The BK Club

The idea of a magic lamp or a coin that goes back a long way.  Have you ever made a wish and thrown a penny into a fountain?  Did your wish come true?  Well, in The Wish Stealers, by Tracy Trivas, Griffin Penshine is a sixth-grader who is tricked into owning a collection of magical pennies.  Each one was used in the past to make a wish, before the penny was cruelly snatched, by a wish stealer.  Griffin finds herself in the surprising position of trying to restore or give back these wishes, while also coping with the new school year.  As the new wish stealer, Griffin can also wish bad things on other people, a power which she is sorely tempted to use when some unpleasant girls try and make her life miserable.  However, Griffin begins to find ways to give back the wishes, and meets a very nice boy named Garrett.  As a part of their science project, Griffin and Garrett start to raise money for the rain forest by collecting pennies.  The program in this story, Pennies for the Planet, is actually a real life program, which you can read about at this site.

I don’t know about you, but I consider my library card to be the most important card in my wallet.  My library card can open doors to any kingdom, introduce me to amazing people, and teach me anything I could ever want to learn.  Today is the 1st of September.  The first day of Library Card Sign-Up Month!  If you don’t have a library card, now is the time to get one.  It’s really easy to do…just stop by the library with your Mom or Dad, fill out a form, and viola, you’ve got a library card!  Adults, if you don’t have a card it’s easy for you to get one too.  Just bring in your license or a piece of mail (that has your Andover address on it), fill out a form, and you’re good to go.  If you’re wondering what to do once you get your library card, click here for a list of 52 different things that you can do with a library card…that’s one different thing for every week of the year! Kids, for a nice treat, click on the picture of D.W. with her library card and listen to Arthur and his friends sing their famous “Library Card” song.

This is the last day of August, and is also the last day of Be Kind to Humankind week.  However, it is always a good time to be kind, so here are three stories about kindness.  In Because of You, by B.G. Hennessy, we are reminded that “When you help, care, share, and listen, you are being kind.”  Can you think of any times when you shared with someone else?  Paulie Pastrami, the hero of Paulie Pastrami Acheives World Peace, by James Proimos, is an ordinary boy, who “had not yet mastered whistling, often his socks did not match,” and “was constantly picked last for street hockey.”  So how did he achieve world peace?  Well, you will have to read and find out.  But I’m pretty sure it involved kindness.  Albert the Fix-It Man by Janet Lord, is “always on the lookout for things to fix.”  He is never too tired or busy to help someone, whether it is a broken cup, or a loose laundry line.  One day he wakes up with a terrible cold, which is so bad that he cannot even get out of bed.  So everyone rallies around to help him, bringing food and minty tea.  And “just before he drifts off to sleep Albert the Fix-it Man notices that the clock is making a peculiar noise.  Good, he thinks.  Something for me to fix first thing in the morning.”  Try and think of one kind thing that you can do today for someone in your family or your neighborhood!

People tell me all the time that they love my last name (which is Bears).  My favorite animal in the world is the polar bear.  One of my very favorite picture books is Bear Snores On.  I’m guessing that you can tell that I love bears!  Well, a new book came across my desk today and it’s called Bears! Bears! Bears! by Bob Barner.  It is a simple picture book that shows polar bears diving for seals, panda bears munching bamboo, and a variety of other types of bears doing what they love to do.  The illustrations are very cool…they’re all done in collage form using different types of papers cut and torn in different ways.  I can’t wait to use this book in storytime!  Speaking of storytime…we will be back in full force the week of September 13th!  I can’t wait to see all my old friends (and some new friends) and share stories, songs, fingerplays, flannelboard stories…everything!  Storytime rocks!  Until then, click on this link and you’ll find a fun coloring page of my favorite kind of bear.  Have a “beary” good day!

The newest historical fiction novel from Karen Cushman is called Alchemy and Meggy Swann.  Cushman is known for strong female characters in Catherine Called Birdy, and The Midwife’s Apprentice, which won a Newbery award.  Meggy Swann lives in England, in 1535.  She is lame, which means that her  hips are not shaped right, so she is unable to walk normally.  Using two sticks, Meggy is able to get around with some pain and difficulty.  In those days, medicine and science were not as advanced as they are today, so Meggy could not go to a doctor or hospital to get an operation, and walk normally.  Also, many people thought that people with disabilities were cursed, or evil.  Meggy’s mother sends her to live with her father, in London.  He is an alchemist, which means that he does lots of experiments, trying to change metal into gold, or find a formula for eternal life.  Meggy tries to help him, but he is not very friendly towards her.  However, she finds other friends in London, including a young actor named Roger.  She faces a tough decision, though, when she overhears a plot to murder an Earl.  Once again Karen Cushman has created a memorable and fiesty heroine, while providing a clear and accurate portrait of sixteenth cenutry London.  If you are interested in reading more about this time period, we have The Queen’s Progress : An Elizabethan Alphabet, which has lots of pictures, and Tudors & Stuarts, by Fiona Patchett, which has more information and internet links.