I'm Back!

Yes I know it's been a long time, I can't believe it is already March and a quarter of the way through 2007!!

Anyway, I have a few books to add and some have already been out a couple of months, so yes I do feel bad. But actually I have not seen that many new ones on the shelves, not sure if that is my bookshops fault or me. So here goes, there is a couple that I am really excited about like The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Mysterious Benedict Society.

"The Treasures of Weatherby" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

Book description from Amazon: " Harleigh J. Weatherby IV feels misunderstood. At age twelve he is about as tall as a six-year-old, and no one lets him forget it. At school the bullies nicknamed him "Hardly." Now he is homeschooled at the Weatherby mansion, where strict Aunt Adelaide is always on his case about something.
Then Harleigh meets Allegra. When she literally flies over the walls of Weatherby and into Harleigh's life, the two form an unlikely friendship. Allegra is fascinated by the enormous Weatherby mansion, and against Harleigh's orders, sneaks inside. Together they discover that someone is trying to find -- and steal -- the long-lost Weatherby treasure. Will Harleigh and Allegra be able to foil the villain and save Weatherby House?
Three-time Newbery Honor winner Zilpha Keatley Snyder combines a cast of quirky characters with an eerie old mansion to create a spellbinding tale of mystery and magic."







"The Phantom Isles" by Stephen Alter.

Book Description from Amazon: " The book is called The Compleat Necromancer, and when Ming, Orion, and Courtney read an incantation from its pages, they have no way of knowing they are about to conjure up the ghosts of an entire nation. Because the ghosts that the three friends summon aren’t just any ghosts. They were captured from an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean—the Ilhas dos Fantasmas—a place where the living and the dead once coexisted peacefully. Now confined to the pages of a few dozen library books in a New England town that’s thousands of miles from their home, the ghosts must rely on the children and a determined librarian to free them before they are lost forever. "








"The Navigator" by Eoin McNamee.

Book description from Amazon: "Owen turned to Cat but she was staring into the woods, her face a mast of fear. Far off, but moving closer, were two figures, both white, both faceless, seeming to glide between the trees. "The Harsh" whispered Cati. "They're here." One day the world around Owen shifts oddly: Time flows backwards, and the world and family he knew disappear. Time can only be set right when the Resisters vanquish their ancient enemies, the Harsh. Unless they are stopped, everything Owen knows will vanish as if it has never been...And Owen discovers he has a terrifying role to play in this battle: he is the Navigator. "

"The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart. I started to read the first chapter in the bookshop last weekend and I can't wait to find out what happens to Reynie after his tutor spots the advert in the newspaper.

Book description from Amazon: "ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES? Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests, which readers take along with them. Only four children-Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance-succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and inventive children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. But what they'll find in the hidden labyrinth of the school's underground tunnels is more than your average school supplies. First-time children's novelist Trenton Lee Stewart takes readers on an adventure that puts friends, family, and foe to the test. Are you up to the challenge?








"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. Awesome book, which is a mixture of pencil drawn narrative artwork and the written word. You almost feel like you will smudge the beautiful storytelling pictures as you turn the 544 odd pages. Story is set in Paris in 1931 about a 12yr old boy, Hugo, who lives in the walls of a train station ....." who once, long ago, discovered a mysterious drawing that changed his life forever." I can't wait to read this to J, he may even read it himself as he has already asked the Librarian to hold it for him. The school library got a copy of this thanks to the Scholastic Book Fair held this week, it has to be added into the computer before lending out.

"Little Fur: A Fox Called Sorrow" by Isobelle Carmody. Second book about Little Fur who is one half elf the other troll girl who heals animals in a magical grove in the heart of a big city. Black-and-white illustrations by the author throughout the book.

"Barnstormers: Game No1 - Three Kids, A Mystery, and a Magic Ball" by Loren Long and Phil Bildner.

From Amazon.com " Griffith, Graham, and Ruby's father passed away in the war. And now they must join their mother and their father's wartime traveling baseball team, The Travelin' Nine, on a tour of America to raise money. No one will tell the kids why the team needs money so badly. Their only clue is a baseball with a hole the size of an acorn in it that their Uncle Owen gave to them the night of their father's funeral. They know very little about its significance except that their father made it with his own two hands and carried it with him throughout the war. And when all three kids hold the ball, strange things begin to happen..."

"Dragon of the Red Dawn" by Mary Pope Osborne is #37 in The Magic Treehouse series.







"Crane: The Five Ancestors" by Jeff Stone is the fourth book in the series.






"Ferno The Fire Dragon: Beast Quest" (Paperback) by Adam Blade. My son, 8yrs old, loved this book and said it had a GREAT ENDING!! Now trying to find the following in the series, this being the first one. Amazon list "Sepron The Sea Serpent" as the next one, I have seen that one in the Scholastic school flyer this month. Future ones according to Amazon are "Cypher The Mountain Giant" coming out June 1, 2007 and "Tagus The Night Horse" in Sept 1, 2007.