The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de luce Mystery by Alan Bradley

Reading level adult
number of pages 385
published by Bantam Books

I just finished reading a new mystery described as an "enthralling mystery", "a rich literary delight", "a quirky, delightful whodunit" about a little girl about the age of eleven who is both irresistible and incorrigible, a sleuth and a budding scientist. The story takes place in the summer of 1950 in England in a once -grand mansion where Flavia lives with her father and two older sisters. This wonderfully told tale begins when a dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. This is the beginning of a series of events that was delicious to read and impossible to stop turning the pages to the very end. There were no slow or dragging parts to the story. Once begun, I was simply pulled in and enjoyed every twist and turn. I am happy to see that the second book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag is due out this month.

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Reading level: 6th grade
Hardcover 383 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2003

This book is amazing! So well written, the characters just come to life as you read. It's based on an old Grimms fairytale, but I had never even heard of it till I read this book.

Ok, the real reason I'm writing about this book - funny story. I'm doing student teaching in 6th grade right now and my mentor teacher wanted to get the kids more excited about AR (reading program), so we both did a couple of book talks (basically introducing a book in an appealing way) in front of the class. I told them about this book and read a short passage, but I was worried none of the boys would want to read it. I thought about adding a blurb about it not being just a girl book, but decided not to, just to see what would happen. Turns out my boys were clambering for this book! I didn't have a single girl ask me for it, but several boys were searching the book shelf saying, "who took Goose Girl?" It made me sooooo happy.

David Wiesner

I am a firm believer in quality picture books. There was nothing that made my childrens' lit teacher madder than to hear someone excuse a poor quality book as being "good enough for children" (as Anna can attest), and pointed out the wealth of high quality picture books out there. These books are a combination of meaningful art that enhances the text, and a compelling dramatic question. I found myself discovering picture books as an adult that I love for their literary value, rather than sentimentality. One of my most exciting discoveries was David Weisner.

Anna already wrote about his wordless picture book Flotsam. It's a Caldecott award winner and is absolutely genius.

 Another wordless picture book, a Caldecott honor book, and probably my favorite of all his books is Sector 7. It's the story of a boy who goes on a field trip to the Empire State building and ends up messing with the production of a cloud factory. I love his wordless picture books because so much is left to fill in with your imagination, but his other books are fabulous too.

Tuesday is a bizarre, delightful little tale about the strange things that happen on - you guessed it! - Tuesday. I'm pretty sure this book only has three words in it, so I'm not quite sure which category it belongs to.

 The Three Pigs is the classic tale as you've never read it before. Basically, it's the pigs' escape from the world of 2-D animation and their ability to make friends that conquers the wolf in the end. These two are also Caldecott award winners.

And finally there's June 29, 1999. This one's more of a classic picture book than the others, but it definitely has that unique Wiesner style. The main character sends vegetables into the sky as a science experiment - with large results. My favorite part about this story is the hilarious twist at the end. 



So, next time you're at the library, for your kids or for yourself, stop by the picture book section and enjoy a sample of quality literature from David Wiesner.

Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright

122 Pages
Reading Level: adult ? (I think it's not really complex, so anyone could read it)

SO this book is really NOT my type of book (uplifting/feel good, non-fantasy, non-romantic), but I really enjoyed this Christmas story, here in the middle of March. AND I must admit- I even cried. It's a sweet story about how service can change people's lives. It was a quick read with a great message. It left me wanting to be better, but still feeling good. I'm hoping to pick up the sequel at the library and possibly I'll eventually branch out to some of the author's other books.

Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad

Reading level: age 8-10
167 pages

I inhaled this book (from start to finish in just a couple of hours) and it was wonderful. It was very quick to read but was well written. To me this means that story allows me to make a connection with the characters and who they are as well being able to discover subtle themes and beautiful messages.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Reading level: 4th grade - adult
Paperback 375 pg.

Meet Percy Jackson. Your average twelve year old demigod gets accused of stealing Zeus's master lightening bolt and sets off on a quest to find the real thief and clear his name.

Now you may have seen the movie, or previews for the movie, and thought "lame", and there I would have to agree, but the books are actually quite fabulous. My husband and I read the entire series together and loved it. It's especially fun if you have some general background with Greek mythology. I've heard it compared to Harry Potter because it has that secret magical world hidden in our world theme, but it's actually a fresh original idea. It brings Greek mythology to life and points out that being a hero isn't always all it's cracked up to be.