chrisholliman

Children's Librarian

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  • Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

     Plot: Jeffrey Magee is a an orphaned boy who blows into the town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania (a fictional place) one afternoon. Within the first day he has already made an impression on the neighborhood. He butts into an ongoing little league game and hits line drives off of ace pitcher John McNab. He strays…

  • Jasper Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware by M.T. Anderson

         Maybe you’ve been to that small wonder of the state of Delaware a time or two.  Perhaps you even reside there.  But you’ve never been to the one as crafted by M.T. Anderson in Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware.   This Delaware is “a realm of wonders and terrors, a land that time…

  • The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

    Synopsis: The first installment in a promising series, The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood is the story of a nanny and her 3 unique charges at an English estate in the early 19th century. Penelope Lumley is a 15 year old graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females.  Seeking work, she interviews at…

  • The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

    I continue my Oz reading with this second installment of Baum’s fantastical world.  I know that I’ll read at least one more if not two in the series. Plot:  Let’s get one thing out of the way: Dorothy is not in this one.  Our story opens in the Country of the Gillikins, the northern land…

  • The Squish Series by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

    Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm continue the amusing tone set in their Babymouse graphic novels with their new series Squish.  Last week I read the first two installments to my 5 year old daughter. Plot: Squish is a young amoeba who lives in a pond floating with other microorganisms including paramecium and planaria.  But life…

  • The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

    Any children’s librarian worth her salt (or his salt, in my case) needs to be familiar with L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz.  For my part, I have decided recently to read at least the first 3 or 4 books in the series.  I wanted to move beyond the initial book that Hollywood…

  • The Ravenmaster’s Secret by Elvira Woodruff

    Synopsis:  The year is 1735 and the place is the Tower of London.  Forrest Harper is an 11 year old boy who is the son of the prison’s Ravenmaster.  His days are spent tending to the birds, playing with his rat catching friend Ned, and providing meals to some of the prisoners.  Forrest longs for…

  • The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer

    You may not think that a book about Scrabble would keep you turning the pages, but Meg Wolitzer’s The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman kept me engaged. Duncan and his mother have just moved across the country to Drilling Falls, Pennsylvania to live with Aunt Djuna.  Just as he is settling into his new school,  Duncan…

  • From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

    Although I try to focus on recent Children’s and YA literature, I do slip the occasional classic into my reading mix.  I self consciously admit that there are many classics that I have not opened.  I wish that I was one of those Children’s Librarians who can truthfully claim that they have powered through all…

  • Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti by Frances Temple

         I often enjoy books that immerse me in other times and cultures, especially when I know very little about them.  Having little knowledge of modern politics in Haiti, Frances Temple’s A Taste of Salt was an engaging and eye opening book for me.  The story centers around two young characters: Djo and Jeremie.  Djo is…