PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Tag: New Releases (Page 1 of 32)

Book Review: Wild Dreamers

 

Wild Dreamers

– Margarita Engle –

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Published 23 April 2024

♥♥♥♥

Wild Dreamers is a story of two teens, both facing significant challenges in their lives and their chance meeting and magical connection. It’s a story of singing therapy dogs, treacherous water, broken hearts, fleeing for safety and trying to save a species of animals gravely impacted by humans.

Wild Dreamers is a sad story, yet with sparks of hope. The writing is lyrical and magical, befitting this charming novel in verse.

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Displays: Term 1 2022

Displays Term 1 2022

I love creating displays. I love the design process, the coming up with ideas, the crafting, but I especially love the double-takes students and staff give an eye-catching display. I love when books just fly off the display shelf. We’ve done a range of displays this term, which have been lots of fun. These are some of my favourites.

Wellbeing – New Year, New You

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Book Review: Brand Yourself

 

Brand Yourself: A no-nonsense brand toolkit for small businesses

Lucy Werner and Hadrien Chatelet

Practical Inspiration Publishing

Published 7 September 2021

♥♥♥♥/♥

 

I love learning about marketing and branding. And we all know that the best way to learn something is to read a book about it. Brand Yourself is easy to read and approachable and I have finished feeling I have a strong brand outline and clear steps I can take to make my brand stronger.

I always read branding and marketing books through two lenses – my own personal perspective as well as the branding of my school library. Brand Yourself is obviously targeted for business models, but each of the steps it takes readers through to identify a brand, would work perfectly for a library or service.

Brand Yourself is based on the work behind Wern and a quick check of their website and social media feeds shows they practice what they preach. It’s also a good example of what they are trying to show readers.

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Book Review: Provenance

 

Provenance

– Carla Laureano –

Tyndale House Publishers

Published 3 August 2021

♥♥♥♥

 

I always enjoy the work of Carla Laureano. I adored her The Supper Club series (food – yum!) and now she has created another fantastic Christian contemporary romance. Provenance is set in a small (very cold) Colorado town. The snow storms and mountainous setting are the perfect backdrop to this story about discovering your past and falling in love.

When Kendall Green learns that she is the beneficiary of a grandmother she never knew, only desperation for some cash to keep her interior design business and home in California afloat, prompts her to respond. She’s not sure she wants anything from the grandmother who let her grow up in foster care, moving from home to home and when Kendall learns that her inheritance are 5 historic Victorian homes, she is half devastated and half delighted. She is ready to sell to the highest bidder when the young mayor of the town, delightfully handsome Gabriel Brandt, asks her to consider another option to help save the town’s history and community from circling developers. Staying gives Kendall the chance to learn the truth about her mother, her grandmother and the reason she was abandoned when she was a child, but it also means growing closer to Gabriel, and with her life in California, Kendall’s not sure that’s a risk she should take.

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New Book Releases April 2020 – Young Adult Fiction

New Book Releases for April 2020 – Young Adult Fiction

Isolating? Need something new to read? Look no further than the new releases of April 2020. Support your local bookstore and authors in this difficult time. What’s on your reading list? Click on covers for more details.

Children’s Fiction/Non-fiction

The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome – L.E. Carmichael and Josee Bisaillon (ill) – Kids Can Press – Published 7 April 2020

The vast boreal forest spans a dozen countries in the northern regions like “a scarf around the neck of the world,” making it the planet’s largest land biome. Besides providing homes for a diversity of species, this spectacular forest is also vitally important to the planet: its trees clean our air, its wetlands clean our water and its existence plays an important role in slowing global climate change. In this beautifully written book, award-winning author L. E. Carmichael explores this special wilderness on a tour of the forest throughout the four seasons, from one country to another. Evocative watercolor and collage artwork by award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon provides a rare glimpse of one of the world’s most magnificent places.

Children’s non-fiction – Animals, environment


A Stopwatch from Grampa – Loretta Garbutt and Carmen Mok (ill.) – Hachette Book Group – Published 7 April 2020

“When summer started, I got Grampa’s stopwatch,” a small child says. “I don’t want his stopwatch. I want him.” Grampa used to time everything. A race to the end of the street and back: 24 seconds. Eating bubblegum ice cream: 1 minute, 58 seconds. But now, Grampa’s gone. “There are no more Grampa minutes, Grampa seconds,” the child says. “Time just stops.” As the seasons come and go, the stopwatch becomes a cherished symbol of remembrance, and the child uses it to carry on Grampa’s favorite pastimes and traditions.

Children’s fiction – Family


What Grew in Larry’s Garden – Laura Alary and Kass Reich (ill.) – Hachette Book Group – Published 7 April 2020

Grace thinks Larry’s garden is one of the wonders of the world. In his tiny backyard next door to hers, Larry grows the most extraordinary vegetables. Grace loves helping him – watering and weeding, planting and pruning, hoeing and harvesting. And whenever there’s a problem – like bugs burrowing into the carrots or slugs chewing the lettuce – Grace and Larry solve it together. Grace soon learns that Larry has big plans for the vegetables in his special garden. And when that garden faces its biggest problem yet, Grace follows Larry’s example to find the perfect solution.

Children’s fiction – Gardening


Young Adult Fiction

The Truth About Keeping Secrets – Savannah Brown – Sourcebooks Fire – Published 7 April 2020

Sydney’s dad is the only psychiatrist for miles in their small Ohio town. He knows everybody’s secrets. He is also dead.

Grief-stricken Sydney can’t understand why the police have no explanation for what happened the night of her dad’s car crash. And when June Copeland, the homecoming queen whose life seems perfect, shows up at the funeral, Sydney’s confusion grows.

Sydney and June grow closer in the wake of the accident, but it’s clear that not everyone is happy about their new friendship.

Young adult fiction: Thriller.


The Perfect Escape – Suzanne Park – The Perfect Escape #1 – Sourcebooks Fire – Published 7 April 2020

Nate Jae-Woo Kim wants to be rich. When one of his classmates offers Nate a ridiculous amount of money to commit grade fraud, he knows that taking the windfall would help support his prideful Korean family, but is compromising his integrity worth it?

Luck comes in the form of Kate Anderson, Nate’s colleague at the zombie-themed escape room where he works. She approaches Nate with a plan: a local tech company is hosting a weekend-long survivalist competition with a huge cash prize. It could solve all of Nate’s problems, and Kate needs the money too.

Young adult fiction: Contemporary

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New Book Releases March 2020 – Christian Fiction

New Book Releases for March 2020

Here is my list of top picks of new releases for March 2020. There are lots to choose from, so enjoy. Click on the covers for more details.

 

Christian Fiction

Out of the Embers – Amanda Cabot – Mesquite Springs #1 – Revell – Published 3 March 2020

Ten years after her parents were killed, Evelyn Radcliffe is once more homeless. The orphanage that was her refuge and later her workplace has burned to the ground, and only she and a young orphan girl have escaped. Convinced this must be related to her parents’ murders, Evelyn flees with the girl to Mesquite Springs in the Texas Hill Country and finds refuge in the home of Wyatt Clark, a talented horse rancher whose plans don’t include a family of his own.

Christian fiction: Historical.

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New Book Releases March 2020 – Young Adult Fiction

New Book Releases for March 2020 – Young Adult Fiction

Just in case you were about to run out of books (yes, yes, I know, highly unlikely, but you never know), March 2020 has arrived with so many fantastic books to tempt us. So. Many. Here’s my list of top picks for March 2020 new releases. What’s on your reading list? Click on covers for more details.

Children’s Fiction/Non-fiction

Bringing Back the Wolves: How a Predator Restored An Ecosystem – Jude Isabella and Kim Smith (ill) – Kids Can Press – Published 3 March 2020

In the 1800s, hunters were paid by the American government to eliminate threats to livestock on cattle ranches near Yellowstone National Park. They did such a good job that, by 1926, no gray wolf packs were left in the park. Over the following decades, virtually every other part of the park’s ecosystem was affected by the loss of the wolves — from the animals who were their prey, to the plants that were the food for that prey, to the streams that were sheltered by those plants — and the landscape was in distress. So, starting in 1995, in an attempt to reverse course, the government reintroduced gray wolves to the park. Over time, animal populations stabilized, waterways were restored and a healthy ecosystem was recreated across the land. It’s a striking transformation, and a fascinating tale of life’s complicated interdependencies.

Children’s non-fiction – Animals, environment


The Lost Lands – Jessica Khoury – Rise of the Dragons #2 – Scholastic Press – Published 3 March 2020

Sirin, Allie, and Joss have joined forces with the legendary silver dragon Lysander, the only creature capable of opening portals between the two worlds. But the powerful Lennix clan is following the children’s every move and will stop at nothing to capture Lysander. After generations of plotting, the Lennixes —and their bloodthirsty dragon allies, the Raptors — are terrifyingly close to establishing a brutal dragon regime on Earth, just like they did centuries ago.

Children’s fiction – Fantasy


Young Adult Fiction

Moment of Truth – Kasie West – Egmont USA – Published 3 March 2020

At sixteen, Hadley Moore knows exactly who she is—a swimmer who will earn a scholarship to college. Totally worth all the hard work, even if her aching shoulders don’t agree. So when a guy dressed as Hollywood’s latest action hero, Heath Hall, crashes her swim meet, she isn’t amused. Instead, she’s determined to make sure he doesn’t bother her again. Only she’s not sure exactly who he is.

Young adult fiction: Contemporary.


The June Boys – Court Stevens (AKA Courtney C. Stevens) – Thomas Nelson – Published 3 March 2020

The Gemini Thief could be anyone. Your father, your mother, your best friend’s crazy uncle. Some country music star’s deranged sister. Anyone.

The Gemini Thief is a serial kidnapper, who takes three boys and holds them captive from June 1st to June 30th of the following year. The June Boys endure thirteen months of being stolen, hidden, observed, and fed before they are released, unharmed, by their masked captor. The Thief is a pro, having eluded authorities for nearly a decade and taken at least twelve boys.

Now Thea Delacroix has reason to believe the Gemini Thief took a thirteenth victim: her cousin, Aulus McClaghen.

Young adult fiction: Mystery/Thriller

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