When You Reach Me

When You Reach Meby Rebecca Stead (Children's New Books)(J Stead)(2009)for ages 9 to 12Miranda lives with her single mom in New York City. Lately her best friend Sal and she have become distant. It all started when Sal got punched.Miranda is forced to seek friends elsewhere and takes on a job at lunch time with two new friends, Colin and Ann-Marie. There Jimmy instructs them not to mess with his plastic novelty toy bank, and she has to count the bread order every day. She also gets to know the boy, Marcus, who punched Sal. Then there is the crazy "Laughing Man" who is always on their street corner, kicking into the street.Meanwhile she helps...

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Posted in: New Book Review-fiction

Chapter Book Chips - "Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall" by Emily Bearn

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Nutmouse. They live in a secret broom cupboard in Rose Cottage. They have a very grand house called Nutmouse Hall. Mr. Nutmouse is called Tumtum and Mrs. Nutmouse is called Nutmeg. They lead quiet mouse lives. Tumtum likes to read by the fire and Nutmeg loves to cook delicious meals and tidy Nutmouse Hall. But one day Nutmeg decides the two human children living in Rose Cottage need some looking after. Arthur and Lucy have lost their mother and their father is a preoccupied inventor who scarecly pays any attention to them. But once Nutmeg and Tumtum start taking care of Arthur and Lucy, their quiet lives turn upside down in...

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Posted in: Chapter Book Chips

XOXOXOXO - Valentine Picture Books

Love is in the air as Valentine's Day gets closer. Cuddle up with your littlest valentine and share a picture book all about love.My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael HallCan love be like the different animals that live at the zoo? Bold, happy illustrations will prove to you it might be true!Check our catalog for this title. Kiss Kiss by Selma MandineA primer on different types of kisses, including the chocolate kind.Check our catalog for this title. How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane YolenLove, prehistoric style!Check our catalog for this title. Henry in Love by Peter MccartyHenry and Chloe are opposites who find love over a blueberry muffin.Check...

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Posted in: Picture Books

Chapter Book Chips - "The Magical Ms. Plum" by Bonny Becker

Springtime Elementary School is just an ordinary kind of school ... or is it? Not if you are a student in Ms. Plum's class. Ms. Plum is the best teacher at Springtime Elementary. She wears sparkly, plum-colored glasses, has plum-colored flowers on her desk. A basket of shiny plums sit there too. And best of all, Ms. Plum has a supply closet. That closet has the usual school supplies, like glue, markers and colored paper. But something else is in that closet, way in the back where it is dark as velvet. Tashala is the first student Ms. Plum asks to fetch some pencils from the closet. But what Tashala comes out with are a handful of pencils and...

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Posted in: Chapter Book Chips

The Witches Guide to Cooking With Children

The Witches Guide To Cooking With Childrenby Keith McGowan (Children's New Books)(J McGowan, K.)(2009)For ages 9-12Sol and Connie Blink are new in town. Eleven year old Sol is very intelligent, and his eight year old sister Connie is cunning. They rely heavily on each other and are adjusting to life with their dad and his new wife. Things start to get weird when they notice the neighbor's dog knawing on a human leg bone.Next their dad leaves them in town and does not come back for them. A friendly but cryptic shopkeeper tries to give them clues to solve the mounting mystery. They spend a lot of time in the library trying to gather information...

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Posted in: Fiction

Family Movie Matinee, Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.

Join us this Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. in the Library Auditroium for our monthly Family Movie Matinee. This month's film is about a boy wizard and is rated PG. All ages are welcome. Children under the age of 10 must be accompanied by an adult. Chase away the January blues by spending the afternoon at the movies here at the Beaverton City Library.-...

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More of the Best Picture Books of 2009

Here are a few more of the best picture books of 2009, as chosen by the editors of School Library Journal. All the World by Liz Garton ScanlonAll the delights of a warm, lazy summer day. A perfect antidote to the winter blues!Check our catalog for this title. Epossumondas Plays Possum by Coleen SalleyJanet Stevens' illustrations shine in this tale of a baby possum who gets lost in the Louisiana swamp.Check our catalog for this title. Higher! Higher! by Leslie, PatricelliA little girl, a dad and a swing. In this spare text, the joy of going Higher! Higher! soars.Check our catalog for this title.Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes by Margie PalatiniFox's...

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Posted in: Picture Books

Chapter Books Chips - "The Secret of Zoom" by Lynne Jonell

Lenny Loompski knows the secret of Zoom. And so do the orphans Lenny forces to work for him in the mine, extracting the Zoom. Christina is a young girl who has lost her mother in an explosion at the Zoom mine. Christina's father still works for Loompski Labs and he will go to any lengths to protect his daughter from Lenny. But Christina is tired of being shelterd and shut away and she sneaks away from home. She finds a friend in Taft, an orphan who escapes from the horrible orphange Lenny Loompski runs just so he can find more children to work in his mine. But what is Zoom? Can anyone stop Lenny? What is the secret of all the little airplanes...

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Posted in: Chapter Book Chips