exploration of the darker side of fairy tales.
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Love Roald Dahl? Try Mr. Gum!
by skcramer
Mr. Gum is a thoroughly rotten old man, but the Mr. Gum series by Andy Stanton is anything but rotten. In fact, it’s downright hilarious.
Reminiscent of Roald Dahl, this series combines plenty of off-the-wall humor with an eccentric villain and a touch of magic to create a thoroughly enjoyable read that is also a fantastic read-aloud. The series begins with You’re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum!, in which our villainous Mr. Gum attempts to get his revenge on the dog who dug up his yard. It continues with Mr. Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire, Mr. Gum and the Goblins, Mr. Gum and the Power Crystals, Mr. Gum and the Dancing Bear, What’s for Dinner, Mr. Gum?, Mr. Gum and the Cherry Tree, and Mr. Gum and the Secret Hideout.
So if you’re looking for new adventures after journeying to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and making friends with Matilda, then you should definitely take a look at the Mr. Gum series.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor Civic Theater: Noises Off
by annevm
Ann Arbor Civic Theater will present Noises Off May 8-11. From the synopsis on the A2ct web page: "Noises Off finds a dysfunctional theater troupe mounting a classic farce entitled Nothing On. This comedy-within-a-comedy offers the audience a glimpse behind the scenes during dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance toward the end of the run." Ticket information is here.
Blog Post
Teen Fiction Picks: Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood
by prlhw
Have you ever dreamed of being related to a celebrity? Riding in limos and mingling with the glitterati? Abby Spencer never has, until now. But it’s not a dream -- it’s reality. In Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood by Varsha Bajaj, thirteen-year-old Abby bugs her mom to contact her father, who she’s never even met, to track down her medical history after nearly dying from a surprise allergy. When she finds him, she discovers that her dad is a Bollywood film star in Mumbai, India! It isn’t until he asks her to come visit him in Mumbai that Abby’s life starts getting flipped upside down. Join Abby, a hilariously witty character, for a crazy adventurous summer dodging paparazzi and experiencing Indian culture in ways she had never dreamed of.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #452
by muffy
Delicious! * is absolutely irresistible if you are a Ruth Reichl fan. The former New York Times restaurant critic, Gourmet magazine editor-in-chief, and bestselling author of culinary memoirs is turning to fiction (some would say rather semi-autobiographical?) for the first time, and the result is "a magical novel... that draws brilliantly on her wisdom and humor about life, her perceptiveness about family, her understanding of character, her belief in romance, and ... her description of food, so vivid you can taste every bite".
My advice: Do not attempt on an empty stomach!
College drop-out Billie Breslin lands the dream job at Delicious!, New York's most iconic food magazine. She has no culinary skills to recommend her but a "superhuman palate" (she can taste any dish and list its ingredients and suggest the flavors it needs) which endears her to the colorful staff at the magazine, as well as customers at the famous Italian food shop where she works on weekends.
When Delicious! is abruptly shut down, Billie stays on in the empty office to maintaining the hotline for reader complaints, one of which leads her to a cache of letters hidden in the magazine's library, written during WWII by a Lulu Swan to the legendary chef James Beard.
This discovery leads to more clues (in the card catalog!!), a road trip, a forged connection, a glamor-makeover; and gives her the courage to face her fears, and be open to romantic possibilities.
"Reichl's... insider's look at life at a food magazine is fascinating. Her satisfying coming-of-age novel of love and loss vividly demonstrates the power of food to connect people across cultures and generations."
Also included are: A Conversation Between Ann Patchett and Ruth Reichl, and Billie's Gingerbread recipe.
* = starred review