A young girl outgrows her

favorite dress. Her mom

consoles her by turning the

dress into a shirt. "And

my ruffly shirt became my

favoritest shirt, and I

wore it every

WEDNESDAY, because

that was my new favorite

day of the week" This is

the first of many

transformations as the

girl keeps growing and the

Jon Whitcroft is shipped

off to boarding school in

Salisbury, England when

Ghost Knight

I Had a Favorite Dress

Summer 2012

Issue 31

The Pierce County Library

Children’s Book Buzz

Pierce County

Library System

Featured Books:

☺ Ghost Night Novel

grades 3—5

☺ I Had a Favorite Dress

Picture Book grades 1—3

☺ Secrets of the Garden

Non-fiction grades 3—5

☺ The Pigeon Gets a

Cookie!? Picture Book

grades K—2

☺ My Hands Sing the Blues

Picture book biography

for grades 3—up.

☺ The Freedom Maze —

Novel grades 5—up

☺ Virginia Wolf Picture

book grades 1—3

☺ Magritte’s Marvelous

Hat— Picture Book

grades K—3

☺ Whatever After: Fairest

of All Fiction for grades

3—5

by Cornelia Funke

by Boni Ashburn

Vol. 31

"dress" keeps changing.

Each new item is assigned a

day of the week to be worn,

because that is the best

day to wear it. Cheerful

full-page pastel sketches

show all the work and

creativity that goes into

the next "dress" change. A

great book for kids who

have a "favorite item", of

which they have a hard

time letting go.

Grades 1-3

Tamara, Gig Harbor

his mother’s new boyfriend

moves in.

Salisbury is the home of one

of the oldest and greatest

cathedrals in England. It is

also purported to be

haunted by ghosts.

Jon intends to remain

miserable at school,

but shortly after arriving

he is confronted by a pack

of vengeful ghosts…ghosts

intent on killing him

because his mother’s

maiden name is Hartgill and

hundreds of years ago her

family was involved in a

murder!

Of course, no one would

believe him if he blurted out

that he was seeing

ghosts, except the one

student whose granny is

a witch! What’s a fellow

to do? How about

befriending another

ghost, the knight

Longspee, who has

dedicated himself to

protecting the innocent,

and Jon is an innocent,

isn’t he? Fantasy and

mystery all rolled up into

one fast paced, exciting

tale. This is a great read

-aloud.

Grades 3—5 Judy, Youth Services

Duckling asks for a cookie, and one

appears! Pigeon wants to know how

Duckling got a cookie, and then, in

Pigeon's overblown and very flappy

manner, wants to know why he hasn't

been able to get what he wants when

he asks for it. Pigeon recites a litany

of things he's asked for, including

trying to drive a bus, get a hot dog

party, and stay up late, in a bid to get

the author to change his mind. After

defusing the situation, the duckling

displays a marvelous mastery of

the double-entendre, sure to make

adults laugh as it sails gracefully

over the heads of children, to

close out the book. A good book

for those that are Pigeon fans and

will recognize the references to

earlier Pigeon works.

Grades K—2

Alex, University Place

a peek at his daily life in the

south. The textures and

colors of the illustrations are

muted, and some of the

collages are symbolic. The

story ends with his arrival in

Harlem. An Author’s Note

provides more information on

Romare including source

notes. Grades 3—up Tamara, Gig Harbor

This is a biographical account of Romare

Bearden, one of the lesser-known Harlem

Renaissance artists. Double-page

collages, the medium in which Romare

worked, show his early childhood in the

South and his family’s migration north.

The text sways along with the movement

and noise of the trains that he watched

and on which he rode. The discrimination

his family faced is touched on lightly in

both the text and collages, giving readers

Page 2 The Pierce County Library

Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard

The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?

by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

by Mo Willems

by Jeanne Walker Harvey

From the end page’s aerial view

of the garden to the cheerful

cartoon sketches of the

planting and growing, Alice's

family garden shows the

interaction between plants,

insects, and animals. The

family's chickens, Maisy and

Daisy, provide more detailed

information on the topics

covered in addition to the

storyline. Smaller drawings

My Hands Sing the Blues

show how plants grow,

and the text about

worms is written inside

worm tunnels. This

combination gardening

and life-cycles story

provides ecology facts in

a warm, friendly, and

appealing manner.

Grades 3—5

In 1960 13 year-old Sophie Martineau

is sent to spend the summer at her

family's old sugar plantation. An

encounter with a curious creature and

a walk through the old garden maze

sends Sophie back 100 years in time to

1860. Expecting to be embraced by her

relations, Sophie find herself sent to

the quarters, believed to be a slave

fathered by one of the white men in

the family. She learns some harsh

lessons working in the big house and

the sugar house. Sophie helps plot a

daring escape and her part in it sends

her back to 1960 physically and

emotionally changed. Her time as a slave

has given her a new kind of strength

which helps her deal with issues in the

1960’s. The interesting combination of

fantasy and historical fiction blend well

in Freedom Maze, providing a glimpse of

slave life and culture. Sophie's return

to the future is not without its bumps,

and she finds herself missing her time

with her slave "family". This is a

compelling read about race, families,

and relationships.

Grades 5—up

Tamara, Gig Harbor

This creatively written and illustrated story is modeled after the

paintings of surrealist artist René Magritte. In the story, Magritte

is depicted as a well-dressed, dapper dog who finds a hat that

inspires him in his work whenever he is wearing it. Although the hat

leaves for a time, seemingly taking with it Magritte’s creative

abilities, the two are reunited in the end and his creativity restored.

Grades K—3

Alison, Early Learning

Issue 31

Magritte’s Marvelous Hat

The Freedom Maze

Page 3

by Delia Sherman

by D. B. Johnson

In this story of two close-knit sisters,

one is bright and sunny and the other

quite often feels blue and behaves

wolfishly. Although sister Virginia

remains wolfish throughout much of

the story, her older sister Vanessa is

eventually able to snap her out of her

funk by painting “Bloomsbury” – the

world of Virginia’s imagination. By the

end of the story, the two sisters have

by Kyo Maclear Virginia Wolf

joined hands to go out to

play. This story is based very

loosely on famous sisters

Virginia Woolf and Vanessa

Bell.

Grades 1—3

Alison, Early Learning

Administration Center

3005 112th St E

Tacoma, WA 98446

Pierce County Library

and Jonah disrupt Snow’s

usual tale and for a time it

seems Snow may be a

housekeeper for seven

dwarves eternally. They

persevere and vanquish evil

so all is right in the end.

This is a fun fracturing of

the tale. This princess

doesn’t wait around for

Prince Charming to save

her but ends up happily

ever after with him

anyway. Can’t wait to see

where the magic mirror

sends Abby and Jonah

next!

Grades 3—5

Genevieve, South Hill

“Once upon a time my life was

normal. Then the mirror in our

basement ate us.” So begins

our story, first in a new middle

grade series by the hilarious

Sara Mlynowski. Our narrator

(logical, practical Abby) has

just moved to Smithville and

joined a new fifth grade class.

Everything is a little different

in Smithville and it is hard to

adjust. Abby is an older sister

and responsible for an

adventurous 7 year-old

brother, Jonah, a sure recipe

for disaster. Jonah wakes up

a magic mirror he finds in the

basement that sends them to

the land of Snow White. Abby

Phone: 253-548-3424

E-mail: susana@piercecountylibrary.org

Whatever After: Fairest of All

www.piercecountylib

rary.org

Information &

Imagination

by Sarah Mlynowski

Science!

Science!

Science!

Science!

Puppets! Storytelling!Storytelling!Storytelling!Storytelling!

Books!

MAGIC !MAGIC !MAGIC !MAGIC !

Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! Summer Reading Program! www.piercecountylibrary.org