Scary Books

In honor of Halloween, Mrs. Wilson and I have picked our favorite scary books in the IMC. We hope you will enjoy them, too.

Mrs. Wilson liked: The House with a Clock in Its Walls, by John Bellairs -- Hunters of the Dusk, by Darren Shan (one of the Cirque du Freak series) -- Old Willis Place, by Mary Downing Hahn -- All the Lovely Bad Ones, by Mary Downing Hahn (a Caudill 2010 nominee) -- The Silver Kiss, by Annette Curtis Klause.

I liked: All the Lovely Bad Ones -- The Dollhouse Murders, by Betty Ren Wright -- The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury -- The House with a Clock in Its Walls -- The Silver Kiss.

As you can see we agreed on 3 of the 5 books. We often think alike.

If you prefer a humorous book to a scary one, try Vampire High, by Douglas Rees. Happy Halloween!

Spooky Books for a Dark Night

It's time to get into the "spirit" of the holiday. The IMC has several new books that can help you.

For information books, we have 2 new books - one on haunted houses and one on witches. These books are from a series called The Mystery Library. Each book examines the history, investigations, and mystery of its topic. There are lots of photographs that show people and events. Just the right kind of nonfiction for Halloween.

There are a number of new fiction books that are spooky, scary, or just plain creepy. You may want to look at Bunnicula, an old favorite about a vampire bunny by Deborah and James Howe OR Heck, Where the Bad Children Go, by Dale E. Basge OR Danger in the Dark, by Tom LaLicki, a mystery which features Harry Houdini, the great escape artist OR Shadowmancer, by G.P. Taylor which involves the forces of good and evil OR The Witches of Worm, another old favorite by Zilpha Keatley Snyder about a girl who wants to become a witch OR a new book by Ms. Snyder called The Unseen about a ghostly world OR Death Is a Lonely Business, by Ray Bradbury, a mystery featuring the author himself and many strange events. These and other terrific holiday books are availble in the IMC.

New Poetry Series

We are expanding our poetry collection with new additions from the Poetry for Young People series. These slim, brightly illustrated volumes present poems and excerpts from longer works by such famous poets as Robert Frost, Robert Browning, Edward Lear, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Shakespeare. These are the type of books that you can dip into at any time. Read a poem here or there --or use the book when your class is studying poetry and impress your teacher. Each book has a short introduction which highlights the poet's life and work. The newest additions are in the New Book section. For the volumes we already have look in the literature section of the non-fiction collection where the call numbers begin with 811 or 821.

Is This the Future?

In the year 2074, in Pete Hautman's book Rash, people are very, very safety conscious. In the United Safer States of America (USSA) french fries are illegal, football is banned, and outbursts of anger are taken very seriously because people must be protected. Teenager Bo Marsten learns this the hard way. When his temper flares out of control, he is sentenced to three years of manual labor in the Canadian tundra. Now he works in a factory where the warden cares nothing about the safety of his prisoners. If Bo can survive his sentence, he will have to decide what's worse - a society where people are locked up for road rage or a prison where the wrong move could make you a polar bear's dinner.

Great New Books

I have three new books to tell about this week. I just can't wait to drag them out one at a time. So follow along --

Masterpiece by Elisa Broach is an art theft story that starts with a beetle who is fascinated with us humans. Marvin the beetle with his parents and aunts and uncles and cousins live in the walls of an apartment in New York City. When the human boy James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin just cannot resist the temptation to try them out. And Marvin has talent! His drawings look exactly like long-lost drawings by Albrecht Durer. When Marvin and James get involved with faking some miniature drawings for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to lure art thieves, the twists and turns of this story pop right out.

Blood Red Horse by K, M, Grant is a story of Richard the Lionhearted and the Crusade to free Jerusalem from Saracen control. The horse Hosanna is chosen by Will to be his knight's charger even though the horse is smaller in stature than most chargers. Will and his brother Gavin and their father sail with King Richard to the Holy Land to wage war. When Hosanna is captured by Kamil, a friend of the Sultan Saladin, Will is afraid he will never see his horse again. There are battle scenes, long marches, sea disasters and a peak at what was happening on the home front while all the time the reader is wondering if Will ever gets Hosanna back.

Regarding the Bathroom by Kate Klise is another wildly humorous story like her Rebecca Caudill nominee Regarding the Fountain. In this book you will need to put on your thinking caps because it is NOT a narrative. The story is told through a series of letters, memos, pictures, and newspaper articles. The same class that meet Florence Waters in Regarding the Fountain are back with a story from summer school. Nobody wants to have regular school so their teacher encourages everyone to volunteer for the summer. One student works at the newspaper, one works for the mayor, one works for the historical society, one works for the school principal, and two start their own private investigation agency when the sheriff turns them down. Be sure to enjoy all the puns in this book, especially of people's names. Sometimes you have to say the name out loud to hear the pun. Have fun and you will soon be chuckling.