100 Books and Counting. . .Materials Review October 3rd, 9:00am

Revolutions! Gila Monsters! Baseball! Migrations! Insects Changing History! Johnny Cash! Orangutans! Bathing Machines! . . . More!

Those are super short summaries of some of the 100 books we're reading in preparation for our October 3rd Materials Review. The list covers new non-fiction on all sorts of topics for grades K-8. We'll have books to look at, books and supplies for door prize giveaways, coffee, coffeecake, time for conversation and a run down of what we're excited about in 2014. Our reviewing panel will be Jane, Carrie, Helen, and Scholastic Book rep Nikki Mutch.

A Sneak Peak - books we'll be discussing include:

• Orangutan Houdini debut picture book by Vermont author Laurel Neme - Laurel has a long history of work in wildlife conservation and is author of the previous adult title Animal Investigators that profiles the fight against illegal the animal trade. And she's speaking at the store on "Creating Global Connections" on January 24th.
• The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinnkin, which is on the long list for this year's National Book Award (you can read why here) and won the Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for 2014.
• Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, recipient of an honor award from the 2014 Boston Globe - Horn Book Awards.
• Graphic novels Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust by Loic Dauvillier, Shackleton by Nick Bertozzi, and El Deafo by Cece Bell (check out fun "extras" on her website http://cecebell.wordpress.com/). Graphic novels are being highlighted right now as part of Banned Books Week (read more at the Banned Books Week homepage)
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, a picture book version of The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, which won the Newbery Award in 2013 and was a nominee on the 2013-2014 Dorothy Canfield Fisher list.
• Biographies of Johnny Cash, Ghandi, Sun Ra, Dr. Peter Mark Roget (of thesaurus fame), Peter Francisco (the Virginia Giant) and Lady Dai (if you haven't heard of her, you should. . . an ancient mummy remarkably preserved. . "biography" may be a stretch. . .)

We're also featuring some favorites leading up to the event:

• The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming
• Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales
• Neighborhood Sharks by Katherine Roy

. . .plus more, from history's biggest, loudest peace concert to animal classifications via poetry. Join us from 9:00 (panel starts at 9:30) to 11:00 am on Friday, October 3rd in the Children's Room.