Through the wonders of technology, LitKid was able to interview the author at her home on the West Coast from our home on the East Coast on a rainy Sunday afternoon. (At one point, a certain canine friend of Ms. Applegate’s joined the interview, too – sorry, but that cameo didn’t make the final edit!)

We hope you’ll enjoy the interview; Ms. Applegate is the perfect person for a young reporter to do her inaugural “on-camera” interview with – she is kind, warm and funny.

You can take a look at the story and listen to the interview on the Scholastic Kids Press Corps website.

~AKid@Heart

More books are scattered across our house, but these photos give you a good sampling of the books she’s read over the years or will be reading in years to come – a mix of picture books, fiction and nonfiction … new and classic.

(Guess who read the Harry Potter series first and then donated the books to LitKid’s library??)

LitKid reviewed the acclaimed book Wonder in 2012 and read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech in her 5th grade book club along with her reading partner – her 83-year-old Grandma!

More picture books and some of LitKid’s favorite contemporary reads

Can you pick out the books that are bordering on being ANTIQUES??

Many great contemporary reads, plus some classics (Charlotte’s Web)

Out of the Easy

By Ruta Sepetys

Young Adult novel

Philomel

Coming in February

Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray, again creates a memorable, strong young heroine mired in a world of deep troubles, but with intelligence and a moral compass to inform her decisions.

Josie Moraine and a cast of richly-drawn characters steep us in the Big Easy of 1950, a conflicting venue of deep betrayals and even deeper loyalties, where temptation and judgment lurk everywhere. Some adults may cringe at giving a book set in a brothel to a teen, but while Josie’s world is realistically portrayed, nothing is graphic. And THIS is a young woman they’d want their daughters to know!

Ages 14+.

~Rosemary Pugliese, Quail Ridge Books & Music

Written by Deborah Underwood; illustrated by Renata Liwska

Every year, we go to our favorite book place, Quail Ridge Books and Music, in search of one new picture book to add to our holiday collection.

This year – especially the past few months, with LitKid thrown into the much more demanding world of middle school – has felt nonstop, so when I spotted the title of this book, it had instant appeal.

Both of us loved what we found when we looked at each page of this simple but lovely book, which doesn’t tell a story in the traditional sense. Instead, it celebrates the many kinds of quiet you can enjoy in the midst of the holidays … the kinds of joys full-speed-ahead human beings often don’t take time to experience.

“Searching for presents quiet.”

“Getting caught quiet.”

“Hoping for a snow day quiet.”

And many more.

This was a shoe-in for our 2012 holiday picture book and will be kept in a prominent spot between now and New Year’s so we’ll be reminded to slow down and have those quiet moments.

We wish you and yours many quiet joys (including reading, of course) over the holidays and in the year to come!

~AKid@Heart

It’s a very cool program – you can read about it here and here.

‘LitKid’ put a lot of time and thought into her application, which included doing an interview and writing an article about her community. She interviewed an amazing local activist and advocate who helped create a organization that supports responsible growth – including policies supporting clean water, quality public education, mass transit, etc. – in our area, which is growing by leaps and bounds.

I’m convinced that the cheerleading and encouraging feedback from her faithful and enthusiastic “Lost in a Book” readers gave LitKid the enthusiasm and confidence that will help her be a great Scholastic Kid Reporter – thanks so much for your support!

~AKid@Heart

Airborn

By Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse is living his dream, working on the airship Aurora.  One day, they run into a dying air balloonist who utters last words of beautiful creatures.

Then, 2 years later, the answer to all of Matt’s questions boards the ship. Kate de Vries is the granddaughter of Benjamin Molloy, the air balloonist. On their journey to Australia, pirates rob them, and a storm sets them off course. Then they are forced to land on a mysterious island, which is where all the fun and adventure begins.

I like this book because it’s very adventurous and romantic at the same time. It made me want to curl up under a blanket and drink hot cocoa.

~LitKid

A 2005 Michael L Printz Honor Book (ALA) 

Winner of the 2005 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award

Winner of the 2004 Red Maple Award (OLA)

Check out the Airborn website: There are a lot of cool things there.

Also during the meetings we come up with questions for the competition that will be held in February. There is a list of about 26 books, give or take a few (I had already read some of them, so I had a head start!). Our mentor, Ms. Carley, is really nice.

After long and hard thought, I have decided to include the list for your viewing pleasure***:

Middle School Battle of the Books List, 2012 – 2013, Wake County, NC

Title                                            Author

Airborn                                    Kenneth Oppel

Bronx Masquerade                  Nikki Grimes

Chicken Boy                           Frances O’Roark Dowell

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two        Joseph Bruchac

Dead End in Norvelt                 Jack Gantos

Death Cloud                              Andrew Lane

Diamonds in the Shadow           Caroline B. Cooney

Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie    Jordan Sonnenblick

Everlost                                        Neal Shusterman

Flush                                             Carl Hiaasen

Freak the Mighty                          Rodman Philbrick

George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War                      Thomas B. Allen

The Graveyard Book                    Neil Gaiman

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life        Wendy Mass

Just Ella                                         Margaret Peterson Haddix

Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis   Peter Nelson

The Nine-Pound Hammer              John Claude Bemis

Out of My Mind                             Sharon M. Draper

Peak                                                 Roland Smith

Peter and the Starcatchers               Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science- John Fleischman

Saraswati’s Way                              Monica Schroder

Stones in Water                               Donna Jo Napoli

Storm Warriors                                Elisa Carbone

Under the Mesquite                          Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The Wednesday Wars                       Gary D. Schmidt

White Fang                                       Jack London

~LitKid (11-year-old reviewer)

*** Please keep in mind some of the content in some of the books can be scary for those 9 and below; you should get your parents to background-check the books before you read them if you are that age.

P.S. You can visit this link on the Quail Ridge Books and Music web site to download this year’s middle school and elementary school Battle of the Books lists.

Zen Shorts

(a Caldecott Honor book)

By Jon J. Muth

With LitKid in middle school and reading novels nonstop, we don’t revisit our picture books as often as we should. They’ve never been put away –  in fact, we display them as the works of art that they are – but sitting down to read them together is a rare thing these days.

Retreating into our old favorites is probably a perfect antidote to the frenetic feeling that comes with the juggling of homework, swimming, etc. So in honor of Picture Book Month, we’re setting out to revisit as many favorites as possible (ideally, one for every day of November, but we’ll see how that goes). We may not have time for full-fledged reviews, but we’ll at least post what we’re reading; with any luck, we’ll introduce you to something new or remind you to go back and read an old favorite.

Tonight, after a long night of  homework, we took turns reading aloud the first two stories in Jon J. Muth’s Zen Shorts, a gentle, wise book that was the perfect quiet bookend to our day. (LitKid was drooping too much to make it any farther than the first two tonight.)

Stillwater the Panda enlightens his young friends through telling them stories, and I’m betting that most of the grownups who read Zen Shorts with their kids come away more affected by Stillwater’s wisdom than the little ones.

Lately, I’ve kept this one out so I walk by and see it every day;  just seeing the beautiful cover illustration of Stillwater – balancing (of course) on a rooftop, parasol in hand, beneath that beautiful cherry tree in full bloom – tends to conjure up a sense of calm.

And of course, ‘calm’ is the gift you expect from a bear named Stillwater.

~AKid@Heart

Postscript: My fuzzy photograph of Zen Shorts doesn’t do it justice; if you can’t get your hands on a copy right away, be sure to look up professional shots of the book so you can fully appreciate Muth’s illustrations.