Just for Kids
Summer 2019 - A Universe of Stories
Check out all our summer A Universe of Stories programming in our brochure (PDF). Sign up for a reading log with programs for all ages! Call Peggy at 375-6153 for more information or with any questions.
"Let's Do Nothing"
by Tony Fucile
This book was the 2011 winner of the Red Clover Award, which is given by kids voting for their favorite book.
This book is very funny. It is about two boys who are friends. They have done everything they can think of and so they decide to do NOTHING!
One of them has a very big imagination and so it is very hard for him to sit still and - DO NOTHING.
"Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom!"
by Kelly DiPucchio
The whole concept of this story is sure to be a winner with kids familiar with messy rooms of their own that seem impossible to clean up, containing too many wonderful bits of string, rock, and odd bits and pieces that have no apparent value to an adult.
But it is the wonderful illustrations that make this book SO outstanding. I must have spent half an hour (or more!) pouring over each page, making sure I had seen it all. My favorite item in Mrs. McBloom's classroom is the gopher that has his tunnel and den under the exploding model of a volcano.
"Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog"
by Cynthia Rylant
If you're just learning to read, we have a lot of beginning readers for you. There are books about dogs, books about cars, books about children like you. One of my favorite books is Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, by Cynthia Rylant. Mr. Putter and his fine cat, Tabby, live next door to Mrs. Teaberry and her small dog, Zeke. One day Mrs. Teaberry slips and hurts her foot, so she can't take Zeke out for his walk. Mr. Putter agrees to walk Zeke, but he gets into all kinds of adventures with Zeke. Some of the things that happen are funny, and the pictures made me laugh. If you want a funny book, come and borrow one of our many books about Mr. Putter and Tabby.
"The Wizard of Dark Street"
By Shawn Thomas Odyssey
It is 1877, and 12-year-old Oona Crate is the Wizard's Apprentice of Dark Street. Dark Street is the last of thirteen Faerie roads connecting the World of Man with the World of Faerie. There are gates at both ends. The gate at the World of Man opens onto a street in New York City once a day, for one minute at the stroke of midnight. The gate of the World of Faerie remains closed.
Being the Wizard's Apprentice is an important task, but what Oona longs to be is a detective. Soon enough she must become a detective and solve one of the most important cases imaginable. Her helpers are Deacon, a black raven that can talk, and Samuligan, the Wizard's faerie servant.
There are lots of suspects (as there are in any good classical type mystery) and she must use logic to solve the mysteries that surround her. Dark Street is a magical place, filled with witches, an odd faerie or two and goblins.
The Wizard of Dark Street is a well plotted story that would stand up favorably against any "adult" mystery. The necessary clues are there, if you can see them; the outcome logical. And there is the magic element that makes it so much fun. It is more of a mystery than a book about magic.