Books in Brief: Robot Zombie Frankenstein!

Robot Zombie Frankenstein! by Annette Simon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

And the award for my favorite picture book of the year (yes, I know it's still only June) goes to... Robot Zombie Frankenstein! I just brought it into my library and made at least four of my co-workers stop what they were doing to read it.

The plot, in haiku format:

Two robots are friends
Costume contest escalates
Pie for everyone!

Seriously, treat yourself. Given its simplicity, the story is surprisingly complete, and the art is just delightful. (Added educational bonus: the robots and their costumes are comprised mainly of basic shapes in bright colors, so it could also be used as a teaching tool.)

I'm really looking forward to using this one in storytime!

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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: Zombie Tag

Zombie Tag by Hannah Moskowitz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the most amazing book I've read all year. Granted, it is only the beginning of February, but still. Uh-Mazing.

The plot, in super-brief: 12-year-old zombie-obsessed Wil finds a way to bring his older brother Graham back from the dead. But will Graham be the same awesome big brother Wil remembers, or will he instead eat Wil's brains? Perhaps more importantly, has Wil just triggered the zombie apocalypse?

This book has everything (suspense, fun, heartbreak) and it goes way beyond its action-packed premise to tackle issues of loss, identity, friendship and responsibility head-on.

(And if that weren't enough, the author includes instructions at the end of the book on how to actually play zombie tag, spatulas and all! Bonus!)

Bottom line: I'm not here to tell you how to live your life. But if I were, I would tell you to wrangle yourself up a copy of Zombie Tag.

And maybe also to hug your brother.

(Assuming he's not looking to eat your brains.)


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The Empire Strikes the Library!

If you visited Tredyffrin Library on Sunday, you might have seen some unusual guests there that day. Members of the Garrison Carida of the 501st Legion - also known as 'Vader's Fist' - came by to help us celebrate National Library Card Sign-up Month.

Yes, even those who have been seduced by the dark side use the library.

Our guests were joined by some hardcore fans, all of whom had the opportunity to share their Star Wars trivia knowledge and ask a few questions. My favorite was directed to Boba Fett:

"Did you become a bounty hunter because you had too many overdue books?"

We ate TIE Fighter Ties and drank Yoda Soda, both courtesy of the amazing Star Wars-themed cookbook Wookiee Cookies.

And finally, we all put our game faces on for a photo shoot.



Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday, especially the 501st. Fly casual, my friends!

See more photos on our Facebook page!

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Angleberger, Tom. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Amulet Books. 2010. ISBN: 978-0810984257

Like Dwight, the weird kid who created Origami Yoda, my Yoda impression is not very good. However, I can muster up enough inner Yoda to tell you, "Funny this book is. Liked it I did."

The plot, super-brief: Weird kid Dwight makes an Origami Yoda, which starts giving out advice to everyone in school. Some of the advice is good, some of the advice is bad, and some is just plain weird. (For example, "The Twist you must learn.") But all of it makes the kids wonder: Is Origami Yoda real or not?

Of course, there are other more serious issues in the story, including bravery, kindness, academic honesty and Cheeto hogging, but they're all part of the larger question.

I liked the whole story, but I especially liked how the author keeps the characters real. They have problems and they're not always on their best behavior, just like all of us. I mean, haven't we all wanted to cry after striking out or struggled with the question of how to cover an embarrassing water stain? No? Just me?

Tiny details I loved:
1. The X-wing and Tie-fighters at the bottom of every page
2. Harvey's reference to Robert E. Lee's horse
3. Soapy the monkey

And of course, the author includes directions on how to make your very own Origami Yoda. That's pretty cool.

I'd recommend this book to kids ages 9 and up, to adults who still remember what middle school was like, and to Star Wars fans everywhere.