Timmy Failure returns

TIMMY FAILURE: NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE by Stephan Pastis. Candlewick Press, 2014.

Mysteries to solve
Timmy Failure on the job
Criminals beware!

Maple

Her name is Maple
Like the tree she's named after
A tree that she loves.

Opposite of Hallelujah

THE OPPOSITE OF HALLELUJAH by Anna Jarzab. Delacorte, 2012.

Carolina (call her Caro) is facing changes. Her older sister, Hannah, is returning from the convent she entered when Caro was only 8. Carol is breaking up with her boyfriend, and she wants to be sure she is the one in the relationship to bring it to an inevitable end. Things do not go according to plan. Derek dumps her first. Hannah arrives home, and to Caro, a stranger. And so begin the lies. tells friends her sister is back from a stint in the Peace Corps. Jarzab tackles some familiar territory but the terrain is a bit more foreign with the complications of faith and religion, friendship and enmity. Add in science, Escher, a priest who turns confidante, and the possibility of new romance, and you have a book bound to pull readers in. Complex and complicated: just like life. <610>

finishing out the year in picture books galore

Big (animal) families are theme for these two picture books.



THE HOUSE OF 12 BUNNIES By Carolyn Stills and Sarcia Stills-Blott with illustrations by Judith Russell (Holiday House 2012)opens with Sophia, one of the 12 bunnies, searching for something. As she searches, careful readers will notice lots of twelves in the book. They are presented in a variety of permutations: 3 baby carriages, 4 tricycles, 2 scooters, 2 pogo sticks and a bike for example. What is Sophia looking for? See if readers can guess. <679>




ANOTHER BROTHER by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel and Friends 2012) presents readers with Davy. At first, Davy is an only "child" (he is a lamb). When his brothers come along they pester him by copying his every action. When Davy finally gets them to stop, he discovers he is lonely. Who will fill the void? <680>

LJ is back (sorta kinda)

and my post for today is there. Read all about this book: