Pre/K Story Time Books (4.16.13)

Today we learned some valuable life lessons from Aesop, including:

• A little common sense is often of more value than much cunning
• Perseverance is surer than swiftness
• No one is too weak to do good
• Much wants more and loses all
• He who listens to flattery is not wise, for it has no good purpose

and, my favorite,

• Persuasion is better than force

The Very Best of Aesop's Fables
adapted by Margaret Clark
illustrated by Charlotte Voake
j 398.2 AESOP

Mouse & Lion
adapted by Rand Burkert
illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
jE 398.2 AESOP

The Contest Between the Sun and the Wind
adapted by Heather Forest
illustrated by Susan Gaber
jE 398.2 AESOP














We also colored pictures of some of fox's mishaps from the fables, and ate delicious grapes (that were easily reachable and not the least bit sour; sorry, fox).

If you have children between the ages of 4 and 6, please join us next Tuesday from 2:00-2:45 pm. There is no charge, and registration is not required.

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

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.