Booktalks – Page 33 – Booktalking #kidlit

Steam Train, Dream Train

Steam Train, Dream Train
by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Author) and Tom Lichtenheld (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The dream train pulls into the station, and one by one the train cars are loaded…

Snippet:
Building blocks,
erector sets,
bikes and kites
and model jets–

The boxcar‘s made
to safely haul
almost
anything at all!

A Girl’s Guide to Fitting in Fitness

A Girl’s Guide to Fitting in Fitness
by Erin Whitehead and Jennipher Walters (Authors)

Booktalk: In this fun and practical guide, the writing duo behind FitBottomedGirls.com offers a real-world teen guide that’s sure to help even the most devoted TV-addict lead a fitter, healthier, and happier life—without the need for a gym or fancy exercise equipment.

Snippet: You’ve heard it repeated a million times: You should eat right and work out. Diet and exercise, diet and exercise, diet and exercise. Simple, right? But between the news of another new superfood and all of the celebrity diet fads out here, it can get pretty confusing.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Kiss, Kiss, Bark!

Kiss, Kiss, Bark!
by Kim Williams Justesen (Author)

Booktalk: Mattie has a couple of dilemmas. First (sigh), her parents are making her babysit her humiliating younger brother nearly nonstop. What could BE more awful than the constant company of a 4-year-old brother who acts like a dog? Then, her best friend’s brother begins to show serious interest in her. Mattie thinks all her prayers have come true, that is, until her best friend Livvy stops returning her phone calls. Is this how a best friend should act?

Snippet: Recently Donny has decided that he’s a dog. Mom and Dad play along with it. If I had tried this when I was four, they would have sat me down and had a long conversation about how dogs are dogs and people are people, and I couldn’t be a dog because I was a people, and I didn’t have fur or a tail or paws.

But that was then, this is Donny.

Tyrannosaurus Dad

Tyrannosaurus Dad
by Liz Rosenberg (Author) and Matthew Myers (Illustrator)

Booktalk: What’s forty feet long, fifteen feet high and wears a necktie? (Tobias’ Dad! He is, after all, a Tyrannosaurus.)

Snippet:
With Tyrannosaurus Dad around, he never felt afraid of spiders or strange noises at night, Still he couldn’t help wishing his father would be — well, a little more part of things. His dad was always, always working.

My Dad Thinks He’s Funny

My Dad Thinks He’s Funny
by Katrina Germein (Author) and Tom Jellett (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The perfect gift for anyone whose dad makes them laugh — or roll their eyes.

Snippet:
My dad thinks he’s funny.
Whenever I say, “I’m hungry,”
Dad says, “Hello, Hungry.
Pleased to meet you.”

10 Plants That Shook The World

10 Plants That Shook The World
by Gillian Richardson (Author) and Kim Rosen (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Plants might start out as leafy things growing in the earth, but they can come into our lives in unexpected ways. And believe it or not, some have even played an exciting role in our world’s history.

Snippet: The latex that tappers collect from rubber trees does not look or feel rubbery. Latex is a liquid that flows from shallow cuts in the bark of mature trees. It becomes rubber after it is pressed, to remove water, and then heated and molded into various shapes.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

A Pet for Miss Wright

Odette’s Secrets
by Judy Young (Author) and Andrea Wesson (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Miss Wright is a writer. She enjoys her work. Each day she sits at her desk and writes stories with marvelous characters who live exciting lives. But, except for the click-click-click of the keyboard, it is quiet in Miss Wright’s office. Too quiet. And too lonely. So Miss Wright decides she needs a pet to keep her company.

Snippet: The monkey certainly kept Miss Wright entertained, but now her stories made no sense. When Miss Wright typed, the monkey put his hands on the keyboard, too. A scramble of mixed-up letters filled the computer screen.

Batman versus Man-Bat

Batman versus Man-Bat (Batman Classic)
by J. E. Bright (Author), Steven E. Gordon (Illustrator) and Eric A. Gordon (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When a half-man, half-bat creature attacks Gotham City, the police think Batman has gone mad. To clear his name, Batman has to defeat the fiendish foe. (Level 2 beginning reader)

Snippet:
It was a moonless night.
Two Gotham City police officers
shouted in shock as a giant bat
landed on their patrol car.
The olice officers ran for safety.
One radioed Commissioner Gordon.
“Batman just smashed our car!”
he yelled into his walkie talkie.

Today’s Air Force Heroes

Today’s Air Force Heroes
by Miriam Aronin (Author)

Booktalk: Meet real-life airmen and women who have displayed incredible courage in the face of danger as they served their country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Snippet: At sunrise on a bitterly cold day in March 2002, a helicopter carried Airman Cunningham and a team of Army Rangers toward a tall mountain in Patkia province, Afghanistan. There were on a mission to rescue a Navy SEAL who had fallen out of a helicopter when it was hit by rockets and gunfire from Al Qaeda forces.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Odette’s Secrets

Odette’s Secrets
by Maryann Macdonald (Author)

Booktalk: In this free-verse poetry novel, Odette is a young Jewish girl living in Paris during a dangerous time. The Nazis have invaded the city, and every day brings new threats. After Odette’s father enlists in the French army and her mother joins the Resistance, Odette is sent to the countryside until it is safe to return.

On the surface, she leads the life of a regular girl—going to school, doing chores, and even attending Catholic Mass with other children. But inside, she is burning with secrets about the life she left behind and her true identity.

Snippet:
Open books cover our stars like shields.
Henriette forgets she is thirsty.
The librarian, our gatekeeper,
pretends we are children like any others.
All afternoon, we read fairy tales.
In our cave of bookshelves,
we feel safe from the evil giants
marching down the street.