The Buckeye Children's Book Award

The winners and nominees of this award are chosen by the children of Ohio. This years winners include:

The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cracker by Cythia Kadohata

All these books are available through the Newton Falls Public Library. Check one out today! Check out the BCBA website for more information about how these books are chosen and how you can nominate your favorite book next year.

Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Muscle Man McGinty is a liar, but no one else on the block seems to notice. Tamara, however, is not fooled. She's had enough of Muscle Man's whoppers, and it's time to show everyone just what kind of kid he is. During one lonely summer in 1969 Tamara comes to terms with the loss of her best friend, and the rotten liar who took her place in the foster home across the street, as well as the consequences of a faraway war, and an even further away moon mission.

View all my reviews >>

Choose Your Own Mystery

Read our story so far and vote to the right. Check back here weekly, for more installments and help us write a mystery.





They were coming for me. I could just see the dark shapes stumbling over the hill, their hair and cloaks whipping in the wind. The storm was rising, and would be good cover for my escape. I turned and fled into the night. Stumbling downhill and splashing across the creek, icy fear crept up my spine, and cold rain poured down on my head. I must find shelter. Downhill to the right I spied an abandoned barn. “Better to avoid people altogether,” I thought, and turned toward the ramshackle barn. It looked rather run down, but was dry and smelled only of old straw. I climbed into the loft, curled up in the hay, and slept until dawn. When the sound of birds singing awoke me, I was stiff with damp and cold, but relieved that it was once again light. Climbing down to the barn floor I noticed an old nag munching hay in the corner. She easily let me saddle her, and I climbed on her back and headed for the open road, but which direction? Back toward town, where the police might believe my story, and help, or into the forest where I could hide until a better plan came to mind.

Vote to the right.

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	863	4
Smithtown Sliders	726	7
Presley's Way	710	8
The Ghost	1098	1
The Bambino's	844	6
The Thunder Kats	672	9
Seattle Devils	962	3
Mighty Monsters	857	5
Bald Guy and the Brunette	1077	2

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	837	4
Smithtown Sliders	699	7
Presley's Way	689	8
The Ghost	1039	1
The Bambino's	803	6
The Thunder Kats	644	9
Seattle Devils	918	3
Mighty Monsters	837	4
Bald Guy and the Brunette	1031	2

Illustration

This illustration is by Morgan from her favorite book.

The Gingerbread Girl

Review by Morgan

Characters: Lonely old man and woman, gingerbread girl, farmers, piggy, artist, cow and calf, three dogs, man children, teachers and fox.
Setting: Lonely old man and woman's house, field, path, school, river, countryside.
About this book: This book is about a lonely old man and the lonely old woman bake a gingerbread girl figuring she would be too sweet to run away from home. When they open the oven it seems all to familiar. And she ran away.

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	779	4
Smithtown Sliders	660	7
Presley's Way	646	8
The Ghost	966	1
The Bambino's	744	6
The Thunder Kats	587	9
Seattle Devils	822	3
Mighty Monsters	770	5
Bald Guy and the Brunette	951	2

Illustration

This drawing by Samantha, Age 8, is from her favorite book.

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	739	4
Smithtown Sliders	625	7
Presley's Way	605	8
The Ghost	896	1
The Bambino's	689	6
The Thunder Kats	521	9
Seattle Devils	765	3
Mighty Monsters	691	5
Bald Guy and the Brunette	859	2

Karen's Witch by Ann M. Martin

Book Review by Alyson, Grade 3

This book was about a girl spying on her neighbor. Karen was sure a witch lived there. Karen and Hannie planned some magic and rhymes. I liked this book because it was a mystery and it was scary.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

Book Review by Olivia, Age 5

I like this book. I like when the one guy says it is a duck because it is eating bread, and the other guy says, "No, silly, it's a rabbit because it is eating a carrot!" It is funny. I read it three times, and it made me laugh.

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	609	2
Smithtown Sliders	519	7
Presley's Way	515	8
The Ghost	750	1
The Bambino's	615	3
The Thunder Kats	477	9
Seattle Devils	613	4
Mighty Monsters	593	6
Bald Guy and the Brunette	714	2

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	560	4
Smithtown Sliders	486	8
Presley's Way	489	7
The Ghost	682	1
The Bambino's	560	4
The Thunder Kats	436	9
Seattle Devils	565	3
Mighty Monsters	545	6
Bald Guy and the Brunette	651	2

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	444	6
Smithtown Sliders	422	7
Presley's Way	422	7
The Ghost	557	1
The Bambino's	457	3
The Thunder Kats	362	8
Seattle Devils	456	4
Mighty Monsters	450	5
Bald Guy and the Brunette	522	2

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	3176/td>	5
Smithtown Sliders	367	6
Presley's Way	365	7
The Ghost	491	1
The Bambino's	380	4
The Thunder Kats	303	9
Seattle Devils	392	3
Mighty Monsters	359	8
Bald Guy and the Brunette	422	2

Lucky Breaks by Susan Patron

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lucky is about to turn eleven, and life is good. Her new mother is learning more about mothering every day with Lucky's help, her friend Lincoln is as steady and steadfast as ever, and it looks like Lucky might even have a new friend, and this time, it's a girl. But then stuff starts going wrong. Lucky can't quite figure out why she feels so mad at Lincoln, or so worried about what her new friend's parents will think of the little town of Hard Pan, but with the help of the same band of motley characters who appeared in The Higher Power of Lucky, she'll figure it all out.


View all my reviews.

Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Home P. Figg has got to find his brother before he's lost in the greatest battle of the Civil War. Harold was tricked into enlisting in the Union Army, and it's all Homer's fault, so Homer runs away from his small Maine town, and works his way south, using his excellent talent for lying to wiggle out of all kinds of scrapes and predicaments along the way. Don't miss this excellent new tall and twisted tale by one of my most favorite authors.


View all my reviews.

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	3176/td>	5
Smithtown Sliders	367	6
Presley's Way	365	7
The Ghost	491	1
The Bambino's	380	4
The Thunder Kats	303	9
Seattle Devils	392	3
Mighty Monsters	359	8
Bald Guy and the Brunette	422	2

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	257	5
Smithtown Sliders	228	8
Presley's Way	246	6
The Ghost	314	1
The Bambino's	277	2
The Thunder Kats	224	9
Seattle Devils	259	4
Mighty Monsters	245	7
Bald Guy and the Brunette	268	3

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	193	6
Smithtown Sliders	171	8
Presley's Way	195	4
The Ghost	248	1
The Bambino's	212	2
The Thunder Kats	145	9
Seattle Devils	209	3
Mighty Monsters	192	7
Bald Guy and the Brunette	194	5

My Team Baseball

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	150	2
Smithtown Sliders	127	5
Presley's Way	119	6
The Ghost	175	1
The Bambino's	139	3
The Thunder Kats	95	9
Seattle Devils	129	4
Mighty Monsters	110	8
Bald Guy and the Brunette	115	7

My Team Baseball

The 2009 Baseball Season has begun, and I have the scores from our first week of My Team Baseball. Each team below was chose by a library patron from a roster of current MLB players. The scores are based on stats earned by each player. Check here each week to see the current standings.

Team	Score	Rank
Bald Guy and the Blonde	95	2
Smithtown Sliders	51	7
Presley's Way	49	8
The Ghost	97	1
The Bambino's	70	4
The Thunder Kats	44	9
Seattle Devils	73	3
Mighty Monsters	56	6
Bald Guy and the Brunette	57	5

Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Three tiny kittens are abandoned along a highway, and found by several stray cats. The kittens quickly becomes the favorites of the scraggly bunch of lost cats, but their fate is threatened by a construction project that will destroy the small woods that is their home. With some quick thinking and a little bit of magic, can the cats save themselves and the kittens?


View all my reviews.

Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A young rabbit, who is known for being a bit different, befriends a scholarly dragon, and must defend him against the overexcited townsfolk. A good tale with great characters.


View all my reviews.

Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan W. Eckert

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting story, that lacks some interest for kids, as it focuses a bit too much on the adults in the story, and their reaction to events. When six-year-old Ben is on his own the story gets much more gripping.


View all my reviews.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
J.K. Rowling gives us another glimpse at the world of Harry Potter in this short book of wizard fairy tales. The book is mentioned in the last few volumes of the Harry Potter series, and Rowling makes it more interesting to Potter fans by adding Albus Dumbledore's personal notes on each story. We can feel like insiders by reading his thoughts on each story and what the tales tell us about wizards through history. This is a fun and short read to satisfy all those fans who miss Harry's adventures.


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The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great by Gerald Morris

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you are a fan of sword fighting heroes, no one is quite as good a Sir Lancelot the Great. These stories are a funny twist on some well known tales, and made me laugh while I read them. The illustrations are just as silly as the stories. I'm hoping this is part of a series.


View all my reviews.

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book deserves all it's honors (Newbery Honor, National Book Award Nominee) for its beautiful and lyrical writing, but I couldn't help being thrown off by how often the story jumps from character to character, storyline to storyline. It took some time for me to sort out who was who, and when, because the short chapters don't give you much time to get to know anyone, before you are yanked away to another time. I did, however, love the trees. They are practically a main character in their own right, and they were great.


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Our Farm: Four Seasons with Five Kids on One Family's Farm by Michael J. Rosen

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book has some really great pictures, and the text is mostly quotes from the kids on the farm, so it's fun to read too. The farm is in central Ohio, and looks a whole lot like farms you will find around here. My favorite part were the "by the numbers" pages for each season which give funny statistics like how many pounds of manure a cow produces each day.


View all my reviews.

And The Winner Is......

The winner of this year's Caldecott Medal is:

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Over the past few months, kids in our local schools have been reading past Caldecott Winners, and looking at new books eligible for the award this year. Check out their choices below. Stop by the library to check them out for yourself.

Second Mock Caldecott

48 first grade students at Newton Falls Elementary school cast their votes today for their favorite book of 2008. They chose:





























as their Mock Caldecott Award Winner.

In October, they also chose:



Don't forget to check here on Monday to see who the next Caldecott Winner will be.

The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Fleischman's biographies always look bigger than they are, but don't be put off by the size. This book is filled with pictures, and printed in large readable type. It's also hilarious; stuffed with Twain quotes as well as some really funny descriptions by Fleischman. Honestly, I sometimes wondered whose voice I was hearing, the author, or Twain himself.


View all my reviews.

Kids Pick Their Favorite

This past Tuesday, at our Mock Caldecott Election, students were invited to view several picture books published in the last year, and pick a favorite. These are their choices:

Doggone Dogs by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow


And Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is not actually eligible for the Caldecott Award as neither author nor illustrator are American, but our students liked their work.



For a list of past winners of this award, check out this website.

On January 26th, the American Library Association will announce the winner of the 2009 Caldecott Award.

For any knitting club member, and anyone else who may be interested, here are a few of my favorite knitting links:

Free Knitting Patterns

Knitting Help- Great for videos, a glossary, and lots of explanations about anything knitting related. (Note, use the English videos when available, not the Continental.)

YouTube also has many knitting videos. This one shows the cast on method that we use.

This one is similar to the cast on I use for my projects.

Here is a simple knit stitch.

Here is a simple pearl stitch.

And here is a simple bind off.

And finally, for the coolest new patterns, try Knitty.com.

Family Movie: Horton Hears a Who

We're showing another hit movie on our big screen. Bring the whole family and enjoy Horton Hear a Who with us on January 15 at 5:30 PM.