beautifully illustrated

Erwin Madrid is one of my favorite illustrators. He was born in the Philippines and grew up in California.

This is one of my favorites:

It's the cover of the book Kindred Souls.

You'll probably recognize this illustration from the book Juniper Berry

This is the cover of the book Word after Word after Word.

Erwin Madrid has also worked as an illustrator on the movies Shrek 2, Madagascar 2, and Megamind.

behind-the-scenes vs highlight reel

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Anya is a first generation American and a self-conscious, brooding teenager trying to fit in. On her way home one day, Anya falls into an abandoned well. There she discovers a skeleton and... a ghost.

This is Vera Brosgol's debut graphic novel. She has created a smart, funny and compassionate portrait of someone who, despite all her sulking and sneering, is the kind of daughter many parents would like to have... and the type of teen many parents once were.


Anya's Ghost is a mystery, a ghost story, and a horror story - all wrapped in a gray/black/purple graphic novel. But even more importantly, it's a story about self-acceptance and figuring out what you really want in life.


As Anya  says toward the end of the book, "Everyone else's life seems so much easier..." It reminded me of a quote I read on pinterest: "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." ~Steven Furtick


Anya's Ghost is a humorous, beautifully drawn reminder that our lives, especially as teens, aren't so easy.



Parental Warning: this book is aimed at teens. There's smoking, implied underage drinking, etc...
Read the first part of the book here.

The Mystery of the Secret Piecrust Recipe

Alice's Aunt Polly was a natural born pie maker. She makes incredible pies. Anyone who tasted one of her pies always said the same thing - "You ought to open up your own pie shop, Polly!" And so she did... being a humble person, she gave her pie shop a humble name - PIE. What was most unusual about her shop was that Aunt Polly never charged for her pies. Aunt Polly had said, "Why on earth would I charge people money for something that brings so much pleasure?"


When Aunt Polly died, no one was sadder than Alice who had always adored her aunt.


Their little town is turned upside down when it learns that Aunt Polly has left her famous piecrust recipe to Lardo... and has left her unfriendly cat, Lardo, to Alice. The story is a wonderful mystery and the search for the elusive recipe leaves Alice and her friend Charlie to put the pieces together.


As an extra treat to this sweet book, each of the 14 chapters begin with one of Aunt Polly's famous pie recipes. 

You can read the first chapter of Pie on Sarah Weeks website.

and one fine morning

I'm re-reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald before the new movie comes out in December.
In the 2012 remake, Tobey Maguire will play the Fitzgerald-like character, Nick Carraway. And, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio.


The first sentence:
"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."


Read that sentence out loud... Can you hear the rhythm in that sentence? I love it.


Oh, and here's the advice that his father gave (in case you were wondering) :


"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

in literature, it refers to great whales...

When I was at The Learning Lab's Lunch for Literacy, I won the book - Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld.

Forget what you think you know about World War I ...

This story takes place in an alternate 1914 Europe. Fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek is on the run from the Clanker powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery. He forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn, a girl disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service. She is learning to fly genetically engineered beasts used by the Darwinists to fight the Clankers.


The narrative of the book alternates between the perspective of Alek... the son of the murdered Clanker nobles ...and that of Deryn... the daughter of a dead British Navy airman.


This book is the first in a series of three that are sure to entertain.


"You see, my grandfather's true realization was this: if you remove one element--the cats, the mice, the bees, the flowers--the entire web is disrupted. An archduke and his wife are murdered, and all of Europe goes to war. A missing piece can be very bad for the puzzle, whether in the natural world, or politics, or her in the belly of an airship."


Listen to the first chapter of the audio book for free.



Check out Scott Westerfeld's video tour of his office and how he does his research.

unshelved

among the dead

I have been trying to find time to read The Graveyard Book. It's in a pile on my bedside table.

But, today I made a miraculous discovery... you can watch Neil Gaiman read the entire story online... for free.