Hidden Classic #6: The Devil's Storybook

This charming little book is full of witty stories about the Devil, who is portrayed as a short-tempered trickster always trying to stir up trouble. Sometimes the Devil gets the results he wants, other times the people he's trying to deceive fool him instead. All the tales have a subtle moral, mostly about the consequence of choices or desires, and a lesson about human nature.And several are really, really funny.

Natalie Babbitt was born and grew up in Ohio. She spent large amounts of time in those early years reading fairy tales and myths, and drawing. Her mother, an amateur landscape and portrait painter, provided early art lessons and saw to it that there was always enough paper, paint, pencils, and encouragement. In those days, Ms. Babbitt wanted only to be an illustrator. She spent a lot of time drawing at Laurel School in Cleveland and went on to major in studio art at Smith College.

As befits Babbitt's early training as an artist, a suitably wicked but hilarious drawing accompanies each tale.

But don't just take my word for it! Check out these credentials.....

"A masterful Devil's advocate, Natalie Babbitt presents ten brief testimonials to Satan's unflagging gusto for dirty tricks. Paunchy and well past his prime, this Prince of Darkness is no Superdemon."--Starred review, School Library Journal

"High on my list is The Devil's Storybook by Natalie Babbitt. This Devil is not dire; he is a scheming practical joker and comes to earth often when he is restless, to play tricks on clergymen, goodwives, poets, and pretty girls."--Jean Stafford, The New Yorker

"[Babbitt's] Devil is a cultured fellow who drinks cider, reads novels and gives concerts for the damned. He also has a sense of humor, frequently employed at human expense. What he lacks, however, is real malevolence. Parents who are concerned about their children's reading matter will be relieved to see that this book has virtually no violence, making it a tame match for the average cartoon - or, for that matter, Grimm's fairy tales." Laurel Graeber, The New York Times

There's also a very nice review at The Excelsior File.

Recommendations:
Association for Childhood Education International
Booklist, starred review
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Children's Book Review Service
Elementary School Library Collections, selected choice
Horn Book Magazine, starred review
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
New York Times Book Review
Publishers Weekly
School Library Journal, starred review
Wilson Library Bulletin

Awards:
American Library Association Notable Children's Books
Children's Book Council Children's Choices
Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List
National Book Awards Finalist
New York Times Notable Children's Books of the Year
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
School Library Journal, Best of the Best Books for Children

Books in Brief: Oddfellow's Orphanage

Oddfellow's Orphanage by Emily Winfield Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lovely story with a very vintage feel to it. Told as a series of vignettes about a home for orphans, it's a lyrical patchwork of gentle humor, simple pleasures, and fairy-tale fantasy.

View all my reviews

Books In Brief: Anton Can Do Magic

Reviewer: Angie

The name of the book being recommended: Anton Can Do Magic by Ole Konnecke

Please give us five reasons why this book is awesome: 

1. Anton wants to do some magic in his adorable magic hat.

2. By the way, it's a real magic hat.

3. Can Anton really make a tree, a bird, and his friend, Luke, disappear? Well, he does have a real magic hat.

4. It's a hilarious story about believing in yourself.

5. The illustrations have a sweet, retro feel about them.

Where can I find this book in the library? It can be found in the Children's Department under the call number jE KON.

Free (or really cheap) eBooks for Kids

The following sites carry some children's as well as adult titles.

Amazon The free Kindle books aren't always easy to find. One way to find them is to sort the eBooks by price (low to high) in the preference box, which will put the $0.00 and $0.99 ones at the top.

Barnes and Noble Go to NookBooks, then to Customer Favorites to find a great selection of free eBooks. The free Nook app is also available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

BookYards A web portal in which all books, education materials, information, and content are free.

DigitalBookIndex Offers an extensive list of nonfiction titles in PDF, ePub, and Kindle formats, mixed with web books. Search by title or author, or browse by subject. Contains a special American Studies section.

eBooks Directory Has over 4,000 PDF titles divided into over 400 categories. Includes many new titles.

FreeBookSpot Search and download free eBooks in various categories. No registration is required.

Globusz Books can be read online or downloaded in TXT format. Access older eBooks via the categories and authors on the center of the page. Access newer eBooks via the list of featured authors on the left. They also provide an excellent Star Rating Showcase for new and evolving authors.

Inkmesh A search engine and browser for free and cheap eBooks. Links on the front page list free books compatible with different devices. Search by title, author, or subject. Clicking "Find free eBooks" will do just that.

Internet Archive* Offers simple and advanced searching of thousands of titles, but no browsing capabilities. Each title has a unique page offering complete title, author, and publisher information. a description of the content, and links to the various formats available for the title.

ManyBooks.net* Click on "Young Readers," then browse the A-Z titles list (which includes thumbnails of the book covers) or search Library of Congress Categories.

MemoWare Browse dozens of categories and choose from thousands of free documents and  eBooks for your Kindle or Nook.

Munseys The proper choices for various devices are explicitly identified. Search by title, author, tag, or category. When downloading a particular title, first click "Select One" to choose the desired format, then click "Download."

Project Gutenberg* Looking for that obscure, out-of-print book you remember reading at your grandmother's house when you were a kid? Look no further. These titles are free because their copyrights have expired, which means that many of them are fairly old. But a good classic is often hard to beat. PG supports Kindle, Nook, Sony, Apple products, PCs, and most smart phones. 

Smashwords Allows you to peruse titles, giving search options such as "highest reviews" and "most popular." The reviews are also available for reading, which you won't find on all of the free eBook sites. 

*voted one of the Top 7 Free eBook Sites by TopTenReviews 

And if you don't find what you want on any of those sites, did you know that you can also borrow eBooks (and audiobooks) FOR FREE if you have a valid Chester County Library System library card? eBooks that would normally carry a fee? eBooks that are compatible with Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, iPads, smart phones, and more? It's true! Find out the details here.

Books in Brief: Twice Upon A Time

Rapunzel, The One with all the Hair by Wendy Mass

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was prepared to not like this book. I don't know why - I love fairy tales and I really enjoy Wendy Mass. Perhaps I am too suspicious of pink. I can't know.

But I thought the story was well told, with chapters alternating from Rapunzel's point of view to the prince's. The language is a nice mix of fairytale and realistic teen-speak. (For example: "Father does not like being disobeyed. It's a king thing.")

I didn't quite understand why Rapunzel's hair was enchanted to grow in the first place, but I was willing to overlook that for a clever and non-thorny blinding of the prince.

Bottom line: A nice take on an old favorite. I've already got the next book in the series lined up!

View all my reviews

Books in Brief: Breadcrumbs

Reviewer: Angela

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen, this book incorporates both fairy tales and modern fantasy (I mean, it even works in Han Solo in carbon freeze!) into a unique and emotionally true story of friendship, identity, and growing up.



View all my reviews

Books In Brief: Thornspell

Reviewer: Michele

The name of the book being recommended: Thornspell by Helen Lowe

Please give us five reasons why this book is awesome:
1. A retelling of the Sleeping Beauty folktale from the prince's point of view, combined with the Parsifal story from the King Arthur legends? Yes, please!
2. Strong characters, including the women and girls (which is as it should be).
3. The hero, Prince Sigismund, has a super-cool magical sword named Quickthorn.
4. Through their own experience, and also through the wisdom of the trusted mentors in their lives, the characters grow and change during the course of the story. Wisdom sample: his trainer Balisan tells Sigismund, "Frustration, anger, fear--they are all distractions that will kill you if you hold onto them, more deadly by far than any enemy."
5. This book has it all: adventure, fantasy, shape-shifting, evil faeries, visions, dragons, battles, romance, complex and colorful language, great storytelling.

How can I find this book in the library? It can be found in juvenile fiction under j LOW. Recommended for grades 5+ as a read-alone, grades 3+ as a read-aloud.

KTB = Kids Talk Books

We're into our second week of KTB and already the recommendations are pouring in! Our panel today consisted of: Hari (entering grade 7); Arshad, Sai, Yerin (entering grade 6); Mayaank (entering grade 5); Jeevan, Neha, Shiva, Uday (entering grade 4).

Today's discussion topic was, "What makes a good series?" Readers of all ages love the comfort, ease, and predictability of series fiction. Once we discover an author we like, it's exciting to find out that he or she has written more books about our favorite characters.

Here are the series our panelists recommend, along with the genres they fall into, how our panelists discovered the series and/or why they like it, and suggested reading levels.

The 39 Clues series by various authors
mystery
grades 3-5
"I like that the same characters appear in all of them, but they're all a little bit different." ~ Jeevan

The Cabin Creek Mysteries by Kristiana Gregory
mystery, suspense
grades 3-5
"My teacher read the first one aloud to my class and I got hooked." ~ Uday

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
family & friends, humor, school stories
grades 3-6
"I just found the book on the shelf at the library. The cover and the title looked good, so I checked it out." ~ Hari

The Dragon Slayers' Academy by Kate McMullen
fantasy, school stories
grades 2-4
"The author came to my school and got me interested in the books." ~ Uday

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
adventure, fantasy, school stories
grades 4+ (later titles in the series grades 7+)
"I like all of the action and how the characters sometimes break the rules." ~ Shiva

The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
adventure, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"I really liked the Percy Jackson books, and this series is by the same author. It's also about mythology, but this time it's Egypt instead of Greece." ~ Arshad

The Lost Hero series by Rick Riordan
adventure, family & friends, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"It's a Percy Jackson spinoff, and I had read and liked the first series." ~ Sai

The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
fantasy, mystery
grades 1-3
"This series was a reading challenge in second grade. Our teacher challenged us to read books 1-18, but we liked it so much we kept going!" ~ Uday

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
adventure, family & friends, fantasy, mythology
grades 4-7
"A friend of mine read it and recommended it to me." ~ Arshad

The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch
humor, mystery, suspense
grades 4-7
"I liked A Series of Unfortunate Events and this one is a lot like it." ~ Shiva

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
adventure, humor, mystery, suspense
grades 4-6
"My school librarian thought I might like it, and I did!" ~ Mayaank

The TinTin series by Herge
adventure, graphics, humor
grades 5+
"We liked that they were exotic and had lots of travel and adventure." ~ Arshad, Hari, Sai

The Wayside School series by Louis Sachar
family & friends, humor, school stories
grades 3-5
"My teacher read the first one to our class and I really liked it." ~ Neha

Other series mentioned in brief:
A-Z Mysteries and Capital Mysteries, both by Ron Roy (mystery; grades 1-3)
The Boxcar Children Mysteries by Gertrude Chandler Warner (mystery; grades 3-5)
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (graphics, humor; grades 4-7)
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (humor; grades 1-3)
My Weird School by Dan Gutman (family & friends, humor; grades 1-3)
The Warriors series by Erin Hunter (adventure, animals, fantasy, graphics; grades 4-7)

Harry and the Potters

There is something I want you to know.

There is a band called Harry and the Potters. Some of their songs include, "I'm a Wizard," "Save Ginny Weasley," and of course, "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock."

Yes, this is a band that writes songs about the stuff that happens in the Harry Potter books.

Why am I telling you about them?

Weren't you listening? THIS IS A BAND THAT WRITES SONGS ABOUT STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS! If that's not cool enough for me to give you a heads-up about it, I don't know what is.

But the reason I am telling you about them TODAY is so that you can have enough time to make a plan to go see them in Philadelphia where they will be performing live on July 30! (Yes, that's right, the day before Harry Potter's birthday!)

If you've spent any time at all in the children's department this spring, you might have heard us playing their first album behind the desk. (It is a particular favorite of a few of our staff members, myself included.)

If you haven't heard their music at our library, you might want to give them a shot.

You're welcome.

Diana Wynne Jones: A Tribute

"Writing for adults, you have to keep reminding them of what is going on. Children you only need to tell things to once." ~ Diana Wynne Jones, 1934-2011

The world lost one of its best fantasy writers with the death in March of Diana Wynne Jones. Her writing was so good that, not only did it sell well, it became popular with children, teens, adults, and other fantasy writers, and several of her children's and teen books (and the all-ages nonfiction book The Tough Guide to Fantasyland) are now regarded as modern classics. She was friends with Neil Gaiman, and Jones and Gaiman were both fans of each others' work; she dedicated her novel Hexwood to him after something he said in a conversation that inspired a key part of the plot. Gaiman had already dedicated his 1991 four-part comic book mini-series The Books of Magic to "Four Witches", of whom Jones was one.

Reviewers and readers have also compared her work (especially the Chrestomanci series) to the Harry Potter series, but the comparison should really be the other way around. Jones was writing long before Rowling, and her work has a richness (and a brevity) that is sometimes lacking in Rowling's novels, in my opinion. Plus, Jones is very funny when she wants to be.

I have never been a big fantasy fan overall, but I am always enthusiastic about great storytelling, whatever genre it might be. The head of the children's department at the time introduced me to Jones' books when I started working at Tredyffrin about 20 years ago, and Jones made a fantasy reader out of me. Don't take my word for it. Check out one or more of her books and decide for yourself. Some suggestions are listed below, along with just a portion of the awards for which she and her books have been nominated over the years. Thank you, Diana. You will be missed.

Suggested Reading:
The Chrestomanci Series (if you're a Harry Potter fan), to be read in this order, suggested by Jones
Charmed Life
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Conrad's Fate
Witch Week
The Magicians of Caprona
Mixed Magics
The Pinhoe Egg
The Castle Trilogy (if you're a folklore and fairy tale fan), to be read in this order
Howl's Moving Castle (my personal favorite)
Castle In the Air
House of Many Ways
Parodies
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (nonfiction)
Dark Lord of Derkholm
Year of the Griffin

Awards and Honors:
British Fantasy Society Award
Guardian Award
Honorary Doctor of Letters from Bristol University
Hugo Award
Mythopoeic Award
Preis der Leseratten
World Fantasy Award for Best Novel

Nominations:
Academy Award Nomination for Best Animated Feature (for the film of Howl's Moving Castle, adapted and directed by Hayao Miyazaki)
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Carnegie Medal (multiple times)
Childrens Book Award
Guardian Award (multiple times)
Locus Award
Mythopoeic Award (multiple times)

More Information:
www.dianawynnejones.com