Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog

Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog by Jon Agee


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A pun is defined by Webster's dictionary as:


"the humorous use of a word or words, which are formed or sounded alike but have different meanings, in such a way as to play on two or more of the possible applications; a play on words."

Mr. Putney is full of puns, the smart, roll your eyes and groan kind. His animal friends all have unusual names, the quacking dog (dachshund) on the cover? A Duckshund  Study the pictures and the animal shown to determine the animal’s puny name, try to see how many you can guess!

Mr. Putney provides a fun way to get kids brains warmed up or fill a few minutes of waiting with some productive mental exercise.



For more information on puns see:

http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/puns/pun.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun

http://www.punoftheday.com/cgi-bin/disppuns.pl?ord=S&cat=11&sub=1101&page=1

Kubla Khan: Emperor of Everything

Kubla Khan: The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Kubla Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, is a lesser known emperor usually referred to in context of Marco Polo's travels. In Kubla Khan: Emperor of Everything Kathleen Krull presents a portrait of this ruler’s life, accomplishments and the lasting impact he had on the world.


Before Kubla Khan’s life the Mongolian empire had been no empire at all, warring tribes of Mongolians fought with each other, never united. When Genghis Khan was elected “the Khan, Khan of all Khans” he united the various tribes into a strong empire. After Kubla Khan came to power the Mongolians defeated China and Kubla Khan rose to the role of Emperor of China, where he developed the most ornate, over-the-top, and awe inspiring culture of its time. Under his rule the Chinese people had outlandish celebrations, studied the arts and sciences, developed farming techniques and created the first system of paper money. This book and its detailed illustrations provide an insightful peek into the life of an amazing Emperor.






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Umbrella Summer

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Annie Richards is an extremely cautious girl; she walks her bike around town and wears her helmet, bike pads, and all necessary bandages at all times. And she is an expert at diagnosing and addressing her various ailments. It is important to Annie that she be careful and always prepared. She was not prepared for her brother to die, everyone thought he was fine too, but Annie knows better.


When she forms an unlikely relationship with her new neighbor, the one who moved into the haunted house, she begins to discover that her self-preservation routine may be more harmful than she realized. With the healing of time, friendships, and a classic tale of a pig she begins to confront her grief and move back toward her life.


I cannot remember the last time a book made me cry, both when I read it and when I shared the story with friends. Annie is a raw and touching character whose pain is so real. Umbrella Summer is very deserving of its place on the Bluebonnet Nomine list.






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And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Hey diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon; the little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon. Every night this rhyme is read and every night the dish and spoon come running back until tonight. Where have they gone? Cow, Cat and Dog embark on an adventure through Nursery Rhyme land to find their friends; and as they travel they encounter many favorite Nursery Rhyme characters. Little Boy Blue is sleeping on the job, the Three Bears house must be avoided but then Miss Muffet's Spider sends them to visit Wolf. They race from one nusery rhyme to the next on an exciting journey full of puns, twists and turns.




Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel have a way with words. This tale is engaging and laugh out oud funny. I was afraid it would be over my kindergartner's heads but they eonjoyed the ride through the familiar rhymes and giggled at the conclusion. Kids of all ages will roll their eyes and love this one.




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THe Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Such a great book! I enjoyed the Percy Jackson series and so have all the kids I've read it with as a classroom teacher and now as a librarian. I like this one so much more. It was less silly, a little more grown up which will be great for the kinds who have been reading since The Lightning Thief was released as they are now older. The cliff hanger ending mad me so mad because i have to wait a whole year for the continuation!!! But it has me hooked.




I like the characters a great deal. Jason, Piper and Leo are easy to relate to, they seem to think clearly and rationally and have good relationships with each other. I liked the twists on the gods and heores that were thrown in, and the addition of the Roman mythology. I appreciated seeing some of the solid characters from the Percy Jackson series reappear. All in all very enjoyable and an exciting begining to the next phase of heroes!




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I am so excited!!

Last year Savvy by Ingrid Law was one of my favorite books on the Bluebonnet List. I read it very quickly and recommended it to many students throughout the year. I was also was able to enjoy it with Bledsoe's 5th grade book club at the end of the year, their video was posted a few weeks ago, take a look. I have been looking forward to the companion book Scumble ever since I heard about it last March. It is finally here!!!

I am about half way through Scumble now and it is great! Ledger, Mibs cousin, is the main character in this book and it is about 10 years later or at least enough time has passed for Fish to be getting married! Ledger has been waiting for his 13 birthday and he had convinced himself that his savvy would give his super speed, or make him extremely talented at something athletic. BUT, that is not the case so far all he can do is destroy anything mechanical or manmade. He is a walking demolition machine, and he doesn’t know how to stop it. Many of the wonderful characters from Savvy make an appearance but the main show is taken by this new and intriguing boy, Ledge, as he tries to come to grips with his new Savvy and learn to Scumble.

If you loved Savvy then Scumble will become yoru new favorite book, and if you have not read either one come on it to the library and get it today!

Shelf Elf Library Manners and Book Care by 1st grade