Kate and M. Sarah Klise

I do love the way these two sisters team up to tell their stories in "stuff"-- letters, chalkboards, newspaper clippings and advertisements, pictures, and school assignments. All with good humor and silly puns and other word play.

Regarding the Bees: A Lesson, in Letters, on Honey, Dating, and Other Sticky Subjects Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise

This is the last book in the Regarding The... series. The kids in Mr. N's class are back. This year though, Sam's filling in while Principal Walter Russ is on leave, so the erstwhile Florence Waters is the class's sub, via correspondence, of course! Big issues loom--mainly the standardized testing and spelling bee. Florence can't see a use for such things, but the kids don't want to repeat a grade! Plus, there's a teacher in a neighboring town that takes these things very, very seriously.

It was time to end this series. The kids are growing up (lots of awkward romance in this one) and the basic premise of everything and the characters had run their course.

It was a lovely addition to the series, though and fans will want to pick it up.

BUT! There's a new series! Same format, different characters and plot!

Dying to Meet You: 43 Old Cemetery Road Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise

I. B. Grumply is a children's author who is a year behind on the latest installment of his next book.

Seymour Hope is a young boy abandoned by his parents.

Olive C. Spence is a ghost. When she was alive, she was an unsuccessful author of mysteries. She built the rambling house at 43 Cemetery Road and haunts it still.

Seymour and Olive are the best of friends, but when Mr. Grumply rents out the house, he is horrified to discover it's already occupied. All Grumply wants is to be left alone so he can finish this stupid book in peace. All his editors and lawyers want is a book so he can start paying off his massive debts. All Seymour wants is for Grumply to leave and to raise enough money to buy the house he loves so much. All Olive wants is for Seymour to have a family that is actually alive.

A great premise and lots of fun. This one is mostly letters, a few newspaper clippings and drawings by Seymour. It's a ghost story, but a friendly one and not at all scary. Like the Klises' previous works, it's very funny and sure to be a hit with lower middle grade readers.

Sequels I've Neglected--Kid Lit

So, you know how when you are totally in love with a series and you pre-order the next volume as soon as possible and then just kinda drop everything to read it when it comes through the door? Please tell me I am not the only person like this.

Anyway, here are some books that fall in that category. I read these most of these day they came out. I'm just slow to talk about them.

The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney.

Ok, I didn't preorder this. But I totally pre-reserved it at the library. If anything, this book is scarier, creepier, and grosser than the first one. And possibly even better.

Thomas Ward and the Spook are off to Priestown (which, as you can imagine, is a town full of Priests, and they're never fans of Spooks). The Bane is an evil thing that crushes its victims flat and is starting to control the minds of the people living near its prison, in the catacombs underneath the church. Thomas and the Spook need to finish it once and for all, but the Spook has tried, and failed before.

Oh, and they're going to be hanged for being Spooks. All in a days work!

Regarding the Bathrooms: A Privy to the Pastby Kate Klise

Ok, once again, something I pre-reserved. I only have so much bookshelf space people!

The kid's in Sam N's class are back. It's summer, and they've all found jobs. Marriages are on the rocks, international crime rings seemingly have ties to Geyser Creek and deep secrets of the past are uncovered. Probably the best book in this series since the first one.

The Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley

When we last saw Sabrina, Daphne, Puck & Co., Puck's wings had been torn off and he was dying. SO! The family makes its way to New York City, the heart of the Faerie Kingdom so Puck can get well...

It turns out that Veronica Grimm (before she went missing) was a hero here. Sabrina is NOT HAPPY to find this out. She is angrier than ever. Then, King Oberon is found poisoned and an innocent Faerie is blamed. Sabrina wants out of the game, and Grandma Grimm lets her quit, but now Daphne won't talk to her...

This is one of my favorites in the series. The change of locale and new cast of characters keeps the scenario from getting repetitive and old. Also, it's not often that you see the cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream making fractured appearances in children's literature. Where it's funnier if you're familiar with the play, it still works for people who haven't read or seen it (and I think most of the target audience falls into this category).

I also love the introduction of the Godfathers. More Mafia than turning pumpkins into coaches, they're brilliant. As is Bluebeard as a Wall Street financier. Once again, all jokes that younger readers aren't going to fully understand, but it's not only for adults.

The changing and evolving relationship between Sabrina and Daphne is one of the best, and most subtle, parts of this series, and this is a good volume (if less subtle) in that regard.

And yes, I've already pre-ordered Magic and Other Misdemeanors

Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now by Lauren Child

This hasn't even been published in the US yet, but Amazon will obtain a UK copy for you.

Clarice has some bigger worries in this latest installment (and more pages in which to explore them! yippee!) It's still zany and fun and silly and everything you love about Clarice, but also deeper and older. Betty moves away and everyone's cranky and she's so worried and anxious about everything that she's not sleeping anymore, which isn't helping with school. There's a new girl, Clem, and everyone seems to love her, but Clarice doesn't trust her at all.

There's still a lot of Ruby, a lot more of Marcie (as she's back from France) and less of Minal Cricket. A must read for Clarice fans.

New Books!

Now Reading: An Abundance of Katherines
Just Finished: Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady, Gossip Girl, Communism: A History, Troll Bridge: A Rock'n' Roll Fairy Tale, Socialism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Instead of dealing with my backlog, here's a post about a book I just now-this-minute read.

Please Write in This Book by Mary Amato is a fun, lighthearted book about a class journal gone wrong.

Mrs. Wurtz leaves a blank notebook in the Writer's Corner for her students to find, with the rules to have fun and to sign your name to what you write. Feelings get hurt and rumors spread (but this is a kid's book, so it's mainly about how bad various people's feet stink) and the book almost gets taken away.

The entire story is just what has been written in the book, so various prospectives are told on class events and some are just alluded to. I think there may have been a lot more tears than just the ones mentioned.

We learn some lessons about teamwork and how not to solve problems and how easy it is to accidentally hurt feelings. Mainly though, it's fun to read the different fonts and see the different pictures the kids have drawn to compliment their writing, and even if Lizzy thinks he's mean, Luke (rhymes with puke) is pretty funny.

Fans of Regarding the Fountain and the others in that series will like this.

Series, banned, and work-related...

Last week, I read the very cute Kate Klise books Regarding the FountainRegarding the Sink : Where, Oh Where, Did Waters GoRegarding the Trees : A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets

These are children's books, at about a 9-12 year old reading level. They're silly and filled with puns and told entirely in correspondance. In the first one, the principal needs a new drinking fountain and hires someone who designs huge decorative fountains. Misunderstandings ensue and the kids get involved with the planning and it's all silly fun with such characters as Sam N., Wally Russ, Minnie O., Lily, Gil and Tad Pole. (And when the kids in Sam N's class form a band and call themselves the Tune-a-Combo... becoming Sam N.'s Tune-a-Combo...) Hee Hee Hee.

The second two are all along the same lines and are fun and interesting. My only complaint is that in the second one, they make great use of the Chinese province of Sinkiang, assuming it's pronounced Sink-king, even though occasionally they bring up that it is also spelt Xinjiang. And really, it's pronounced Shin-Jee-Ang... ai ya.

Then, the YA librarian knows my love of British Teen Chick-Lit, especially of Angelica Cookson Potts, and when we finally got Cherry Whytock's latest, My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli : The Life of Angelica Cookson Pottsshe handed it straight off to me!!!

This time Angel and friends and family are off to holiday in Italy. Hot guys! Romantic complications! and Oh! The food! More of the same, but ever so much fun! Plus, two nights ago I made the recipie for Spicy Meatballs, and it was super-tasty!
And wow, I used a lot of exclamation points in that review!

I also decided I just couldn't wait and got Narinder Dhami's Bhangra Babes

Also for 9-12 year olds, this is the third installment in the Bindi Babes series, in which Amber, Jazz, and Geena Dhillon get into all sorts of mad Indo-British adventures. Basically, Auntie finally got engaged and is moving out, a new girl and guy start school and are causing havoc and Amber has a hair-brained scheme to solve all their problems. Not only are these fun girly books without being over the top moral OR super girly, but I'm a sucker for fiction that explores the meaning of what it means to be British and/or addresses the post-colonial immigrant experience. And I love that these books do that without intentionally setting out to "Address the post-colonial immigrant experience"...

And finally, I read What My Mother Doesn't Knowby Sonya Sones.

This was one of the ALA's most frequently banned books in 2005, and I'm not entirely sure why...

For some reason, I missed the memo that Sones's books are written in poetry. This collection of poems traces Sophie's relationship with Dylan... and Chazz... and Robin... and explores the teenage emotions that come with being a freshman in looooove. Well written, a good way to get kids to read poetry, I still don't understand why this book was banned (unless it was the poem about her breasts seemingly growing over night, which is about as explicit as that got). I highly recommend and am looking forward to reading her other books!