Nice and Mean by Jessica Leader

Published by Aladdin (An imprint of Simon & Schuster)

Pages: 272

Ages: 9-13

Goodreads Summary: Nice and Mean by Jessica Leader is a hilarious story about two girls–one nice, one mean– facing off in their middle school video elective.

“In the realm of middle school it means everything to be either the ‘mean’ girl or the ‘nice’ girl. Unfortunately for Sachi she’s definitely a nice girl, one with good grades and all the ambition she’s expected to have according to her parents. Well, in the world of tweens that just doesn’t cut it and it’s no longer enough for Sachi either. But her drive to prove she’s more than just a smart Indian girl may get her into trouble when she’s paired with the school’s leading fashionista and true ‘mean’ girl, Marina, for their elective video project.

“For those of you who may have forgotten or blurred your memories of the middle school years, let me remind you…they were tough, even for me, a typically white girl from the suburbs. Kids in that in be-’tween’ age group can be ruthless and often times this time becomes the proving grounds for the separating of new and old friends. It’s a place where most of us discovered where we ‘fit’ in the terms of which group; popular, band geek, nerd, jock, and so many more. There are some though, who like to try and blur even those lines. Sachi is one of these people. Too bad for her, Marina was firmly planted in the already ‘popular and mean‘ group.

“What I genuinely loved about Nice and Mean was the contrast between the two leading characters. Sachi and Marina couldn’t have been more different in the beginnings of the story. Sachi, obviously from a completely different country, with different beliefs, values and upbringing is the complete opposite of her counterpart. Marina, a well-to-do girl with hardly anyone telling her to change and providing her with her every whim is in need of a definite reality check. As their story continues and they are forced to work together, it’s their coming together that changes the entire dynamic of the story and brings a greater meaning to their relationship.

“As a debut author, Jessica Leader has done a wonderful job writing a story that will reach and even touch young readers. The struggles we all face during that difficult time of life are illustrated beautifully in not only the two main characters, but also their friends and acquaintances. Sachi’s desire to make a difference and blur those impossible lines that we all draw was definitely something I would love to share with any ‘tween’ girl struggling to make her own way. Nice and Mean is definitely a fun read, but also one that will stay with young readers for weeks after they’ve finished the last page.”

The1stdaughter Recommends:Ages 9 and up. The perfect read for your favorite “Tween”. Especially those struggling to blaze their own trail!

For the Comments: Did you fall into a specific group in middle/high school? Or were you a trail blazer?

This book was provided by Traveling ARC Tours for Review. Thank you!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with IndieBound.

Keeper by Kathi Appelt Illustrated by August Hall

Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers (An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)

Pages: 416

Ages: 8-12

Publishers Summary: To ten-year-old Keeper, this moon is her chance to fix all that has gone wrong…and so much has gone wrong. But she knows who can make things right again: Meggie Marie, her mermaid mother who swam away when Keeper was just three. A blue moon calls the mermaids to gather at the sandbar, and that’s exactly where she is headed — in a small boat, in the middle of the night, with only her dog, BD (Best Dog), and a seagull named Captain.

Happy Release Day to Barbara Dee, author of This Is Me From Now On!

First of all I have to say congratulations to Barbara and thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book! And thanks so much to Gina from Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers for helping put this great giveaway together! Last, make sure to pick up your copy of This Is Me From Now On in stores today!

Now, the winners!

The 1st winner, who will be receiving some book-inspired swag as well as their very own copy of This Is Me From Now On is:

Melissa Taylor from Imagination Soup!

The 2nd winner taking home the other great book-inspired swag is:

Melissa from YA Book Shelf!

Both winners should have an email in their in-box already. I need to hear back from you within 48 hours or the prizes will default to the next winner chosen via random.org.

Thank you again to everyone who entered! Make sure to visit our Giveaways Page for more contest info!

Want a second chance at winning? Take a look at Kris’ site The Cajun Book Lady for more fabulous This Is Me From Now On giveaway fun!

This Is Me From Now On was one of those books that I read straight through in one sitting, just because I enjoyed it so much. Because I enjoyed the writing so much I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know Barbara Dee a little bit better. So, in conjunction with my weekly “When I Was Young” interview I decided, who better than the author, Barbara Dee? Her love of writing and books is evident from the beginning. Enough of my babbling…on with the guest post:

When I was a little kid I loved Curious George, Little Bear and Ferdinand, but my number-one favorite character was definitely Russell Hoban’s Frances. I remember being about four years old, snuggling next to my mom on our squishy green sofa, and insisting that she read me BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES– over and over and over.

I’m not sure why I loved Frances so much. Maybe it was because even though she was a small, furry, black-and-white badger (drawn first by Lillian Hoban, later by Garth Williams) Frances seemed to me like a real kid. She knew what she liked (bread and jam) and what she didn’t (everything else, especially eggs). There was nothing irrational or arbitrary about this preference. She had it all worked out in her head:

“One of the reasons I like bread and jam,” said Frances, “is that it does not slide off your spoon in a funny way.”
“Well, of course,” said Father, “not everyone is fond of soft-boiled eggs for breakfast. But there are other kinds of eggs. There are sunny-side-up and sunny-side-down eggs.”
“Yes,” said Frances. “But sunny-side-up eggs lie on the plate and look up at you in a funny way. And sunny-side down eggs just lie on their stomachs and wait.”
“What about scrambled eggs?” said Father.
“Scrambled eggs fall off the fork and roll under the table,” said Frances.
“I think it’s time for you to go to school now,” said Mother.

To me this is just great writing. I love the timing of the dialogue, the way Father tries to “reason” with Frances, who has an answer for everything, and Mother ends the conversation before both parents totally lose it. (I’m not sure as a kid I appreciated how well Russell Hoban captured the parents’ side of every conversation, but believe me, I sure do now.) Actually, come to think of it, maybe BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES is what got me started with the kind of borderline-crazy family-at-mealtime dialogue I like to use in my own books!

I’ve also always loved Frances’ improvised food songs, from the rah-rah, jam-appreciation one she skips rope to at the beginning (“Raspberry, strawberry, gooseberry, I’m very/FOND…OF…JAM!”) to the last “little sad song” she sniffles at the end (“What I am/Is tired of jam”). Hoban doesn’t just inform the reader that Frances’ bread-and-jam obsession is waning—he shows it in the way her songs progressively lose steam. She’s a character with a strong, unique voice, and Hoban stands back and lets her sing.

Sometimes I like to wonder about characters ten or twenty years down the road from the story. It’s fun to think about Harriet the Spy in college, for example, or Elizabeth Bennet as a mom. When I think about Frances the Badger, I have no trouble imagining her as a teenager—pushing her parents’ buttons, blasting her music, and probably still avoiding sunny-side-up eggs.

Also, make sure to check out these two new videos Barbara’s done in preparation for the release of This Is Me From Now On:

“Barbara is an amazing person and a wonderful author. I love her choice for the book from her childhood that got her started and you can really see how it affected not only her love of books, but her writing as well. Thank you again, Barbara, for sharing your talent and your love of a great book, it was a delight to have you here at There’s A Book!”

Make sure to pick up her new book, This Is Me From Now On, out April 27, 2010 and for more about it check out my Review and Giveaway Here: This Is Me From Now On!
If you happen to be in the Chappaqua New York area make sure to stop by the Chappaqua Library at 7pm on April 27, 2010 for a Publication Day Launch Party and book signing you won’t want to miss!

This book was provided by Barbara Dee for review.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee

Published by Aladdin (Division of Simon & Schuster)

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

Pages: 272

Ages: 9-12

Publishers Summary: Sometimes your life just needs a little jolt.
This is what Evie’s new friend Francesca tells her, and soon enough, Evie’s life has had something more like an earthquake. Francesca thinks life is dull unless you go after everything you want and say everything on your mind all the time–and sometimes that includes giving other people a little behind the scenes help to give them what she thinks they want.
Evie can’t always tell if she’s horrified or fascinated by everything Francesca convinces her to do, but ultimately, she comes to see friendship–and life–in a whole new light.

Stayed tuned for a very special giveaway along with Gina from Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers to celebrate the release of This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee!

“In almost everyone’s life there’s that one person, the one who changes you for better or worse. They aren’t always someone you love or even hate. Sometimes they aren’t even someone you talk to, but someone who you’ve seen from afar. They manage to change the tilt of the world just slightly, it seems, and before you know it your attitude about everything is different. This is was Francesca becomes for Evie and in Evie’s case she finds the truest friend she could have ever hoped for.

“This Is Me From Now On is one of those books that I fell into and didn’t get up from until the very last page. In the beginning pages of the book I couldn’t help but feel that the writing actually reminded me of what I read in When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (who, as many of you know, won the Newbery Award this year). It was wonderful. There was an immediate connection with each of the characters, but most of all Evie and Francesca. Barbara Dee is definitely an author to watch for and enjoy.

“As for the story itself, I loved it. As I mentioned it reminded me a lot of When You Reach Me with a bit of The Babysitters Club thrown in. Evie’s new neighbor and now ‘friend’, Francesca, is something of an anomaly. Her clothes are odd, her behavior is sporadic at best and she doesn’t seem to have a care in the world with the exception of being consumed with love and fate. Evie, on the other hand, has grown up under the spotlight of her honor-roll straight A older sister and is expected to do just as well. So, needless to say, when she is partnered with Francesca for an important school project it’s not the optimal scenario she was hoping for.

“Through a series of silly and sometimes laughable situations Evie and Francesca begin to understand each other. Their friendship, though sometimes unconventional, becomes something they both cherish and for completely different reasons.

“I absolutely adored this book. It’s perfect for middle grade readers all the way through adults because I believe there are valuable lessons to be learned and it’s also a really fun read. Sometimes we all can get stuck in a rut, with our heads to focused on a specific outcome and it’s nice to have a ‘Francesca’ by our side to occasionally change our perspective. And then, there are those of us with our heads continually in the clouds who sometimes need a little nudge from the ‘Evie’s’ in our lives. Sometimes we do need a little jolt and this book is exactly that, a little jolt and an enjoyable one at that. I highly recommend this book and encourage everyone in need of their own ‘jolt’ to pick it up!”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 9 and up (all the way to adults). Readers of Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me will absolutely adore this book!

For the Comments: Is there someone like that in your life now or in the past that’s affected you in such a way that you are forever changed? Who and how so?

Links of Interest:
Author – Barbara Dee
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – On Twitter
There’s A Book – On Twitter

Giveaway! ONE Lucky Winner will win there very own “Swag Bag” that includes some of Evie and Francesca’s favorite things courtesy of Barbara Dee as well as a copy of This Is Me From Now On courtesy of There’s A Book! Open until April 26, 2010 at midnight EST. US/Canada Residents only.

Please fill out the form to enter the Giveaway and make sure to stop by Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers for another chance to win!

The Contest is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered! Make sure to check back for more great giveaways and read our “Giveaways” page for what is available now.

This book was provided by the author for review. Thank you!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree, and The Wrath of Mulgrath

by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books

Pages: 672 Total (5 books)

Ages: 9-12

Publisher’s Summary: It all started with a mysterious letter left at a tiny bookstore for authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Its closing lines: “We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone.” Little could they imagine the remarkable adventure that awaited them as they followed Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace and a strange old book into a world filled with elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, and a fantastical menagerie of other creatures. The oddest part is in entering that world, they didn’t leave this one!

“Beautiful books. Before I go any further I need to talk about the illustrations and the books themselves. I’m a sucker for a gorgeous book with deckle edge and amazing illustrations which this set of books has in spades. Each book has an illustrated cover that carries on throughout the entirety of the story. As I turned the pages I found myself wanting to find another piece of art to admire and enhance my reading; I wasn’t disappointed. Toni DiTerlizzi did an amazing job with these books, as he does with all of his books, and brings to life something you would normally only be able to dream about. For me personally I think it’s something appealing to both boys and girls, beautiful, but definitely gruesome enough for the toughest boy.

“Being as I’m a huge fan of anything by Holly Black I read these with great anticipation. In fact I read the entire series in a matter of hours. Black’s imagination coupled with the imagery of DiTerlizzi was astounding. Most of the time I think I read these types of books because as a child I was wholly too serious and as an adult I need a reprieve. It’s just hard for me to believe any individual could come up with a story full of imaginary characters and things/places that you had never heard of. But Black does it with such ease that I’m sure she’s lived there her entire life.

“As for the story of the three Grace children…normal, typical every day kids doing what more than half of America’s children do, cope with divorced parents and moving on with life. Only to have their world flipped upside down, but not by their parents, but a fantastical world they never knew existed until moving to their Aunt Lucinda’s home. Jared stumbles upon a secret room filled with treasures from his great grandfather’s past as well as a field guide that changes their view of the world forever.

“I will warn, some of the situations and images in these books are a bit graphic. Depending on how sensitive your child is you may want to wait until they are a bit older to have them read them or they may end up with a few bad dreams. With that one exception I will say these are wonderful books, one’s that I will definitely be sharing with my own kiddos when they are a bit older.”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 10 and up for both boys and girls who love to imagine something amazing begins outside their very own doorstep!

“On a side note, there are three new books in the series and the third has just recently come out. Watch the trailer for it below:”

These books were given to me as a gift for my birthday last year for use in our home library.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.