Archive for category The Reading Room

loom isn't interested in playing in messy mud puddles with other pigs. She'd rather gallivant among pretty flowers. Bloom LOVES flowers and other pretty things. She also likes attention. And when a beautiful butterfly, a “flying flower” wafts by, she falls head over heels in love. But she soon learns that attraction is fleeting, and friendship brings a deeper, more satisfying love.

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Animals demonstrate different ways of saying, “Be my Valentine” in this small, gift-size offering. Die-cuts and flaps add an interactive dimension to gentle verse. Ladybugs “say it with spots,” in the shape of hearts; a pack of wolves says it by howling at the moon; and, behind a fence, two cows play banjo and tambourine, making “beautiful mooooosic.” Crocodiles say it “with smiles,” while a flock of birds flies “thousands of miles… to be home together.”

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Four mysterious letters change Miranda's world forever.

By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.

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Master storyteller Rodman Philbrick takes readers on a colorful journey as young Homer Figg sets off to follow his brother into the thick of the Civil War. Through a series of fascinating events, Homer's older brother has been illegally sold to the Union Army. It is up to Homer to find him and save him. Along the way, he encounters strange but real people of that era: two tricksters who steal his money, a snake-oil salesman, a hot-air balloonist, and finally, the Maine regiment who saved Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg and won the war for the Union. These historical people and places will educate and engage young readers about our nation's past–in one of the most decisive moments of American history. In Homer's inspiring fight to track down his brother, Philbrick brings us another groundbreaking novel.

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In award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney's wordless adaptation of one of Aesop's most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learn that no act of kindness is ever wasted. After a ferocious lion spares a cowering mouse that he'd planned to eat, the mouse later comes to his rescue, freeing him from a poacher's trap. With vivid depictions of the landscape of the African Serengeti and expressively drawn characters, Pinkney makes this a truly special retelling, and his stunning pictures speak volumes.

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*Elizabeth is the sister of past Celeb Spot mom (and author) Catherine Gilbert Murdock!

 At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous horrific divorces. Enough said.) 

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An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

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Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

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Patterned as a parody of the celebrated Clement Moore poem, this story of eight baby turkeys unfolds with joyous abandon and crackling vitality, as eight children embark on a Thanksgiving field trip that will change their lives forever. They are breathless as they catch sight of Farmer Mack Nuggett for the first time: "He was dressed all in denim, / From his head to his toe, / With a pinch of polyester / And a dash of Velcro."
 

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In the tradition of The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, this is a "garden tale" of farmer versus vermin, or vice versa. The farmers in this case are a vaguely criminal team of three stooges: "Boggis and Bunce and Bean / One fat, one short, one lean. / These horrible crooks / So different in looks / Were nonetheless equally mean."

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