Maria's Mélange

I was in the library last weekend, standing by the graphic novel section. My son and I were searching for Ghostopolis, by TenNepal. A young lady (probably early teens) was also there. Her arms were filled with manga and graphic novels, and she was continuing to browse and check out titles. She noticed that we were looking, and offered to help. Once I found the first title, she and I both went back to browsing the shelves. I smiled as I removed one book after another from the shelf, considered it, and replaced it. I have a huge pile at home already (including several graphic novels), and I really didn't need to add more to the list. A few moments later, she handed me a book. "I think you'd like this," was all she said. I smiled, thanked her, and bumped it to the top of my reading pile. When someone takes the time to hand you a book - you read it. Period. The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar , Emmanuel Guibert Paperback, 80 pages Published April 17th

What do you do when a child begins to ask big questions about Life, the Universe, and Everything? Especially when that child is too young to get the humor behind the answer, “42”? One of the fascinations the younglings in my life often have is about the concept of infinity. Is ‘infinity’ a number? How can you visualize or imagine what it means to go on, and on, and on, and on? Believe it or not, this is a very common early pondering for many little ones with scientific or mathematical leanings.  Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford , Gabi Swiatkowska (Illustrator) Hardcover, 32 pages Published October 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group (first published June 1st 2012) ISBN 0761367268 (ISBN13: 9780761367260) (received as part of the Junior Library Guild's monthly shipment at my school) Infinity and Me is an excellent picture book to read with those youngsters, allowing them to explore the concept with a little girl named Uma. She begins her journey by staring up at the stars and fe

Welcome back for Treat Tuesday - a book and a treat! Big thanks to Niki at Daydream Reader for starting this. It's even gotten my sons into the fun! My boys have decided this is the perfect meme for them, so they joined me once again in sharing a book and a treat with us all.  Younger son : Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.  I have been reading the Heroes of Olympus series to him at night (we are on Son of Neptune). He tried Lightning Thief last year, but just wasn't ready. This time, he just took off. Even now, as I'm typing this, he's sitting at the kitchen table with a grin on his face. Every once in a while he'll pipe up with a funny line he just HAS to share.  Older son : Crimson Rising  by Nick James This is the second book in the Skyship Academy series (yes, the book I'm sharing is the first). He insisted I start reading the series, since he enjoyed it so much. Since I was sharing the first book, he wanted to place th

Every generation has certain moments. The ones that we all ask one another, "Do you remember where you were when....?" This morning, as I got ready to take my children to the bus stop while tweeting about the upcoming ALA awards, I was reminded of one of my moments. January 28, 1986 ~ Challenger exploded and I remember being in Physical Science watching it as it happened. #challengerexplosion — Jennifer Malphy (@jmalphy) January 28, 2013 From NASA.gov   I'm not one to have vivid recollections of the past. I tend to rely on my copious number of photographs of my children to help spark the stories of those little lovely times. This moment? This one I remember in shocking detail. Space and astronomy was one of my passions. Not that I ever thought I'd go into space, mind you, but I loved learning about the immensity of it all. I wrote poetry about the planets, read books about them, and had been doodling aliens and Saturn on my notebooks since I was i

It's Monday - and that means a recap of the past week's reading! Big thanks, once again, to the Teach Mentor Texts crew (Jen and Kellee) for hosting this each week. Visit their site for more great reading recaps. I know I often claim I'll keep it short, but today I really mean it. I ended up spending a big chunk of Sunday running to Ikea for furniture for my older son's new room. I also have reviews to finish and grading to do... you know how it goes, right? So I'm linking each category to that shelf at Goodreads. Check out my shelf for a bit more detail on each book. Picture Book Joy: Graphic Novel Fun :  Science Fiction :     The review for Fellowship for Alien Detection will be up this week for Sci Friday. I'm planning to write up Pearl Wars for next week. This past week:  The Batty About Books team picked up a new book, and a guest chatter this week! Check out our first post about Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities ...

It's that time again - time to chat about another Batty Book! Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities by Mike Jung Hardcover, 307 pages Published October 1st 2012 by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, Inc. (first published September 1st 2012) ISBN 0545335485 (ISBN13: 9780545335485) (I managed to snag a paperback copy from a Scholastic order!)  This time, when Kathy (aka @TheBrainLair ) and I announced our book selection, another buddy decided to join in the fun. So help us welcome Sherry (aka @LibraryFanatic ) to the Batty fold. I haven't met her in real life, but I can assure you that she's just as Batty as we are! As is tradition, we have a "Batty About Books" image. Kathy put three bats on this one, instead of our usual shoes because Sherry doesn't have the Batgirl shoes! My thoughts reside here, in purple . Any of Kathy's responses are in blue , and Sherry chose green . Check out the rest of the discussion by visiting The Brain Lair for Kathy

It's Thursday - time for THIRSTday and a Book and a Beverage Hosted by Mr. Etkin at Eat the Book Today's first Book of Choice is Moon over Manifest . I'm actually listening to this as an audiobook, and the narrator is wonderful! I'm enjoying the story of Kansas in the 1930s. The old fashioned Coke bottle is in Abilene's honor. Of course, I got it to work and realized I couldn't open it, so I just had to stare at the delicious elixir all day.  It makes the Newbery Challenge much easier to manage when I throw in some of the more recent winners. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would be able to stick to my commitment!  The second - Curses! Foiled Again -  is a reminder that Jane Yolen has TWO graphic novels that feature a fencing heroine. My boys are fencers, so this one is extra special to me. The second installment is more upper grade friendly than the first was (though they are both classified as YA). 

Nonfiction Feature - How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg , Kevin O'Malley Hardcover, 184 pages Published March 15th 2011 by Walker Childrens (first published 2011) ISBN 0802798179 (ISBN13: 9780802798176) The inside flap begins with "Warning: If you don't have the guts for gore, do not read this book." Is there a better way to lure you in? Everyone knows a kid or teen who has a dark sense of humor. These are the kids who love to read macabre mysteries or horror. The ones who beg for zombie books or delight in knowing delicious details about historical figures. Or maybe you have a budding physician on the room? Or a child interested in how we have treated ailments throughout history? I know my own fifth grade students come back from their battlefield trips each year dying to share all the gory details about Revolutionary War medical treatments. THIS. This is the perfect book for all of those kids. Yes, it is on the gru

It's Treat Tuesday!  Today I decided to get my kids in on the fun. They were absolutely excited about the idea once I mentioned there would be treats involved.  Thanks to Niki at Daydream Reader for getting this fun one started. Join in by blogging or just tweeting your treats. (#TreatTuesday) Our First Dish: Poppy and Rye - by Avi. My youngest is reading this one as part of an author study in school. He read Poppy first, and then eagerly started diving into the rest of the series. He's not quite sure why some of his friends aren't as excited by this series as he is. He LOVES them! He even wrote about the book on Biblionasium: "Poppy and Rye (with his family) find a way to force the beavers away from Rye's family's house. In the meantime Rye is also trying to hide that he is trying to fight for Poppy's love."  Accompanied by: Cookies and Cream ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and chocolate jimmies.  Our Sec

Twenty three years ago (approximately), I began a journey. The journey began with a few haunting sentences. "There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."  I joyfully plunged into a world of adventure. A world where women and men could rule, battle, and weave magic.  I fell in love with Rand, Mat, and Perrin - and watched them fall in love with young women of strength and beauty. My heart was pierced with sadness for Lan and Nynaeve as they danced around their feelings for one another. I revelled in the sisterhood of the Ajahs of magic, and shivered as they uncovered the Black Ajah in their midst. I grew up with a tavern keeper's daughter, a princess who became a queen, and a young warrior who had to leave her spears behind in order to come into her birthright of power.  My first hardback is in my son's room, as he begins the journey. The 13th book I read as an ebook, but I'm ordering a

It's Monday - so it's time to review my reading progress for the week! Don't forget to head over to Teach Mentor Texts to read other weekly roundups. (Thanks Newbery Progress: (61/91) I'm proud to announce that I'm finally finished the Fifties! I really enjoyed Carry On, Mr. Bowditch - as I loved how Nat pursued knowledge and shared it gladly with anyone around who wanted to listen. Rifles for Watie, on the other hand... whew. If you are on Twitter, you may have been privileged to hear me moan and gripe about it repeatedly. I very nearly abandoned it. As a teen, I had to read All Quiet on the Western Front and it seriously messed me up. Running TOWARD gun fire? Watie had similar parts, and I almost lost my nerve. Then I reminded myself that I forced myself to finish Moby Dick in fifth grade, so I couldn't let Watie beat me. Thankfully, the second half was a huge improvement and there were even parts I liked a lot. I listened to Maniac Mag

Big thanks to Kathy for creating this lovely collage!  It's that time again - time to make the selection for our next Batty Book. It's been a busy start to the year, but we are ready to dive into a new selection. Kathy and I also had a blog post on Nerdy Book Club yesterday where we talked about how Batty About Books started and reflected on some of our favorite (and least favorite) moments of the past year of being book buddies. Stop by and get inspired to get your own book buddy! Our post at Nerdy Book Club was already really long, so we cut a few things out. One of them was this list of possible ideas of what we could read or focus on next. WHAT’S NEXT Kathy: There are many ways we can go from here! I know, and that is so exciting to me, too! The best part of having a book buddy is getting encouragement to stretch and grow in unexpected ways. Be sure to come by our blogs to see what we tackle next. Classic Science Fiction/Fantasy MG Science Fiction/Fantasy Mo

Welcome back to Sci Friday! Today an amazing comics writer named Bryan Q. Miller launched a Kickstarter for a science fiction - all ages - graphic novel. The story will be called "Earthward" and will be "A full-color, ALL-AGES (7+), 110-page graphic novel  celebrating adventure, exploration and family. IN SPACE!" Bryan Q. Miller writes wonderful comics - including the amazing Batgirl volume "The Lesson" featuring Stephanie Brown that I recently devoured. The artist - MARCIO TAKARA - was hand selected by Brian Q. Miller to help bring his story to life. Take a few minutes and check out the link for Earthward . http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1905926861/earthward-join-the-search If you aren't familiar with Kickstarter, but always wanted to check out a project, this is the perfect time. With a big name like this, on a project designed to appeal to science fiction fans of all ages, I've already become a backer.

Happy Thirstday - where we share a book and a beverage!  Up today: How They Croaked - a wickedly gruesome and darkly amusing nonfiction book that features the lives of many famous figures and the ailments that eventually did them in. I finished this book this week but still plan to do an official review. Rifles for Watie - for my Nerdbery Challenge. I keep putting this one off. I've renewed it twice at the library and just got an email that it is due tomorrow. Whooops. Time to get that ball rolling! My beverage of choice is a pumpkin spice coffee.. Check out other Thirstday posts on Twitter #THIRSTday - with big thanks to David Etkin for starting this feature on his blog - Eat The Book.

I had a big brainstorm about the kind of candy I want to showcase with my books today, but of course I didn't have them at home. No worries, just a quick jaunt out to grab some candy on the way to work! If you want to participate in #TreatTuesday - it's super easy. Just snap a photo with your chosen treat and a book you'd like to show off. Post it to your blog or just tweet it out with the tag! Thanks to @NikiOhsBarnes at Daydream Reader for this fun idea. This is the view from the top floor of my school library! Two books today - Maniac Magee as part of my Newbery Challenge (I'm listening to it through my Audible app) The Fellowship for Alien Detection by Kevin Emerson. This is an ARC and the book comes out in February. Very fun so far! Can you figure out why I chose the two candies that are in the photo? I had to cheat a little, because the store didn't have any Mars Bars!

"The Unboring List" - 2013 I am part of the Slice of Life community through Two Writing Teachers. Come join us each Tuesday!  My "Unboring" list was inspired by my pals over at Teach Mentor Texts - Jen and Kellee . Their lists were probably less boring than mine, though! I definitely need to be less boring... but I'm not much of a risk taker. So how can I create a list of "unboring" things I want to do in 2013? It certainly helps that this is my 20th anniversary year (shut up, I got married when I was 18, okay?) and we are heading to Ireland in June.... 1) Go to Ireland. Hey, I can do that! I even have an expert in Irish travel helping us plan our itinerary. My husband and I wanted to go to Ireland back when we were younger, but we couldn't justify the expense. Now that we've been together for 20 years, I think that's more than enough reason to celebrate by heading to the ever green land. There are so many things I want to do

Once again, it's time to share my weekly reading accomplishments. Top by Teach Mentor Texts , where Jen and Kellee host this feature each Monday. Picture Books: I'm making an effort to read more picture books this year. As I read, I'm finding that I'm making connections to the content I cover with my older students. I've found a few gems already that will make great introductions or help enrich what I do with my upper grade reading groups. I've also discovered that kids LOVE picture books. Even my most "wiggly" groups sit still, enraptured, when I read a picture book. Yeah, that rocks. Two new favorites this week - One Cool Friend - I adore the style of the illustrations in this one. They just totally drew me in. The boy with his formal outfit and little rosy cheeks.... hooked. Chloe and the Lion - If you read one picture book from last year, make it this one. Absolutely funny, with a unique illustration style. Chu's Da

Welcome back to Sci Friday!  This week I'm featuring a self-published adult novel, set in an eerie post-apocalyptic world. Originally published as 5 separate short novellas, the omnibus is the way to go. (Wool would also be an excellent read for teens!) Wool by Hugh Howey (Goodreads Author) Paperback, 539 pages Published 2012 by CreateSpace ISBN 1469984202 (ISBN13: 9781469984209) Wool #1-5 (I read the ebook - Kindle Edition, 550 pages Published January 25th 2012 by Broad Reach Publishing ASIN B0071XO8RA)  Goodreads Summary: This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside. My Thoughts: Several of my friends independently recommend

Insurgent - part of my Book Gap Challenge, since I don't often make the time to read a sequel. I usually breeze through the first book in a series so I can recommend it to others, and then move on. I'm about 100 pages in and definitely enjoying Insurgent. A bit of a slow beginning, but the roller coaster has started to plunge into twists and turns.  The Fellowship for Alien Detection - I'm excited to get this book started. There's something special about looking forward to a book, but I'm ready to jump in. Big thanks to Walden Pond Press for sending me this ARC!  Tea - Mandarin Orange Spice in my Marvel mug.  I don't join in every week, but I had some fun books to share this week with the "Book and a Beverage" crew. Thanks to  David Etkin  for this fun feature!