Three more new books that I absolutely love:<\/p>\n
The True Story of Stellina<\/em> by Matteo Pericoli<\/p>\n This one has received rave reviews in many different journals, including Horn Book Magazine.\u00c2\u00a0 So I was expecting great things from this book, and it more than delivered.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very sweet, unsentimental tale of a baby finch in New York City that falls out of its nest and is taken in by a young woman, after she watches and waits for many hours for the finch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother to claim her baby.\u00c2\u00a0 The young woman and the finch live happily together in a NYC apartment, and eventually Matteo Pericoli and the young woman get married and the finch, Stellina, continues to live with the two of them.\u00c2\u00a0 Stellina lived to be eight, and Pericoli\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s retelling of her life story is beautiful and touching.\u00c2\u00a0 His prose is spare and lovely, and his illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.\u00c2\u00a0 (I was very misty-eyed \u00e2\u20ac\u201d runny mascara \u00e2\u20ac\u201d when I finished reading this book at my desk in the library.)<\/p>\n The Art Book for Children<\/em> by the folks at Phaidon Press<\/p>\n This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a picture book (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m cataloging it in the section of the library for third grade and up).\u00c2\u00a0 Art from many different eras and styles is represented in this book, and the authors do an amazing job discussing the background information on specific pieces of art, pointing out certain aspects of each piece of art, and then posing open-ended questions about that artwork.\u00c2\u00a0 I can see parents reading this along with their children, with ensuing lively discussions about art.\u00c2\u00a0 Wish I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d had a book like this as a kid\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t til my junior year of college that I knew how to look at art and feel confident in my own opinions about that art.<\/p>\n Built to Last: Building America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Amazing Bridges, Dams, Tunnels, and Skyscrapers <\/em>by George Sullivan<\/p>\n Admittedly, I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spent as much time reading this book as I should, but my excuse is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fairly dense text and I have a LOT of books to process at the moment.\u00c2\u00a0 What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen and read, though, I like a lot.\u00c2\u00a0 This book is definitely intended for an older audience, probably fifth grade and up, and gives details about various construction projects throughout the US.\u00c2\u00a0 Being from the Boston area, I read the section devoted to the Central Artery (the infamous Big Dig project), and found the text well-written and the photographs informative.\u00c2\u00a0 At the beginning of each section, the main facts about the project are set apart for easy reference and comparison: cost, time to complete, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition, there are boxes in each section with related interesting facts; in the Big Dig section, there is a discussion about a privy from the 1600\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that was uncovered in the course of the construction, and what was found in the privy (including an early bowling ball!).<\/p>\n These books, and many other new books, will be the books available for summer reading bookplates.\u00c2\u00a0 Any child who read more than 30 hours during the summer will be able to choose from these great new books and have a bookplate put into the chosen book with that child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name and the total number of hours that child read over the summer.\u00c2\u00a0 Some kids have just reached 30 hours, others are aiming high and have already reached 120 hours.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really impressed by their achievements, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that I have a stock of such great books from them to choose from for this bookplate adventure!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three more new books that I absolutely love: The True Story of Stellina by Matteo Pericoli This one has received rave reviews in many different journals, including Horn Book Magazine.\u00c2\u00a0 So I was expecting great things from this book, and it more than delivered.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very sweet, unsentimental tale of a baby finch in … Continue reading More new books<\/span>