Books Inc. Kids's blog

What a fun book! Both the poems and illustrations are excellent! Kids AND adults will enjoy the rhymes and humor. I felt it is comparable to Shel Sillverstein’s poetry collections. When I taught elementary school, I wrote music to some of Silverstein’s poems and my students performed a concert of his work.This collection screams for the same adaptation! All the monsters are here, from Dracula to the Mummy and from zombies to the Phantom of the Opera, in a variety of styles and formats. Children will want to read this book on more occasions than just Halloween!

Reviewed by: Darrell from Books Inc. Market St.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Mo LaBeau doesn’t know who her upstream mother is, but she DOES know that’s she’s lucky. Lucky that the Colonel picked her up off that river bank, lucky that Miss Lana cares for them both, and lucky that she lives in Tupelo Landing, a small town with people that support each other. So when a rash of murders hits the town, Mo finds herself an unlikely detective. It made me think of Because of Winn Dixie (in voice), and the murder mystery in a small town element of the Newbery Winner, Dead End in Norvelt. A charming, quick read that will sate voracious and reluctant readers alike. Ages 9+

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Dead old ladies. A dancing Hells Angel. Bloody noses. A Japanese rifle. There is more excitement, silliness, history and tall-tale telling in this book than should be able to fit in 300 pages. And yet, somehow, it works! Readers get to decide for themselves what’s real and what’s fiction in this tale BY Jack Gantos and ABOUT Jack Gantos as a little boy, in a tiny town called Norvelt. Brilliantly told and rife with humor, there’s a reason this one’s a Newbery Winner. It’s excellent. Ages 9+

I’ve been obsessed with Patrick Ness since reading his Chaos Walking Trilogy, which is just absolutely mind blowing (if you haven’t red it yet, start now) so I obviously had to pick up his newest book.

13 year old Connor wakes up night after night from the same nightmare which is so horrifying he is too terrified to put it into words, he is bullied at school and his Mom is fighting terminal cancer even though she won’t admit to him how truly sick she really is. He seeks solace in a Monster who visits him during the night to tell him three stories and expects Connor to tell him the fourth in return. I honestly feel like saying anything else about this book would be a disservice to it because without wasting a word Ness has gives us a transcendent novel about a type of grief and loss that none of us should have to suffer and how ultimately we can survive it.

Ages 12+

Revied by Shannon, Senior Children's Book Buyer for Books Inc.

My new favorite grandpa/ma book. Even though you think Grandpa Frank is boring because he dislikes anything new fangled, it’s amazing how interesting his stories can be at show-and-tell. I love this British author’s illustration style and how comforting this book can be for children who have not yet connected with a grandparent.

--Reviewed by Summer from Books Inc. Laurel Village