Books In Brief: The Junie B. Jones Series

Reviewer: Brianne

The name of the book being recommended: the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park

Please give us five reasons why this series is awesome:

1. It was always interesting.

2. It was a good series for my age at the time (ages 7-9).

3. It was really funny. She always had me laughing while I was reading it.

4. There weren't many words that were hard for me at the time, but it was challenging enough to keep me reading.

5. It was usually about things that were important to me at the time: school, friends, family, etc.

How can I find this book in the library? All of the Junie B. Jones books can be found in the Children's Department, in series fiction, under the call number j series JUNIE B.

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.

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!

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: I Want My Hat Back

Reviewer: Travis

The name of the book being recommended: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Please give us five reasons why this book is awesome:

1. This book pushes picture book storytelling to a new level of absurdity.

2. A bear has lost his hat and goes around asking the animals if they have seen it. They all say no, and he gives up in despair. But wait! What if he HAS seen it?

3. The text is spare and haiku-like, but with an implication of deadpan humor.

4. The drawings are likewise minimalistic, with a blank background and a style that seems like an ironic response to Eric Carle.

5. This book will appeal to people who are tired of didactic children's books. There is no way you will learn any important lessons here. But it's funny!

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

Books In Brief: Meanwhile...

Reviewer: Travis

The name of the book being recommended: Meanwhile... by Jason Shiga

Please give us five reasons why this book is awesome:

1. This is actually a Choose Your Own Adventure-style book, but in a graphic novel format.

2. That means that you can win or lose!

3. A poor choice in ice cream leads to your encounter with a mad scientist, and you'll hold the fate of humanity in your hands.

4. It's silly AND apocalyptic.

5. Once you win, you can go back and find the secret extras that the author hid in the book.

How can I find this book in the library? It can be found in the Children's Department, in graphics, under the call number j GRA SHIGA.

Books in Brief: The Composer is Dead

Reviewer: Angela

The name of the book being recommended: The Composer is Dead, by Lemony Snicket

Please give us five reasons why this book is awesome:

1. It's by Lemony Snicket = Awesome. Who else could get away with words like "xylophoniness" and "cymbalism?"

2. It's illustrated by Carson Ellis, who may be best known for her album covers for The Decembrists. I confess that I was a little hesitant to accept anyone other than Brett Helquist as an illustrator for Lemony Snicket, but Ms. Ellis does great work that is a lovely fit with the story.

3. It's a murder mystery.

4. It's a murder mystery where the primary suspects are musical instruments. Not only does this provide a chance for readers to get acquainted with the different sections of the orchestra, it also gives us a glimpse of what those same instruments might be like if they had personalities. For example: "Everyone forgets about us," said the Violas bitterly. "We play the notes in the chords that nobody cares about. We play crucial countermelodies nobody hears."

5. It comes with its own symphonic score, composed by Nathaniel Stookey and narrated by Mr. Snicket himself. You don't need to listen to the CD to enjoy the book, but I highly, highly recommend that you do, especially if you know and like symphonic music even a tiny little bit.

How can I find this book in the library? It can be found in the children's department, in fiction, under the call number j SNI.

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)