Elijah of Buxton

I just finished reading Elijah of Buxton this morning. It's a great read, as are all of Christopher Paul Curtis's books. This one won the 2008 Coretta Scott King Award and was a Newbery Honor Book as well. It tells the story of the first free-born in Buxton, Canada and his many adventures as he struggles with growing from a "fra-gile" child coming into adulthood. This would make a wonderful read-aloud story, as the characters are so vivid and the chapters each tell a short little tale that can stand on its own.

First Post - The Hound of Rowan

Here's to the first of hopefully many posts about some of the hottest new books geared towards tweens. Hi, I'm Toni Howe, a 5th & 6th Grade Center librarian for the past two years, and a children's librarian since 2000. I love what I do and helping to match the right book with the right student. I'm an avid reader and enjoy reading from a great variety of genres, although I'm a big fan of fantasy in particular.

One book I just finished today, The Hound of Rowan, falls into this category. It is about a boy who has a vision and then is whisked off to a special boarding school to discover his hidden talents. Of course, there's adventure afoot as he tries to outwit the evil vyes (shape-changing wolf-beasts) who are trying to kidnap him to find out the details of his vision. This book is currently on the Missouri Truman Award Nominee list for 2009-2010, geared toward students in grades 6-8.

Well, till tomorrow, Keep reading!