Review: Escape Game

 

Season four of the family friendly reality TV show ended with a murder. No one won the prize that season. 

Six months later, season five is kicking off. The surprise contestant is the sister of the murdered girl - the one many believe killed Alicia. 

Now Audi, Carter, and Beck have been thrown together with Sierra to create a team. While they're good at escape rooms, they're not the fastest AND another team is targeting them. Plus, someone is dropping clues about Alicia's murder. The truth will come out, but only IF Sierra's team makes it to the finals. Can Team Helsing stay in the game long enough to collect answers?

My Thoughts: I LOVED this book: for the puzzles, the friendship, the twists and turns, and the drama of reality TV. I barely watch reality TV shows, but I love reading about them. I've never been to an escape room, but it's on my bucket list. I'm scared I wouldn't be good at it. Although I have co-built a couple rooms for my library. I loved the discussion about online personal vs. person in real life in terms of Carter and Kick-it Carter. I loved how Team Helsing bonded, but still had their moments. Everyone had secrets here. I can't wait to see what happens next after that wild ending. 

Cover Thoughts: Perfect

Source:  ARC sent for Review

Library Recommendation: A must have book for your school and public libraries

Marissa Meyer was on my PLA panel (more on that later)

Picture Book Review: The Apprenticeship of Andrew Wyeth

 

This book showcases the early years of Andrew Wyeth as he forms his painting style.

I confess, I didn't know much about Andrew Wyeth if anything. This was an interesting book and it did make me do a bit of research after reading it. I find it fascinating that his father was an illustrator. Several of his siblings were also painters. I do like it when picture books make me curious enough about the subject to do more research. I loved the illustrations in this book. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Titles

 This week's topic is book titles that describe me. This should be interesting....

Without explanation: 

Winging It

Change of Plans

Without a Clue

Thrown for a Loop

P.S. Are We Friends Now?

The Me I Used to Be

Wrong Friend

Gone Before Goodbye

The Last Page

Make Believe

Still into you

Middle Grade Review: Winging It

Luna's dad got a new job and their moving across the country to live with a grandmother she barely knows. She's not at all excited. She's not a nature girl - even though her mom was. But at a museum with her father, she spies the moth her mom named her after. Luna's never seen a luna moth. They only fly at night and they have a short life span. 

Her grandmother has a lot of rules. It's hard keeping up with them all. Their relationship is strained, but it's starting to improve.

Luna meets the neighbors. One of them helps her start a nature journal - just like her mother's. 

Will Luna start to fit in - with her grandmother? with nature? with new friends?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this graphic novel. I love how it felt like a diary with the calendar dates. I loved the nature part of this journal; it made me want to create my own. At the end of the book, it does tell you how to create your own. I felt badly for Luna as things were hard in the beginning but I love how she found herself. I love how she created relationships - especially the Nature Detectives. The camping trip was highly entertaining. 

Cover Thoughts: Cute

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: Highly recommended for your school or public library collection.

Board Books

Just a few new to me/the library board books:

I love this series. There's lots of vocabulary and things to talk about.

I love the soft illustrations. But careful, this book will make you want to make (and eat!)

Perfect for Women's History Month - this book celebrates women and lets young readers know they too can make a difference. Each spread becomes a mask, allowing readers to become that person - making it interactive. Each spread also has a mini biography. 

This is a book about colors and how it relates to Persuasion - really it's for grown-ups but it's fun to read! 

If your child likes cars, this is for you - a great transportation book. The illustrations are great and I love the foil on the illustrations.

A version of wheels on the bus in a barn setting with cute illustrations. I can't wait to read this one at storytimes. 

Hot Take: Summer Reading Lists and Schools

 

This is my personal hot take - after 10 years as a Young Adult Librarian and 10 years as a Children's and Young Adult Librarian.

Schools should assign summer reading. 

It can be as simple as read any two books of the student's choice.

And the project due could be as easily graded as a check mark. 

* A short review: What did you like about the book. What did you not like? What would you change?

 * Create something based on the book.

* Write a letter to the author (send or not)

We all know about the Summer Slide - this would help students.

But also, it would help public libraries. And let's be honest, we need help right now. Having a summer reading assignment gives families another reason to come into the library and check out books. Once they're at the library, they'll hear about all the awesome programs we have going on in the summer. They might attend a program. They might find new books that they enjoy. They might come back.

I'ved worked at four different libraries in my career and only one of them had a school with summer reading assignments. 

If your child isn't a huge reader, talk to the librarians. They can recommend books your child might enjoy. Honestly recommending books is one my favorite parts of the job. Connecting books to kids is so important, especially right now.

Let the readers pick books they're interested in. It's summer and they should be allowed to choose. Choosing gives them control and therefore more enjoyment. Let them read audio books, graphic novels, novels, nonfiction.... anything they choose. 

And as parents, make sure they are seeing you read too! It's super important to model behavior. They're not going to want to read if they never see you reading. You are their first influencer. 

Get yourself to the library. Get a library card if you need one. And start checking out books. Make reading and going to the library a habit. See what your library has to offer - it's not just about books anymore! 

PLA: Public Library Association Conference

 Last week, I was lucky enough to attend PLA in Minneapolis and it was really neat! I learned a bunch, took a lot of ideas home, and met some cool people.

On my arrival day, I walked to the main branch of the library.

And took a selfie:

Here's the statue inside:

Some boards in the Children's Room - they had a lot of interactive boards. 

I was waiting for the teen maker space to open, so I killed some time working on a puzzle.

There are four floors to the library and I had a great time scoping everything out.

For some reason I didn't take a picture of the teen maker space room, but it was really awesome.

I went to the Hen House twice and enjoyed it both times.

Here's a photo of the inside

Me before moderating a panel of super nice authors with great books (more about all those books later)

You can't really see it, but my necklace is a bookshelf that has doors on it. 

On Saturday, I saw the river, check out that sky! The weather was mostly dreary except for that first day and lots of mist/snow.

And also this amazing Romance bookstore. I wanted ALL the books! 

Take a look at the window display!

All in all, it was great time.