Curious George's Notes from the Hut

Hunger Games: the fantastic four movie trilogy...? A wee, very quite wee, news update

2011-06-01T17:49:00.000-04:00

John, our receiver and bookseller (also known as "the tall man behind the counter"), has forced me to admit that I truly am obsessed with the Hunger Games movie news. I can't help it if during my weekly perusal of all kids lit news I happen upon near-daily updates on it, can I? I should look away, I know, and let my expectations return to a normal level. Which is why I won't tell you who was cast as President Snow, but I will at least exclaim over how the book trilogy will now be produced as a four movie series, a la Twilight and Harry Potter. Really, really? Is more Hunger Games a good or bad thing? Of course, I will go see them all, and therein probably lies the decision to extend the series...

Speaking of Harry Potter movies, we are a mere one and a half months away from the last installment! We can even say next month we'll go see it! I hope you (yes, you) will come with me and hold my hand. I will need all the support I can muster. (Teddy Tonks!!!).

In other news, in celebration of George alumna free-lance illustrator Jess Golden's birthday today, please go check out her art blog! As she writes describing her blog, "if you like fat bunnies..." you'll love Jess's artwork! She is one talented, lovely lady and we wish her many happy returns.

Favorite picture book of the week: the nostalgia edition

2011-05-31T14:50:00.002-04:00

This week we have been segueing our displays from graduation, Memorial Day, and spring to Father's Day and, most enticingly, summer books! While there are many gorgeous summer and beach trip books (Suzy Lee's Wave, Susan Elya's Bebe Goes to the Beach, are in the forefront of my mind), my favorite seasonal book hands down is Charlotte Zolotow's When The Wind Stops (second place, if you are curious, is Red Sings from Tree Tops, by Joyce Sidman).

Originally published in 1969 and reprinted in a revised format in 1995, When The Wind Stops is a lush description of life's continual circle. Posed through a boy's repeated questions and a mother's answers, this story demonstrates how nothing ends, it simply changes or makes way for something else to begin. It uses more common changes, from the day turning to night and winter turning to spring, to the more abstract, like a mountain sloping into a valley, rain after a storm, and the eponymous end of the wind. More than a concept book or an explanation, this is pure life celebration.

For similar conceptual, seasonal, or simply beautiful books, try Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aadema, or The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia.

BEA, ABA, Harvard MBA, and...fun with Chaucer! A news round up

2011-05-26T13:47:00.001-04:00

What a big week for Harvard Square and book folk everywhere!

Today is Harvard's Commencement, with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's President, as the main speaker. Our book buyer keeps gazing out her office window watching all the be-gowned graduates and droves of families saying how much she loves graduation. It couldn't be a more perfect day to celebrate...the job hunt! CBS News has my favorite review of Amy Poehler's Class Day speech, but I haven't yet found a transcription of today's speeches.

This week is also a pretty big deal to booksellers and librarians - it was Book Expo America in New York! Not only a place to snag galleys of upcoming books, there are also discussion sessions on relevant topics from e-books and using social media to events and marketing. I didn't know this last bit but there is also an art auction - I can't wait to see the pictures and blog posts of attendees. Sadly, no staffers from our store went, but we have been following tweets! (Can you really believe the age we live in?)

And with Memorial Day this weekend, it's almost too much excitement for me to handle. Sunshine! Smiling college students!! Sales! (Psst, we're having an everything 20% off sale!) A board game based off The Canterbury Tales! ...Wait, what? The Guardian reviews The Road to Canterbury, currently in development. Obviously, players get to be the Pardoner, convincing Pilgrims to purchase fake pardons. Who doesn't love being the bad guy...in the 14th century?

Favorite picture book of the week: "You can only make a masterpiece if you're willing to make a mess"

2011-05-24T13:33:00.000-04:00

This week, my favorite picture book is another collaboration between Lenore Look and Yumi Heo, Polka Dot Penguin Pottery about a young girl's trip to a paint-your-own-pottery store to overcome her writer's block. Lenore Look is the author of the Alvin Ho beginning chapter book, and she has created another picture book with illustrator Yumi Heo, Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding.

I love the calendar style binding of this fun, festive book: it opens vertically like Mark Reibstein's Wabi Sabi and Heo's bold mixed media illustrations capitalize on this design. Aspen Colorado Kim Chee Lee (her "nom de plume," as she says) is one of the most likable kid artist characters, with endearingly excited and unique turns of phrases: "Suddenly, I'm so excited, I can't answer. My words are swirling around the shop and I cannot catch them." I also love her family: her grandparents Gung Gung and Poh Poh with her drooly little sister Olivia are wonderfully supportive to her struggles to make a perfect painted egg.

For more books on creative kids (and lizards), try Tomie DePaola's The Art Lesson or David Wiesner's Art & Max.

We now present the 2011 contest winners!

2011-05-20T11:45:00.001-04:00

It has been a week of close reading, intense discussions, and a few good laughs, but we have reached our decisions for our art and writing contest!

Art Contest

5 to 7
First place: North Graff - "Sweet Dream Pie"
Second place: Sarah Merklin - "The Mystery of the Circus Clown"
Third place: Augie Hawk - "Paddington Takes to TV"
Honorable Mention: Esther Cull-Kahn - "The King's Taster"

8 to 10
First place: Nayeon Chung - "George's Marvelous Medicine"
Second place: Bennett Graff - "DK Visual Encyclopedia of Science"
Third place: Cassie Schierer - "Princess and the Pea"
Honorable Mention: Kyle Sampson - "Curious George goes to the Aquarium"

11 to 13
First place: Nicholas Ornstein - "Duke Ellington"
Second place: Charlotte Holt - "Queen of Hearts"
Third place: Sophie Mark-Ng - "Same Stuff As Stars"
Honorable Mention: Sara (from Newton) - "Violet Comes to Stay"

Writing Contest

5 to 7
First place: Nalani Jones - "Compiss"
Second place: Macy Rhie - "Super Girl Saves the Day"
Third place: Calla Walsh - series of poems
Honorable Mention: Baylor Diamond - "Tiny Coffee Cup"

8 to 10
First place: Jeremy Ornstein - "Dynasty of the Blue-Eyed Feathers"
Second place: Emmet Lewis-Hoeber - "Black Willow"
Third place: Robert Shapiro - "I Have 9 Lives"
Honorable Mention: Grace Valaskovic - "(I'm) A Work in Progress"

11 to 13
First place: Alexandra Domeshek - "Clock"
Second place: Jordan Lee - "Silk Road"
Third place: John Vernaglia - "Porky Poem"
Honorable Mention: Jacob Abrams - "The Book of Animal Transformations"

Congratulations to the winners! Thank you to all who bravely submitted their work, and the families and teachers who helped make it all happen.

Within a few days we will have scanned all the art and writing to post on this blog, and the art contest winners will be displayed in our store's windows.

Our building and nearby sidewalk are currently undergoing construction, so everything is now on our ground floor. As such, our selection of merchandise and books, while still painstakingly chosen, is smaller than in previous years. We recommend coming in sooner rather than later to pick up and redeem your gift certificates. (First through third places receive levels of gift certificates, honorable mentions do not).

I know I said I would resist...

2011-05-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

...But David Letterman asked Jennifer Lawrence if the Hunger Games was a "vampire deal," and I couldn't. Look. Away. I might have to also see her as Mystique in the X-Men movie just to tide myself over to the real HG action next March.

In other amusing news, Mo Willems (author of Pigeon books and his latest, Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!), posted pictures of another of his metal household creations. This one is a monstrous toilet paper dispenser. After the city reconstructs the sidewalk over our basement, maybe we can get them (with help from Mo) to put in similar fixtures in our bathroom, hey?

It looks to be another entertaining Friday in George's jungle hut....art and contest winners to be announced later this morning!

Poetry laurels, multiculturism, a bit of trivia, and of course, Hunger Games news! (Recent news roundup)

2011-05-19T10:20:00.007-04:00

Have you missed me? I've been away on vacation in warmer, sunnier climes but I'm back to give you the highlights of news relating to kids, kids books, and other things that I find entertaining...

The big news first! J. Patrick Lewis is the new Children's Poet Laureate, following such other luminaries as Jack Prelutsky and Mary Ann Hoberman. I love his poetry-history picture book, The House, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, and am looking forward to what he will do with this position.

I have tried to stay away from the constant news updates about the casting and filming of the Hunger Games movie, in the hopes that my expectations will not rocket, and thus plummet, by the time I see it. However, I am apparently weak when it comes to Entertainment Weekly and its exclusive interview with Jennifer Lawrence (who plays Katniss, and yes, they dyed her blond hair brunette. Whew.)

As I discovered through Fuse #8, the blog Delightful Children's Books has compiled a book "tour" of cultures and countries in the book list Read Around the World, including a section on children from all around the world, with DK's Children Just Like Me and Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions From Around the World.

I've only just caught up on my Bitch Magazine blogs, so I'm a bit late in reporting that the ladies at that feminist organization posted their favorite childhood and contemporary picture books in honor of Children's Book Week. It's a fresh take on a common question in book and publishing spheres, (and I do like sending folks over to their website), so take a look! They have also begun a new blog series: a YA Book Club, featuring some contested titles from their unfortunately infamous 100 Young Adults for the Feminist Reader list. Our own store's book club also recently read Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels; it was interesting comparing our reader's responses and questions to theirs. If you are interested in joining our monthly teen and adult book club, email us at blog@curiousg.com. Because of the city construction, we will have to relocate discussions off-site, but we will continue reading!

In other store news, I bet a few kids and their parents are a bit antsy about our art and writing contest which closed last week - we are fiendishly reading the many submissions we have received and will announce the winners tomorrow! We will not be sending out postcards this year, instead the list of winners will go up on our contest blog, with our Facebook, Twitter, and store blog linking there.

I will close on something just for fun - because who doesn't like silly quizzes? Persephone Magazine has a post of Disney Songs Trivia! The Thursday staff here was a bit stumped on a few, and we are appropriately ashamed.

Favorite picture book of the week: a jump into non-fiction!

2011-05-18T10:55:00.001-04:00

This week, my favorite picture book of the week is a factual, global tour of food-making: How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? by Chris Butterworth and illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti.

Lately there has been a rise in interest in, or concern with, the food we consume, and an answering spate of foodie books. Michael Pollan, of course, leads the parade with Food Rules and varying reading level editions of The Omnivore's Dilemma, but there are not as many young reader books that can successfully tackle the global production of food. How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? takes each item from a kid's typical lunchbox - bread, cheese, apple, chocolate - and depicts its growth, picking, processing, and transporting from farms to factories and finally to grocery stores. While I wish there was more information on alternative farming options, like less industrialized, sustainable agriculture and local markets, this is a colorful and detailed jumping-off point for discussions.

Staff picks in a raincoat

2011-05-12T16:10:00.001-04:00

Rainy spring days are the best for porch reading with your feet propped up on the railing, lemonade in hand. Here are the latest chapter book favorites of our staff.

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: realism, school story
Suggested reading level: ages 10 up

With an abusive father, a passive mother, and a sullied reputation in a new town, Doug learns not only how to survive hardship, but also how to preserve, create, and enjoy beauty, however fleeting. Schmidt shows impeccable restraint throughout the novel, letting Doug tell his own story on his own terms.

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances Dowell
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: contemporary fiction, fans of Sarah Dessen, Dairy Queen
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

Janie, known as "Farm Girl," hopes to fade into normality, but with an activist best friend, a boy named Monster (really), a bass guitar, the civil rights movement's Freedom School, and some delicious goat cheese, she's in for a trip beyond normal to find a wildness all her own.

For the Win by Cory Doctorow
Bookseller: John
Genre: techno-thriller, science fiction-ish
Suggested reading level: young adult (ages 14 up)

In this world-spanning adventure, teenagers struggle to survive and prosper in the virtual and real world. Where digital gold can be traded for cold hard cash, freedom and fortunes are won and lost. For fans of online games and future economists alike.

I am J by Cris Beam
Bookseller: Jose-Luis
Genre: GLBT and gender issues
Suggested reading level: ages 15 up

Call him J. Born Jeni and biologically female, J has decided to begin his transition into male by binding his chest and making plans to take testosterone. But will J's friends and parents accept his new identity, or scorn him forever? J must endure the taunts of bullies on the NYC subway, strained friendships, and homelessness, but J won't stop until he can truly be himself.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: fantasy, adventure, humor
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

This is the best kind of rollickin' fantasy adventure: full of swashbuckling masked heroes, pirates, cunning villians, revenge, true love, and some of the best bantering this side of Douglas Adams...all while hilariously satirizing the adventure genre, cutting all those "boring" bits from S. Morgenstern's original "classic tale."

Horton Halfpott by Tom Angelberger
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: mystery
Suggested reading level: ages 8 up

Angleberger (author of Strange Case of Origami Yoda) delights again with this hilarious farce! The loosening of M'lady Luggertuck's corset sparks a series of miscommunications, thefts, lies, attempted kidnappings, a costume ball, and an unlikely romance that ultimately changes Horton's life forever.

Nathaniel Fludd: Flight of the Phoenix by R.L. LaFevers
Bookseller: Jose-Luis
Genre: fantasy, Harry Potter-lite
Suggested reading level: ages 8 up

Nathaniel Fludd's parents are missing, and so he must now live with his eccentric Aunt Phil. She tells him about his family's secret history as Beastologists, those who study and help the rare creatures on Earth. Together they go on a high-flying adventure to see the birth of a beautiful, fiery Phoenix. A fun read-aloud or a great book for young readers.

Favorite picture book of the week: remote control dad license

2011-05-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

My favorite picture book of this week is a new cheeky bedtime story, Mitchell's License by Hallie Durand and illustrated by Tony Fucile. Mitchell refuses to go to bed unless he can "drive" there on his "remote control" Dad car, beeping the nose horn and stopping at the cookie jar/gas station. The wry text is paired with humorous, chalky style digital illustrations from the illustrator of Bink and Gollie and various animated Pixar films. This book is great for bedtime, especially amongst automotive fans, and will definitely be a hit for Father's Day next month.

A sneak attack of a Double Favorite Picture Book of the Week!

2011-05-06T14:35:00.004-04:00

These days, I barely have to say "Need any mo' books?" to get a Mo Willems picture book or early reader into someone's hands. If his name itself isn't already known, most parents recognize him once they see the notorious Pigeon or the simple sketch style. I don't need to be clairvoyant to predict how his latest picture book will rocket into popularity: but I can't let a Mo book go by without some mo' love to give it! Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator is "six and half surprising stories about two surprising friends," a lighthearted series of stories about two very different friends, a la the hippos George and Martha, that is 64 pages long: twice the length of the usual picture book. I love every single depiction of Amanda's blue alligator, usually with his feet in the air, mid-stride, surrounded by squiggly excited motion lines, occasionally clutching his tail like a security blanket. Again like James Marshall's hippo pals, Willems can imbue such a variety of expressions through a few dots and a line. I'm crossing my fingers that when I get home from work today, with a pile of books on my arms like Amanda, there will be a very happy, very blue alligator excited to see me.

Children's Book Choice Awards: guest starring Snooki

2011-05-05T13:33:00.004-04:00

The Children's Book Council's gala this past Monday announced the winners of the annual Children's Book Choice Awards - the only awards for kids' books chosen by kids themselves. Rick Riordan took Author of the Year for The Lost Hero, with David Wiesner as Illustrator of the Year, for Art & Max. The other awards were divided by grades as follows: kindergarten to second grade choice: Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby; third to fourth grade: Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett Krosoczka; fifth to sixth grade The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan; and the teen choice Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan.

Aside from the awards, the most exciting part of the ceremony seems to have been a surprise visit from Jersey Shore star, Snooki! Jon Scieszka surprised the emcee Jarrett Krosoczka, (and probably most everyone in the audience, as well), and then had a sing-along with Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow. My goodness, don't you just love the people of the children's book world? No matter how the industry may change, I think at least our authors and illustrators will still be the same - merrymaking kids at heart.

Favorite picture book of the week: OH MY GOODNESS! A TOTALLY AWESOME SHARK!

2011-05-04T12:55:00.004-04:00

This week's favorite picture book, I'm a Shark is a bright, fun new title from Bob Shea, author of such other goofy approaches to toddler issues as Dinosaur vs. Bedtime and Dinosaur vs. Potty. This "totally awesome shark" is not afraid of anything - not shots, scary movies, or even the dark. In fact, "Dark heard I was coming and ran!" Shark's only problem is creepy little spiders - but he's not scared of them, running away is "smart," he defends. Bob Shea captures the essence de toddler perfectly with such pitch perfect hilarious lines that no matter what you and your tyke aren't scared of, you'll be reading this one over and over.

HarperCollins also has a book trailer available for this book.

The annual Bookish Ball

2011-04-29T15:15:00.003-04:00

This Saturday is Harvard Square's annual Bookish Ball, celebrating the neighborhood's many bookstores. Travel between the bookstores, enjoying events and special sales, getting your "passport" stamped at each location to enter a raffle at the end of the day. Curious George will be offering a 15% discount off the entire purchase of passport holders, with our weekly story-time taking place at noon.

The sky begins at your feet: a staff review of The Sky Is Everywhere

2011-04-28T17:41:00.001-04:00

Last March, Penguin sent our blog a review copy of Jandy Nelson's The Sky Is Everywhere which Katie raved about, and with its new paperback edition, now it is my turn to sing the praises of this gorgeous book.

Let's start with the cover: a sleeping girl entwined with vines: hinting of mystery, drama, and hopefully a handsome fellow (or two?) to awaken her. Lennie Walker (short for Lennon) is sleepwalking through life after the sudden death of her talented, beautiful sister Bailey. Without the shine of her sister to both guide her and hide her, and her Uncle Ben and Gram also adrift in grief, Lennie is overwhelmed by her sisterlessness.

What I love best of the many, many shining aspects of this debut are the characters. Lennie's best friend, Sarah, is one of the more perfectly imperfect sidekicks of contemporary fiction: she is philosophically cynical, French feminism obsessed, with a Goldilocks "goth gone cowgirl" style. Add in her mad scientist, four-times-married arborist Uncle Ben, rose gardener and green-only painter Gram, disappeared mother who has the family's "wanderer gene," and of course, two very different, attractive boys, and you have an incredible cast of fully realized, fully lovable characters.

These two boys are another compelling aspect of the story: who doesn't love a steamy, confused love triangle? Lennie discovers a solid crying shoulder in Bailey's boyfriend, Toby, whose silent support morphs into something more passionate, while new student and fellow clarinetist Joe breaks into her family's grieving routine with light, laughter, and delicious sludge-heavy coffee. Maybe it's her Gram's renowned roses, legendary in their heady love-inducing fumes, or it's the emptiness on Bailey's side of their room, but Lennie finds herself suddenly boy-crazy, vacillating between lust, depression, and laughter. Her grief is beautifully, heartbreakingly rendered: I found myself reeling along with Lennie as she yearned to run to share something new with Bailey and discovered her loss all over again.

The chapters are interspersed with found poems that Lennie had written on paper coffee cups, homework assignments, tree branches, and so on. I will close this review with one of my favorites, in the hopes that if my own obsession does not make you read this book, this poem will:

At night,
when we were little,
we tented Bailey's covers,
crawled underneath with our flashlights,
and played cards: Hearts,
Whist, Crazy Eights,
and our favorite: Bloody Knuckles.
The competition was vicious.
All day, every day,
we were the Walker Girls -
two peas in a pod
thick as thieves -
but when Gram closed the door
for the night,
we bared our teeth.
We played for chores,
for slave duty,
for truths and dares and money.
We played to be better, brighter,
to be more beautiful,
more, just more.
But it was all a ruse -
we played
so we could fall asleep
in the same bed
without having to ask,
so we could wrap together
like a braid,
so while we slept
our dreams could switch bodies.

Favorite picture book of the week: this book is bugged!

2011-04-27T12:10:00.001-04:00

Our favorite picture book of this week comes from the imprint Blue Apple Books and is a companion to last year's popular artistic alphabet book, Alphabeasties. The designers Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss are back with a typographically creative non-fiction look at little critters in Bugs By The Numbers. In the style of Alphabeasties, each insect picture is made up of multitudes of a significant number; for example, the spider is various-sized 8's for its eight legs. Interesting, concise facts, boldly colored fonts, and cut paper fold-outs make this a must for both science and design connoisseurs.

Here comes Peter cottontail, with Easter merch for sale

2011-04-26T13:47:00.000-04:00

Bunny cupcakes are delicious all year round! We are having a half-off sale for all Easter merchandise, including panoramic sugar eggs, Easter egg baskets, and Meri Meri's Easter cupcake and treat bag kits. Easter cards are all for sale at $1.50.

In the news: Neil Gaiman, Stephenie Meyer, Neil Gaiman, Vincent Van Gogh, and oh yes, Neil Gaiman, too

2011-04-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

I imagine most Neil Gaiman fans have already heard about this contest - and entered! - but for any other aspiring actors or Gaimanians, HarperCollins is hosting a contest for a speaking role in the audio book version of American Gods. The winner will be flown to New York City to be coached in the reading by Mr Neil himself! If you're a bit microphone-shy but still want to be involved, you can vote on the contenders.

There is even further excitement regarding this particular Gaiman title: there are rumors of HBO making a television series of American Gods. Gaiman has no comments just yet, so keep your fingers crossed!

Many folks, especially Gaiman fans, are talking about HBO's new series, Game of Thrones, adapted from George R.R. Martin's fantasy series. I haven't seen it yet (that not-having-a-TV thing), but I've heard plenty of good things about it - especially from our receiver, John. On his recommendation alone, I'd say start watching it now, because you don't want to be catching up three seasons late, do you? Fair warning, this is not a show for kids.

Edward and Bella's fans can go head to head with Shadow, Coraline, and the Sandman's fans for intensity, as USA Today shows: ten Twilight fans won an international contest to meet with Stephenie Meyer for two days in Vancouver. Of the many topics discussed in those two days, fans might find interesting Meyer's view of the movie development and the possibility of future books about magic or mermaids. I'm rooting for the 1,000 page mermaid story, you bet!

At Toy Fair this year, Mattel revealed the Fine Art Barbies: dolls in gorgeous dresses inspired by paintings from Da Vinci, Klimt, Van Gogh. We don't typically carry Mattel products here, but fellow bookseller Jess and I could ogle the Starry Night's shoes all day...

I'm always excited to get the latest issue of Bitch Magazine, but must refrain from immediately devouring the entire content of this non-profit quarterly. But once I saw that #50, "Primal," contained an interview with young adult author Francesca Lia Block, I could not resist! Her Weetzie Bat books were a milestone in my reading life - nothing compares to her ethereal style, lovably imperfect characters, and understanding approach of gritty subjects. This article is not on their blog, so hunt down a copy at your local newsstand or Newbury Comics. In addition to reading about spectacular young adult writers, you'll be supporting a non-profit feminist organization! In their past issues, they have also interviewed Ursula K. Le Guin (#48) and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu (#41).

Introducing...the favorite picture book of the week

2011-04-20T17:01:00.003-04:00

We receive so many new books each month that constantly move about our displays, it gets hard to keep track of all that is good and beautiful. With this in mind, we begin a new blog and Facebook feature: the favorite picture book of the week. These quick blurbs will showcase a new title, a favorite reprinted, or an unsung hero of the baby room.

This week we turn our delighted gaze upon The Quite Contrary Man: A True American Tale by Patricia Rusch Hyatt, illustrated by Kathryn Brown. This picture book biography is the story of New England folk hero Joseph Palmer, who refused to shave his beard in a time when every man went bare chinned. Pen and watercolor illustrations beautifully supplement this humorous, thoughtful tale.

Earth Day, every day

2011-04-19T17:30:00.001-04:00

This Friday April 22 is Earth Day - a day, like every day, when people take time to appreciate and take care of our planet. With the smell of spring rain in the air, tulip and daffodil bulbs sprouting everywhere, and plentiful spring picture books about, how can one not think green?

Margi Preus with illustrator Rebecca Gibbon take a look at some of the more gorgeous and notable green growing things around us: trees! Celebritrees: Historic and Famous Trees describes trees known for their Guinness-Book-of-Records-setting size or age or the legends surrounding them, including Methuselah in California, the oldest known living organism, and the hollow Chapel Oak of France.

For curious preschoolers or elementary nature classes, I rely on A Seed Is Sleepy written by Dianna Hutts Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long. This can be read as a story book with such lyrical lines as "a seed is adventurous, it must strike out on its own," but it also contains digestible bits of further information with paintings and diagrams to be examined more closely by an older reader. Aston and Long have also collaborated on An Egg Is Quiet.

Energy Island by Alan Drummond is the true story of Samsø, a small Danish island, whose neighbors worked together to gain "energy independence" - to rely only renewable energy sources from their own island. The picture book style narrative is supplemented with sidebars explaining global warming, renewable and non-renewable energy, and the many ways individuals, and countries as a whole, can work to conserve energy.

Dorling Kindersly, a leader among kids' nonfiction, publishes several gardening books for a range of ages. The latest, How Does My Garden Grow, is full of rich photographs and clear step-by-step instructions for gardeners 7 and up. This book goes beyond the hows and whys of growing, to ideas for personalizing a garden, as with topiary, and ideas for what to do with what is grown, including recipes as delicious sounding as herby cheese muffins (yum!).

In fiction, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has reissued a paperback edition of Chris Van Allsburg's Just a Dream, a cautionary environmental tale. A few nights before his birthday, Walter goes to bed wishing he lived in the future with his own plane to fly and a robot to take out the trash. Instead, his dreams take him to a future full of smokestacks, tree stumps, trash piles, and most horrifying, a hotel on top of Mount Everest. Fortunately, Walter awakes from his dream, and like us all, has the opportunity to prevent this future.

Even non-city dwellers probably can sympathize with Peter from Colin Thompson's The Paradise Garden, overwhelmed as he is by the noise and rush of his neighborhood. He escapes to an expansive, wondrous garden in the city, where he sleeps under the stars and eats from the trees and greenhouses around him. When he finds peace enough to return to his family and the noisy city, he knows he may always have a paradise garden of his own, in his yard and in his mind. The rich paintings have many details to pore over, especially in panels reminiscent of Jan Brett.

Taro Gomi, author of My Friends, Everyone Poops! and several drawing books, is known for his bold, colorful style and fresh approach to storytelling. The plot of his board book, Spring Is Here, follows the earth's transformations through the cycle of seasons, zooming in a white lamb whose fleece slowly turns brown and green like the earth, and then revolves back to winter's white.

In addition to all things green, we also have plenty of Passover, Easter, spring, and hopping bunny books for all your seasonal needs.

Hobbiton news

2011-04-15T13:33:00.000-04:00

This wee tidbit of news packs a lot of punch for Tolkien fans: Peter Jackson posted a ten minute video tour of the first day shooting of The Hobbit. Be prepared for seeing the set of Gollum's caves, banter about Gandalf's robes, and of course, the sheer mass of people and talent that collaborate on such a production. For more news and photos, head over to The Hobbit movie official website. (That's where I found out that Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords is playing an elf! I can't wait to see that...)

Further news on the construction

2011-04-13T11:27:00.003-04:00

As we posted last month, our building is undergoing renovations. Cambridge is a lovely old city, but with that history comes the responsibility of taking care of our old architecture. Our building is over a 100 years old and is in need of restructuring. While the city and our landlord rework the sidewalk support and renovate our basement, we have closed our downstairs chapter book room, and now our art room as well. Don't worry! This has not changed our stock or the range of toys and books we carry, everything you used to look for downstairs can now be found on the ground floor. It may be a little cozier, but we still take the same care in our ordering and our attentive customer service. With your continued support, we will fly through this construction and come out refreshed and even better than before!

What should teens read or not read? (Some tempting articles and lists)

2011-04-12T12:37:00.000-04:00

Like many fans of Suzanne Collins popular dystopian series The Hunger Games, I've been following the casting choices of the 2012 movie adaptation, often with that troubled, peeking-through-hands-over-the-eyes attitude. If you haven't heard the announcements, Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone has been chosen for Katniss Everdeen, with Peeta Mellark played by Josh Hutcherson (remember Bridge to Terabitha in 2007?) and Gale Hawthorne played by Liam Hemsworth. While there is something to be said for the strength of fans' attachment to these characters, I'm even more intrigued by director Gary Ross's decision to make this film PG-13. The New York Times has a solid article interviewing the typically media-shy Suzanne Collins, with a focus on the portrayal of war and violence in young adult literature. Definitely worth a close read, though if you haven't finished the series, be wary of a few spoilers.

Not just the folks at NYT and Hollywood are concerned about what is and is not appropriate for teens - the British, too, are thinking on it these days. Patrick Ness, author of the Chaos Walking series, selected his Top Ten Unsuitable Books for Teens for the Guardian. I quite enjoy his point about the appeal of banned or off-limits books for (supposedly) too young readers: "What a great way to establish reading as exciting and maybe even dangerous, eh?". The list includes Beloved, The Virgin Suicides, and Catcher In the Rye, among others, with a summary and commentary for each by Ness.

I knew April was National Poetry Month, but I have just learned that April is also LGBT Awareness Month. Persephone Magazine has a feature on LGBT Teen Fiction that go beyond "tolerant" stories to those with whole acceptance of the normality of non-heteronormative relationships and gender viewpoints. The article's author, Anna Carey, says it best: "The irony of this review, of course, is that I’m raving about an aspect of the book that is really present in the story in the same way the sky is blue." The books featured are Ash and Huntress by Malinda Lo and Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.

I'm the best artist in the ocean! (Err...the Greater Boston area?)

2011-04-08T12:09:00.009-04:00

We're a little over a month away from our art and writing contest deadline of Friday, May 13th. We're beginning our preparations for collecting and voting on all the incredible masterpieces kids send us...and we hope you are in the midst of creating (or reminding the kids you know to) those masterpieces!

If you missed the announcement, you can find all the rules, entry form, and previous years' winners over on our contest blog, or you can download and print the form at the end of this post. All kids between the ages of 5 and 13 are eligible, excepting relatives of Curious George employees. Kids may enter each contest only once. Please enter only your own work.

Guidelines for each contest are as follows:

Art contest: Illustrate your favorite poem, fairy tale, or story. Please label your drawing with the author and story you have chosen to illustrate.
Writing contest: Write an original short story, poem, or essay. Please limit your submission to three pages.
If you choose to illustrate a story of your own writing, please tell us which contest you would like us to judge it for.

April is National Poetry Month!

2011-04-06T12:33:00.000-04:00

April is my favorite themed month - National Poetry Month! My fellow bookseller Shara and I have huge, squishy soft spots for poetry, to the point of reading and reciting poems to each other, and fawning over each new poetry anthology that comes in. We hope you come in this month, especially on Poem in Your Pocket Day (the 14th!) and swap poems with us. For some inspiration, here are some of our newest and most favored poetry books.

Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Spinster Goose, Mother Goose's sister, reforms wayward, bad-mannered children. This tongue-in-cheek collection parodies well-known nursery rhymes with such poems as "Peter, Peter, was a cheater" and "The Fibber," which begins, "Mary had a little lamb./She said it was a horse." This collection blends manners mores a la Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales and Bad Child's Book of Beasts with Jon Scieszka's darkly goofy humor style in The Stinky Cheese Man.

For even more hilarious nonsense, one need go no further than Edward Lear. Even though these poems are from the Victorian era, like Lewis Carroll's stories and poems, their unexpected rhymes and pure ridiculousness are still popular. A new collection, His Shoes Were Far Too Tight, edited by Daniel Pinkwater, illustrated by Calef Brown (who has many wonderful poetry books of his own), has just been published this month.

Do you know what April 14th is? (Other than "I did mail my taxes, didn't I?" day)? It's Poem in Your Pocket Day - a day to carry about your favorite poem, share it with friends, co-workers, or your neighborhood's barista, and swap it for the poem in their pocket. To fill your pockets with odes and sestinas, there is Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets, edited by Bruno Navasky with the Academy of American Poets, which has 100 poems on tear away pages. Poets in the collections run from Grace Paley and Naomi Shihab Nye to e.e. cummings, Langston Hughes, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Great Poems for Grand Children, edited by Celestine Frost with illustrations by Brian Cronin, is the kind of collection that belongs on every nursery and teenager's bookshelf. Divided into topical sections including "nonsense verse," "animal friends," "fairies, witches, goblins & company," and "seasons of life," this collection features a range of poets from Shakespeare and Walt Whitman to Jack Kerouac and Galway Kinnell. I especially enjoy the inclusion of traditional standards, hobo ballads, and Native American songs.

One of our new books just in this week is a picture book biography of a famous Chilean poet: Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People written by Monica Brown and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. His life story and the inspiration for his poems are supplemented by Paschkis's rich paintings with English and Spanish words woven into the scenery.

After lyrical picture books and gorgeous anthologies of poetry, why not explore novels in verse? One of our book buyer's very favorite books is Sharon Creech's Love That Dog. Jack's new teacher, Miss Stretchberry, is teaching his class about poetry - which Jack resists fiercely until he discovers Walter Dean Myers and the power of a poem to confront and release powerful emotions. In the back of the book you can find the original poems that Jack is responding to.

And one last line to leave on: this September, HarperCollins will release a posthumous collection of previously unpublished poems and drawings from Shel Silverstein, called Everything On It.

Hervé Tullet's Book With a Hole

2011-04-04T16:21:00.007-04:00

Hervé Tullet creates some of the most interesting books being published today. Here at Curious George, we recently received copies of his latest book, The Book With a Hole. It literally has a big ol' hole in the middle of the book, and each page lets the reader interact with it in a different way.
So, inspired by this wonderfully playful book, we decided to take some pictures around the store!

"Who lives here?" A hopping bunny, of course.

"Who's the king of the castle?" A white lion giving the side eye...

"And who's the queen?" Made in Romania!

"What is he holding?" We have a globe on sale, you know.

"Who lives there?" And these felt finger puppets are too cute!

"What is he looking at?" April showers bringing May flowers?

"What did he eat?" Raw wooden sushi!

The Book With a Hole promises hours of enjoyment for the whole family. It even doubles as a coloring book, board game, basketball hoop, and family pet. What more could you want out of a book?

Love, the curious staff of Curious George!

New picture books: from moon dazed piggies to family farms' tractors

2011-03-29T17:02:00.009-04:00

Is there anything more fun than getting a brace of new picture books, with staff members all crowding around book crates exclaiming over long-awaited titles, and customers peering into the pile to get a jump ahead on exciting books? This week has brought in some real crowd-pleasers.

Deborah Underwood had a fabulous spring last year with the popular Quiet Book, illustrated by Renata Liwska (Who wrote and illustrated a title I blogged about a few weeks ago, Red Wagon), and the graduation book, A Balloon for Isabel, illustrated by Laura Rankin. This season, Underwood and Liwska are back together for The LOUD Book, another endearing romp through the various sounds and reactions both kids and adults can relate to: "fireworks loud", "dropping your lunch tray loud," and the last page's heart-squeezing homage to summer, a lone bunny lying in a moonlit field to "crickets loud."

There are many truck and tractor books out there, as many a toddler-toting parent can affirm, but not all vehicles books have the soul and love that Grandpa's Tractor by Michael Garland contains. Grandpa Joe takes Timmy back to his childhood's farm, and while they walk by the abandoned barn to see the rusting tractor, Grandpa Joe tells him about planting alfalfa seeds, picking apples, and hauling firewood for their wood stove.

This next title, Ten Moonstruck Piglets by Lindsay Lee Johnson, I am going to beg Jess to read during story-time, it has such engaging rhymes. Just imagine the sounds you can make to this page: "They squeal! They snort!/On legs so short,/rollicking piglets/gaily cavort." I love the illustrations just as much, the black-on-blue scenery and piglet characters are so detailed that they deserve the kind of poring over that Richard Scarry and Don and Audrey Wood require.

We are a very animal friendly store - pets are very welcome (and welcome to the treats at the front door!) and our book buyer has been known to come upstairs to see any particularly adorable puppies. Which is why when such an adorable picture book as Say Hello to Zorro! by Carter Goodrich came in, we all pretty much melted. Mister Bud (with an hilarious large snout to stick over bedspreads and couches) is very set in his canine schedule, until a wee grumpy bull dog joins the family. Fans of Emily Gravett's Dogs will rejoice at another pup picture book that captures dog characters so very well.

My last pick of new picture books is the lush, lyrical and socially aware Migrant, written by Maxine Trottier and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (who happened to illustrate the Emily Dickinson installment of the Visions in Poetry series. Delicious.). Every year, Anna and her large family move with the seasons following the work from Mexico to Canada and back. The beauty in this potentially heavy story is the lightness and sweetness of the language: Anna's family is continually compared to geese flying, bees working, kittens sleeping, and the families that stay in one place are like trees rooted deeply: "But fall is here, and the geese are flying away. /And with them goes Anna, like a monarch, like a robin, like a feather in the wind."

Neighborly love

2011-03-24T17:58:00.005-04:00

The staff here today was having a lovely day, grooving a bit to some mo-town tunes and finally feeling used to our new upstairs arrangements, and all of a sudden, our collective day skyrocketed from pretty good to pretty AWESOME. Would you like to know why? Kristin Cashore, author of popular fantasy novels, Graceling and Fire, stopped by to say hello and sign stock!!!! All of us here today are major fans of hers - not only does she write great novels with adventure, romance, strong female characters and all those other necessary components, she also keeps an articulate and well-rounded blog which I read fastidiously. And as I can attest after our quick meeting this afternoon, she's just the sweetest peach! Apparently she lives in the neighborhood and we all hope we'll see more of her around here. In the meantime, if you haven't yet read this incredible new talent, come by and pick up some freshly autographed copies!

For the competitor in all of us...

2011-03-22T13:56:00.004-04:00

I love this month, honestly, I do. Kids in rain boots, the occasional sunny day to eat lunch in the Brattle square park, and all kinds of entertaining brackets! I know I already blogged about Persephone Magazine's Middlemarch Madness, with readers voting on their favorite female characters from Shakespeare to Hunger Games. That "madness" is down to the Sweet Sixteen - I just voted between Hermione Granger and Lyra Belacqua. (Whew!).

School Library Journal's annual Battle of the Kids Books has also begun, with some quite notable authors as judges (Karen Hesse! R.L. Stine! Mitali Perkins!). There are no specific rules for the decision, each judge chooses which requirements are crucial: child appeal, plot and character complexity, level of fun or potential for being enduring classic, or whichever other factors they favor. Regardless of your favorites, there are always great reviews and comments for each book.

New York Teen Author Festival

2011-03-21T15:21:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I missed this - granted, I live in Cambridge not New York City - but it would have been worth the trek!

The New York Teen Author Festival gathered together multitudes of young adult writers across the boroughs for readings and symposiums. Authors from Barry Lyga, Maggie Stiefvater, and John Green to Melina Marchetta, Matt de la Pena, and Gayle Forman read, performed (I never knew Libba Bray was in a band called Tiger Beat!), and led talks on writing. If you went, I am incredibly jealous and I hope you'll come by and tell me stories. If you also missed it, there are some great articles up about it - I like the videos (and E Lockhart's tights!) on Random House's Random Buzzers website.

Big monkey business news

2011-03-17T16:26:00.002-04:00

When you first walk through our store these days, you may notice a few changes - actually some pretty big changes! Our building is over a 100 years old and will undergo various renovations this year. During this process, our chapter book room will be closed. The early readers, chapter books, older kids' toys, puzzles, and science kits have moved upstairs - And yes! We did fit everything! For the time being, we will still have an arts and craft room at the bottom of the stairs.

We will maintain the same variety of quality children's toys and books, they will just be in different places! Thanks for supporting us through these changes.

Annual Art and Writing Contests

2011-03-14T11:55:00.009-04:00

It is early spring, and you know what that means - our annual art and writing contests are kicking off! All kids (excepting relatives of Curious George employees) between the ages of 5 and 13 are eligible. Each contest will be subdivided into age categories: 5 to 7, 8 to 10, and 11 to 13.

Art Contest

Illustrate your favorite fairy tale, poem, short story, or book. Label your artwork with the author and title of the story you're illustrating.

Writing Contest

Write an original story, poem, or essay. Please keep your submissions to 3 pages.

Entering both contests means illustrating your favorite story as well as writing an original story: we're very excited to read stories you have illustrated, only tell us which contest you would like us to judge it for!

With all entries, please include our submission form that tells us your name, address, phone number, school and age. This submission form, which you can pick up in the store or download from our blogs (right click on the image above), enables us to contact the winners. Winning artwork will be on display in the store, and winning writing will be posted to our contest blog. Winners will also receive store gift certificates!

The deadline for entries is Friday, May 13th. Winners will be announced the following Friday the 20th.

The best March bracket: Middlemarch madness

2011-03-09T14:58:00.007-05:00

I love Rajon Rondo as much as the next person (although maybe not as much as our book buyer!), but I don't follow the March Madness basketball brackets. I'm much more of a fan of the pop culture and children's lit brackets like School Library Journal's Battle of the Books, which is why I'm exorbitantly excited that the witty women of Persephone Magazine have started a Middlemarch Madness. Their bracket pits female characters from stories across the genres and decades. I've been watching with bated breath for a few days - Lyra Belacqua of The Golden Compass versus Tiffany Aching of The Wee Free Men?! How could one ever decide? Other great pairings include Harriet the Spy versus Nancy Drew and Offred from A Handmaid's Tale versus Jordan Baker of The Great Gatsby. Ah, the world of book lovers, it never ceases to amuse.

Weekly news bits, including: Muppets, moors, Muggles, and a new kind of mafia

2011-03-08T12:55:00.002-05:00

I can finally start the countdown and plan for withdrawal afterwards: A release date has been set for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. July will be here before we know it!

I am beyond thrilled for the Jane Eyre movie adaptation from Focus Features coming out this March. Jane will be played by Mia Wasikowska, the actress from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. Stormy menfolk and moody moors. Sigh.

Another kids movie coming out this month is the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. In my opinion, Rodrick has entirely too much hair to look like his cartoon alter ego, but who's counting?

There's going to be another Muppet movie?! How did I not know this? I hear it will involve the reunion of separated Muppets, including finding Fozzie performing at a casino! It will be released November 23rd. Thanks to Katie at Out of the Box for mentioning it on her Muppet comics post.

The YA Mafia: a coterie of writers so influential and prolific it has its own twitter hashtag. But wait: Holly Black revealed last week that it does not exist, and in fact, could not exist. For a play by play across the blogs, YA Highway has the best wrap-up I've found yet, (and as a sidenote, some of the best mash-up YA cover art I've seen!). It makes sense to me that people are passionate about the same things (bird-watching, YA literature, raw vegan cooking) are going to know each other, or want to know each other, or bump into each other in common places (national parks, book signings/trade conventions, Grezzo in the North End), but that doesn't necessarily mean they are colluding on book blurbs or plotting to take down common genre-enemies. Whether or not YA authors, editors, or booksellers are scratching each other's backs, it's still pretty entertaining to envision a "secret cabal" of all those people I talk about all day.

Lastly, the Guardian has launched a children's books website for children's use, kicking it off with Philip Pullman answering questions from his fans. I love what he has to say to aspiring writers: "We shouldn't bother about other people at all when we write. It's none of their business what we write...One of the reasons for JK Rowling's success was that she didn't give a fig for what people thought they wanted. They didn't know they wanted Harry Potter till she wrote about him. That's the proper way round." Take heart, you future entrants to our upcoming art and writing contests!

Moon over the March Book Club

2011-03-07T12:14:00.003-05:00

This Thursday at 5pm will be our third meeting of our monthly reading group. We'll be discussing this year's Newbery Medal winner, Moon Over Manifest, the debut historical fiction novel by Clare Vanderpool. You can still pick up a discounted copy in the store to read in time for the meeting, or come for the cookies, conversation, and choosing of our next month's book.

Staff picks under my umbrella

2011-03-06T11:30:00.000-05:00

It may still be precipitating, but at least it's warmer out! Nothing says (almost) spring to me like stomping in puddles and then reading a new favorite book while my feet dry. Here are our latest staff picks.

Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem
Bookseller: Jose-Luis
Genre: fantasy, humor
Suggested reading level: ages 10 up

Mellie believed in "small persons with wings" as a kid, earning her the nickname "Fairy Fat." For years she abandons whimsy, Roald Dahl, and fairies altogether, thinking magic can never be real. But when her family moves into an inn, guess what it's infested with? Don't call them fairies; they might turn you into a frog! This is a hilarious book that keeps getting weirder and better with every chapter.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: realistic fiction, humor, environmentalism; mystery
Suggested reading level: ages 9 up

Florida is chock full of weird characters and mysteries. It starts when new kid Roy sees a strange barefoot boy running from the school bus - chasing him leads Roy to discover sparkly painted snakes, the dangers of flapjacks, and how to handle all kinds of bullies. Look for Hiaasen's other books, Flush and Scat.

Harvey by Herve Bouchard
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: graphic novel
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

Following a toothpick race down Rue Tremblay, Harvey and his brother come home to find their father has suffered a fatal heart attack. With its combination of poignant prose, muted colors, and generous use of white space, this book offers a subtle and heartbreaking glimpse of a boy's experience of loss.

Nate the Great by Marjorie Sharmat, illustrated by Marc Simont
Bookseller: Teresa
Genre: early reader, mystery
Suggested reading level: ages 5 to 7

Do you like pancakes? Do you like solving mysteries? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then this is the book for you! In this story, Nate the Great has a very important case. He needs to help his friend Annie find the missing picture of her dog, Fang. Can you help him gather clues and solve this mystery?

Sad Stories of the Death of Kings by Barry Gifford
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: short stories, realism
Suggested reading level: ages 16 up

Set in 1950s Chicago, this collection of stark short stories brings together the grit of post-war city living with the disillusionment that so often accompanies coming of age tales. Still, Gifford manages to include just the ring amount of surprise and delight to make the harsh realism bearable.

Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger
Bookseller: Jose-Luis
Genre: realistic fiction, LGTBQ
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

Born biologically female, high school student Grady has taken the bold step to be himself and live as a male. He knew it was going to be difficult, but he never imagined the wide variety of reactions he receives. Grady misses his best friend, Evie, who is now friends with the biggest bully in the school. And will his mother ever accept his new identity?

Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: fiction, humor
Suggested reading level: ages 9 up

Don't let this black and white cover deceive you: this book is weird beyond weird! Victor is left home alone and so stays up late watching the late news shows (he's a big fan of Walter Cronkite) - until he sees human-sized lizards playing music on TV. The lizard coincidences pile up until a man with many names and a chicken under his hat becomes Victor's guide, though he inspires more questions than he answers...

Zut alors, it's Zutano!

2011-03-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

We are so excited to announce that we now carry Zutano baby clothes! These adorable clothes come in a variety of styles, sizes, and designs.
We carry wrap dresses, body wraps, T shirts, pants, coveralls, bodice jackets, and leggings, with designs ranging from gumballs, zoo animals, sputnik, and a variety of stripes.

The sizes are primarily infant sizes at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, with select styles in toddler sizes.

Read Across America Day - Dr Seuss

2011-03-02T10:32:00.004-05:00

Today is the NEA's Read Across America Day, which is also Dr. Seuss's birthday! The National Education Association started this annual program in 1998 to celebrate the importance - and the pure fun - of reading, and motivate children especially to read. Celebrities, mayors, school principals, athletes, and many other public figures participate in activities and reading challenges across the country.

Random House's Seussville website has ideas for activities and a resource for finding events near you.

Shaun Tan: picture book creator, graphic novelist, Academy Award winner!

2011-03-01T13:05:00.006-05:00

I've been trying to see the Oscar nominated film shorts ever since I first heard Australian graphic novelist Shaun Tan was nominated for an animated adaptation of The Lost Thing. I'm definitely going to have to get out to Kendall Cinema soon because Shaun Tan won! He's such an incredibly talented storyteller and artist, with such popular and lauded titles as The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia under his belt, I'm very happy for him to have another acknowledgment of his talent. You can see a trailer for The Lost Thing on its official website.

Lost and Found, a collection of three previously published stories, The Lost Thing, The Red Tree, and Rabbits, will be published early this spring.

New picture books: what's in a name?

2011-02-28T13:24:00.001-05:00

I will admit that even after years of bookselling, and of course calling myself a discerning reader, I still make occasional snap judgments of books based on covers and titles. Even while I am trying to train myself not to, there are still those glorious moments when I read a title like The Boy Who Cried Ninja, and I am immediately, irrevocably in love with it, no matter how terrible it may be. Fortunately, these new picture books live up to their great titles, and then some.

If the title - complete with speech bubble! - alone hadn't grabbed me, the illustrations of Alex Latimer's The Boy Who Cried Ninja would have held me tight. Reminiscent of Oliver Jeffers style, these characters have such funny, endearing qualities as tiny stick legs and gaping mouths indicating speech. Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is a heavy handed morality tale, simply placing ninjas, sunburned crocodiles and time-traveling monkeys in lieu of wolves; it is more capricious than cautionary.

Just a few days ago a customer had been looking for books about stuffed animals and I wish we had had I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen and Marc Rosenthal in then! Not only am I apparently weak-kneed for It-Wasn't-Me kitty stares, I also have a soft spot for appropriately exclamatory titles. (Don't even tell me you too don't want to exclaim LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!, with various emphases)
Willy and his stuffed, beshirted monkey Bobo do everything together, from coloring to investigating potentially mean bitey-bigs. Unfortunately, Willy's conniving cat Earl also likes Bobo. The gentle humor and comforting sweetness of this story reminds me of A Sick Day for Amos McGee, with the added humor of a plush-filching cat named Earl, of all things.

This next book has a tongue-twister of a title: Where's Walrus? written and illustrated by Stephen Savage. This cheeky walrus escapes from the zoo, a la Good Night Gorilla and A Sick Day for Amos McGee, with a bumbling, mustachioed zookeeper hot on his tail, so to speak. With vibrant colors and a modern art feel, both children and adults will be amused by the walrus's plain sight hiding places and visual gags. I am particularly fond of the mermaid fountain scene and the cover's nod to Edward Hopper. Maybe there will even be a sequel with a certain red and white tourist hat for the walrus to try on...

My last latest picture book love has an understated title with an enticing cover: Renata Liwska's Red Wagon not only depicts one of my favorite animals (a hedgie! In the eponymous wagon!), but these animals look comfortingly familiar because Liwska was the illustrator of the much-talked-of adorable The Quiet Book. This tale of imagination and friendship is the definition of a picture book, with a perfect tension between the text and illustrations. My favorite spread is from the line "She was almost down [the hill] again when the wagon hit a rock!", where the wagon turns into a rocket ship with the fox and bunny friends as astronauts and the raccoon pal becomes a three-eyed alien raccoon in a UFO! Three eyed raccoons get me every time.

Dave the Potter and You Can Count on Monsters back on shelves

2011-02-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave written by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Brian Collier, has been reprinted and is back in stock! Dave the Potter won a 2011 Caldecott Honor as well as the Coretta Scott King Illustrator award.

Richard Evan Schwartz creative factor tree book, You Can Count on Monsters, was featured on NPR in January before its publication and is now available.

The catch all news update, including: release dates, pop up dogs, Fibonacci rabbits, nerds...and McNuggets?

2011-02-23T11:15:00.008-05:00

The subject line almost says it all, doesn't it? In my usual weekly news catch up, I've found a few highly entertaining, and even informative, news and videos! Enjoy.

A release date for Martin Scorcese's 3 D adaptation of Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been set for November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving. If anyone can do justice to this spectacularly cinematic novel, Scorcese can.

I can not get over how mind-meltingly awesome this video is. When these two power M's combine...cleverly engineered, wittily written pop-up dog cards are made! Watch Matthew Van Fleet on the Martha Stewart Show, and be amazed. I'm going to mix authors here, but Martha, did you know there's a bird on your head?!

The UK's Guardian has an Emily Gravett slideshow up, showcasing close-ups of spreads from her many rich, humorously dark picture books and a few comments on their process and creation. Very satisfying insight into an artist/author's world, I only wish there was a page for The Odd Egg.

Maybe you've already heard, but the publishing house founded by Dave Eggers, McSweeney's, is starting a children's imprint, to be called McMullens! Despite my strange subconscious impulse to visualize McNuggets alongside a stack of snarky children's books, this can only bring good things to the universe!

For ongoing increase-of-awesome, I always refer to John and Hank Green's vlog brothers (video blog) website, Nerdfighters. John Green, yes, of Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns fame, with his equally talented, hilarious musician/Ecogeek blogger brother, Hank, banter back and forth every few days, talking about telescopes, giraffes, politics, small town cemeteries, among other things. You can start with the most recent blogs, or How To Be a Nerdfighter, which is a vlog-manifesto-of-sorts, or how I got addicted to the brothers, which still remains one of the funniest videos I've ever encountered, How To Make Boys Like You.

March Book Club

2011-02-11T14:56:00.005-05:00

Last night we gathered around Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels in our chapter book room and had a rich and lively discussion. We covered everything from what makes a book YA instead of grown-up, what makes a book feminist or not, and we hit themes of motherhood, growing up, bears, cookies and magic. It was a fantastic time and we're pumped to get together next month to discuss the 2011 Newbery winner Moon Over Manifest. This one promises to provoke just as much discussion. Here's the description:

The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future.

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.

So stop by the store and get your copy at 20% off, and join us for snacks and discussion on March 10th at 5 PM. The book is recommended for ages 12 and up, so all ages from there on up are encouraged to attend.

Another joyous day for Amos McGee! And chickens!

2011-02-10T15:32:00.006-05:00

Oh my gracious zookeepers and farm animals! Two of the American Library Association awards books are back in stock: Caldecott winner A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead and Caldecott Honor Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein.

My latest love: Tales of the Madman Underground

2011-02-07T14:44:00.002-05:00

In celebration of our 400th blog post, I'm going to rave about my latest young adult book obsession, Tales of the Madman Underground. This is one of those rare books that as soon as I had finished it, I turned back to the first page. I just wasn't ready to let Karl Shoemaker go! I had to tear myself away from a complete second read so I could mail my copy to my friend who teaches fiction writing...but maybe she'll send it back if I need Karl again.

Tales of the Madman Underground won John Barnes the Printz Honor in 2009 (Jellicoe Road took the Medal. What a year!). The Printz Medal is a teenage level Newbery Medal, awarded for exemplary young adult literature. In my mind, it also means you can give this book to both teens and adults - a crossover medal, if you will. And I certainly would give this book to either teens or adults. I am going to be pushing this book just like I pushed Anna and the French Kiss and Dairy Queen when I first discovered them, and still do. They are just that good.

Karl begins his senior year with "Operation Be Normal," hoping to escape his usual fate of being sent to therapy: "They might as well have tattooed CRAZY on your forehead. The next year every teacher would be watching you for the first weird thing you did - and has there ever been a kid who never does anything an adult considers weird?" (p 14). Of course, to be normal, Karl has to hide his exhaustion from four jobs, ignore taunts about his drunk pseudo-hippie mother, and most complicated of all, dissociate from his fellow therapy "Madmen." This 500 page feast covers only 5 days, but his magnetic voice, fueled as it is by anger and ferocious loyalty to the Madmen, pulls you through the many hilarious and heartbreaking tangential back stories. The plot unravels magnificently, Karl's present story line flowing into memories from childhood, middle school, or last summer, in a style that reminds me of Everything Is Illuminated and other adult titles. Occasionally I lose the narrative thread or am thrown by a few ungrammatical lines, but then Karl delivers those potent one-liners I remember from Holden Caulfield, the kind you underline and dog-ear: "Pain only matters when it happens to someone important." (p 70). Even if the writing occasionally struggles, Karl's voice carries it through. Like most teenagers, Karl is most funny and poignant when he isn't trying to be funny, so some of the dialogue clunks along while his painting of a scene rings true: "I thought how normal kids were spending their Friday nights after a game. Probably having pizza, or road drinking, or making out. Whereas I was standing on Mug Me Street in Toledo, Ohio, with a baseball bat and a purse." (p 324). I don't know about you, but I'd rather be on Mug Me Street with Karl for these 500 pages than having pizza with "normal" people.

Critics have compared this to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Catcher in the Rye, and I agree that here's a modern classic in the making. Even if this book is set a mere twenty years after Catcher in the Rye's publication, Karl is a modern Holden, bursting with anger and love, cynicism and the desire for things to be different. His language is accessible (no excess "phonies" to trip over) and his problems contemporary, even as he describes the bell bottoms of the "Christian jocks." Like Markus Zusak's I am the Messenger, Tales of the Madman Underground has that particular blend of humor and realism, in which the only way to get by is to laugh at life's painful absurdities. And for that, I would follow Karl anywhere.

"It wasn't that funny, but I laughed. There wouldn't be much laughter in the world if people didn't like each other, because there sure as shit aren't that many good jokes." (p 33).

We're here! And we have books!

2011-02-01T12:50:00.004-05:00

Yes, indeed, we are still open during the snow, and eager to help you find those books to cozy up with for the rest of the 10, 15, or 20 inches we may get this week!

If you can't get your car out of the driveway without at least an 8 point turn (I feel your pain!), or the bus comes every three hours, you can always order books from our store website or call us to ship something to you. We do ship anywhere in the world!

Our February 10th book club choice, Tender Morsels, is now available online as well. This beautiful, brutal book will definitely make for a good discussion. Sign up for our email list by emailing blog@curiousg.com or come by Thursday February 10th at 5pm for the next meeting.

There's something about Wednesdays

2011-01-31T10:52:00.008-05:00

During my usual Monday morning news catch-up, I saw this amusing snowfall Shaq-o-meter from Boston.com. I keep having to remind myself that we do live in New England and it is winter, so snow is expected, but I just wish the walk to the bus stop was a little more manageable! This Tuesday through Wednesday we're expected to get anywhere from 12 to 20 inches! At least the folks from the Boston Globe have a good sense of humor about it, too. Compared to Shaq O'Neal's 7'11 height and the 1995-1996 record 102" of snow, we're doing OK, with only 60"! It's all about the perspective. And the Celtics, apparently.

In children's books and movies news, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is being adapted into a film: Harry Potter's Hermione actress Emma Watson and Percy Jackson's eponymous actor Logan Lerman are slated to star as Sam and Charlie respectively, with author Chobsky to direct.

Speaking of Harry Potter, there have been a few photos leaked from the Deathly Hallows part 2 set. Squee! I am so conflicted: I want it out sooner so I can see it, but I want the Potter thrill to last longer.

I'm a few days behind the announcement, but The Hunger Games movie has set a release date: March 23rd, 2012! The director is Gary Ross, but despite much blogging by fans, so far no cast has been announced.

I have said here a few times how much I adore the feminist pop culture magazine Bitch Magazine, and they have rocketed even further in my esteem with their latest "From the Library" segment: a list of 100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader, from classics like Judy Blume's Forever and Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy to contemporary One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia and Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I love so many of the books on the list, and am ashamed I haven't read all of them! You can bet I will be selecting future reads from this list.

I never knew that one of my favorite science fiction/military thriller books, E nder's Game by Orson Scott Card, is in the works to become a movie! The website io9 announces the director will be Gavin Hood (of X-Men Origins: Wolverine) , with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who were behind Transformers, Star Trek, and Fringe. I hope for their success! I am really curious how this would play out on film - will Ender be as complicated, both likable and frightening, with film narration?

While on io9, I also found these jaw-dropping concept designs based on Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer's The Phantom Tollbooth from artist Lizzie Nichols. Of course, I had to follow the link back to her blog, where there are more incredible imaginings of the Doldrums, Digitopolis, Tock the Watchdog...and even some Lewis Carroll characters!

Different Looks for Different Books

2011-01-30T16:07:00.004-05:00

We here at the George have major book-crushes on the Penguin hardcover classics that have recently been released. Taking motifs from the story, the books are repackaged in a fresh, thematic and beautiful way that makes a great gift, or a nice edition to a long-lasting library. They sell for $20 each.

For another "novel" re-imagining of a beloved book represented in this series, even Mass native Louisa May Alcott couldn't avoid the "... and Zombies" treatment with the recent publication of Little Women and Werewolves.

My favorite in the Penguin series is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. For a video-re-imagining of the whole Brontë clan, Reader, watch this video.

And while we're in the realm of re-imagined covers for classics, one really should check out graphic designer M. S. Corley's Penguin-ized versions of the Harry Potter books. Unfortunately Scholastic has exclusive rights to publishing all things Harry Potter (I bet there's an unemployed editor previously of Penguin kicking him or herself over this rejection) so these covers will never see the shelves of a bookstore. But a Penguin fangirl can dream, can't she...

Steam is so hot right now

2011-01-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

The term steampunk has been around for almost 30 years, but very recently the trend has exploded in YA and middle grade novels. Steampunk is a genre that embodies many tropes, which may account for its popularity. A book can be steampunk if it's pseudo-Victorian and there is air-travel (preferably by dirigible), as in a classic progenitor of the genre, Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, or a book can be steampunk if it depicts a dystopian future in which society uses strange machines (with lots of cogs and rivets!), as in du Prau's City of Ember. The term itself is a subgenre of alternative-history science fiction in which a thought experiment is played out: what if the Victorian era had been run on steam? The fun anachronistic gadgetry that spans the genre makes for some fantastical story possibilities. Of all the strands of steampunk there are, here are some staff favorites!

Really Victorian/Alt-History
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
George staffer Michelle picked this when it was hot off the presses: During an alternative WWI, fugitive Prince Alek, of the mechanical-driven Clankers, meets Darwinist Deryn, making a temporary alliance in the Alps. With military secrets, disguises, and bio-engineered whale zeppelins, this is a new exciting direction for Westerfeld. Leviathan is followed by a second book entitled Behemoth.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The now-canonical trilogy has a lot of gadgetry, dirigibles and hot air-balloons but even MORE food-for-thought. I wrote a staff pick for the first volume, The Golden Compass, this last year after finally finishing the whole series: In Lyra’s world, everyone has a daemon, which is like your soul in animal form. Lyra discovers a conspiracy to take them away from kids, and she has to stop it. This action-packed story with a strong heroine and a lot of philosophical themes will be one you reread over and over again!

Really Gadget-y

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Another Michelle staff pick: In order to make the world “safe,” Incarceron, a vast thinking prison, was created to contain the criminal or mentally ill. Finn, an epileptic prisoner, finds a crystal key to communicate with a girl Outside – but can he escape before Incarceron thinks, and acts, for itself? This British import blends action, philosophy, & mystery.

The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby
Three unique characters that you will enjoy getting to know intersect and soon join together like cogs in a machine to harness their magical powers and save the day.

Really Fantastic-y

Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce
George staffer Shara H. picked this one: Flora, a prisoner of her own home, is required to keep the rundown Crackpot Hall (with its 11,000 rooms) tidy until she is forced to join the military after her 14th birthday. Seeking a way out of her many responsibilities, Flora attempts to restore a banished butler, free a pirate on death row, and bring her family back together in the process, but ultimately finds more trouble than relief.

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne-Jones
Another pick from Michelle: Sophie is a quiet, hardworking girl in her family’s hat shop – until the jealous Witch of the Waste turns her into an old woman. With creaky knees, white hair, and the feisty friendship of a fire demon, Sophie develops some spunk, which she’ll need if she wants the mysterious wizard Howl to break her curse. After this, watch Miyazaki’s film!

Staff picks in a snowbank

2011-01-27T14:57:00.010-05:00

Happy snow day, Cambridge and Somerville! This is my favorite kind of day to have a snow day: the sun is shining, the snow has stopped falling but it still lying in beautiful banks taller than me. What a perfect day for making a snow fort and snow animal prints and coming back inside for hot cocoa and a good book! Here are some of the books we've been reading in the last few snowstorms.

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Bookseller: Teresa
Genre: realistic fiction, verse
Suggested reading level: ages 8 to 12

Every once in a while I will read this book to remind myself that poetry is pretty, dogs are cute, and writing helps us figure things (and ourselves) out. If you happen to be in the room with me while I am reading this book, I will read it out loud to you, and that's a promise!

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
Bookseller: Natasha
Genre: fantasy, fairy tale retelling
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

I love, love, love fairy tale retellings and Hansel and Gretel is one of my all-time favorite fairy tales. This book is much more than just a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, though. It melds a lot of fairy tales into one funny story with tons of adventure and action that definitely feels at home in a Grimm world.

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 14 up (teen/adult)

This book will change the way you read books. If only every book character had the humor and sincerity that Alex and Jonathan have. If only every plot had such nuances between fact, reality, and memory. Read, laugh, weep, read again.

Frindle by Andrew Clements
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: humor, school story
Suggested reading level: ages 9 up

For Nick Allen, calling a pen a frindle starts as a practical joke to annoy his teacher. But when the new word gains popularity, the whole situation spins out of Nick's control. Clements's hilarious story examines what can happen, good and bad, when kids choose to question the status quo.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Bookseller: Natasha
Genre: realistic fiction, young adult
Suggested reading level: ages 14 up

Colin was born a brilliant child prodigy. He can speak 11 languages, he has an uncanny memory for trivia and more so, an uncanny ability to date and be dumped by girls named Katherine. After the 19th Katherine says sayonara, Colin's hilarious friend Hassan drags him on a wacky road trip to get over it.

The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier
Bookseller: Jose-Luis
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy, adventure
Suggested reading level: ages 9 up

Ready for a thrilling comic set on the high seas? Join Walker Bean and a quirky crew of pirates as they attempt to steal a talking skull from two creepy sea-witches! Along the way, Walker Bean creates awesome inventions like a boat-on-wheels and a fake night sky. Fans of Tin-Tin or The Invention of Hugo Cabret will love this.

The Memory Bank by Carolyn Coman
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: magical realism, for fans of Roald Dahl
Suggested reading level: ages 9 up

Told through clear writing and rich illustrations, fans of The Invention of Hugo Cabret will like this story of two separated sisters. After her cruel parents ditch her sister for laughing, Hope spends all her time dreaming, until she is summoned to the World Wide Memory Bank, where she finds clues on how to get Honey back. A very sweet tale!

New (and returning!) arrivals

2011-01-26T14:05:00.006-05:00

The announcements and aftermath of the ALA awards is always exciting - I love the rush of folks calling or stopping in to look at the winners and the thrill of reading books I would have otherwise accidentally overlooked. The only downside is when the publisher goes out of stock!

Happily, we have a few award winning titles returning to our shelves. Moon Over Manifest, the Newbery Medal winner, never quite left, but now it has a shiny medal sticker to entice you even more, if spies, fortune-tellers, and rail-hopping wasn't enough!

We also have back in Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (say that three times fast, wee!), the Printz Medal and National Book Award finalist. I'm looking forward to reading this dystopian adventure. This is Bacigalupi's first venture into young adult literature from general adult science fiction, and with such encomiums, let's hope he returns to it.

Two of my favorite books from last year are now out in paperback: Fire by Kristin Cashore and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Fire is a companion to novel to Cashore's debut Graceling. These two novels are incredible fantasy adventures for fans of Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce: with fierce female protagonists, palace intrigue, journeys through wild lands, passionate romance, and solid, enthralling writing, what more can you ask for? (Maybe a Po or Brigan of your very own...).

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is for a younger audience (ages 9 up), but is no less gripping for that. This Newbery Honor takes place in the hottest Texan summer eleven-year-old Callie can remember, 1899. Callie is that lovable tomboy we all adore reading about, a la Jo March or Caddie Woodlawn, who chafes against learning needlepoint and pie-making. This summer, she befriends her grumpy, reclusive naturalist grandfather and learns how to look at and think about her world more closely, making a few surprising discoveries along the way. With American Girl's budding scientist Lanie, and the numerous accessible non-fiction about Charles Darwin, this is an encouraging trend for girls' middle grade reading.

We are still waiting for the Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Illustrator winner Dave the Potter and Caldecott Honor Interrupting Chicken to be reprinted, but hopefully they will be also be back on shelves soon!

The weather may be frightful, but these books are delightful

2011-01-25T13:48:00.010-05:00

We're getting another snow storm?! Me and my cold toes refuse to believe it! This is the snowingest winter I've seen in a long time. Fortunately, we have armloads of wintry themed books, varying from ideas on how to make snow monsters to delightful stories to curl up around.

Snow Play: How to Make Forts & Slides & Winter Campfires (Plus the coolest Loch Ness Monster) by Birgitta Ralston. Even if you don't have a yard big enough for this book, go to your nearest park or playground to try out these snow monsters with LED eyes, frozen marble runs, slides and other projects in the snow. Each activity is rated for difficulty, duration, and the type of snow needed.

The Secret Life of a Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht is an accessible non-fiction exploration of the making of a snowflake. Libbrecht is a scientist who takes photographs of snowflakes and tries to grow his own "ice flowers" in his laboratory. The science here goes beyond the changing states of water and cloud development to why snow looks white and why, if you're looking at a flake through a microscope, you will only ever see six-branched or hexagonal patterns. The facts are accompanied by gorgeous enlarged photographs of snowflakes and helpful diagrams.

You may recognize the sweet and expressive style in Olivier Dunrea's Old Bear and His Cub: this same author/illustrator gives us the booted ducklings of Gossie & Gertie board books. Gruff as Old Bear may be, he loves Little Cub; and as stubborn as Little Cub may be, he Loves Old Bear, too. This endearing book is perfect for dads and grandpas to read for bedtime.

One of my perennial winter favorites is the Caldecott Honor Snow by Uri Shulevitz. One, two, three tiny snowflakes fall and melt in this cozy town, provoking a small boy and his dog to gleefully dance about, "Snow!" even as the adults dismiss its possibility. With such joyous rhymes as "But snow doesn't listen to radio,/snowflakes don't watch television./All snowflakes know is snow, snow, snow," you, too, will be infected with joyous, child-like wonder at "Snow!".

O, My (reluctant) Valentine

2011-01-21T11:59:00.022-05:00

I have to admit, I've kind of always been a Valentine's Day cynic. Don't get me wrong: I love chocolate as much as the next gal, but maybe it's all that pink. And the same messages over and over. If you're like me, or you like someone like me, here are a few picks for all ages that extend beyond the same old greeting card lines about love. These are books that I think say something different, or will at least appeal to the reluctant valentine in your life. Enjoy!

Chester's Way
by Kevin Henkes
upstairs in picture books
ages 4-6, $16.99

A great alternative friendship/love story, Chester and Wilson are two best friends who do everything together. Then a third girl mouse wants to join the mix. Their relationship is tested before it expands to include Lily!

Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine
by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, illustrations by Marc Simont
downstairs in Early Readers
ages 6-8, $4.50

"I was glad that no one had given me a valentine. I, Nate the Great, do not like mushy words. Or slushy words. I, Nate the Great, do not want to be anyone's valentine." Nate the Great is on the case when his beloved dog Sludge gets a yucky, mushy anonymous valentine. Not only will the reluctant early-reading valentine get to help Nate solve the case, but there are activities and recipes in the back of the book as well. And of course, (SPOILER ALERT) Nate himself gets a yucky, mushy valentine in the end.

Gentle Ben
by Walt Morey
downstairs in Chapter Books
ages 9-11, $6.99
Before it was on TV, then a movie, then a TV-movie, Gentle Ben was--and remains--an arresting novel of nature, solitude, and a boy's love for his bear. When everyone else is scared of a massive grizzly on the outskirts of the Alaskan wilderness, only Mark dares befriend him. As their friendship grows, the townspeople become wary and try to harm Ben. But the bond Mark has forged with him could be the only thing that saves him.

Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
downstairs in Chapter Books
ages 12-14, $6.99

The ultimate anti-Valentine book for the independent thinking girl. You'll root for Catherine to ditch Shaggy Beard, a suitor almost three times her age! The book is in the form of her diary, and her hilarious quips about her life in medieval times are engaging. And God's Thumbs! It's a Newbery honor!

The Big Crunch
by Pete Hautman
downstairs in Chapter Books
$17.99, ages 15-18

"This is not that kind of love story," the flap copy promises on National Book Award winner Pete Hautman's new novel, "this is a love story for people not particularly biased toward romance." A reluctant love story that flares up with undeniably potent chemistry is told in the alternating points of view of main characters Wes and June. A love story that guys and girls romantic and reluctant will be drawn into immediately.

Plainsong
by Kent Haruf
downstairs in Older Readers
published for grown-ups; recommended for ages 13+
$13.95

Love in all shapes reveals itself in this quiet novel set in small-town Colorado. The crux of the story follows a pregnant 17-year-old with nowhere to go, and the elderly bachelor brothers that take her in. The book tenderly evokes Reverdy's immortal declaration that "there is no love, there are only proofs of love," as revealed in the seemingly simple actions and dialogue in which the characters prove their love subtly and without excessive sentimentality.

***
this post is dedicated to my Valentine; the peanut butter to my chocolate ;)

Pictures & Books

2011-01-19T16:37:00.004-05:00

When I was wee I watched a lot of Rocky and Bullwinkle. And it's not just because my name is Natasha (though I'm sure it helped). It was partly because I have always wanted to be a flying squirrel with goggles and partly because I loved "Fractured Fairy Tales." The reason for this was threefold. First, I love fairy tales. Second, the writers on that show were hilarious and the sketches were, too. And third: I love re-imagined stories. I loved it on Rocky and Bullwinkle and even as I continued to grow up I've loved seeing new takes on old stories that I love. I love it when The Simpsons riff on Hansel and Gretel. I love retold fairy tales in novel form. And most recently, I've grown addicted to blogs that showcase talented artists' renderings of their favorite childhood stories.

These blogs--Picture Book Report and Beyond the Page to name a few favorites--collect works of many artists with very different styles putting their own take on classic stories. Here's Chrystal Chan's take on Roald Dahl's Matilda:
The blog Terrible Yellow Eyes exhibits work solely inspired by Sendak's 1963 Caldecott winner Where the Wild Things Are. Here is French artist Aurélie Neyret's take:
Some interpretations are more ... adult ... than others, but all of them demonstrate the influence children's literature has on us from our first interactions with it.
Still more interpretations help us to see favorites in a new way, as does Lucy Knisley's adaptation of a scene from Lois Lowry's 1993 Newbery winner The Giver:

And then there's Faith Erin Hick's adaptation of the first few pages of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. I particularly love the panels where Katniss and Buttercup are eyeballing each other:

Where else would you find...

2011-01-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

On this blog I bandy about various well-known brands that we carry, from Melissa & Doug's classic wooden toys to Hasbro's board games, but do you know some of the funkier things we carry? As a small independent shop, we pride ourselves on stocking toys, books, and the doodads/chotskies/knick-knacks you won't see in the big box stores. Here are some items that I get a particular kick out of us selling.

Oh Jellycat, let me count the ways I love your plush: they flop, they dangle, their bean butts and bright colors beg to be piled on bed comforters and stuffed into backpacks to calm first school day jitters. I readily admit to owning a Jellycat hedgehog and coveting the especially adorable Truffles Mammoth Pillow. For starters, it's a giant (28"!) WOOLLY MAMMOTH. Add in its squishy sprawling limbs, wild shaggy fur, and tusks, and you have yourself (or, err, your loved one) the best cuddle pal around.

Not everyone likes prehistoric plush, and that's OK. We turn now to what many kids and adults do love: Legos! And Lego accessories! Last year Lego's keychain figurine lights were a big hit for stocking stuffers, and this year gives us another promising excitement: a Lego Figurine Head Lamp. Our headlamps from Schylling are ever-popular, I can hardly imagine how quickly these headlamps with a miniature, light-up Lego man strapped to the headband will sell. We just got these in yesterday and I've already thought of four acquaintances of mine who would love these.

Piggy banks have long been a staple of birthday presents and baby showers, and we're pretty excited to expand our repertoire of banks to include porcelain Fire Trucks, Pick Up Trucks, and Birthday Cake banks from Andrea by Sadek. These banks are delicate and richly painted - the heart cupcake bank gives me a serious case of cupcake envy. We also carry Sadek's darling miniature 10 piece tea rose set.

My love for the New York Times Book Review collection continues to grow exponentially. I've recently discovered Three Ladies Beside the Sea, written by Rhoda Levine and illustrated by Edward Gorey. With Gorey's whimsically creepy drawings and such rhymes as "Then, there was Alice of Hazard,/A dangerous life led she:/When not indoors, involved with chores,/Alice was up a tree!", this reissue is a surreal treat.

Another New York Times Book Review reissue is Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater. I've heard many requests for this book in my years here, and I am ecstatic to see it on the shelf...mostly so I can read it myself! I hear from our book buyer (who generally prefers realistic fiction and brooding, epic tales of generations of families) that this is fantastically wacky, despite its tame black and white cover of lizard silhouettes. Maybe such an innocuous cover would draw the Pinkwater radio fan into his children's writing universe?

Second to Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is one of my all time favorite children's classics. Sterling's centenary edition of Peter Pan and Wendy is illustrated by the incredible Australian artist Robert Ingpen. The wide trim size is perfect for reading together and poring over the lush watercolor and pencil drawings.

I also have exciting news for two popular books!

Gareth Hinds's graphic adaptation of Homer's Odyssey is back in stock and in pride of place in our newly relocated graphic novels section above the chapter books.

The latest copies of Moon Over Manifest have the shiny new Newbery Medal affixed to their cover! If you move fast, you can still get one from the pre-Medal shipment, but that gold shine sure does dazzle. Most of our staff is in the middle of reading it and can't stop talking about it - share your opinion next time you're visiting!

Snowy day playtime

2011-01-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, dear friends, cotton ball snowflakes and slushy roads can't keep us from selling you books! We are absolutely open today, even if it's the perfect kind of day for building blanket forts and watching marathons of movies (Harry Potter 1 through 6, anyone?). I've found all sorts of fun news to entertain you, whether you are in that blanket fort or your office...or the blanket fort in your office.

The most exciting tidbit of today: the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival! Word of this contest has spread like...Sweet cupcake frosting on a sweet cake...in kidlit blogland, and I am so extremely excited about it that I might have to 1) enlist my aspiring independent filmmaker friend to make one with me (we're sort of kids, right? At least, I do know kid actors), and 2) brave traveling to the Big City for the actual festival showing. The festival is being orchestrated by James Kennedy, author of The Order of Odd-Fish, in collaboration with the New York Public Library and blog Fuse #8. The rules seem a bit flexible, but the aim is for kids or teens to submit a 90 second film condensing the plot of a Newbery winner or honor book, or possibly a smashup of two books or pop culture references. I definitely would like to see Kennedy's suggestion of a Lego stop motion Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!

My roommates have been gleefully comparing notes on Baz Luhrmann's latest project, an adaptation of Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby: possibly shot in 3 D. The cast I've heard of so far include
Carey Mulligan as Daisy, Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as the narrator, Nick. Did anyone else watch Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet for English class, maybe right after Dead Poets Society? Mr. Hickey, wherever you are, you are an incredible teacher and have great taste in films. I don't see any talk of a release date yet, but you can bet I'll be seeing that in the theaters. Maybe our store's book club will consider rereading it and seeing it together?

That Gatsby article from the UK's Guardian mentions another exciting film on the (possibly 3 dimensional) horizon: Martin Scorcese adapting Brian Selznick's Caldecott winning Invention of Hugo Cabret. Over at /Film: First Look you can see actors Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield in costume as Isabelle and Hugo! Again, there is no set release date, but we'll be watching out for it.

If you have not yet declared your thoughts on the Hunger Games movie casting, there are various websites to make yourself heard. I am most amused by Reelz Channel's Cast-o-Rama, but some of the voter's lists make me feel out of the loop - I don't recognize a single possible Peeta actor. When I did get to be a grown-up? I was also intrigued by an article about director Gary Ross's decision to make the Hunger Games PG-13, rather than R rated. Certainly this would make it more accessible to or easier for younger teens to see it, but how exactly can one avoid the violence without losing the urgency and meaning of the Games? Excessive violence in movies, books, and games already stands the risk of desensitizing viewers to its injustice; predetermining the appropriate level of viewer age/violence sounds to me more like looking for a wider consumer range than an effort to be true to the art. Then again, it's not as if we put "parental advisory" stickers on books for teenagers (yet. But you can ask us what exactly happens in books). We'll just have to see how it pans out in theaters!

Speaking of appropriateness for teenagers, stills from the first part of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn have been released, including a honeymoon bedroom scene! Risque. For a good laugh, watch this clip of MTV interviewing Robert Pattinson at the Golden Globes, in which he says posing for kissing scenes is a bit like "playing Twister." I can't decide if I'm more amused at the actual words Pattinson manages to get out, or his inability to stop giggling about it. (Note: This was my first time on TwilightGuide.com, I swear!). Breaking Dawn part one will be released this November, with the second part scheduled for November 2012.

How can I talk about children's books turned movies without mentioning Harry Potter?! I saw the first installment of the Deathly Hallows for the second time this weekend, and I must say it is even better after another viewing. The cinematography and soundtrack are beautiful, the pacing and mood are remarkably well done, considering that this part of the book is mostly setting up for the final battle at Hogwarts. This time, I managed to refrain from rereading the book to know what happens next, but I am already itching to see the conclusion this July. In the meantime, I will have to settle for entertaining myself with the motorbike escape game...

Staff pick snuggle fest

2011-01-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

Is there anything more daunting than a snow day without a good book to read under the blankets? To prepare yourself for the next blizzard or wintry fluff, try some of our latest staff picks.

Mr Putter and Tabby Catch the Cold by Cynthia Rylant
Bookseller: Teresa
Genre: early reader
Suggested reading level: ages 5 to 7

I love, love, love Mr. Putter and Tabby books, and this one is my all time favorite! When I read this book, I am reminded that the best medicine for a cold is a bowl of soup, a good book, and a caring friend. If you read any of the Mr Putter and Tabby books, you should find me and tell me which ones you like the best.

Spud by John Van de Ruit
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: humor, school story
Suggested reading level: ages 12 and up

South Africa, 1990, is the backdrop for this riotous coming-of-age tale of John "Spud" Milton's first year at boarding school. This takes the "school story" beyond A Separate Peace and Wimpy Kid into hilarious absurdity, with likable, almost normal Spud to guide us safely through (maybe). Look for the sequel, Spud: The Madness Continues...

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: middle grade realism
Suggested reading level: ages 10 up

Joey Pigza has ADD. His meds aren't working and his family isn't providing a stable support system. Following Joey as he spins in and out of control turns out to be a roller coaster ride of a story, sometimes hilarious, often tragic, but always truthful. By the end, you'll be cheering for Joey.

Nobel Genes by Rune Michaels
Bookseller: Natasha
Genre: realistic fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 15 up

A literal search for his origins pushes the unnamed narrator to question whether who we are can be defined by nurture (a scary prospect given his mother's struggle with mental illness) or nature. This scenario may be more hopeful since his biological father was a Nobel winner. Or was he? A minimal narrative that packs a punch and leaves you thinking.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: suspense, psychological thriller
Suggested reading level: ages 14 up

Cheyenne, blind and with pneumonia, is asleep in the back of her stepmom's SUV when it is stolen. Once her accidental kidnappers discover her identity, her chances of escape shrink further. The chapters alternate Cheyenne and kidnapper Griffin's voices, heightening the tension: in an unfamiliar, dark world, who can she trust?

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli
Bookseller: Miruna
Genre: realistic fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

9 year old David follows all the rules (except for his grandmother's) ever since his mother died. He thinks if he does, his mom might come back. Primrose is a rebel. She's 13 years old and lives with her mom. They meet, become friends, and help each other deal with their problems.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath
Bookseller: Natasha
Genre: realistic fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 8 up

I really loved this book for two very important reasons. Number one: food. Even gross food finds its way into this book, but I love reading about food. Second: this book kind of reminds me of a longtime favorite Pippi Longstocking, but it's definitely different and original. This book is as sweet as syrup.

The Super Crazy Cat Dance by Aron Nels Steinke
Bookseller: Teresa
Genre: graphic novel
Suggested reading level: ages 6 to 8

Have you ever met a moon kitty before? Moon kitties are cats that live on the moon! Read this book and you'll meet all kinds of cats. You'll meet blue cats, long cats, cats in boots, cats in suits, and of course, moon kitties. Beginning readers will enjoy this book's bright illustrations and rhyming text.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Bookseller: Michelle
Genre: adventure, fantasy
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

Sophie is a quiet, hardworking girl in her family's hat shop - until the jealous Witch of the Waste turns her into an old woman. With creaky knees, white hair, and the fiesty friendship of a fire demon, Sophie develops some spunk, which she'll certainly need if she wants the mysterious wizard Howl to break her curse. After this, watch Miyazaki's film!

The Surrender Tree by Marganta Engle
Bookseller: Shara
Genre: poetry, history
Suggested reading level: ages 11 up

During the decades of Cuba's struggle for independence, Rosa learns to use wild plants as medicine. Together with her husband Jose, they spend a lifetime working to heal the damages of war and slavery. This collection of poetry manages to humanize an otherwise horrific history.

Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie
Bookseller: Natasha
Genre: mythological fiction
Suggested reading level: ages 12 up

A wild book that fuses fairy tale and folklore from all over the world with video game atmospheres in a way that only Rushdie can. Luka is on a mission to save his storytelling father and is helped along the way by all kinds of magical beings and moves through various strange places. A great one to share among tweens, teens, and parents.

Riddit, riddit

2011-01-15T14:29:00.004-05:00

What an amazing week! A few days after the ALA Youth Media Awards were announced, we had our book club's first meeting. We had teachers, library science and children's literature graduate students, a writer, an illustrator, and some familiar Curious George alum faces - and we hope that you will come by next time, too. There's nothing as exhilarating as a lively book conversation with friends, especially when you go home with an armful of new books.

Our February book is Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels, a lyrical retelling of the Grimm fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red. We will be discounting this book from now until our next meeting, the second Thursday of the month: February 10th.

Sign up for our book club's email list to be apprised of our monthly choices and other bookish conversations: blog@curiousg.com.

Book club for me, book club for you

2011-01-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

This Thursday (tomorrow) kicks off our NEW monthly teen and adult reading group! We'll be in the chapter book room at 5 pm discussing what books we love, what we want to read, and I expect we'll have a few things to say about the Newbery and Printz awards, too!

All ages and reading experiences are welcome, but we will focus on young adult literature. The group will develop its own reading list as we go along. Each month's choice will be discounted.
Bring your friends, your teens, your colleagues, and a love of books!

HOORAY for Amos McGee, more like it!

2011-01-11T17:04:00.006-05:00

I am ecstatic about the ALA Youth Media Awards this year! Not only did the much deserved, but possible dark horse debut Sick Day for Amos McGee win the Caldecott, another debut author, Clare Vanderpool won the Newbery Medal! It's so very satisfying to see new talent get such respect and attention that the ALA award bestow. Certainly, well established authors and artists should be recognized for their skills, but if the award helps a kid connect with a book she might not otherwise have found, I'm all for the wild card new talent.

The Caldecott Medal: Sick Day for Amos McGee, written by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
Caldecott Honors: Dave The Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier; and Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein.

The Newbery Medal: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Newbery Honors: Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm; Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus; Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen; and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

The Printz Medal: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Printz Honors: Stolen by Lucy Christopher; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King; Revolver by Marcus Sedgick; and Nothing by Janne Teller.

For a complete list of the awards, the ALA website has a press release.

Congratulations to all the winners and honorees!

The Best of 2010: Picture books

2011-01-06T15:59:00.011-05:00

We meet again for another round of 2010's best books, this time for picture books. We stock so many they wrap around half of the store's walls, so I've been pulling my hair a bit trying to narrow down my list! This list by no means touches on all the many beautiful, humorous, daring books that came out this year, but they are some of the staff's favorites.

I've recently blogged about these first three serious sellers, and I wouldn't be surprised if any of these were to sport a Caldecott Medal or Honor by February.

Oliver Jeffers wows us again with the return of two friends in Up and Down. Chubby penguins, friendship tales, and gentle humor will never go out of style! Follow this link to my previous review.

David Wiesner never ceases to amaze adults and children alike with his lush paintings and intricate, imaginative scenes to pour over. The two lizard pals of Art & Max remind us just enough of overeager children to keep this story grounded as it veers in the fantastic and postmodern. I also reviewed this bo ok last month.

You knew I was going to say it! My absolute lo-o-ove of the year is Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead. I've mentioned this book many times here, so if you haven't had the chance to befriend kindly Amos and his zoo animals, come over quickly! I've read this at least two hundred times this year, and I still giggle at the rhino and elephant taking the city bus. At my book club's Mock Caldecott meeting, this won by a veritable landslide. I hope that the folks on the committee also acknowledge how incredibly well done this book is!

Another title lauded by my book club was Here Comes the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter and Red Nose Studio. While Sick Day for Amos McGee's appeal is partly nostalgia for the expressive animals of Garth Williams and Gyo Fujikawa, Garbage Barge has a wholly modern style. The inside of the dust jacket details the many steps of creating the artwork, from sketching and molding the clay characters to designing and photographing each page's scene. Since the sets were made from recycled goods, wire, or plain junk, it is an appropriate style for this account of a Long Island town's excess garbage (over 3,000 tons!) that was shipped and shunted around America's harbors.

Elisha Cooper had two gorgeous books out this year, Farm and Beaver Is Lost. I am particularly partial to Beaver is Lost because it's cityscape reminds me of Boston (even though I was told it is Chicago). The plot is a simple: a beaver on a river log gets taken to the city on a lumber truck and must find his way home, but it is the minimalist text - only the first and last page has words - lush watercolors and exceptional use of panels that propel each page turn. I love both abstract and realistic wordless picture books because they invite the child to participate in the story-telling, beyond any dreary "Sound it out" advice, they as just as capable, if not more imaginative, than adults in explaining what they see there.

Chris Haughton's Little Owl Lost puts a twist on the familiar "Are you my mother?" story, with a pink squirrel helping an owl who has fallen from his nest locate his mother. Young readers will like the exuberant thick colors, repetition, and humor (the owl describes his Mommy as "VERY BIG," in comparison to himself, leading the squirrel to conclude that a giant teal bear is his mother). There is enough excitement to warrant a satisfying reunion, with a sly hint that the owl may topple from the nest again...

One of our story time readers was very fond of reading Cats' Night Out by Caroline Stutson this spring. What child (or George staffer) doesn't dream of what animals do while we are asleep? The dancing cats here are an entertaining blend of realistic aloofness and cartoon cuteness, showcasing various fashions and types of dance in each spread. Young readers will revel in the fresh rhymes: "Ten cats line-dance, keep the beat/ in rhinestone boots on Easy Street", while older readers can follow the counting by pairs and find the numeral on each page.

Peter Brown has established himself as a producer of solid, entertainingly quirky picture books with Chowder, Fight of the Dodo, and The Curious Garden. This year shoppers of every age get a certain smirk, if not a full guffaw, from his latest, Children Make Terrible Pets. With a title as engaging as that, any reader is prepared to jump into this humorous tale of a girl bear who finds a wild squeaking child and wants to keep him as a pet. The reversal of a familiar story is carried well by cartoon speech bubbles, framed spreads, and surprisingly expressive bear faces.

We certainly love us some Marla Frazee - from as far back as Mrs Biddlebox (written by Linda Smith) through her well deserved Caldecott Honor for All the World (written by Liz Scanlon), and of course Clementine's chapter illustrations, Frazee captures children in such a way that amuse adults and respect kids. I wouldn't necessarily give The Boss Baby a Caldecott this year, but I do love to sell it to expecting mothers, soon-to-be big siblings, or anyone who appreciates tongue-in-cheek humor. Every illustration shines with loving detail, her signature fresh colors, and a good visual joke. My favorite page to show is the list of "perks" the boss of the family enjoys, especially the flight in the "private jet" (doorway bouncer) with his onesie suit's tie snapped up against his face.

My last pick of the year is not precisely a picture book, but its unique format is exactly I love it so. Bink & Gollie written Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, has the vocabulary and miniature chapters of a transitional chapter book, with the illustration pairing of an early reader/graphic novel medley. You could read this aloud to a young child or a beginning reader could read it to you, and both parties would be satisfied - a boon for any readers bored of the standard "fat cat, mouse in the house" rhymes or plodding plots. Lanky, intellectual Gollie and short, spirited Bink are a fresh take on the odd couple friendship.

I feel I've barely brushed the surface of picture books, but I couldn't possibly fit everything we love on here. If you are curious what my book club picked, our medal went to Sick Day for Amos McGee, with honors to Here Comes the Garbage Barge and Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Rick Allen (an incredible pairing of poetry, art, and non-fiction), and strong affection for Little Rabbit and the Meanest Mother on Earth by Kate Klise (epitomizing the ideal story collaboration of pictures and words). We'll see on Monday what ALA chooses as the most distinguished of the year! (Here's hoping for Amos McGee...)

Newbery 2011 Hopefuls

2011-01-02T15:07:00.000-05:00

Be sure to stop by your favorite monkey's hangout and pick up a copy of any of these books which are sure to be valuable award winners by the end of January! These titles are favorites from this year across the staff here at Curious George. Many of the following have already received critical attention and accolades, and I think therefore are all serious contenders for the 2011 Newbery Award doled out by the American Library Association in just a few short weeks...

My award this year would definitely go to ... Keeper. A lilting, lyrical book with a story that unfolds slowly until you're completely engrossed. Kathi Appelt already has a Newbery Honor under her belt for The Underneath as well as a National Book Award. Appelt has a clear and distinct love of beautiful words and layered characters. The book follows 10-year-old Keeper whose mermaid mother swam out of her life at age 3. The novel begins with Keeper's decision to find her mother at a blue-moon mermaid gathering. Below its fairy tale-esque surface the book deftly layers powerful topics. This book feels, smells and reads like a classic.

And, because I'm too indecisive to be on the actual judging committee, here are my four picks for Honors!

First, there's The Dreamer, written by Pam Munoz Ryan & illustrated by Peter Sis. The whole packaging of this book is enough to draw a reader in. The beautiful prose that unfolds the story of poet Pablo Neruda's childhood--in which he comes of age as an artist despite his father's demands for a more "practical" calling--make it a book that will resonate with readers for generations.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is an engrossing, light-hearted graphic novel depicting the author's pre-adolescence dominated by dental drama at every turn. The San Francisco setting and early 90s cultural references give it a unique feel, but the highly idiosyncratic experiences of Raina will find resonance with a lot of readers. I LOVED it! Its reception of a Boston-Globe Horn Book Award just underscores how engaging and noteworthy this book is!

Oh, how I loved Grounded by Kate Klise. A book that isn't afraid to treat heavy subjects, yet intersperses the growth of its protagonist with well-paced humor, this book feels like one that could stand the test of time. I wrote a staff pick very quickly after receiving this one in the store: "A book that alternates dark humor and tenderness and is beautifully written and incredibly smart. Daralynn loses brother, sister and father in an instant. When her mother takes a new job at a funeral home, Daralynn has to learn how to cope with a new life and an entirely new surrounding."

The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge is a beautifully-written, well-sourced and inspiring biography of an American woman author with a rather interesting life. Edith Wharton cast off the charmed life of privilege in America she was born into, for a life that was rather Bohemian in Paris. She supported herself through her writing and lived her own way. This was a delight to read and serves as an amazing reference as well. The photographic illustrations throughout offer a glimpse into a distant time, and a woman who was well ahead of hers.

NBA Winner & Honor that I think might have a shot:

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia received a honor nod from the National Book Award committee, thereby offering this excellent book some well-deserved attention. One Crazy Summer pits a realistic story in the midst of some potent historical forces. 11-year-old Delphine was abandoned by her mother, but grew up just fine despite the circumstances. In the beginning of the eponymous crazy summer of 1968, Delphone moves into her mother's Oakland apartment, which also serves as a meeting place for the Black Panthers.

Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine took the NBA for Young People's literature this year. I read the advance copy long before it came out and was struck by the rich characterization and clean, understated prose. It follows a 12 year old with Aspberger's as she navigates a new phase in her life without her older brother, who until his untimely death was her closest confidante. It is well-deserving of the National Book Award and I believe a strong contender for a Newbery.

Other buzzworthy books:

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

George staffer Morgan read and loved this book. Her staff pick says: "A gorgeously written story about a New Orleans girl with a special power, fighting to survive Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Readers who live for interesting characters will love the relationship between Lanesha and her Mama Ya-Ya, and fantasy fans will love the hint of magic behind the gritty story."

Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez was another book I staff-picked earlier this year: "This book took me a while to get immersed in, but I’m glad I worked through it. I’d recommend it for really strong readers, or even adult fans of young adult literature. It’s a beautiful, literary book about a young girl trying to escape Fidel Castro’s regime as it takes power in 1960s Cuba. A powerful read!"

Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole is a sweet fairy tale of a book that evokes Hugo Cabret and Kate Dicamillo with its simple pencil drawings and understated tone. Celeste is a mouse living in the floor boards of a Louisiana plantation weaving beautiful baskets. When John James Audubon moves into the house to study local birds, Celeste is intrigued by his artist assistant. Celeste flits around helping the assistant with his painting and nursing the injured birds that Audubon brings back to the home.

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth follows 11-year-old Gopal and his family in contemporary India. The family's onion farm is held under the tutelage of a merciless moneylender. When the hope of a better paying job in a factory in Mumbai crops up, the family sells everything and moves. From there the trials only get harder. Gopal loses his father, and the factory turns out to be a cramped sweatshop where Gopal and other children his age work many hours for little pay. The characterization is subtle, the story engrossing and it's a book that will stick with the reader.

Sir Charlie Chaplin by Sid Fleischman is a book that I observed customers of all ages and backgrounds picking up and perusing. It melds a lot of universal themes with great visuals and a great story about one of America's enduring cultural icons.

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord is a book that fellow George-ian Michelle is pulling for. Her recent staff pick reads: "To keep their school open, families on a Maine island take in foster kids, some with more complicated lives than expected. Tess has visions of going lobstering, playing Monoply, and climbing trees with her new brother, but it may take more than a few lucky charms and a sea breeze to make him feel at home. For fans of When You Reach Me."

Any of your favorites that you think I forgot? Let me know in the comments!

The Best of 2010: Chapter books and YA

2011-01-01T15:30:00.004-05:00

The "Best Of.." wrap up: it's a staple of late December, whether it be radio countdowns, newspaper bestseller lists, or in our modern age, the blogosphere's top picks. I doubt I could ever come close to the humor and scope of Fuse #8's Golden Fuse Awards, but I will bend the rules a bit to list a few of our favorite books or authors we've discovered this year - no matter their published date. I'm sure frequent shoppers and blog readers have noticed trends in my staff picks or blog posts ("You love Robin McKinley and Terry Pratchett? I didn't quite hear that the first 20 mentions..."), so I will try to stretch beyond what you usually hear from me. (Sick Day for Amos McGee! Sick Day for Amos McGee! OK, it's out of my system for the day...but parentheses are not).

A few days ago I rediscovered Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan on my shelf and gleefully flipped through for some of my favorite scenes. These two authors have excellent solo novels as well as other co-author conspirings, but this joint effort combines and transcends the strengths and humors of both. The characters are well-developed, imperfectly lovable and have some of the funniest, sharpest repartee in contemporary fiction. I have a weakness for books with alternating voices, and that narrating tool is an impressive and sturdy vessel for the meeting of these two Will Graysons. Their worlds will collide, realign, and neither of them, or you, will be the same afterward. (Especially if you're like my roommate, who fell off the couch laughing at it). (ages 15 & up).

My latest contemporary fiction choice is one I mentioned in my holiday gift guide, but it is too good to be left off this list! Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins has a bit of everything for various readers: the fierce ache of first love where the slightest touch sets off sparks; a developed, likable girl character who makes mistakes and comes into her own, and is now on my list of all-time favorite girl characters (which includes DJ Schwenk of Dairy Queen and Cimorene of Dealing with Dragons); and such effortless prose and love of Paris that fills me with a desire to pack my suitcase and throw myself headlong into an European adventure. My bottom line selling point is that Anna discovers Paris, and thus comes out of her shell, through touring the city's tiny cinemas on her mission to become a respected female film critic. (ages 14 & up).

Ah, dystopia. I have not neglected you! This year my loyalties are divided between Catherine Fisher's Incarceron and Ally Condie's Matched. Since I reviewed Matched in a holiday gift guide last month, I will focus on Incarceron here. This steampunk style British import alternates between two narrators (I know! I have a weakness): Finn, an epileptic prisoner of the vast, cognizant eponymous prison, and Claudia, the privileged but thoughtful daughter of Incarceron's warden. This is what all great fantasy adventures should be: a suspenseful blend of chase scenes, mysterious keys, lost memories and a just-complex-enough dissection of crime and punishment, class hierarchy, and social philosophy. The sequel Sapphique, named after the only man to have ever escaped the prison, has just hit shelves. (ages 12 & up).

Our book buyer Donna and I stand by the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. There are few books that can delve into an array of friendship troubles, body issues, boy drama, et cetera, through middle to high school, with the humor, tact, and respect for the reader as these. This year, along with the 21st installment Intensely Alice, Simon & Schuster has reprinted collections of Alice's freshman and sophomore years, I Like Him, He Likes Her and Not Like I Planned It This Way. The new covers and Twilight/Harry Potter-size heft will attract new readers as well as bring back familiar friends. Alice and her pals Elizabeth and Pamela remind me of why I like Steve Kluger's My Most Excellent Year so much: these interesting, "improbably wonderful" (thank you for the quote, former staffer Bethany!) individuals are the kind of people I would love to count as friends. (ages 12 & up).

When I was in middle school, I could not read enough historical fiction and adventure. I read bucket loads of Ann Rinaldi (Just saying the name of An Acquaintance with Darkness still gives me shivers) and I pined to be on board the Seahawk, too, in The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. I know I would have loved Diane Lee Wilson's I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade, then, too. Oyuna is overprotected and warned about bringing bad luck on her nomadic village ever since her foot was crushed by a horse. When Kublai Khan's soldiers commandeer her beautiful white horse, Oyuna disguises herself as a boy to stay with her. Alone in 14th century Mongolia, Oyuna must find her own path and her own luck. This adventure tale will appeal to fans of courageous heroines, horse stories, and underdog victories, all while breaking out of more familiar American-European historical fiction settings. (ages 9 & up).

New Years Hours

2010-12-31T15:20:00.003-05:00

This New Year's Eve we will be closing at 5 pm. We'll be open New Years Day from 12 to 6 pm.

We wish everyone a happy and safe start to the new year!

Looking for a reading group?

2010-12-29T13:23:00.006-05:00

Curious George is starting a new monthly book club for adults and teens. The first meeting, at 5pm on January 13th, will be a discussion of books we love and books we would love to read. The group as a whole will decide what we read for the following months. All ages and reading experiences are welcome, but we will focus primarily on young adult literature. Curious George will discount each month's reading choice, which will also be available on our store's website.

Call us at 617-498-0062, e-mail blog@curiousg.com, or comment on the blog to sign up or get more information.

We are OPEN!

2010-12-27T13:49:00.005-05:00

Come on in today to curl up with a book or stuffed animal!
We are open until 7:00 PM.

Holiday gift guide: perennial picks

2010-12-07T12:10:00.003-05:00

Welcome to my second round of holiday shopping help! This time, I'll be showcasing some of our year-round surest bets and hottest sellers.

Toys

One of my favorite games to give is Bananagrams - all my friends and family have this! It plays like an individual Scrabble, where each person makes her own board of intersecting words (like a crossword). The tricky part is once a person uses all his letters and shouts "PEEL!", everyone has to pick up another letter, which sometimes leads to reconfiguring your entire word board. I'd recommend this fast-paced game for ages 7 +, since spelling could be frustrating for younger children.

What small child doesn't go through a car phase? Sure, there's die cast cars, sturdy plastic construction trucks, and so on, but our absolute favorite vehicle gift is Automoblox. You can pull apart and rebuild these wooden cars and even interchange the pieces with other cars of the same size. My nephews have a bunch and they like to build one long giant vehicle! The styles range from old fashioned trucks to sports utility vehicles and race cars . I'd recommend these toys for ages 4 + for the small parts.

This year we started carrying a new line from Early Learning Co., the Happyland brand. Similar to Playmobil, these town and doll sets are brightly colored, safe for toddlers, and come with smiling, multi-cultural little people. The most popular sets are the Flower Fairy House and Lift-Off Space Rocket, or the smaller sets of figurines, like Happy Family and Sunflower School Children. (Our book buyer has a set of the fairies in her office, but don't tell her I told!).

Legos are, of course, a perennial favorite of any kid between 4 and 40 (I'm looking at my brother-in-law here), and Dorling Kindersley's Lego Brickmaster sets are fun, versatile, and more easily transported than some of the bigger tubs of Legos (though we do sell a lot of those, too!). The sets are themed, with choices of Castle, Atlantis, and the ever popular Star Wars. I'd recommend these toys for about 6 +, depending on the set.

One of my favorite toys to recommend (and play with...) in the baby room is Melissa & Doug's Monster Bowling. Each bowling pin and ball is a different, friendly plush monster - perfect for playing with individually, or when toddling begins, actual bowling. This is a great gift for babies or toddlers with young siblings to play together.

Books

The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds is a graphic novel retelling of Homer's epic poem. Staffer Shara recommends this title for ages 12 +: "Follow Odysseus through this graphic novel epic as he crosses oceans, traverses foreign lands (both realistic and fantastic), and confronts mythical creatures, gods, and men, in an attempt to return to his wife, Penelope. Hinds's genius use of color sets the mood perfectly for this grittily realistic adaptation."

Macmillan's Square Fish imprint is in the process of reprinting Tove Jansson's classic Moomin chapter books with vibrant fresh covers. Staffer Natasha recommends Finn Family Moomintroll for ages 7 +: "The Moomins are a family of sweet Finnish trolls that like sunshine, pancakes, raspberry juice and adventures on the ocean seas. These books are weird (in the best way), funny and might remind you on Winnie-the-Pooh. Start with the 2nd book in the series, it's the best!"

On NPR recently, author Gayle Forman picked Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins as one of her favorite YA picks of the year, and I whole-heartedly agree! This coming-of-age romance is perfect for Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti fans ages 13 +: For her senior year, Anna's successful writer father sends her to boarding school in Paris. Without knowing anyone or any French beyond "Oui!", Anna struggles to fit in, until she befriends artsy Mer, "The Couple" Josh & Rashmi, and handsome (but taken!) Brit Etienne St. Clair. This novel shines with wit, the pains and sparks of first love, and the beauty of Paris.

One of our favorite picture books of 2010 is from multiple Caldecott winning author and artist David Wiesner. This year's Art & Max is every bit as imaginative, humorous, and gorgeously painted as his previous books (remember the flying frogs of Tuesday, the cloud factory of Sector 7, or the mollusk castles of Flotsam?). Max wants to learn to be an artist like his fellow lizard pal, Art (who insists he is Arthur), but makes a glorious mess of things and must clean off and redraw Art. Mere words can't describe Wiesner's use of panels and references to paint greats like Jackson Pollock - like all art, you must see it for yourself.

These are toys and books we typically carry throughout the year, but as always, it's a very busy season and we can only guarantee stock while supplies last.

A Georgian gift guide

2010-12-02T12:01:00.033-05:00

With the Festival of Lights beginning last night and Christmas advents being cracked, I can't believe it's already time to start crossing things off those wish lists. I've barely finished compiling my shopping lists! (Thankfully, my family doesn't follow this blog, so they can't see when I tell the world what I'm getting them...or that I still don't know what I'm getting them! Sisters are hard. That's all I'm saying.) Here, I've put together a few of the many gift ideas we've been recommending like hot cakes.

Toys

Staff and customers alike get a kick out of Fred's food and pop culture blending toys. The ever popular Food Face Plate has returned - making mealtime with picky eaters playful and enjoyable for kids and parents. The plate has a friendly face that you can embellish, perhaps with mashed potato hair or a green bean mustache. You can order the plate from our website. Fred also gives us new cupcake molds: Tea Cup Cakes (oh the cleverness of you!) for princess parties, or swivel-headed Yum Bots for space age sweets. The Fred folks are pun-y after my own heart: the "gearshaft green" bot on the packaging says "take me to your eater!". Try these for anyone from your teen chef to your sweet-toothed middle schooler.

Australian company Make & Do have crafts after a true Cantabrigian heart: the Car and Dollhouse building kits provide the basic necessary tools and building plans, but encourage the builder to find reusable items around the house to complete the projects. I'd recommend this toy for crafty kids 5 and up.

Crafters will also love a new kit from Brain Noodles: Noodle Roonies! Brain Noodles have been extremely popular sold singularly or in boxed sets of 15 noodles, but now they make small themed kits, from Ocean Life to Creepy Crawlies. Each package includes brain noodles of course, with pom poms, googly eyes, foam pieces, and thinner chenille noodles.

It's rumored that our book buyer Donna begged her sister, the toy buyer, to get these Twirling Batons from Schylling, because of her own love of batons. (She already has a set of weighted ones at home, or I bet she'd be tossing these left and right). Like jump rope, frisbees, and mancala, some toys never go out of style. These batons - with twirling tips included - are great for the athletic or girly elementary to middle school aged kids on your list.

For the aspiring musician or noise maker of the house, we have a variety of instruments, especially guitars. My favorite is the Woodstock Ukulele, which comes with a pick and song book. Of course, I do have family that lived in Hawaii, hence my partiality, but if you prefer the western twang, there's also the Cowboy Guitar from Schylling - pair it with a sheriff or cowboy hat and you're set for the best saloon act in town!

We are stuffed to the gills with Legos, K'Nex, and Lincoln Logs, but my favorite block set for the wee toddler set is from Megablocks - the Play & Go Table can easily be folded up, carted about, and reassembled for architectural amusement anywhere. It includes base landscape pieces, various sized and colored blocks, figurines and cars. It's a whole block world, in your playroom.

Speaking of stuffed, we have a new addition to our giant plush collection! We have an incredible assortment from Melissa & Doug to which we now add the Kodiak Bear from Manhattan Toy. He's even bigger than M & D's giant bear, with realistic looking, snuggly fur and a snout I can't help but mimic when I look at him. This bear is featured on our store's website, at a very competitive price.

We've gotten many requests for rolling suitcases, and we're now proud to offer Melissa & Doug Trunki rolling trunks. These sturdy cases can be carried over the shoulder or pulled or ridden on. Leave it to Melissa & Doug to design a suitcase that is specifically engineered to handle what kids will want to do with their luggage. There are four vibrant animal designs, ranging from ladybug dots to tiger stripes (while supplies last, of course).

The chapter book room hosts myriad board games from classics like backgammon and parcheesi to Scrabble and Cranium, and of course, multiple chess sets. The newest and most creative I've seen is Wild Chess from Hansen. Instead of the typical conceptual castle-pawn-rook pieces, these are resin casted, hand painted cats versus dogs. The dog's rook, suitably, is a bull dog, while the cat's queen is a Havan brown.

Stumped on stocking stuffers? Try out DCI's Ear Buds: these headphones come in funky styles you don't see in just anybody's ears: Babushkas (or Russian nesting dolls, take your pick), skulls, and strawberries. A bonus consideration: each package comes with two sizes in silicone tips, to fit either an adult or a child - or if you're sharing music in the car, both!

Books

NPR and the New York Times have each had some amazing lists of recent picture books and teen novels, so I will try not to overlap too much with their suggestions. (Except for Sick Day for Amos McGee, I cannot give that book enough attention!). Please check out their lists, we stock all of their recommendations (barring any publisher-out-of-stock issues).

One of the most frequently asked questions for picture books is "What do I get a girly girl who has every princess book there is?" When a 4-6 year old has every Fancy Nancy, Flower Fairies, and Rainbow Magic book there is, I defer to Princesses of the World, by Kateli Goyer, illustrated by Misstigri. These fourteen fairy tales tell of bravery, compassion, and, of course, true love, with fold outs of lush illustrations - and heavenly princess costumes.

The Secret Message by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated by Bruce Whatley, will surely please animal lovers, especially those who loved the zoo break-out in Good Night, Gorilla. This story is based on a poem by Rumi: a Persian merchant's singing parrot attracts such attention to his goods that he must travel to India to restock his supplies. He asks his friends, family, and the parrot what they would like from India, and brings back cartloads of beautiful silks, jewels, and spices. The only one he can't please is the parrot - the birds there behaved very strangely when the merchant passed along the parrot's message, that the man doesn't want to tell his bird what happened. This story's moral is successfully warm without being overbearing.

I was so excited to see that Oliver Jeffers has a second book out this year: this month, a sequel to Lost and Found. The boy and penguin friends return in Up and Down, this time to teach penguin how to fly. Their friendship is sweet without syrup (they play backgammon, of all board games), and the understated humor in both the writing and pictures is fresh upon multiple rereads (believe me, I'm on my fifth read already). I can't decide on my favorite illustration: is it the want ad poster saying "Ever dream of flying? Are you short and fat?" or the last page, "The two friends made a break for home," with the boy on stilts and the penguin pedaling a tricycle. You can order this book on our website.

I have a soft spot for wordless picture books: from Pancakes by Tomi DePaola, The Red Book by Barbara Lehman, or anything by David Wiesner, it's a talented artist who can tell a story with no words. South Korean Suzy Lee is no exception. With her latest picture book, Shadow, she takes a simple vision of a girl making shadows to a new height of imagination and discovery, with only three colors: black, white, and yellow. The New York Times named this book one of their Best Illustrated of the year.

Switching gears to baby books, it's always exciting to see new board book series. Jorge Uzon's Hello Baby series expand the baby photo niche beyond the Mrs. Mustards, Chronicle's Global Babies, American Babies, and the Starbright Where's the Baby flap books. Uzon's Not A Baby Anymore, Go Baby Go, and Look Around, Baby show expressive babies having their typical baby adventures, with witty captions.

My top realistic fiction YA pick of the season is Conrad Wesselhoeft's debut novel, Adios Nirvana. Don't be deterred by the flaming guitar cover: this is not your average angsty teen story. Jonathan is a poet (I love the Walt Whitman quotations!), skater, guitarist, and one half of a twin. Ever since he lost his brother, Telly, last year, Jonathan has been floating through life with his Thicks and frozen vodka grapes. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, you will cheer for and shout at Jonathan as he slowly wakes to the world again with the help of a medley of strangers, including Eddie Vedder and the most beautiful guitar in the world.

Dystopian literature, as you may have heard, is all the rage this season. Matched by Ally Condie may have a more romantic pretense, and much less graphic violence, than The Hunger Games, but it can go head to head with that dystopian heavyweight in terms of suspenseful pacing and socio-political discussions. Cassia's world is made safe and productive by the Society: husbands and wives are matched for healthy offspring and jobs are chosen for workers by efficiency and intelligence levels. When Cassia's Match turns out to be her handsome best friend, Xander, she's ecstatic - until a computer glitch shows her another man's face, and opens her mind and heart to other possibilities. Not only fans of The Hunger Games, The Uglies, etc, will like this novel - the building romantic tension and pressure of choosing who to love - will appeal to Twilight fans as well.

This year was very good for middle grade - I liked a surprising number of stand-alone novels. Cynthia Lord's Touch Blue is one of my favorites, with such a loving description of island life in Maine you can practically smell the salt air and hear the clatter of lobster traps falling on boat decks. Tess's small island will lose its school - and thus her mother's job - if their child population doesn't increase, so families take in foster children, which turns out to not be as simple as playing Monoply together. Tess is a wonderfully fresh character, with a mix of confidence, humor, and vulnerability, and a pocketful of lucky charms.

As the holidays progress, we'll share more of our favorites with you, but as always, things sell fast! Toys and books are only guaranteed as supplies last.

Kid at Heart: Origami

2010-12-01T13:05:00.002-05:00

A customer came in recently and picked up a couple packs of our gorgeous origami paper from Aitoh. He told me he was working on a project, working with a handful of other people to make 1,000 paper cranes for the children's wing of a local hospital. A gift of 1,000 paper cranes, it turns out, is supposed to bring luck, and some say brings with it the potential for a wish...whether for long life, happiness, or good health.

Perhaps for a single person, 1,000 paper cranes is a lofty project. But it struck me what a fun, creative and beautiful craft origami could be for the holiday season. Imagine hanging brightly colored cranes, frogs and stars from your Christmas tree, or stringing a couple dozen paper creations together to form a colorful garland. You could even get together with some friends for a cozy night of hot cocoa, snacks, and origami, and celebrate the holiday season with good company and hands on craftiness (and maybe even a few shared holiday wishes).

Aitoh's beautiful origami paper is located downstairs in the chapter book room, and comes in a variety of colors and patterns, including metallic and color mesh designs.

Two Louises, a congested zookeeper, and a parade of pigs walk into a bookstore...

2010-11-23T16:20:00.018-05:00

I've been catching up on my blog reading this week (the infinitesimal downside to the holiday rush beginning is how behind I get on my book news!), and I saw that the winners of the Roald Dahl Funny Book Prize, were announced! Louise Yates's picture book Dog Loves Books took the cake for the six and under crowd, while Louise Rennison's first of a new (!) series Withering Tights won for the seven to fourteen category. I am so pleased! I love both of these authors, and they certainly do know how to tickle the funny bone (and occasionally make you chuckle maniacally to yourself on the bus. Oh. Georgia Nicholson, how I wish you were real and had been my friend in middle school.) The only sadness is that Withering Tights won't be released in the US until June of next year. Cruel Britons, I say, calling our attention to books we can't even read yet.

However, we can read some author interviews from the UK website Booktrust, and we'll just have to get by on that.

In other news items, the New York Times featured one of my all time favorite books of the year: Philip Stead's Sick Day for Amos McGee! Reading Dogs and Untrained Boys is an article about a difficult-to-quantify aspect of children's books: humor. Not only is Sick Day absolutely gorgeous and my dark horse, long shot, sleeper choice for the Caldecott, NYT is right: it's funny. It's funny in the way kids books do best, by taking something we grown-ups think is preposterous, absurd, or downright silly, (like a zookeeper's animal friends taking care of him), as serious, as possible. I wish more books for "adults" could entertain "preposterous" possibilities and not necessarily be space age science fiction. Then again, that's one of the reasons I read children's books - because adult books aren't enough for me. The article also reviewed Tad Hill's How Rocket Learned to Read (the author/illustrator of Duck & Goose board books), Peter Brown's Children Make Terrible Pets, and Michael Ian Black's A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea. This last title is unfortunately out of stock at the publisher currently, but we hope it will be back on the shelf very soon.

Event Wrap up: The Last Train

2010-11-22T16:17:00.006-05:00

It was a busy weekend for Harvard Square: the square's centennial celebrations, the Harvard vs Yale game, and for our part of Folk Music Month, Gordon Titcomb and Wendell Minor signed copies of their new picture book, The Last Train.

Both author and illustrator talked about their creative process: Minor about his intense research into the train engineer, conductor, and fireman's life, as well as his hunt for train memorabilia; Titcomb told us how their book editor wanted him to add more verses to his song to meet a picture book's 32 page length. Fans of Titcomb's music were also pleased to hear the original song, especially when a friend with a mandolin (I wish I had caught his name!) joined the group. It was a great experience for kids and adults alike - maybe even more so for the adult music fans! We even had a few celebrities drop by! Anita Silvey, whose latest book, Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot, was illustrated by Minor, signed a few of her books and posed for photographs with Minor, Titcomb and fans. I also caught up with the fabulously well informed and friendly Nan Sorenson, the fabulous assistant executive director of New England Independent Booksellers Association. All in all, it was a very fun, celebrity-packed, musical day here at Curious George!

During the holiday season we are halting author events and story time, but we will resume store events in January.

Medals, wands, and ...holiday store hours!

2010-11-18T16:43:00.007-05:00

Let's start with the most important news: Part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released TOMORROW. Eeee! My roommate is a brave and lucky soul and is going to the premiere tonight. I hope to see some photos of any Bellatrix Lestrange or Tonks characters. If you haven't finished the book, swing by to pick up a paperback (759 pages for $14.99!) or the new Harry Potter Pop-up, based on the films dramatic scenes. I love the one with the Hungarian Horntail - that dragon is fearsome! (Say it with me now, Accio Firebolt!)

In more serious but still very exciting book news, the National Book Award Winners were announced. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine took the young adult category, with the finalists including: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, Dark Water by Laura McNeal, Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers, and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

Lastly, it's almost time for our extended holiday hours - there will more hours in a day you can come in, shop around, and talk to your favorite booksellers! We will be closed Thanksgiving Day, and beginning on the 26th, the Friday after Thanksgiving, we'll be open Thursday through Saturday 10am to 8pm, with Sunday through Wednesday continuing at 10am to 7 pm. We hope to see you in soon!

Best of...the Thanksgiving books

2010-11-16T12:01:00.003-05:00

When it comes to holiday gatherings, it can be hard to choose the perfect holiday book to bring along - do you want to explain the origin of Thanksgiving, rejoice in the season change, or have a few chuckles with a frantic turkey? Here are a few of my favorites, from the serious to the silly.

For the younger readers, ages 2 to 5, my favorite is One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy, illustrated by Lynne Cravath. The simple tale follows the familiar children's rhyme of "ten little Indians,"depicting both Wampanoag and Pilgrim children working hard throughout the year and celebrating their fruitful harvest.

For preschoolers with a sense of humor, I like Run, Turkey, Run by Diane Mayr, illustrated by Laura Rader. This quirky picture book encourages participation: "If Turkey swims in the water,/will the farmer think he's a duck?" kids can chorus, "NO! RUN, TURKEY, RUN!" I also like this book's vegetarian perspective, with the turkey eventually escaping his fate as dinner: "Turkey gives thanks!"

Scholastic is a school standby, and their non-fiction series "Day in the life..." are surefire hits for elementary level kids. Try either Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters, or for a girl's perspective, Sarah Morton's Day, or the Wampanoag side, Tapenum's Day. Each book is full of detailed photographs of pilgrim/Wampanoag clothing, daily activities like sewing, hunting, or gathering mussels, and is written in the dialect of that era, with a glossary at the back.

Waiting for Winter by German author/illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser is one of the more gorgeous books about the changing of the seasons. Squirrel has heard of this mysterious winter phenomenon called "snow," and tries to stay awake through the cold season to see it. His friends hedgehog and bear are also intrigued, and they find various objects they take to be snow (a sock? tin cans?), until the first magical snow storm sets them straight. Meschenmoser blends humor and beauty here to make a perfectly sweet snow story.

Considering that my favorite part of this time of year is how often my folks visit, one of my favorite fall books is Applesauce Season, by Eden Ross Lipson with illustrations from prolific Mordicai Gerstein. This book always makes me crave boisterous family parties and pie. As the apple season progresses, this family makes a variety of applesauces, apple crepes, and in memory of Grandpa's birthday, apple pie with ice cream. Mmmm.

In the chapter book room, Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky reigns supreme with humorous Thanksgiving poems in the early reader It's Thanksgiving! My favorite poem might be "I Ate Too Much" (a common problem at our dessert loving house), with the lines: "I ate too much pudding and pie, I'm stuffed up with muffins/and much too much stuffin',/ I'm probably going to die."

Pardon That Turkey by Susan Sloate is a non-fiction early reader that explains how Sarah Hale petitioned for years to make Thanksgiving a holiday, as well as the legend of Lincoln's presidential pardon of a turkey. I always find it impressive when beginning reader non-fiction can convey enough facts within the set vocabulary, and this title from the All Aboard Reading series is certainly successful there.

Kid at Heart: Sock Monkey

2010-11-12T12:27:00.004-05:00

Right about the time we moved into our most recent apartment, my husband and I put all of our stuffed animals into a box in our upstairs closet. Not out of some misplaced sense of what it means to be a grown-up, and not because we thought we were too old. We just had soooo many of them--teddy bears, dogs in Santa hats, Matt's extensive penguin collection. They took up a lot of space in our tiny apartment, and so into the closet they went, waiting to be doled out to our nieces over a series of visits.

That being said, I would make space in my life for one of these classic sock monkeys from Schylling. They're slightly larger than the ones I've seen before, and something about their size and that squishy rag-sock aesthetic just begs to be snuggled. I'm also a sucker for the 'do. There's something adorably punk about the mess of red yarn hair hanging out on top of this plush primate's head, and I think any grown up with a sense of humor and a longing for the good old days of snuggling up with your favorite stuffed animal will get a kick out of this funky monkey.

The Last Train Signing w/Gordon Titcomb and Wendell Minor!

2010-11-11T12:29:00.005-05:00

In case you haven't marked your calendars yet, here's a quick reminder of an upcoming event we're really excited about at the George.

Gordon Titcomb, an amazing folk musician who has performed for 25 years with some of the world's most renowned artists will be here to read and sign his new book, The Last Train. The words in the book were once a song, and that rhythm carries through this beautiful book. A great rhyme scheme will engage young readers and listeners to chug along with the family that you meet as this story unfolds.

Each spread has incredibly rich paintings from Wendell Minor, whose paintings have graced some of the most beloved children's books in recent times from Charlotte Zolotow's The Seashore Book, the cover of Julie of the Wolves, and Anita Silvey's new picture book set here in Boston Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot. Mr. Minor will be here to sign as well.

So join us for a musical, locomotive-inspired read-aloud and meet two legends to boot. This book, signed by both author and illustrator, would make a great holiday gift for the train enthusiast in your life, or anyone who can appreciate beautiful illustrations and the heirloom theme and feel of this engaging, satisfying book.

So join us Saturday, 20 November at noon, and wear your conductor hat!

2010 New York Times Best Illustrated

2010-11-06T14:29:00.003-04:00

Great news for picture book aficionados (and just in time for my mock Caldecott book club meeting!), the 2010 New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books have been announced! Follow the link to a slide-show of the chosen titles.

They include:

Seasons by Blexbolex
Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown
Bink & Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile (this particular title is a graphic novel chapter book blend)
Shadow by Suzy Lee
Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson, illustrated by R.G. Roth
Henry In Love by Peter McCarty
Subway by Christoph Niemann
Big, Red Lollipop by Rukhsana, Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Here Comes the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Red Nose Studio
and drum roll for my personal dark horse for the Caldecott: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead

This list differs from the Caldecott since they take into consideration books by authors from around the world. We're happy they included one of our staff favorites, Blexbolex's Seasons, although I wish they had also chosen The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood. If only The Quiet Book's illustrator Renata Liwska lived in the U.S.!

What Natasha Wants To Buy

2010-11-06T13:24:00.004-04:00

GeoPuzzle World Puzzle
Downstairs in the Chapter Book Room
$18.95
We've had these amazing puzzles in before--one for every continent--but now there's one puzzle for the whole world. Each piece is shaped like a country of the world, to fit together into a map of the World. Learn geography while having a blast! The World GeoPuzzle has 68 pcs and is 26.0" x 12.5"

Mother of all Clipboards
Downstairs on our Journals and Sketchbooks Display
$12.95
For those trying times when one is forced to take analog notes, or if you're a techie that needs to look official and important, bust out this recycled clipboard made out of an old motherboard. It's slick, it's modern, and it says:

01001001 00100000 01101101 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100001

Or, "I mean business!" in binary.

Mozart Little Thinker
Upstairs in Plush
$19.95
Research shows that playing Mozart to your baby may not necessarily make your baby smarter, but what about giving your baby a Mozart? This cuddly, adorable composer will definitely inspire your child to be a prodigy like the doll's model. However--as the doll has no will of its own--it will most assuredly NOT accrue crushing debt as Mozart himself did.

Blog buds

2010-11-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

This week, the kid blog world got even friendlier! Our dear friend Katie, a former blogger, events coordinator and all round amazing lady, has made her own blog debut through the Horn Book: Out of the Box. This blog will feature various H'Book celebrities reviewing miscellaneous books and goodies that come through their offices, especially those that may not make it into the magazine or guide.

Katie is a talented writer and reviewer, and while we miss her in the hut, we're certainly glad that even more folks can read her!

You can also pick up the latest issue of the Horn Book here - not only is there a feature on Moomins ("MOOMINS!!!" Natasha shouted), but Katie also debuted on the masthead.

This day in history...King Tut Day!

2010-11-04T17:08:00.001-04:00

I learned a fun fact this morning (thank you, Emerson radio, broadcasting joy and knowledge across the bay state!) - today is King Tut Day! On November 4th, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the entrance to boy king Tutankhamen's tomb.

Instead of debating over which Thanksgiving movie to watch tonight or patching up your Wellingtons, here are some fun and historical entertainment alternatives:

I can't get enough of activity books, and this particular oversize maze book is right up my alley. Mummy Mazes: A Monumental Book by Elizabeth Carpenter is a poster book of mazes, puzzles and codes. Each spread folds out to a giant maze or picture of famous Egyptian monuments, mummies, and pharaoh masks.

For the future archaeologist, GeoCentral gives us a Pyramid Dig Kit, a pocket-size pyramid with digging tools and brush to unearth an ancient Egyptian treasure. The possibilities include a pharaoh head, Egyptian cat, Egyptian queen, and other relics.

When it comes to books, if your history or mythology buff hasn't read a Rick Riordan novel yet, he has started a new series based on Egyptian gods called The Kane Chronicles. So far, only the first book, The Red Pyramid, is out, but once you start a Riordan series, you'll be chomping at the bit for the next installment. Brother and sister Carter and Sadie Kane have been raised separately since their mother's mysterious death six years ago. They are reunited under dire circumstances: their father disappears and accidentally releases violent Egyptian gods from captivity.

The Newbery Honor winner Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder is up with The Westing Game for one of my all-time favorite mysteries. Four kids in California are fascinated by ancient Egypt and build an elaborate pretend world in an abandoned city lot. They research pharaoh history and create rituals, until mysterious murders occur in their neighborhood and they receive cryptic messages from their "oracle."

For non-fiction, our receiver John recommends David Macaulay's architecture book Pyramid. Macauley is famous for his detailed drawings, cross-sections, and clear explanations of both the architectural design and historical-social function of the buildings. In this case, how and why pyramids were built.

(Side note: I've managed to make it to 5 pm and through an entire blog post without a single bad pun about mummies! I'm terribly proud of myself.)

Kid at Heart: Game Night edition!

2010-11-04T12:33:00.006-04:00

It's getting cold out there folks. Sweaters and scarves have officially made their way out of closets, light fall coats traded in for heavy jackets. I've even seen some gloves and hats starting to come out--worth noting on my weather hardened New England peers. So it should surprise no one that lately I've been noticing a lot more of my pals opting for a quiet night in, watching movies or playing games, rather than going out, walking around, and exploring the city.

So in the spirit of staying in and keeping cozy, allow me to shed a light on some of the nifty board games we've got downstairs in our chapter book room right now. We've got loads of grown up friendly classics sure to entertain, like Monopoly, Risk, and my personal favorite, Scrabble. But if you're pulling an all out game night with your pals, why not indulge in some of the sillier games of childhood while you're at it? I can't think of a single soul who hasn't enjoyed the nervous thrill of Operation (and the inevitable jolts and giggle fits that go along with that buzz of failure when you slip up mid-removal. The new version has nifty new sound effects too!). And if you prefer your game night a little more active, we've got Twister, a sure bet to get you and your friends up on your feet (and then possibly right back down again on the floor!) And if you're rushing home in the cold and don't want to be bogged down with a lot of big bags, we've got bunches of Bananagrams ready for picking. They pack all of the linguistic fun of scrabble, but in a convenient size that fits in a purse or a satchel, and with a silly banana inspired package. So go ahead, pop some popcorn, slip into some thick fuzzy socks, and hunker down with your buds for some indoor fun.

Two for tea, and toys in twos

2010-10-29T12:42:00.015-04:00

The best run of holiday fun has begun! Halloween is this weekend (look for half price Halloween merchandise Saturday and Sunday, excluding books and costumes), stuffed (plush, that is) turkeys abound, and the Christmas and Hannukah books already have their own section in our picture books. Now is the perfect time to get out those wish lists and start matching the perfect toy to all the kids (and kid loving grown-ups) on your list.

My first pair of presents is something I am eyeing for myself! This tiny unabridged edition of two my favorite books will add style to my Lewis Carroll collection: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass from Collector's Library, with original Tenniel illustrations. Once your Alice fan recovers from the gold-edged pages and perfectly replicated Tenniel drawings, let them open the Alice in Wonderland Mug from Unemployed Philosopher's Guild (best toy company name, hands down!). When you pour your hot beverage of choice into the mug, the Cheshire Cat disappears...leaving behind its grin!

For the auto enthusiast (like my six year old nephew, still a vehicle fanatic), I'd recommend the Fast Wheels Art Set from Italian toy company Carioca. This activity kit comes with 20 fine tip markers and heavy cardboard cut-outs of cars to color, with sturdy wheels to attach for racing. Pair it with The Modern Storybook by Wallace Wadsworth, illustrated by Caroline Ruth Eger. This Dover Publications reprint from 1931 is a collection of stories about personified vehicles, which comes with a CD recording of every story. My favorite is the "Runaway Elevator", in which an elevator and truck trade jobs for a day.

While I'm thinking of my own shopping list, which includes some serious Star Wars fans, we have plenty of new books and merchandise from George Lucas and co. My top pick is Star Wars Visions, as edited by Acme Achive, a coffee table style book full of various artists' interpretations of Star Wars characters and famous scenes. I wish I had a print of Kermit the Frog and Yoda by artist Peter de Seve. Pair this with Chronicle Book's Yoda figurine: the figure comes with a display stand, stickers, and a book of wisdom.

For the creative teen on your list, try Storyworld, a create-a-story-kit by John and Caitlin Matthews. These tarot-like cards have rich, intricate illustrations with prompt questions on the back, to inspire any kind of artist or writer. Pair it with Robin McKinley's newest novel, Pegasus, a atmospheric fantasy about a princess and the pegasus she is bonded to, or Patrick Ness's Monsters of Men, the concluding book in his dystopian Chaos Walking series.

Kid at Heart: Day of the Dead/ Dia de los Muertos Paper Dolls

2010-10-27T11:18:00.007-04:00

Halloween is coming up fast, and the hut is overflowing with ghosts, spiders, bats and rats in preparation for Sunday. Yes indeed, there is plenty of creepy, ghoulish fun going on around here, but what caught my eye recently wasn't any of our (completely awesome) Halloween toys. It was our new Day of the Dead/ Dia de los Muertos paper dolls from Dover. These skeleton dolls may look creepy at first blush, but in actuality the Mexican Day of the Dead isn't a spooky affair at all. Rather it's a day to honor departed loved ones and welcome them back to the realm of the living for the day, with music, picnics, and festivities. And these skull faced characters get dressed to the nines for the occasion!

The traditional Day of the Dead Catrina and Catrin come with a ton of super-snazzy ensembles, including traditional Aztec garb, a zoot suit, Mariachi clothing, even wedding day duds. They're vibrantly colored and completely funky and whimsical, (and okay, a little spooky) and I can't look at them without picturing them hanging out on a bulletin board in my apartment, or maybe stuck with magnets to my refrigerator. Bonus points to the stylish Catrina for even having a cute kitty to accompany her during the festivities!

Little Pim and Doodlebug event wrap ups

2010-10-21T14:44:00.007-04:00

October has been chock full of fun events so far!

On October 9th, we had a visit from Julia Pimsleur Levine, the creator of the early language learning series, Little Pim. She showed a few sample DVD episodes and answered parents' questions about raising young children to be multilingual. Rafael Medina, a local musician, performed songs in Spanish and English, and even got some singing help from the audience and Julia on songs from the Little Pim music CDs.

Julia emphasized that young children - toddlers and preschoolers - are the most impressionable and fastest to pick up languages. As we get older, learning a language becomes significantly more difficult (as many of us may remember from high school French classes). In addition to further developing the brain, being multilingual in our globalized culture can present more social and economic opportunities. From the planning of the event through describing Little Pim's goals and answering parents' questions, I was impressed with Julia's passion: this is a woman who discovered there weren't many resources available to teach young children foreign languages, and so simply developed the resources for herself and other parents to do so.
There are DVDs, music CDs, and flash cards available in French, Spanish, Chinese, among other languages.

A few weeks later, author and illustrator Karen Romano Young read an excerpt from her new middle grade graphic novel, Doodlebug: A Novel in Doodles. Kids and adults alike made a beeline for the mural paper and crayons. We saw some pretty amazing doodles!

My favorite part of Doodlebug is how Dodo, or "Doodlebug," uses her drawing: it helps her focus in school, it sorts out her thoughts and feelings about moving, homework, and her family, and best of all, drawing helps her learning. I found the resolution of the story very satisfying; Dodo's teachers and parents acknowledge that there are many ways to learn, and some kids do need to translate information visually. The best example I thought was how Dodo taught her younger sister about decimals using diagrams of a song playing on a iPod. Karen and I had a great conversation after the event about how the growing market of graphic novels is wonderful for "reluctant readers" or kids with learning disabilities - not only do these books offer an alternative way to interpret a story, they're also fun.

Our next author event will be on November 20th at noon: musician Gordon Titcomb will read from his new picture book, The Last Train. Bring your train whistles!

You can also come by the store the Saturday before Halloween, the 30th, for some creepy crafts and scary snacks during story-time at noon.

Kid at Heart: Moon in my Room

2010-10-20T12:45:00.006-04:00

I am a person who believes we could all use a little more whimsy in our decor. Sure, sophisticated, grown-up interior design is nice, but where's the fun? Yes, the grown up in me loves when the window treatment is the perfect blue to match the throw pillows, but the kid in me loves something silly and unexpected thrown in for some flavor. Which is why I'm completely tickled by the Moon in my Room from Uncle Milton. It offers a realistic three dimensional light up moonscape to mount on your wall, along with a remote control to manually move through 12 phases of the moon (or set it to automatic to just sit back and enjoy). It also comes with an audio CD full of interesting lunar factoids, so it's educational too. And if you're looking for some last minute Halloween party decor to keep your werewolf costumed buddies howling? This is just the thing.

What Natasha Wants to Buy

2010-10-15T18:46:00.001-04:00

Movie Maker: The Ultimate Guide to Making Films Upstairs in our Fine Arts section
$19.99
Ages 9+
This kit looks small from the outside (a great gift, they'll never guess! a nice souvenir, it packs well!) but it is chock full of cinematic goodness. It starts with a book that explains the basics of filmmaking terminology, setting up shots and lighting, as well as tips from the pros on making a film. But from there the kit just gets more awesome. It comes with a working clapper-board/chalkboard, a fill-in storyboard, a CD of sound effects, props like push-out mustaches and tattoo stickers, and animation aids like a push-out studio set and characters. PLUS, everything you need for premier night from push-out tickets to a poster template. Get this for the next Maya Deren or Ingmar Bergman in your life!

Richard Scarry's Busytown Eye Found It Board Game Upstairs on the Games Wall
$21.95
Ages 3+
We've actually had this in before, but we sold them so fast I didn't get much chance to drool over them! But now they're back and I WANT TO PLAY! You pick a car, truck or thing that goes, and move along the board spying various Busytown characters and items to advance.

Alphabeasties sticker set
Upstairs in our Activities Section
$15.99
Ages 4+
The stickers alone in this mega-activity book are tempting. But add the many pages of glorious typographical coloring and games and this is an awesome, beautiful and crafty boredom buster.