-
Weissman, Elissa Brent. THE SHORT SELLER
Mono! You mean I’ll be out of school for a whole month? I won’t see my friends, either? Lindy Sachs was dismayed to find herself home alone and mostly sleeping, day after day. But then her dad asked her to do him a favor…he set her up on-line to make some stock trades for him before the Market closed for the day, since he couldn’t do it from work. Even though she hated math, she found herself totally drawn in. Her dad set her up with her own $100 account to play with…and guess what?! She was good at it!! When she finally went back to school, she found her social life in shambles…new alliances had been formed, and her best friends, Howard & Steph had become a couple…and no one had the slightest interest in stock trading! But the real trouble began when she started dipping into her parents’ portfolio to up the ante a bit….who knew they had so much money?! A sudden downturn in the market gave her some very tense moments, but in the end, Lindy thought she had gotten away with it…until the day there came a knock at the front door… a process server from the SEC (Securities Trade Commission) stood on the doorstep! (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Book of the day 05/28/2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
Book of the day 05/26/2014
-
Selfors, Suzanne. SASQUATCH ESCAPE
The weird shadow swept across the sky. Ben blinked once, twice, three times, just in case an eyelash had drifted onto his eyeball. But it wasn’t an eyelash. Something was moving between the clouds—something with an enormous wingspan and a long tail. Ben pressed his nose to the passenger window. “Grandpa? Did you see that?” Ben is spending the summer at his Grandpa’s house in Buttonville---the most boring town in the world. Boring, that is, until he starts seeing strange things in the sky. Until his Grandpa’s cat drops what has to be a baby…dragon?...onto his bed. Until Ben and his new friend, Pearl, decide to visit the new “doctor” who’s set up an office in the abandoned button factory and allow a big, hairy, pudding-loving beast to escape… Read “Sasquatch Escape” to find out just what’s making a summer in Buttonville the most exciting thing ever! (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Book of the day 05/25/2014
-
Rundell, Katherine. ROOFTOPPERS
A ship sinks in the English Channel under mysterious circumstances and a baby wrapped in a musical score of a Beethoven symphony is found floating in a cello case. Charles Maxim, another survivor, plucks the baby along with her cello case out of the water, names her Sophie, and takes on the responsibility of raising her. Through the years Charles’ methods of child-rearing are considered by some totally unsuitable. What’s wrong, I ask, with eating food off books, writing on the walls, climbing trees and a girl wearing pants? When Sophie turns twelve the threat of being sent to an orphanage prompts her and Charles to make a hasty departure for Paris in search of her mother. Once there, Sophie hides out in her hotel room by day but escapes through the skylight to the roof at night. Under the tutelage of Matteo and other children who refer to themselves as “rooftoppers” she learns to travel on the roofs above the streets of Paris via trees, drainpipes, and even a tightrope. While enjoying her freedom she is always listening, hoping to hear her mother’s music. Will Sophie find her mother and the mother’s love she so longingly wants? You’ll have to read the spell-binding story of ROOFTOPPERS to find out. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Book of the day 05/24/2014
-
Pitchford, Dean. NICKEL BAY NICK
It’s Christmas time and in the economically depressed town of Nickel Bay, eleven year old Sam Brattle just can’t stay out of trouble. He’s unhappy because his dad’s bakery is struggling to stay open and his mom, having remarried, will be spending the holidays with her new family. And to make matters worse, there were no $100 bills left anonymously by the town’s own secret Santa, Nickel Bay Nick. While trying to evade the police following an evening of vandalism Sam damages the house of a neighbor, Mr. Wells. It is revealed that Mr. Wells is Nickel Bay Nick, but he is unable to fill the role due to a broken leg. Sam is offered the chance to become Nickel Bay Nick to compensate for the damages to Mr. Wells’ property. All Sam has to do is learn to be a spy, a burglar and a pickpocket. NICKEL BAY NICK will warm your heart and give you faith in the potential goodness of others. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Friday, May 23, 2014
Book of the day 05/23/2014
-
Pastas, Stephen. TIMMY FAILURE MISTAKES WERE MADE
Timmy Failure is founder, president, and CEO of what he considers the best detective agency in town, Total Failure, Inc. Timmy is assisted by a 1500-pound polar bear named Total who specializes in eating trash, and Rollo Tookus, a classmate, considered inferior in sleuthing skills by Timmy. In one case Timmy’s neighbor Gunnar hires him to find his missing candy. Timmy observes Gunnar’s brother, Gabe, face smeared with chocolate and surrounded by candy wrappers. After questioning Gabe about his whereabouts the night of the candy’s disappearance, Timmy concludes Gabe didn’t take the candy- he had an alibi: he’d been eating candy. There’s something in Timmy Failure Mistakes Were Made for everyone, from the black and white illustrations used liberally throughout the book to Timmy’s bumbling his way from one case to the next, optimistically oblivious to the obvious. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Book of the day 05/21/2014
-
McAlpine, Gordon. TELL TALE START
12-year-old twins, Edgar & Allan Poe, were not named on the whim of some devoted fan of the classics…they were, in fact, the great-great-great-great grandnephews of the famed author of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe himself. Their most notable characteristic, aside from their astoundingly high IQ’s, was that they were literally of one mind…they shared all of each other’s thoughts. Continually outwitting their teachers may have been great sport, but there was a crazed professor out there stalking them who had more nefarious plans in mind. He intended to kill off one of the twins to see if they still communicated with each other over the great divide. If he could gain control of information from the afterlife, world domination would be within his grasp! But Edgar and Allan possessed an intellect not to be trifled with. Through one hilarious escapade after another, the twins managed to thwart all the professor’s evil designs…with a little, albeit dubious, help from a doting granduncle watching from above. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Book of the day 05/20/2014
-
Kurtz, Chris. ADVENTURES OF A SOUTH POLE PIG
Flora, a young pig who has been brought up on a farm raising sled dogs, sees nothing but adventure in her future. Her chance comes when she is packed into the ship’s cargo to join the sled dogs on an amazing Antarctica adventure. As Flora befriends Aleric the cabin boy, Oscar the sled dog and Sophia the cat, she dreams of life as the head sled pig. After all, what other purpose would a pig have on a ship? (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Monday, May 19, 2014
Book of the day 05/19/2014
-
Jinks, Catherine. HOW TO CATCH A BOGLE
Jinks, Catherine. HOW TO CATCH A BOGLE New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013 IL 3-6, RL 4.9 ISBN 0544087089 Before you see a Bogle you will often smell them. Their terrible odor is something even Birdie can’t get used to. A Bogel is a monster, a goblin and sometimes called “the bogeyman”. Birdie is the 10 year old girl apprentice to Bogler, Alfred Bunce. Alfred catches the Bogles and kills them with his spear. A Bogle’s favorite food is children and Birdie, who sings sweetly like a bird, is the bait. This fantasy tale set in Victorian London follows Birdie and Mr. Bunce as they come up against the trials of earning a living, along with the wishes of wealthy ladies interested in the intersection of folklore and modern science. This is the first book in a planned trilogy. How to Catch a Bogle is a rather ghastly and sometimes smelly and gooey adventure you will not be able to cast aside. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Book of the day 05/18/2014
-
Hale, Bruce. PLAYING WITH FIRE
Max Segredo isn’t a bad kid---but somehow, in each of the seven foster homes he’s lived in, bad things have happened. Foster parents die in not-so-ordinary ways, fires seem to just happen, and, yes, things go missing… “It’s not my fault!” says Max. Now he’s down to his last chance to avoid juvenile detention---the Merry Sunshine Orphanage. The fact that the director of the orphanage meets him at the door with a pistol in her hand is the first sign that life at Merry Sunshine is going to be a little bit…different. “Fires? Stealing?” she says. “You know what I say?” “Learn to control fire…and if you’re stealing, don’t get caught.” Join Max as he learns that the Merry Sunshine Orphanage is actually a training center for would-be spies, and as he discovers that the father he believed was dead may actually be the best spy of all… (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Book of the day 05/17/2014
-
Gardner, Sally. OPERATION BUNNY
This is the story of a neglected young girl, a human-sized talking cat, a fairy-hating witch with a very bad lamp, a set of temperamental magic keys, and bunnies. So. Many. Bunnies. Emily Vole was found as a baby in a suspiciously-ticking hatbox at the airport. The Dashwoods adopted her, but the self-absorbed couple quickly turned Emily into their servant when they had their own triplets. Forced to do nothing but chores, Emily is fortunately discovered by Miss String, her eccentric neighbor, and possibly a fairy, who gives her an education, and, all-too-soon, a large inheritance. With nothing to keep her, Emily runs away with Fidget, Miss String’s talking cat, to track down the evil witch who is killing fairies and leaving a trail of formerly-human pink bunnies in her wake. With the help of a grumpy former fairy detective and an enchanted shop that refuses to stay put, Emily is on her way to a magical destiny. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)
Friday, May 16, 2014
Book of the day 05/16/2014
-
Gaiman, Neil. FORTUNATELY THE MILK
When mum goes off to a conference, dad’s routine trip to the corner store for milk becomes an epic adventure through time and space! (well, spaceSHIPS, anyway. Well, A spaceship. Twice.) While fetching milk for his children’s cereal, a father finds himself beamed up by aliens, threatened by pirates (who don’t even know about walking the plank!), meeting the balloon-flying stegosaurus scientist who invented time travel, rather elaborately avoiding a volcanic eruption and also escaping from some very pale, rather hungry-looking (and not at all sparkly) people with funny accents. Oh, and there’s ponies at one point. And possibly piranhas. And hard-hairy-wet-white-crunchers. Will he ever return to his poor hungry children? Where there is milk, there is hope! (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)