The Five Stones Summer Reading Blog Tour: Collect all four and seek the fifth!

Source: Goodreads

Move over, Narnia. The journey to Ayda has begun.

The journey to Ayda begins when five children sneak out for a quick boat ride on a summer day. Engulfed in a curtain of dense, powerful fog, they are transported from the rocky Maine coast to the mysterious island of Ayda. Rescued by Seaborne, a machete-toting wayfarer of few words, the children suddenly find themselves at the center of a centuries-old battle between Dankar, the ruler of Exor, and three siblings that rule the other realms of Ayda. 

At stake are the four stones of power and the elusive Fifth Stone that connects them all. When 9-year-old Frankie is kidnapped by Dankar, her older sister Evelyn and the three Thompson brothers must learn to harness the powers of the daylights, ancient forces of earth, fire, water, and air, in order to navigate their way through the realms of Ayda, save her, and find a way home

THE FOG OF FORGETTING will appeal to a wide audience from middle grade to YA readers who love action, adventure, and intrigue. And although you’ll forget time while reading this novel, the story reminds us that family is one thing that can never be forgotten.

Starting TODAY, you can register to win one of the five necklaces mentioned in The Fog of Forgetting. Use the Rafflecopter form below the image to register. Giveaway ends at midnight, July 23rd. 

Please be sure to visit the author's website  for more information about the book. 

Exor necklace

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 6-23-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (IMWAYR) is a weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to encourage others to share the books they are reading each week. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers added the "From Picture Books to YA" element to Sheila's idea. Many thanks to these four women for creating a fun way to share our reading lists. Please be sure to visit their blogs and see what they've read over the past week. 

The Ninja Librarians Recon Team Week 5

It's Week 5 of The Ninja Librarians Recon Team as we continue working to promote Jen Swann Downey's brilliant book - The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand. For those of you who might not be familiar with the book, it (finally) came out four days ago. Yes, I called a middle grade book for children "brilliant" because there's an important lesson in the book: censorship. The motif of The Ninja Librarians is making sure mankind continues to progress through creative thinking by rescuing historical figures who are in danger for challenging the status quo. For more information about this motif, please read my original book review of The Ninja Librarians. 

In any case, a new week with The Ninja Librarians Recon Team means a new topic. Here are the questions for week 5: 

Which historical figure would you like to be an apprentice for?  What would you like to learn from them (or get from them, since clearly Marcus has no intention of learning gardening….)?

The Ninja Librarians Recon Team Week 4

Now that the Texas Library Association annual conference is over, it's time to go back to my favorite middle grade book of 2014 - The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey. It's now four days away from the book's release, and I'm incredibly excited about finally getting a published copy of it.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3-31-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week.  For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

Q & A with The Ninja Librarians author Jen Swann Downey

That's the official book cover for Jen Swann Downey's debut novel, The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand which is set for release on April 15th. I've been waiting for this release since December when I read the galley. The wait has been driving. me. nuts. 

Thankfully, I was invited to become a part of the Ninja Librarians Recon Team, and that's helped me deal with the very long wait for the book's release. As part of my recon assignment, I approached Jen about answering a few questions about the book. Be sure to read through to the end of the Q&A for a sneak peek at the first chapter of The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3-17-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week.  For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

Book Trailer for The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey

Back in December, I wrote a review for The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by debut author Jen Swann Downey. When I shared my review on Twitter, I mentioned the author in my tweet. The tweet grabbed her attention, and Jen and I started communicating. At one point I asked whether she had considered making a book trailer. Meanwhile, I was secretly dying to make one myself because I loved the book that much. I tried not making one but I wasn't very successful. I made the first version of the book trailer, then shared it with Jen.

What started out as my own little pet project to share with my students to encourage them to read The Ninja Librarians unexpectedly turned into a collaborative project with the author herself. I know without a doubt that if anyone asked whether she deserves any credit for this book trailer, Jen would say, "No, it was all Monica." Because she's just that humble. In all honesty, Jen provided insight and a fresh set of eyes that made the book trailer even more appealing to young readers.

This has to be the coolest experience I've ever had as a librarian.

I'd also like to mention the music used in this book trailer. The song is "Restless Sea" by Indie rock band Windsor Drive. If you enjoy the music, you might want to check out the entire song on SoundCloud, then buy a copy of the song. I purchased it for $.99 on iTunes.

Without further ado, here's the book trailer for The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand.

The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand is set to be released April 15, 2014. You can follow Windor Drive on Twitter at @WindsorDrive . Jen Swann Downey is also on Twitter at @jenswanndowney. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3-3-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week.  For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

As someone who grew up painfully shy, I love reading books that have strong, independent female characters. I happily found several books featuring such main characters in my selected readings over the past week. 

It's Monday! What are you reading? 2-3-2014

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week.  For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1-20-14

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is weekly challenge begun by Sheila at Book Journey to blog about the books readers enjoy each week. I've enjoyed posts by several members of my PLN, and I'm excited to finally take the plunge into It's Monday! What Are You Reading? For some wonderful reading suggestions, please visit Teacher Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers, who took Sheila's It's Monday! What are You Reading? challenge and gave it a kid lit twist.

Book Review: The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson

The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The Mark of the Dragonfly is a coming of age story about a girl named Piper. Only thirteen years old, Piper lives in Scrap Town Sixteen as an orphaned "scrapper" after the recent death of her father and struggles to make a living by repairing broken machinery.

2014 Reading Goal and TBR List

This year I'm trying something new with my reading goals, thanks to Goodreads. I've never really kept track of books that I've read but now that I have a Goodreads account, I thought it'd be fun to create a list of the books I want to read this year and create a reading goal. (After all, I need to model reading habits for my students, right?) 

 For the time being, my goal is to read 300 books in 2014. 

Book Review: The Ninja Librarians by Jen Swann Downey

When I got my ARC of The Ninja Librarians by Jen Swann Downey (@jenswanndowney) over the weekend, I was thrilled. It seems like I waited forever to get approval for the ARC. I must admit, it was the title itself that attracted my attention. Ninjas are awesome! Librarians are awesome(r)!  Put the two together, and it’s an explosion of awesomeness. At least, that’s what was going on in my mind as I requested the preview of The Ninja Librarians from NetGalley.

Book Review: Suitcase of Stars

Suitcase of Stars by Pierdomenico Baccalario
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley for a review.

I really enjoyed reading Suitcase of Stars. It's an interesting tale about a boy, Finley McPhee, who gets caught skipping school and must spend the summer working around his village as restitution. While working as a postman, Finley meets Aiby Lily, a girl surrounded by mystery and secrets.