A Hero with Dyslexia

Ms. Wendy told me about a very interesting series of features on the radio recently about dyslexia: what it is, how people misunderstand it, and what it’s like to live with it.  Another person who’s been writing about the experience of being a kid with dyslexia is actor Henry Winkler (grown-ups might recognize him as Fonzie or The Fonz).  He has dyslexia (not diagnosed until adulthood), and so does his son.  He and Lin Oliver worked together to create the series Hank Zipzer, starting with

Niagara Falls, or Does It?
Fourth-graders Hank, Ashley, and Frankie are excitedly preparing for a magic show at the Rock ‘N Bowl when Hank’s creative alternative to an English essay lands him in detention and grounded the week of the show. This title is also available as a book on CD (which can be a great option to help children with dyslexia enjoy books) and a downloadable ebook.

The books are very appealing to kids not just because of the humor but also because Hank has wonderful, supportive friends.

More recently, the team of authors started writing Here’s Hank, a series of early chapter books for younger children. In these stories, Hank is in second grade. These books are printed in a special font called dyslexie that was designed to be easier read if you have dyslexia.

Another resource available to people with dyslexia or another reading disability is the Illinois Talking Book Outreach Center. Check out their website for an application to apply for free services like borrowing audiobooks. They also have a list of links to related organizations, including ones that offer audio textbooks for school.

Scare your children (just a little)

Did you know you that some audiobooks are read by famous actors?  April 19 is Tim Curry’s 70th birthday, which seems like a great time to point out some of the audiobooks he’s narrated for kids.  This is Tim Curry, so we’re talking about stories with villains, crocodiles, pirates, and other scary stuff.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
“After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.”  This is the beginning to a darkly funny series with lots of fantastic wordplay.

Despicable Me: The Junior Novel by Annie Auerbach
“Despicable Me chronicles the hilarious misadventure of Gru, the self-proclaimed ‘world’s greatest super villain’. ”  Also funny.  Also has orphans.

I, Crocodile in Harry the Dirty Dog and other Animal Stories
Five favorite picture books about animals include a crocodile’s story in his own words.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean
“In the 1930s, all is not well. Nightmares are leaking out of Neverland. Fearing for Peter Pan‘s life, Wendy and the Lost Boys go back to Neverland — with the help of the fairy Fireflyer — only to discover their worst nightmares coming true! Peter Pan and his friends eventually restore Neverland to rights.”  This title is available on CD and as a Playaway.

Sabriel by Garth Nix
“Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead.”  This is the first book in a trilogy by the favorite Australian fantasy author.  It is also available as a downloadable e-audiobook.

New year, new series

Are you ready for something new to read?  Here are a few series starters that are all available as audiobooks:

Above World by Jen Reese
In a future of high technology and genetic modification the Coral Kampii, like legendary mermaids, live isolated from the Above World, but when the devices that allows them to breathe underwater start to fail, thirteen-year-old Aluna and her friend Hoku go to that forbidden place to find help.
This title is also available as a book on CD, a Playaway audiobook, or an ebook.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to save civilization.
This title is also available as a book on CD or a Playaway audiobook.

A Dark Inheritance by Chris D’Lacey
When Michael Malone saves a dog, he discovers that he has paranormal abilities, which bring him to the attention of a secret organization, UNICORNE–but he plans to use the ability to find out what happened to his father, who mysteriously vanished three years earlier, and save his new friend, Freya.
This title is also available as a book on CD, a Playaway audiobook, an ebook, or an e-audiobook.

How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks
In 1870s London, a young orphan girl becomes the apprentice to a man who traps monsters for a living.
This title is also available as a Playaway audiobook, an ebook, or an e-audiobook.

The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
Eleven-year-old Miri Gill feels left out in her family, which has two sets of twins and her, until she travels back in time to 1935 and discovers Molly, her own lost twin, and brings her back to the present day.
This title is also available as a Playaway audiobook or an ebook.

A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy (an original retelling of Star Wars: A New Hope by Alexandra Bracken)
If you don’t already know the plot, I’m not going to spoil it.
This book is one of the titles included on the Fountaindale Children’s Services Nook.  It is also available as a book on CD.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Best friends Sophie (princess wannabe) and Agatha (witchy loner) are headed (via kidnapping) to the School for Good and Evil, but their assumed destinies are reversed.
This title is also available as a Playaway audiobook or an ebook.  It is also one of the titles included on the Fountaindale Children’s Services Nook.

 

Hidden Gems: Alice in Many Languages

My boss just shared an article she found about the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland and how the book has been, and is being, published in multiple languages.  At the top of the article, you’ll see a slideshow of illustrations from Alice in Wonderland.

If you would like to see or hear Alice in another language, the library owns Alice in Wonderland and other Lewis Carrol stories in Spanish, including an Alice in Wonderland audiobook in Spanish.

Since Alice in Wonderland is old enough to be out of copyright, you can also find some versions online for free.  Project Gutenberg has it available in German, Esperanto, and Finnish.  manybooks.net (which is compatible with the Go Read app on our nooks) offers the story in German, Esperanto, and Italian.

Unexpected Grammy Winner in the Children’s Album Category

Did you know that a children’s audiobook could win a Grammy Award?  One just did!

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (a sound recording of the Young Readers Edition of Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography) won this year’s Grammy award for Best Children’s Album.  It is available on Playaway or on CD in the children’s or adult collection.

You can also check out some of the runners-up for the award:

Just Say Hi!
Brady Rymer And The Little Band That Could

The Perfect Quirk
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

Through The Woods
The Okee Dokee Brothers

American Library Association announces 2015 youth media award winners – News

The winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, and several other children’s book awards were announced yesterday, which you can read about here:

American Library Association announces 2015 youth media award winners – News.

Here are a few highlights (books that won multiple awards):

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander won the Newbery Medal and was also a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.  This title is also available as a Playaway audiobook.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (which already won the National Book Award) won the Coretta Scott King Award for author and was named a Newbery Honor Book and a Sibert Honor Book (the Sibert awards are for nonfiction).  The library also owns this book as an audiobook on CD.

Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales won the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award as well as a Caldecott Honor.

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, won the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award as well as a Caldecott Honor.

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker was a King Illustrator Honor Book and a Sibert Honor Book.  This title is also available as an audiobook on CD.

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh was a Belpré Illustrator Honor Book and a Sibert Honor Book.  This title is also available as an audiobook on CD and has been adapted to DVD.

There, I think that’s all the ones that overlapped!  I plan to share more about the list of the award winners in the coming days.

 

Percy Jackson with a Viking twist

When someone asks me for something else like The Lightning Thief, my first thoughts are stories based on Norse mythology instead of Greek.  A new book arrived at the library yesterday, the third in the RuneWarriors trilogy, with blurbs on the cover recommending it to Percy Jackson fans.  But before I get to that, I must tell you about Odd and the Frost Giants.

We have it in the teen area as well as the children’s collection, since the author is so popular with teens, but I would say it is really for a slightly younger audience than The Graveyard Book.  A young Viking is sidelined from running away by a trio of animals, who first reveal themselves to be talking beasts and then to be something even stranger.

Runemarks has been described (by Kirkus Reviews) as “The Lightning Thief meets The Sea of Trolls.”  Another reviewer was reminded of elements in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, and the summary (with gods struggling in a world that largely doesn’t believe in them) makes me think of the adult novel American Gods.  That may make it sound a bit dark, but Joanne Harris’s first book for younger readers is also supposed to be fast-moving and funny.

RuneWarriors by Jim Jennewein (or Shield of Odin if you read it in paperback) is the tale of teenage Dane  who goes on a quest with his rival, Jarl the Fair, to retrieve the Shield of Odin and Astrid, the girl they love, from the tyrant Thidrick.  This sounds like epic adventure, and it is, but that description doesn’t even mention the humor that adds so much to the story.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer features an apprentice bard set on a quest by a queen who is half-troll (or, if you prefer, half Frost Giant) facing (in the best fantasy tradition) giant spiders and other monstrous creatures.  Yet it still has, the School Library Journal reviewer claims, “plenty of lighthearted moments.”

Thor’s Wedding Day by Thialfi the Goat Boy as told to and translated by Bruce Coville
If you read Marvel comics, you already know that Thor’s hammer is magic, is named Mjollnir, and that it would be a very bad thing for him to lose it.  Exactly what would he be willing to do to get it back?  Would you believe wear a wedding dress?

Believe it or not, that story is based on an authentic Norse myth.  I recommend the originals to anyone who enjoys the books above.  As an added bonus, if you read some of the books below you’ll get more of the jokes in stories like Odd’s.

Favorite Norse Myths retold by Mary Pope Osborne

Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Norse by Leonard Everett Fisher

Norse Gods and Giants by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

Odin’s Family: Myths of the Vikings retold by Neil Philip

Stolen Thunder: A Norse Myth retold by Shirley Climo

While the library does not own any of these myths in an audiobook format, you can enjoy all of the junior fiction books listed here the way Norse myths were originally meant to be heard: out loud.  If you have a favorite type of audiobook, it’s probably represented here.  Odd and the Frost Giants is read by the author in his lovely British accent.  Thor’s Wedding Day features a full cast reading the different parts.  RuneWarriors is available as a Playaway.  Each of the audiobooks received positive reviews, and Odd even earned an award!

Winners of the Audies

The winners of the Audies were announced last night.  Here’s an update on some of the audiobooks I mentioned in my last post, plus a few additional titles young listeners may enjoy:

Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales won both Audiobook of the Year and the award for Multi-voiced Performance.

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken won the award for Children’s Title for Ages up to 8.

Operation Yes won the award for Children’s Title for ages 8-12.  (The audiobook is not available in our library system yet, but we do have copies of the book.)

Peace, Locomotion won the award in the Teen category.

Odd and the Frost Giants won the award in the category Narration by Author.

Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder was the winner in the category Original Work.  It is a collection of stories of amazing females from all around the world, with several talented actresses as the storytellers.

-Miss Sarah

Big Award Winners, part 5

I’m going to double up this time and write about two different awards for the same medium: audiobooks.

I was inspired by an article in Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune about finalists for the “Audies,” awards for audiobooks from the Audio Publishers Association.  The article highlighted three local voice artists who were nominated for awards, all of whom had narrated books for adults.  I wondered whether there were any Audies for children’s books.  In fact there are, and the Audies have categories for children up to age eight, children ages 8-12, and teens.  You can find the nominees for every category on The Audies 2010 website.   You can even read reviews and listen to samples!  Keep in mind that not every book your children might enjoy was nominated for an award in a children’s category.  For example:

Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales is nominated for awards in multiple categories, including audiobook of the year.

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman is nominated in the Narration by the Author category.

The American Library Association also has a (fairly new) award for children’s and young adult audiobooks called the Odyssey Award.  The 2010 Odyssey Award Audiobook is:

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate Dicamillo.

There were also three 2010 Honor Audiobooks:

In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L.A. Meyer

Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson

While researching these awards, I found some really helpful information on the website for AudioFile magazine.  I’ve added it to the list of media selection resources for parents on the library website.  One of the things you can find on their website is a recommended list of audiobooks for families, perfect for summer car trips!  You can find books in different genres for first graders up through teens.  (First grade appears to be the youngest category on their chart, but titles such as Winnie-the-Pooh would appeal to younger children as well.)  -Miss Sarah

The big award winners, part 1

I promised a list of award winners with catalog links.  In the interests of getting it out sooner rather than later, I’m going to break the list down into a few separate posts.

Winner of the Newbery Medal for “most outstanding contribution to children’s literature” is:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (also available as a book on CD).

Another four books were Newbery Honor Books this year:

Cluadette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (a biography)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (also available as a book on CD)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (also available as a book on CD).

More books to come!

-Miss Sarah