Mission: READ

It seems that there are so many Christmas books out there that it would be difficult to choose a favorite.  I recently searched on Amazon.com for The Night Before Christmas and there were 1,039 hits in the Books category! And let’s not forget about The Polar Express, (the book, not the movie) by Chris Van Allsburg and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, of course.

I haven’t picked one of those, however. My favorite Christmas book is Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, it tells the story of a young boy who waits for the Christmas Train to come so that he can receive a gift in a silver package tossed out by a rich man from the back of the train.  The rich man comes every year because was once helped by the townspeople during a time of crisis. 

Every year, the boy hopes for a toy doctor’s kit, and each year he receives something else, including warm socks when his toes are terribly cold and a pair of warm mittens when he can hardly move his frozen fingers. It seems somehow he always gets what he needs and a little toy besides, but never a doctor’s kit. At the end of the book, he watches the train as an adult and…well, I don’t want to spoil it. Let’s just say that I can never read this book without tearing up at the end, and even thinking about it now is getting me started (and I am not a chick-flick type person, remember).  To me, this book is about what Christmas, and life, should be all about.

Now, normally I would add:

“Want to know more about Silver Packages? Then check it out, and read it yourself! FIC RYL”

However, since our library check-out system has been broken down for the past two days and won’t be working again until after Break, I will send you to the Bloomington or Normal Public Library to get it, or to wherever fine books are lended or sold.

Enjoy your Break. Relax, rejuvenate, and read (just a little or a lot–your choice)

Mission: Accomplished

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Today, the IMC hosted our December Books and Bites featuring books about some very intimidating characters…and those forced to deal with them. Below are the three books that I talked about. 

In Shredderman: Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen, readers meet Bubba Bixby, the school bully who makes Nolan Byrd’s (and every other student’s) life miserable at Cedar Valley School.  Nerd –I mean Nolan–decides to fight back one day, not with his fists, but with a website! Shredderman.com (yes, the link works) not only exposes Bubba’s bad deeds, but serves as a place for his victims to vent as well. This book is not too long, quick and fun to read, and has great comic-book type illustrations to go along. Plus, you can read about Shredderman’s further adventures in the following sequels #2: Attack of the Tagger, #3 : Meet the Gecko, and #4: Enemy Spy.

And now for a story about an initmidating adult…Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami tells the story of three teenage sisters, Amber, Jazz, and Geena, who have gotten used to wrapping their dad around their little fingers (all six of them!) ever since their mom died last year. Enter Auntie from India who takes one look at the girls’ designer clothes and manipulating ways and just says “no.” Soon Auntie and Dad are making (and enforcing) new household rules and the girls have no choice but to make a plan to eliminate their Auntie–by marrying her off to the first available and unsuspecting guy!

And now for a book from the bully’s point of view…At fifteen, Cole Matthews has been an angry, violent bully but has never gotten into any trouble his parents couldn’t get him out of…until now. When he smashes a classmate’s head so hard that he may suffer permanent brain damage, Cole faces prison time.  However, he is given an alternative: to participate in Circle Justice, a Native American tradition that strives to heal both the victim and the offender and to create community.  Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen tells what happens when Cole is banished to live on an Alaskan island alone for one year.  After burning down his only shelter, trying to swim for the mainland and failing, and getting attacked by a bear, Cole must look inside to see who he really is and who he wants to become.

Want to know more about Shredderman: Secret Identity, Bindi Babes, or Touching Spirit Bear?  Then check them out and read them yourself! You can even listen to audiotapes of Touching Spirit Bear.

Mission: Accomplished

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Did that get your attention??? There are three books on this year’s Rebecca Caudill list that fit the “in prison” category–as long as you leave “in prison” in quotes.

The first is Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. In this book, Moose and his family must move to Alcatraz Island during the 1930s–when it was full of the some of the most infamous lawbreakers of all time. Not only does Moose have to worry about making new friends at school and steering clear of trouble-making Piper, the warden’s daughter, he must also take increasing responsibility for his older sister, Natalie, who has disabilities. And Al Capone really does make an appearance in this book, in a most unlikely way.

In The Ravenmaster’s Secret by Elvira Wodruff, teenager Forrest lives at the Tower of London during one of the bloodiest times in English history. His father must take care of the ravens because the legend is that if the ravens leave the Tower, the British Empire will fall. When he makes friends with Maddie, who is imprisoned with her Scottish rebel father, Forrest must decide whether to help the innocent girl or to remain loyal to his father and his monarch.  

In The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, Lina and Doon are “imprisoned” in a dying city. Ember’s only source of light is from lightbulbs powered by the electricity made in generators underneath the city.  There is very little fresh food, and the canned goods in the city’s storehouses are running out. Lina and Doon find an old, damaged document and must decipher it to find a way out of the city to save themselves and their community.  If you like The Giver, this is the book for you.  It also has a sequel, The People of Sparks.

Want to know more about Al Capone Does My Shirts, The Ravenmaster’s Secret, or The City of Ember?  Then check them out and read them yourself! The IMC has at least 5 copies of these Rebecca Caudill books. Look under the yellow bulletin board in the IMC.

Mission: Accomplished

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