Pamela Martinez

Reading a fictional novel can help pass the time; take you to places near or far, real or imaginary. This week’s article is on chapter books for kids–let their imaginations run wild!

You can find all of these chapter books on our New Book shelf in the Young Readers’ Room.

Starting off our list is book volume 8.5 of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series entitled “Unlocked.” This new volume will not disappoint fans of this Shannon Messenger series. It is filled with colored photos, character guides for many of the folks in the series, a map of the land and much more. This book was created to read after you’ve finished book 8 and before you read book 9, hence 8.5! Hurry to be the first patron to check it out!

Jumping to another wonderfully written adventure book by Newbery Medal winner Rodman Philbrick, “Wild River” will have readers sitting on the edge of their seats, quickly turning pages to continue the journey! White-water river rafting can be a fun outing, but, it can also be a scary endeavor. Read about middle school student, Daniel, and his other teammates who took a fun, free vacation, or so they think! Check it out soon and maybe you’d like to take a white-water river rafting trip too, or not?

How many of you have read the Stick Dog series written by Tom Watson? Well, if you have, the next volume is ready for you: “Stick Dog Takes Out Sushi.” In book eleven of the series, Stick Dog and his friends will lead you on another tummy busting, hysterical expedition. If you haven’t yet had the privilege to read any of these books, now is your chance! Written for readers ages 8 – 12, Stick Dog will have your reader laughing out loud and wanting more, sushi!

“Serena Says,” written by Tanita S. Davis, will help to shed some light on growing up and learning how to keep a friendship. Have your kids read a blog, written a blog, lost a friend or made new friends? Serena has done all of these things. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we could delete conversations or erase a bad memory? Serena thinks so. She keeps her blog, but never actually posts any of them. Maybe your child could start their own blog once they read what “Serena Says.”

Stuart Gibbs has written another fabulous chapter book for children entitled “Charlie Thorne and the Lost City.” This is book 2 of 2 in the series of Charlie Thorne. Have you ever been able to decipher a code? Charlie has, and now that she is on hiatus in the Galapagos Islands, she thinks this ‘vacation’ will be relaxing. But, how can someone as smart as Charlie not take an assignment that sounds so exciting? Will Charlie be able to decipher Charles Darwin’s code? Can she overcome the challenges and enemies who are on her trail? Check out this title to find out and maybe you can be the next reader to decipher a secret code?!

Some picture books are not just pictures, oh, no. Picture books can be full of beautiful, wonderful words, sprinkled together in an art form. Please check out these new picture books (with and without words) through our Books-to-Go program!

I remember as a child reading picture books that had no words… I became the storyteller. My words filled the pages with language and sentences that I deemed fit to tell the story to go along with the pictures!

My imagination was being developed through my eyes as they searched the illustrations, taking a thorough glance at each tiny line in the drawing. Let your child have the opportunity to develop their imagination with this next book suggestion.

The first choice this month is “Field Trip to the Ocean Deep” by John Hare. A wordless picture book that brings imagination to life! Let your children embrace their imaginations through storytelling. Let the pictures guide them through the pages of this underwater adventure! There are details that need to be seen and told. I can just about picture their little faces as they turn the page to continue the story, in their own words!

My next recommendation is written by Michael Karg and illustrated by Sophie Diao, entitled “I Am The Wind.” The story is written as a poem; the illustrations add that little bit extra to engage the reader into the book. Wind blows through every country in the world; the wild animals that are included on each page enhance the words to the next level. Well written and illustrated greatly, this book is a must read!

Bringing more nature to our recommendation of new books, the next must-read title is “I Talk Like a River,” written by Jordan Scott and illustrated by Sydney Smith. This is a personal account from the author of his experience as a little boy who had trouble saying words. This story will bring a bit of understanding to children about bullying as well. The illustrations are well done and the story, well, the story is truly amazing. Kudos to the author for sharing his childhood experience with us, to help us understand the difficulty some kids face.  Check out this story today and share it with someone you care about.

“Mr. Brown’s Bad Day,” written by Lou Peacock and illustrated by Alison Friend, is a sweet story about Mr. Brown. He is ‘a very important businessman’ traveling through the pages as he shares his day with the reader. Mr. Brown never leaves his very important briefcase behind; it goes everywhere Mr. Brown goes. What do you suppose Mr. Brown keeps in his very important briefcase, hmmm? Well, check out this book and you will find out what a very important man, er, tiger, keeps in his very important briefcase, at the end of the story!

“I Am One, A Book of Action,” written by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, is a lovely book for children to get up and get going to do something meaningful. Being kind, thoughtful and productive can lead to amazing results. This story is inspirational, a winner indeed!

Pamela Martinez is A.K. Smiley Public Library’s Youth Services Librarian.

Have you ever started a series of books and read through them so quickly that you were willing the author to hurry up and write the next one already?!

I have certainly done that more than I can count!! Once you start a series, you just want to keep reading until the very, very, very ending of the story!

Well, this week the Young Readers’ Room would like to recommend books in a series, specifically, the latest book of the series. If you have not started any of these yet, you may want to back track to the very first story and work your way up to the current and final volume.

Please start with the “Thunder Girls” series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams. You may recognize Joan Holub’s name from another popular series she wrote entitled “Goddess Girls.” The newest volume of this four-volume series (so far) is titled “Skade and the Enchanted Snow.” This final title will take you to the winter months, as Skade is the Goddess of skiing, which we know takes place in the chilled winter months, time for a summer reprieve! Part mystery, part adventure, part Norse mythology and magic, Skade and her team of dedicated friends will have you turning each page to find out what will happen next!

Next up for your continuous reading pleasure is by Margaret Peterson Haddix, one of my favorite authors, in book two of “Greystone Secrets:  The Deceivers.” Chess, Emma, and Finn are siblings who must go back to the other world for more mysterious happenings. The other world is a mirror of the ‘normal’ world, except that lies seem to be the truth. Can you imagine if you had to tell lies in order to survive…no truth telling at all? Find out what these three siblings, plus their friend Natalie, will do in order to make reality become truth.

Many of you have read the Treehouse books by Andy Griffiths, which started out with “The 13-Story Treehouse.” Well, the ninth book of the series has arrived! “The 117-Story Treehouse” is now ready for check-out! What other floors could Andy and Terry possibly add to the previous volume: “The 104-Story Treehouse?” These two, author and illustrator, have been creating amazing Treehouse books for seven years. Great fun and a great read indeed–you’ll want to start at the beginning of this series for sure with “The 13-Story Treehouse.”

Have you started the “Keeper of the Lost Cities” series yet? Well, you should read the first seven volumes before you start this brand new, eighth in the series “Legacy.” Book 8 does not disappoint. Sophie first began to wow us in the first of the series with “Keeper of the Lost Cities.” Sophie continues her quest for truth. There are so many lies, who can really make heads or tails of truth when they actually hear it? Sophie and her friendships are tested in this final volume. Can you bear to read it? If you have read the other seven, this is necessary for you!

The sixth and final book of the “Fairy Tale Reform School” series is here! “Cursed” by Jen Calonita will not disappoint. For those of you who have been faithful and read the other five, this final installment will leave you with a satisfied sigh! Rumpelstiltskin is the star of this story, or is it Gilly? Racing against time on a mission to save Enchantasia from the evil Stiltskin, Gilly and her friends have their hands full. The pirate ship and Gilly’s crew think they can handle the task at hand, but will they make it in time?

All of these titles are available through our Books-to-Go program here at the Library. You can reserve any book, magazine, book-on-CD or music CD by logging onto our website (www.akspl.org) and scrolling down to the Books-to-Go link under “Services” and reserving each book with your library card number. You can also give us a call in the Young Readers’ Room at (909) 798-7674; or email the Library at circ@akspl.org.

We have three options to help you keep your reading up during this pandemic while the Library is closed. We sure miss you all and hope to see you soon!

Great news for all of our Redlands Unified School District students and teachers: the Library is offering a free eLibrary Card to all RUSD students and teachers for the upcoming school year, 2020-2021! Please go to our website and fill out the Temporary eLibrary card application, and a staff member will contact you with your specific eLibrary card number.