THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS #61 SPACE CASE!

Confession: Sometimes when I’m weeding books I read the last few pages of the book because once I know the plot I need to know what happens. And if I’m not going to read the whole book (because I’m like that) then I read the last few pages.

So the grocery store in Nancy’s neighborhood is having a contest to see who can guess the number of jelly beans in the jar and winner goes to space camp with friends.

(warning: the rest of this rant is spoilery so skip over if you care about the twist ending of THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS #61 SPACE CASE!)

The boys buy a jar exactly the same size as the one the store is using and fill it with jelly beans and count them. And then brag about it on stage after winning for guessing exactly the right amount. And then get disqualified because they didn’t GUESS, they FIGURED IT OUT.

Lets ignore for a moment the fact that they shouldn’t have gotten it right on the nose (jelly beans settle differently, there’s always one or two malformed ones that may or may not count, etc.) and focus on what I think is a grave injustice. Yes what the boys did wasn’t necessarily in the spirit of the contest … but was it cheating? Was it worthy of being disqualified for? Is it really that much different than counting the amount of JBs on the bottom of the jar, counting how many deep JBs are going down the edge, and multiplying? Because that’s what I always did when I was little.

I dunno - I think that Nancy Drew winning in the end was kindof a cop out.

Waiting on Wednesday - Huntress by Malinda Lo

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


Do y'all remember my love of Ask by Malinda Lo? Do you remember how I loved it so much that I forced one of my best friend to read it and she loved it too! Well if you took my advice and read it have I got exciting news for you! (If you haven't read it yet - GET ON IT! Please?) Malinda Lo has been hard at work on a prequel! Huntress by Malinda Lo will be out in April 2011 and I cannot wait. Look at that cover. LOOK AT THAT COVER! The description from Goodreads:

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn’t shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people’s survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Taninli, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls’ destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo’s highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.

Sounds amazing, yes? I can't wait!

linkety link link links

The Green Bean Teen Queen (one of my favorite bloggers ever - why is she not in my side bar? Fixing that RIGHT NOW! Wow my sidebar is sparse. I need to add a ton into that.) had a contest a few weeks ago to win a slew of books from Scholastic. Guess who won? And SCORE! Two of the books are Christmas books (I Spy a Christmas Tree and It's Christmas David) - which will help my Advent Book calendar. We only owned around 10 wintery/holiday books already this year and I didn't get the idea until the day before Advent so I will admit that days 2 - 14 on my advent calendar are library books. Also two of the books I'd never even heard of (Captain Sky Blue and Tony Baloney) - which is disappointing (what kind of a children's librarian am I if I've never heard of EVERY BOOK EVER?) and exciting! Because who doesn't LOVE brand new books that are surprises even to me! And the last two books I already knew I needed to own. That spread in the middle of The Odious Ogre? The one with the temper tantrum? It just gets me every time.

I adore Pride and Prejudice so when Miss Elizabeth Bennet's inbox was leaked on the internet I have to admit that I read it - and giggled like nothing else. My favorite part? "Fwd: Hot! Chk out Bingley on a Horse! Jane Bennet"

Being a big ole geek and a big ole sap I loved Katie's Story about a Star Wars loving girl who got bullied about loving something "boyish" - and the internet jumped to her defense. I especially love (in this day and age where you hear awful bullying stories with schools not doing anything) that her school also jumped in to have a whole week dedicated to liking what you want to like and it all culminated on Friday with "Proud to be Me" day. I LOVE THIS!

Bonjour Cass has given us part one of A Guide to Reviewing GLBTQ books that is super informative and really should be read by everyone.

Not a children's book at all but A Song of Ice and Fire is being turned into what looks like the most kick-ass HBO series EVER. I love this series with a passion that I cannot even tell you. I need to reread - and soon! At least the first book ...

Also if you have an ALSC membership, there was a great piece in there recently about the baby SRP that I helped put together at my library. I'm super proud! It was beyond successful - we had to order extra prizes in the middle of the summer!

And that's basically it for book related thoughts! I'm making these wonderful looking cookies later this week and that, as they say, is that.

Lately I've been inundated with fantastic picture books on our New Books cart - so I'm going to share some of my absolute favorites. Quick little reviews - aaaand GO!

Sleepy, oh so Sleepy by Denise Fleming - I brought this book home last night on a whim because of a love of the cover and it was such a win. I love Denise Fleming's art - the narrator looks at various baby animals being "sleepy, oh so sleepy!" then asks where hir sleepy little baby is then off to look at more adorable sleepy baby animals. This is basically cute overload the picture book - and I mean that in the best possible way.

More Bears! by Kenn Nesbitt ; illustrated by Troy Cummings is absolutely adorable and reminds me of stories that I tell Kins and Pips. I've got an idea in my head and I know where it's going ... "and then a WITCH came!" Only in this book the Kinses and Pipses keep yelling "MORE BEARS!" so the writer keeps adding in more and more bears and really it is complete fun. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

I've been hearing really good things about There's Going to be a Baby by John Burningham with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury for awhile so I was excited when it showed up on our New Books cart! All the buzz is worth it. A mother and son (side note: it's very obvious that it is a boy child in the bath so be forewarned that some parent may mention it) are discussing the new baby coming and what sorts of things the baby will do. Big brother is having problems envisioning the baby growing up but that just makes the conversation all the better! And Helen Oxenbury is always a favorite - I love her art - and this book is one of her best. The illustrations are perfect.

I'm in love with the cover of The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore. The actual story is wonderful as well but that cover! Just look at it! This is a story of a book lost in the forest and every animal uses it for a different purpose until a little boy comes along and reads the story inside - the story of the animals who found the book before the boy.

Friday Fun

Little Boy: We are checking out SO MANY BOOKS!
LP: Yes you are!
LB: If we were checking out any more we'd need a HUGE GIANT CRANE!
LP: Maybe I'll send my pet dragon over to help you.
LB: I don't think those exist.
LP: Oop. You've found me out.
LB: I also don't believe in magic.
LP: !!!
LB: Or MICKEY MOUSE!