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Monday, September 05, 2011

A Lion in the Library???

Library Lion written by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Candlwick Press 2006.

A touching tale about a very special place that I like to sometimes call home

This is a sweet and enchanting story about a lion that visits the library and receives a chance to participate in story time just like all the other children. But, once the lion breaks the rules and roars really loud he is told that he will have to be quiet or leave the library. The lion begins to understand the library rules and does many helpful things for the librarians. One day, an accident happens to the head librarian and the lion does something to break the rules but only to help her because she is hurt. He thinks that he will have to leave the library forever, however he finds out that sometimes rules can be broken especially if it is to save a person in danger. I just love this book and read it to several second grade classes yesterday and they loved it too! This would definitely be a lovely bedtime story for kids as well.

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Killing Machines & Romance are a Good Combination


I just finished reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore and I loved this book! I'm not sure if it was the fighting, killing, romance or the struggle for survival, but I loved it all. The main character Katsa is an intriguing and fascinating highly skilled killing machine. She lives in a time that is very much like a medieval England, only there are certain people who are born with special abilities called "graces" that offer them special powers. Some are as advanced as mind reading and some are as simple as just being extra good at something. Po is a prince and has his own special "grace" which he hides from the world. One of the traits of a person with a "grace" is to have two different colored eyes. For Katsa, she has one blue and one green eye and for Po he has one silver and one gold. The two fall in love and if you think that the story will be boring, you are totally wrong! There is an evil king called Leck that can manipulate his people with just one word and he has set his kingdom against Katsa and Po. Leck is also in search of his daughter Bitterblue who has run away from home. Po and Katsa have to save Bitterblue because he wants to do horrible, terrible things to her. This book is stunning and majestic and extremely captivating. Cashore writes in a way that is easy to follow and the story has wonderful characters that the reader can fall in love with and/or become very attached to. I highly recommend this book to those who love stories with strong characters and exciting and adventurous plots.