Top Ten Tuesday: Books read on whim (and loved)

This week's topic is Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim - technically books I picked up without really hearing about or knowing much about. There are books I picked to read from my new library collection and books I picked because they looked fun.

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

From my new library collection:

Because they Looked Fun:

Giveaway: Trials of Apollo

ABOUT THE BOOK

New series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rick Riordan.

After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disoriented, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus’s favor.

But Apollo has many enemies—gods, monsters, and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rick Riordan, dubbed “Storyteller of the Gods” by Publishers Weekly, is the author of three #1 New York Times best-selling middle grade series with millions of copies sold throughout the world: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, based on Greek mythology; the Kane Chronicles, based on Ancient Egyptian mythology; and the Heroes of Olympus, based on Greek and Roman mythology.

Rick collaborated with illustrator John Rocco on two best-selling collections of Greek myths for the whole family: Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods and Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes. The first book in his Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgardtrilogy based on Norse mythology, The Sword of Summer, also debuted at #1 on the New York Times list.

Rick lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @camphalfblood.

LEARN MORE

Learn more at ReadRiordan.com

Follow Disney on Twitter and Instagram

Follow Rick on Twitter and Instagram

‘Like’ Percy Jackson on Facebook

#TrialsofApollo

BONUS CONTENT

Read an Excerpt at the Official Site

Download the Activity Kit
Check out the book trailer:

Exclusive Copies:

The Hidden Oracle is being released with five retail-specific editions that all hit shelves on May 3^rd. Each edition includes a unique insert that you can get exclusively from that retailer. Collect them all!

1.    Barnes and Noble Exclusive Edition includes a Camp Half-Blood letter from Apollo to Zeus!

2.    Target Exclusive Edition includes an illustrated map of Apollo’s Trials at Camp Half-Blood

3.    Books-a-Million Exclusive Edition includes an Apollo Bumper Sticker (“I’d Rather be Driving by Sun Chariot”)

4.    Walmart Exclusive Edition includes a 2-sided bookmark with character art of Apollo and his mortal counterpart, Lester.

5.    Costco Exclusive Edition includes an illustrated poster depicting the “Plague of Secrets” scene from The Hidden Oracle

Giveaway:

One (1) winner from your site will receive one of the exclusive editions of The Hidden Oracle with a surprise insert!

Giveaway open to US addresses only.

Prizing and samples provided by Disney-Hyperion.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Transitioning Librarian Jobs from YA to Children's and YA

Roughly two months ago, I went back to the librarian world full time. Being a teen librarian for just shy of eleven years is great. But working with kids made me realize I need to make some changes.

So I started:

Checking out the books:
I started reading the picture book collection. I've always read pictures books, but mostly the newer books that I heard about on Twitter or librarian previews or seen in publishing journals.  But now I'm reading to know the collection.

The picture book collection is broken up into categories. I started taking about 20 to 40 books a week. I would read them and start looking at them in a different light. Is this book good for story time? Will the kids like it? Is it too long for them? Are there a few other books that I love that touch on this theme?

A few recent favorites:

But lately I've also been reading graphic novels. My co-worker is really knowledgeable. So we talk about them. Then I check out a ton of graphic novels.

A few recent favorites:

 And then I read some and feel a little stressed about having too many checked out and not enough time to read them (I'm a book hoarder.) Plus the number of books I've read this year has skyrocketed.

Story Time:
I'm starting this up in the fall with 4 and 5 year olds. I'm starting to think about it and I've read some literature. I've gone to visit some story times and will do a few more. Once summer starts, I'll start planning some sessions and play around with more ideas.

Programs:
We have story time programs throughout the week, a sensory table on Fridays, and a gaming club for elementary kids. But I want more. I started doing weekly drop in craft nights.They haven't gone over well yet, but I'm hoping that summer reading will jump start that and they will continue in the fall.

I want to do cooking programs. I love food. So I'm looking for start this up in the fall for older elementary kids.

I have a few Pinterest boards filled with ideas, so I'll start working through those and seeing what works.

Goals:
I have a lot of goals, but I want to start off a little slowly and work them in gradually. I've started a few and now I need to focus on summer. Then I'll start up again in the fall.

For me it's all about playing with the books and seeing how everything works together. As you can see, I'm happy to be back in the librarian world.

I know that what works in some libraries won't necessarily work in my library, but I would welcome other bits of advice on the transition in the comments!

Mysterious Saturday Review: Vanilla Beaned

* Book 8 in the Cupcake Bakery mystery series *

Against her better judgement, Mel decided to look into the possibility of franchising her bakery. She and Angie and Tate are headed to Vegas to check things out.

Only Tate and Angie miss the first meeting. It ends quickly as the building blows up killing one person and injuring another. That's all it takes for Mel to want to back out of the whole idea (besides the fact that Holly looks nothing like a baker.)

When they look at a shop the next day, another accident happens. At first Mel thinks it's just a coincidence, but then she's not too sure. Someone doesn't want this deal to go through...

My Thoughts: I love this series! I really liked the field trip to Vegas and the idea of opening a new bakery. I loved meeting Holly - I like how she explained her life and how she saw the bakery as a opportunity to be a better parent. I really loved her daughter Sydney. She was adorable, sassy, and smart. Of course I love the baking moments. I adored that ending - both the sweet and the cliffhanger. Now I need the next book immediately!

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: My Library

Final Thoughts: If you're a cozy reader and you haven't read this series yet, get yourself to a library and grab these mouthwatering reads. You won't regret it!

Chatting with Lori Goldstein

Welcome Lori

We're days away from The Circle of Jinn being released (how exciting!). Have you read the first book, if not there now you can binge read them starting next Tuesday.

Thanks for chatting with me!

What made you want to write about a genie?
I didn’t set out to write about a genie. It all happened organically. I had finished writing my first ever manuscript and was beginning to query it. And while I was in the trenches, I knew I wanted to write something else. I knew it would be a young adult book, and I was actively searching for a topic but hadn’t found one yet. Then I heard a news report about an earthquake in Turkey. This was in 2011. It was an awful earthquake with people trapped in the rubble for days. This news report was about a mother and her infant, two week old, baby who were pulled out alive. They both survived. That baby’s name was Azra. As soon as I heard this name, I knew I wanted to put her into a story and create a world for her. As I began to think about this area of the world, Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa, the Jinn popped into my head. Somehow I knew the term and the rest ran from there. I think it’s a great example of how there are story ideas all around us if you just open your mind to them. 

 Was it harder to write the first book or the sequel? 

This is a really hard question because I have two sides to the answer. Initially I will say the first book was easier to write. It was all new and I loved the world and the characters, and I wrote it very quickly. After period of plotting for about 4 to 6 weeks, I then wrote the manuscript in two months. It kind of spilled out. But then the revising with harder, which I’m not surprised about since it was really only the second manuscript I had written. I got an agent pretty quickly with it and she had a fair amount of extensive revisions, all of which made the book better. But it’s the opposite with the sequel. Even though I had a very strong idea of where the story was going and what I wanted to do with it, writing the manuscript was more difficult because it was under a deadline, because I now had an agent and editor and was no longer writing just for me, and all of that gets into your head as much as you try to stave it off. So the writing of the sequel was much harder and yet I had learned so much from book 1 that the revising wound up being much simpler and much quicker.  Let’s hope that the trend that continues!

I love the Read Local idea – what inspired this awesome project? 

I am so proud of the Read Local project (www.lorigoldsteinbooks.com/read-local. This came about because my good friend Jen Malone and I were talking about meeting local students and how so many of them seem to be in awe of meeting an author—as we would have been at that age. They don’t see us as "normal people”. We are casual and friendly and funny, and this surprised them. We wanted the students to understand that authors are all around them and that they can be an author too if they want to be. We thought they’d get a kick out of seeing just how many authors, big and small, come from the New England area, which is our home region, and one we are loyal to and proud of. Then we thought, how can we do this in a way that adds value for the students and their teachers and librarians? I don’t know if you know anything about New England, but we love our sports teams. Fiercely. People are quite competitive. So the idea of creating this poster and encouraging students to "read local" but also amping it up and making it a reading challenge just naturally fell into place. Jen and I looped in our fellow authors Jen Brooks and Trisha Leaver, who are also both extremely active in the young adult community, and we spent many a day and night gathering facts information for the poster, editing it, getting it printed, stuffing it into envelopes, and mailing it out to more than 500 schools in the region. In addition, we had it available at librarian conferences and we hope to distribute it even more widely next year. It’s gotten a tremendous response and we are so proud of it.

What’s the weirdest food that you’ve eaten and loved?
Grasshoppers. Spicy, crunchy grasshoppers on top of sushi in Mexico. Weird and delicious.

What will you do on your book birthday? 
Last year, release day was insane. As a debut author, there was so much excitement and nerves and pressure and I wanted to be active on social media and interacting with as many people as I could, and signing books in bookstores, and I spent hours driving around to do that, which was amazing. I plan to do it again. But not all in one day! So this time, my husband is taking the day off, and we are going to the spa for the morning. Then I’m going to sign books in some bookstores, go for a nice lunch, and head over to celebrate our joint release day with my good friend, Jen Malone, whose amazing middle grade, called The Sleepover, which is a MG spin on The Hangover movie (hypnotist is to blame), also releases on May 17. It’s going to be a great day.

Are you working on a new project? 
Yes I am. It’s a contemporary and it is about a girl with a rare neurological condition that has prevented her from living a normal life and going to high school. She’s finally able to do so, and the book follows her on this journey. Since it’s written by me, there’s still humor and friendships and themes of secrets and complicated relationships, and it’s a complete departure from the Jinn world, and yet it has many of the same themes, including the idea of a girl struggling to fit in, find herself, and her destiny. Perhaps this says something about me as these are the stories I want to tell. It’s nearing completion and am anxious to see what’s next for it.

Graphic Novel Review: Smile

Raina wants to be normal, but it's hard to imagine after falling on the ground and knocking out her front teeth. She feels terrible and hates the way she looks. Plus she has tons of dental reconstruction to get through.

Add in friends who aren't so nice and the awkward times of middle school. It's no wonder Raina doesn't have much to smile about these days.

My Thoughts: A great story - but a little hard to read at times. I didn't have it that bad, but I had several years of braces, retainers, and headgear. My heart went out to Raina. She struggled hard through the middle school years, but I love how she found herself a better group of friends and started to branch out.

Cover Thoughts: Perfect
 Source: My Library

Final Thoughts: I'm a little behind the times on reading this book, but it was worth the wait. Super great graphic novel.

So you want to read Sarah Dessen?

Today I'm over the at YALSA Hub blog talking about the different ways to start reading Sarah Dessen's amazing books.