STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

After Lilah gets struck by lightning, she starts to think she's going crazy - afterall, her dead grandmother, Bubby Dora, did just tell her that she needs to help her dad find a girlfriend.  The good news is, Lilah's not crazy.  She can now hear dead people, and more than just her grandmother.  She can hear a famous fashion designer, the lead singer in a band, and her crush's dad to name a few.  The bad news is, Lilah now has more advice and help than she could ever need.

Join Lilah as she navigates middle school and learns to live with people from beyond in Small Medium at Large by Joanne Levy, a novel for Middle Schoolers.

LUCE PUPPET COMPANY

is here this Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 2 p.m. to perform their Diggity-Do Delicious Too! Join us for the show in the auditorium at the Central Library for our Summer Reading Program.  Best for kids 4 and older.  

SECRETS-- KEEP THEM OR SHARE THEM?

Dear Reader,

At this moment, there is a child grinning from ear to ear and skipping across the play yard thinking.."I have a secret! I have a secret!" And as children go about the day and interact with one another, little does he/she know that the person that they're interacting with holds an incredible secret! For Molly, in Tor Freeman's book, Olive and the Big Secret, wants to share her secret with the classmate of her choice.  Does she pick the right friend to keep her secret? A simple and gentle story about keeping secrets and sharing secrets.  

For ages 5 to 8 years.

SUMMER READING IS HERE!

What?!  

You don't have your Summer Reading log yet?  Well, get on over to the Library.  Any Glendale Public Library.  Pick up some books for your reading pleasure, because reading is soooo delicious!  

Parents don't forget that there's a reading program for adults as well.  The Grand lottery prize is groceries at our local Trader Joe's store.  

The program runs May 28 through July 20.  

THE LIBRARY WILL BE CLOSED...

FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!  

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY FOR THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER READING PROGRAM, READING IS SO DELICIOUS! 

READING IS DELICIOUS... WHEN IT'S CINNAMON SLICES AND PIZZA DREAMS

A review from Mr. B.  at the Grandview Branch: 

Seventh grader Louise changes her name to Thumbelina (small and mighty like herself). She then resigns as star of the school’s gymnastics team, partly in response to a series of threatening notes from less qualified team members.  Recently re-named, now free from team sports, Thumbelina has received her first “mash note.”  Her best female friend Reni and her best male friend Henderson (Reni’s older brother) spend the bulk of the charming and delightful top plot trying to discover the source of the mash notes.  The most likely suspect seems to be the even older pizza delivery guy, Benny, The Boy on Cinnamon Street. 

Cleverly woven beneath, around, and through these funny, warm, well written episodes, we find the deeper real plot.  Thumbelina lives with her grandparents.  She has few memories of Dad, and fewer still of her seemingly distant Mom.  While pizza delivery guy Benny isn’t the source of the mash notes after all (sorry for the Spoiler), he IS the key that unlocks Louise’s trauma-rattled brain, revealing the blocked memory of her mother’s suicide.  Once the harrowing memories have been confronted, Louise/Thumbelina returns to the sport she loves, supported by the author of the mash notes (and his sister), her grandparents, and a new inner peace.  Phoebe Stone has constructed a readable tale about likable youngsters who face a real-world personal tragedy in a realistic manner. She knows her subject well – when she was eleven, her father committed suicide.

  

AGE: 11-14

SAMMY KEYES GETS A FATHER OR TWO

Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City by Wendelin Van Draanen is number 16 in the spunky girl detective mystery series.  Sammy has finally snapped and is going to confront her mother about the identity of her father and to stop her from marrying her boyfriend's father.  Good grief!  All this is so complicated and it's about to get even more complicated, as Sammy lies, manipulates, begs and weaves her way from Santa Martina to Las Vegas by enlisting the help of friends, enemies and a bunch of Elvises to solve the biggest mystery of her life -  Who is Sammy's father?  

A page turning Sammy Keyes  for mystery and Sammy lovers in 6th -8th.  

MAX CARES

A review from Mr. B. at the Grandview branch: 

About a year ago, Max’s Dad died.  Long before that, a brain fever froze Max’s now teen-aged older brother Duncan’s heart and mind when he was very young.  Max goes to middle school; plays hockey when he can bring Duncan along and survive the harassment; and feeds and cares for his older brother in every way after school while mom works the night shift at a Chinese restaurant.  He is a budding adolescent and Maxed Out. This moving quick-read shows us a very caring but frustrated Max feeling more and more alone as his mother hides her grief in her work schedule and Duncan becomes increasingly difficult to manage. 

Author Daphne Greer draws an accurate and sympathetic picture of the innocent destruction Duncan causes his loved ones and his home.  Max eventually reaches out to a help line that opens the door to managing Duncan without having to institutionalize him. These warm and recognizable characters were all drawn from the author’s sixteen years working with special needs children and their families.  If you’ve had a special needs child or adult in your life, you will recognize them.  If you haven’t, this book will serve as a very real and sympathetic introduction.

Age: 10-13

NEW BOYS JOIN THE DETECTIVE GAME

Twins Cody and Otis are traveling to a Caribbean island to help their aunt with her new inn.  Being totally into detective and mystery stories, they jump into helping her with mysterious ghost and troubles with all four feet. Each chapter has the boys dealing with red herring and a long list of suspects.  Perfect for those who enjoy an easy read.  

Double Detectives:  The Secret of Skull Island by Zack Norris is a new mystery series for those who would enjoy a duo of detectives hashing it out in different locations in each book much like the Hardy Boys of yesteryears.  This series is available in hardback and uncatalogued paperback.  A very innocent and wholesome style of mystery detective fiction for children in 4th through 6th grades. 

KNOCK, KNOCK

 

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Jamie.
Jamie who?
Jamie Grimm, the Planet's Funniest Kid.  Well, at least Long Island, NY.  Well, really Long Beach on Long Island in NY.  Okay, maybe just at Jamie's Middle School.  Or his Uncle's diner.  Or his house, where he lives with his aunt and her family who doesn't know how to smile and her son, the school bully.

Jamie Grimm is on a mission to make you laugh. He studies all the greats - Leno, Seinfeld, Simpson (Homer), and many many others. He knows the ins and outs of a good joke and can repeat ones from the greats and has many of his own up his sleeve. He also deals with bullies (including one who lives with him), girls, and life in a wheel chair, all with a smile and a joke as his shield.

I Funny by James Patterson will have kids in grades 5 and up in stitches, or at least rolling their eyes at the bad jokes.

GLENDALE AND PASADENA LIBRARIES GO LOW TECH THIS WEEKEND

NOTICE: 

             GLENDALE AND PASADENA PUBLIC LIBRARY GO LOW TECH

                                              MAY 11 & 12, 2013

Experience what the library was like in the good old days! 

Our technology infrastructure is being upgraded and requires some down time for the relocation of some data equipment.

You will still be able to return and check out library books and other materials at all open sites throughout the weekend.  The online catalog, access to user accounts, requests, eBooks, electronic resources, and other digital services will, however, NOT be available.  But, WiFi access will be available and our popular free public computers will be ready for visitors to use. 

For a real-time list of services that will be affected throughout the weekend, check http://bit.ly/lowtechppl.

IF YOU LIKED MY LIFE AS A BOOK

Come check out the new book in the series, My Life as a Cartoonist.  Janet Tashjian and Jake Tashjian will launch their new title this afternoon at the 4pm in the Children's Room at the Central Library on Harvard St.  Light refreshments will be served.   

Hope to see you all later on. 

THE TASHJIANS ARE COMING

The Children's Room and local bookstore, Once Upon a Time are having a book launch for My LiIfe as a Cartoonist, the third book by Janet and Jake Tashjian.  Come meet them and have your book signed, May 8th at 4p.m.  at the Central Library.  Books will be available for sale. 

Central Library
Children's Room
222 E. Harvard St. 
Glendale, CA 91205
3 hours free parking is available across the street at Harvard & Maryland structure.  Validate at the entrance of the library.  

FUN PICTURE BOOKS FOR ALL

Every so often, some great picture books will get published.  What make them great is the combination of the story and the illustration.  Here are some of my recent favorites.  Enjoy. 

Mustache written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Kevin Connell is HILARIOUS!  It's about one vain king and a town filled with people out to make him look silly by drawing mustaches on every single one of his images.  A book that will have everyone laughing and poring over each page of artwork.  

A cat and a bird are not suppose to be friends but when Tom finds a lost baby bird, he can't find it in himself to torment it, so he protects and cares for the poor little thing  just like a mother bird would.  Tom's Tweet by Jill Esbaum and illustrated by Dan Santat make for a fun read with the family.

Dog In Charge by K.L. Going and illustrated by Dan Santat has poor dog in charge of five cats who do whatever they want in the house while the people are away.  Dog is exhausted by having to constantly reign in, clean up and keep an eye on all the cats.  Great illustrations by Santat and a hilarious romp through the house reminiscent of aTom and Jerry cartoon.  

READING IS DELICIOUS...IF YOU HAVE A SWEET TOOTH

Another delicious read about food as we gear up for our 2013 summer reading theme, Reading isSo Delicious.  

Alexander McCall Smith is hitting all the right notes with a new series based on his famous and popular adult detective, Precious Ramotswe.  In The Great Cake Mystery:  Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case, everyone suspects the fat round boy in their school of taking the sweets from their bags.  But Precious is not convinced on such flimsy evidence, Poloko's sticky hands.  Precious is determined to find the true thief and  proof of Poloko's innocence.  

A clever and thoughtful new detective and a great new beginning chapter book series for readers in 2nd-4th grade is here.