Book Display Ideas: May

Spring is here!

Check out last year's post for May Dates and displays.

All these display ideas were found searching Pinterest. I have not created them. 

Coming Soon: Entice Readers for Summer Reading and big books not yet released

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/183099541078570650/

This year I'll add displays around movie releases:

May 5th: Guardians of the Galaxy

Display Idea: Superheroes

I like the background here, but there are tons on Pinterest if you search.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/226587424975033401/

May 12th: King Arthur

Display Idea: Knights or King Arthur

Similar idea - just change the fairy tales to knights. Add a knight and a sword.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/345932815098379146/

May 19th: Everything, Everything

Display Idea: Nature - books with flowers on the cover

May 19th: Alien Covenant

Display Idea: Aliens

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/b3/95/6a/b3956a39df915b6843af6499e27fe037.jpg

Review: Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up

Addie's birthday isn't the day she thought it would be. Instead of feeling more grown-up, she only feels humiliated by all the the events. She can't wait to be sixteen - to wear make-up, have a cell phone, and go out on dates. It's the perfect age.

So when her neighbor gifts her a wishing box, there's only one wish to make.

The next morning when she wakes up, everything is different. Her sister is off to college. She finally got the dog she always wanted. She's super popular at school. She has an amazingly cool wardrobe. But not everything is great. She's missing the last four years of her life. She has lots of questions.

Why isn't she best friends with Grace anymore? Why can't she date the cute boy she likes? Most importantly how did she become this person and can she go back?

My Thoughts: I love Jessica Brody's novels - so I was really looking forward to reading this 13 Going on 30/Big inspired novel. Addie tries desperately to figure out the holes in her life. She has no idea what anyone is talking about, especially her school work. Plus she has no idea how to act around boys or drive her car or feed her dog or put on makeup. All of these little things not only add humor to the story, but they begin to add up making Addie frustrated in her new life. 

I really liked how she tried to piece together what happened with her ex-best friend, starting the night of her 12th birthday. Addie at 16 is a mean girl, but she quickly realizes that's not who she wants to be and she tries to change everything. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: ARC for review

Library Recommendation: Perfect for Middle School collections where everyone's dying to be older, but then you realize it might not be all that's cracked up to be. An entertaining read that will make readers laugh. 

On Your Radar (5)

Title: What to Say Next 

Author:  Julie Buxbaum

Publisher: Delacorte Press 

Publication Date: July 11, 2017

Why it Should be on Your Radar:

Secrets 
Grief
Forgiveness
Honesty
Friendship
Diverse Characters 
Navigating Society
The Notebook
David
Social Interactions
Finding your people 
Being Yourself


I loved Julie's YA debut, Tell Me Three Things, so I was happy to receive the ARC for What to Say Next - and it's amazingly good.

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: ARC sent for Review

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for All Libraries! 

Picture Book Review: Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau

Madame Chapeau makes one of a kind hats for her shop - they're all unique and suited for the buyer. But when she's headed to her birthday dinner with her favorite hat, disaster strikes. A crow snatches her hat. Although many people offer her their hats to wear, none of them are quite right - until one of them is perfect.

A heartwarming tale about hats made with love and a strong community who help each other out. Great illustrations - and if they seem familiar, this is the team from Rosie Revere, Engineer. 

I love hats, so it's no surprise that I loved this book. Just an adorable read filled with fashionable hats and a sweet message. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Words that Make me Skip a Book

This week's topic is the opposite of last week's: words that make me skip a book immediately. 

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

Sad / Depressing

Cheating

Rape

Abuse 

Instalove

Gore

Space

Aliens

1960s-1970s

Torture

What about you? What are your book turn offs?

Defy the Stars Blog Tour

About the Book:

Defy the Stars (Book 1)

By Claudia Gray

Published by Little, Brown and Co.

In stores April 4^th, 2017

Young Adult Sci-Fi

Synopsis

Our worlds belong to us.

She's a soldier.

Noemi Vidal is seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She's willing to risk anything--including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she's a rebel.

He's a machine.

Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that's begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he's an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they're not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they're forced to question everything they'd been taught was true.

About the Author

Claudia Gray is the author of the bestselling Evernight series, Fateful, the Spellcaster trilogy, and the Firebird trilogy. She is also the author of the young adult Star Wars novels Lost Stars and the forthcoming Bloodline. She has worked as a lawyer, a journalist, a disc jockey, and a particularly ineffective waitress. Her lifelong interests include old houses, classic movies, vintage style, and history. She lives in New Orleans.

Official Links + Social Media

Visit the Official Site

Follow TheNOVL on Twitter and Instagram

Follow Claudia Gray on Twitter

Hashtag #DefytheStars

Explore the Defy the Stars Universe

Check out an infographic of the Defy the Stars universe.

What’s your place in the future? Take the quiz!

Read the first chapter on Entertainment Weekly!

You could win! (I partnered with Little, Brown to share this giveaway)

Defy the Stars!

One (1) winner receives:

• Copy of Defy the Stars
• $25 Visa gift card to forge your own path!

Giveaway open to US addresses only.

Prizing and samples provided by Little, Brown & Co.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby Shower Books to Gift

While baby showers happen all year round, it seems like this time of year, they happen more. I always like to buy books for gifts (Librarian) and I know it's popular for the hostess to ask everyone to bring a book to start off the child's library.

And you get multiple copies of Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or Moo Baa La La La - all of which are fine books, but you don't need four copies of each.

Here's what I like to gift:

First mostly board books, for endurance.

Second, I LOVE the touch and feel books and there are So Many to chose from.  There's lots of pieces to touch and interact with the child.

Third: I Love concept books, it's never to early to learn, especially those from National Geographic. They have bright colors and great photographs.

 

Fourth, I Love these classic stories told as board books. They're not a retelling of the story, just using bits from the story as an introduction.

     

Hope this helps!

Review: My Not So Perfect Life

Katie's dream has been to always live in London. Only once she's arrived, it's not exactly how she pictured it. Her commute is way too long. Her flat is tiny and her flatmates are terrible. She has no money and no friends. But more importantly, her job is a nightmare.

Her boss, while impressive, isn't the best person to work for. She actually forgets that she didn't fire Katie.

Katie's forced to let go of her London dream and return home to her family farm. She lies to her Dad and Stepmother, saying she's taking a sabbatical from work to help them get their business off the ground.

When her former boss comes for a holiday at the farm, this could be Katie's moment to get revenge or get back her dream of living in London.

My Thoughts: It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I really liked it. I wasn't crazy about Demeter at first, but I have to admit she grew on me. I really liked Katie when she wasn't trying to be Cat (a sophisticated London girl) but rather herself. I liked how her confidence grew as she was home on the farm helping out her family. She had great ideas, especially marketing ones. I loved her family - they were sweet and funny. I did like how Katie tried for revenge on her former boss and how she used ploys to manipulate her former boss - but also how that failed. I wasn't expecting that ending, but I loved it. I loved the message that what's on social media is a representation (often misleading) of someone's life and I love how the changed. 

Cover Thoughts: Charming
Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: Great for public libraries - perfect for their New Adult sections. 

Design Thinking Overview

photo credit: http://www.uvm.edu/~ekorsuns/design-thinking/images/design_thinking_process_diagram.png

 Yesterday I attended a workshop by Linda Braun about Design Thinking for libraries.

Here's what I learned 

Design thinking consists of five steps as show above:
Empathize: listen to your patrons, learn from them, and trust them
Define: Identify a problem
Ideate: let those creative juices fly
Prototype: Create a sample
Test: Will this idea work?

The most important part of the process is Empathizing. 

We all think we might know what our patrons what, but without talking to them, how will you really know? How will you know what's best for the community if you only see people inside the library?

Rethinking our questions to How might we...?

Design thinking can be done with:
Staff members
teens
community members
families
schools
town organizations
nonprofit organizations

To learn more, check out the website

I'm looking forward to starting this process. 

Have you done this in your library?
How did it go?

Blog Tour: Dragons Love Tacos

I really adored this book, so I'm happy to be a stop on this blog tour. 

Here's some info about the book. 

Stay tuned for the Missing Tacos 

Add your name to the giveaway 

Check out book 2 

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Dragons love tacos. They love chicken tacos, beef tacos, great big tacos, and teeny tiny tacos. So if you want to lure a bunch of dragons to your party, you should definitely serve tacos. Buckets and buckets of tacos. Unfortunately, where there are tacos, there is also salsa. And if a dragon accidentally eats spicy salsa . . . oh, boy. You're in red-hot trouble.

ADAM RUBIN BIO:

Adam Rubin is the New York Times best-selling author of a half dozen critically-acclaimed picture books including Secret Pizza Party and Robo-Sauce. He spent ten years working as a creative director in the advertising industry before leaving his day job to write full time. Adam has a keen interest in improv comedy, camping and magic tricks.

DANIEL SALMIERI BIO:
Daniel Salmieri has illustrated many fantastic picture books, including the New York Times bestseller Robo-Sauce. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, constantly drawing and painting images of ninja turtles, dinosaurs, and fighter jets (not in the same scene...), and graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

The Tacos are Missing!

What if the dragons came to party and the tacos were missing?

They might be angry. But don't worry, reassure them that you'll find them. 

You just need to search together.

Where would you look first?

Probably the kitchen right?

The tacos aren't there, but you do find pieces of lettuce. You're on the right track, but you'd have to search the rest of the house.

What about the library?

Nope. Don't worry about those three dragons, you can get them down when you find the tacos.

Are they in the bedroom?

I can't see any, but that bed sure looks fun. 

Maybe they're out by the pool.

Nope. But you do find a taco float. 

What about the dining room?

Nope, just an empty table with a smudge of red.

One lick tells you that it's a spot of salsa. Few, it's not spicy. That's great because dragons can't handle anything spicy. 

What about the living room?

Nothing, except a stack of empty plates. 

Oh no. Where will you look next?

Your eyes glance around the room. There's a small door in between the windows. On closer inspection, you notice there's a green smudge on the door handle. It's a clue! 

You turn the handle. You go down the stairs. And that's when you see it! A pantload of tacos stacked on the tables. Oh, the tacos are safe. You better grab the plates. 

Now this party can get started:

GIVEAWAY:

Enter for a chance to win one (1) of five (5) Dragons Love Tacos Book and Toy Sets (ARV: $17.99 each).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on April 3, 2017 and 12:00 AM on May 1, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about May 5, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK 2 IS COMING SOON: You don't want to miss it!

Picture Book Review: Barnum's Bones

A nonfiction picture book - perfect for dinosaur lovers.

Barnum's parents named him after a great man, hoping that he would do great things too.
Working as a paleontologist for the American Museum of Natural History, he had a knack for discovering bones - including the first remains of the T-Rex.

While this one is a longer picture book, it's great for older kids. Barnum's Bones captures the excitement of finding dinosaur bones - and their importance of understanding the past. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Words that Make Me Pick Up a Book

This week's topic is books that make me want to read a book. I have several of these. Check them out. 

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

Reading without Walls

Reading Without Walls this April -- a month-long, nation-wide program to promote diversity in reading, inspired by National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Gene Luen Yang and his ambassadorial platform. Thousands of schools, libraries, bookstores, and comics stores are joining in to help celebrate Reading Without Walls. 

This month, Gene is challenging us all to: 

Read a book about a character who doesn't look or live like you.

Read a book in a format you don't typically read -- graphic novels, poetry, audiobooks, plays.

Read a book about a new subject you don't know much about. 

And we'll be sharing our thoughts with the #readingwithoutwalls hashtag on social media. 

Wanot to know more? Check out the website. 

What will you be reading?

Review: Ever the Hunted

According to societal rules, Britta has no inheritance after her father has been murdered - including the land. During the mourning period, she's not allowed to leave the house. In most cases, neighbors bring food. But Britta's parentage make her an outcast. In order to survive, she's forced to hunt for meat.  She's caught poaching by the royal guard.

Instead of killing her, they make her a deal. She's to find her father's killer. Her childhood friend has been accused of the crime, she's to hunt him down and the guards traveling her will arrest him.

Finding Cohen isn't too hard, he left her a trail. When he convinces her of his innocence, they must find the real murderer to clear both their names - while avoiding the royal guard.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I loved learning more about Britta and Cohen's past and what went wrong between them. I loved learning about Britta's family and the secrets her father kept from her. The politics between the two nations were intriguing. In that way, this book reminded me a little of the Poison Study series. That dog scene almost broke me. And I'm super curious about the cliffhanger ending. I'm so looking forward to reading the next book in the series. (December is so far away!)

Cover Thoughts: Pretty! I like the scroll work.
Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: Perfect for libraries with readers clamoring for a high fantasy read with a strong girl and romance.

Drop Everything and Read Day

Today is Drop Everything and Read Day!

From the website:

What is D.E.A.R.?
D.E.A.R. stands for “Drop Everything and Read,” a national month-long celebration of reading designed to remind folks of all ages to make reading a priority activity in their lives. Because, what’s more fun(damental) than reading, really? 

When is D.E.A.R. celebrated?
D.E.A.R. programs have been held nationwide on April 12th in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday, since she first wrote about D.E.A.R. in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (pages 40-41). Inspired by letters from readers sharing  their enthusiasm for the D.E.A.R. activities implemented in their schools, Mrs. Cleary decided to give the same experience to Ramona and her classmates. As D.E.A.R. has grown in popularity and scope, the program has expanded to span the entire month of April . . . offering classrooms and communities additional time to celebrate! 

Read more about this day.

I'll be reading this one:

What book will you make time to read today?

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Unique

This week's topic is most unique books. I'm going with books I've reading (or am reading) this year.

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

Pride and Prejudice and Dragons

Taking the law into your own hands

Set in a Funeral Home

Finding family with a sperm donor 

Parental Blackmail (vicious)

Snow White in the 1920s

Webcomic genius becomes more social IRL

Blended but apart Family 

Powerful book based on a documentary 

What's the most unique book you've read this year?