December 2014 – Booktalking #kidlit

Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift

Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift
by Dara Goldman (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” retold for kids as a Christmas and Hanukkah story…

Snippet:
Hanukkah was almost here and Stella wanted to give Boris something special. She shook her savings bank upside down. Only a few coins fell out. How could she give Boris something special if she only had a few coins?

She looked around her little apartment. All she had of value was a pine tree from her family’s farm in Italy. Her papa had given it to her when it was a seedling. It reminded Stella of her home and family during Christmas.

Suddenly, Stella had an idea.

See the book trailer.

Poetry Friday is here with Santa Clauses

Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole
by Bob Raczka (Author) and Chuck Groenink (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Want a peek at life on the North Pole? Read Santa’s 25 haiku as the December days tick down to Christmas. (Here is the poem for December 5th, this week’s Poetry Friday!)

Snippet:

December 5th

I untie knots in
strings on lights while Mrs. Claus
ties bows on presents.

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is here at Booktalking.
Come see this week’s Poetry Friday round-up on Pinterest!

And here are the links without images:

Thanks, everyone!

Mary Engelbreit’s Nutcracker

Mary Engelbreit’s Nutcracker
by Mary Engelbreit (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: A retelling of the Christmas classic…

Snippet:
Drosselmeyer gave Fritz a large box of magnificent toy soldiers. Turning to Marie, he presented two large dolls, Harlequin and Columbine.

Memoirs of an Elf

Memoirs of an Elf
by Devin Scillian (Author) and Tim Bowers (Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s Christmas Eve and Spark Elf has the very important job of keeping Santa Claus on schedule as he travels the globe in 24 hours delivering presents.

Snippet:
Midnight
Launch time. Santa kisses Momma Claus and waves to the other elves.
I’ve got the GPS. Bobbin is in charge of the toybag. And Nutshell has the nice list.

Kitchen Math

Kitchen Math (Math Everywhere!)
by Katie Marsico (Author)

Booktalk: Math is everywhere in the kitchen! See what’s cooking inside this book—and how we need math to finish the job! You’ll need your math smarts to help measure ingredients, calculate cooking times, add and subtract fractions, double and halve recipes, convert cups to ounces and back again, and more.

Snippet: Aunt Megan says that the roast’s size affects the cooking time. Overcooking meat makes it tough. Undercooking it can make people sick.

Tony studies the label. The roast weighs 5 pounds [2.3 kilograms]. The directions say to preheat the oven to 325F [163 C]. The beef needs to cook for 23-25 minutes per pound.

Tony and Aunt Megan need to figure our how long the beef should roast.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!