Book of the Week #50

Grandmother's Guest: The Blue Lady of Wilton by Robin Schoen and Gail Hoar (Peterborough, NH: Hobby Horse Publishing, 2013).

"Based on a true story, this magical book brings history to life with captivating text by Robin Schoen and lush illustrations by Gail Hoar. Readers will delight in the richly patterned details of New England life, from the household furniture to the red brick architecture to the familiar landscape with stone walls and burying ground.
In Grandmother’s Guest, a visit to her grandmother offers young Alex the comfort of curling up in a favorite wing chair; a lesson in reaching out to a misunderstood neighbor, the Blue Lady; and the remarkable discovery of a mended china creamer at auction. But for the Blue Lady to become a part of Alex and her grandmother’s world, one more thing is needed—an act of such innocent kindness that only a granddaughter would think of it." --Publisher's blurb.

Robin Schoen and Gail Hoar both live in Wilton, NH. They will be signing their book at Toadstool Bookshop. Milford on Sunday, December 15th and at Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough on Saturday, December 21st.

Ladybug Votes Due Friday!

Tally sheets of voting results for the 2013 Ladybug Picture Book Award must ARRIVE at the Center for the Book by 5pm on Friday, December 13, 2013 in order to be counted. You can get the official tally sheet form (which is the ONLY way that votes will be accepted) at http://ladybug.nhbookcenter.org/

The completed tally sheet may be sent on the NHSL van: Concord/NHSL/Center for the Book

OR

You can mail it to Center for the Book, 20 Park Street, Concord, NH 03301

OR

You can fax it to 603-271-2205
OR

You can attach the tally sheet to an email message and send it to mary.russell@dcr.nh.gov

Past experience would indicate that trying to fax the form on Wednesday afternoon will not be successful as there is only one machine to receive the faxes. If you are faxing your form don’t wait until the last minute.

Tuesday is LAL Deadline for Level 3

Students in grades 4-12 who are at least 9 years old are invited to enter the 2014 Letters About Literature competition. Letters must be submitted by the postmark deadline for the student's competition level (note that for the first time there are 2 different deadlines this year!) and must be submitted with the required entry coupon. Complete information, including the coupon, is inlcuded in the 2014 Entry Guidelines .

• Entries for Level III (grades 9-12) must be postmarked by December 10, 2013
  
  
• Entries for Levels I and II must be postmarked by January 10, 2014
  • Level I for students in grades 4-6
  • Level II for grades 7 and 8

   
  Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Students are asked to write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. A wide variety of books have inspired students whose letters were selected as New Hampshire semi-finalists in recent years. 

2014 Dublin Longlist Announced

Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian, announced that the 152 books eligible for the 2014 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award were nominated by libraries in 110 cities and 39 countries worldwide, noting that ‘41 are titles in translation, spanning 17 languages, and 47 are first novels’. There are some fabulous books on this list (including the ones nominated by the NH Dublin Committee), so if you are looking for something to read, or a book to gift someone with, this is a rich resource.

3 on a Theme: Mountains

 Mountain Peril: A White Mountains Mystery by Tom Eslick. (Viking, 2005)

Life at the Top: Tales, Truths, and Trusted Recipes from the Mount Washington Observatory. By Eric Pinder. (Down East Books, 1997)

Monadnock: More Than a Mountain by Craig Brandon (Keene, NH: Surry Cottage Books, 2007)

This is post is part of a series of brief posts appearing on the 3rd of each month. New Hampshire books (mostly older ones, but occasionally a few new ones as well) centering on a particular theme will be highlighted. I hope to remind you of titles you might have meant to read and not yet gotten to, and to draw your attention to titles that expand on ideas from books you may have already enjoyed.