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Our selection of hot new releases and popular kids' books has a lot to offer!

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Take a look at our selection of hot new releases and popular kids' books and let us know which titles and covers catch your eyes. There are so many amazing new kids books coming in 2016!

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This list of “9 Excellent Jewish Kids Books for Hanukkah Gifts and Beyond” was curated by Bianca Schulze.

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Otter Loves Halloween! Written and Illustrated by Sam Garton Balzer + Bray     7/21/2015 978-0-06-236666-5 32 pages    Age 4—8 .               .           .            .“Hi! I am Otter. “Halloween is the best holiday ever! It is also a …

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Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories We think our list of the best new kids books for October is sensational! It highlights some amazing books from many different genres: non-fiction, reality fiction, and fantasy. Take a gander and let us know which titles and covers catch your eye ... Read the rest of this post

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Our list of the best new kids books for September highlights some amazing books from many different genres: non-fiction, reality fiction, fantasy, and even a beautiful picture book that addresses gender identity. Take a gander and let us know which titles and covers catch your eye ... Read the rest of this post

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House of Secrets, #2: Battle of the Beasts

by Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini

Greg Call, illustrator

Balzer + Bray       3/25/2014

978-0-06-219249-3

Age 8 to 12    480 pages

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“Since the siblings’ last adventure, life in the Walker household is much improved—the family is rich and the Wind Witch is banished! But no Walker will be safe until she is found, and summoning her to San Francisco brings all the danger that comes with her and puts the Walkers in the crosshairs of a mysterious journey through Denver Kristoff’s books. As the Walkers travel from ancient Rome to World War II to Tibet, they’ll be tested in ways that cut deeper than before, by Denver Kristoff, the Wind Witch, and each other.”

Opening

“Brendan Walker knew the package would be there by eight a. m. It had to be.”

The Story

Eleanor, Brenda, and Cordelia Walker return, but not ready to take on more novel-dictated adventures. Dr. Walker (dad) is secretly—and quickly—tossing away all the fortune Eleanor arranged for the family at the end of book 1. Despite defeating the Wind Witch and safely returning home to finding mom and dad alive, none of the kids is faring well. Then Denver Kristoff appears as Dr. Walker and kidnaps Eleanor, taking her to the Bohemian Club in downtown San Francisco. He really wants Cordelia, but she ran off. Soon Brendan and Will arrive and finally Cordelia. Thus begins their adventures with the Wind Witch.

The kids land, house and all, outside the Roman Coliseum, once again in the middle of a Denver Kristoff novel. Brendan envies Emperor Occipus, ruler of Rome, and stays to live—and die—as a powerful, greedy Roman Emperor-in-training. Cordelia, Eleanor, and World War I pilot Will leave without Brendan. The trio deal with three Denver Kristoff novel changes. They face robotic World War II Nazis, odd Himalayan mountain top monastery monks with a wild frozen beast to defeat, the Romans once again, and then the Wind Witch once more.

Off all the battles, that with the Wind Witch proves to be the most difficult. She may lead the kids home, but what she says in the process will shock them, mostly Cordelia, as they try to understand and accept their fates. Book 3 is the final installment of House of Secrets.

Review

I looked forward to Battle of the Beasts and torn into once it arrived. I was immediately put-off by Brendan’s attitude and that carried into the Rome story. He behaves like a spoiled, whiny, rich kid. Leaving him in Rome suited me fine. After that, the story picked up and began to zoom just as book 1 had from almost the beginning.

 

Not as many of the secondary characters stood out as they had in the first book. World War I pilot Will returned to San Francisco with the kids but then became homeless and lost. I do not understand the reasoning behind this and find this storyline unnecessary, especially considering how quickly Cordelia found Will (though the kids had looked for a year prior to the start of book 2). Will easily returned to his old self.

I enjoyed the gladiator Felix. Bravely he leaves Rome with the kids. This new strapping man is not the most educated and misunderstands much of the new worlds he encounters with the Walkers and Will. I wish Felix would have stayed, as Will did, ready to begin the final installment. There are many humorous moments and statements, and twists and turns to enjoy.   and loads of miscalculations by the Wind Witch, who can’t decide if she will kill the kids or if a relational endearment she feels, sI enjoyed them all.

spoiler

The strangest occurrence is not Emperor Occipus, robotic Nazis, frost beasts, odd monks, or anything else that occurs, except for one. The Wind Witch’s declaration to Cordelia that they are closely related—won’t say in what way—is the strangest, yet most logical twist. Cordelia found an old diary belonging to the Wind Witch’s mother. In it, she read more than she told the others I think she already knew but hearing it, straight from your . . . witch’s mouth, made this final and real.

That one statement explains the Walkers and their canny abilities to survive. The Wind Witch suffers many miscalculations and fights her own emotions. She wants the Walker kids dead, but her aims fail. Is it possible the relationship that exists causes an endearment toward the kids, which does not allow her to follow through? How this will play out in the final book I cannot imagine, but it should be one of the biggest sensations in middle grade novels when it does. Time will tell.

end of spoiler

The writing is great as it is in book one. I did notice a slight change, imperceptible but there, after the first half of the story. This made me wonder how much of Battle of the Beasts Ned Vizzini completed before his premature death. Something felt off, yet examples or proof elude me. I had to put the book down for a while and read something else. I enjoyed Battle of the Beasts, though not as much as the first book.

Kids who enjoyed House of Secrets, book 1 will enjoy Battle of the Beasts. The action is constant, once it begins, and the adventures unusual and varied, yet play on what seem to be the same field. None of the novels is located far from the others, or so it felt. There is nothing that will give kids nightmares, but the action is imaginative and often intense. Boys will probably like the robotic Nazis best. This group reminded me of the white soldiers in Star Wars. At 480 pages, Battle of the Beasts is a long read, making this a great book for advanced readers and those with long attention spans. Reluctant readers should stay away.

HOUSE OF SECRETS #2: BATTLE OF THE BEASTS. Text copyright © 2014 by
Ned Vizzini and Chris Columbus dba Novel Approach, LLC. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Greg Call. Published 2014 by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY.

Buy House of Secrets #2: Battle of the Beasts at Amazon—B&N—iTunes—Audible—HarperCollins—your local bookstore.

EXCERPT BOOK 2 BATTLE OF THE BEASTS

video is for House of Secrets, #1

 

 

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Filed under: 5stars, Books for Boys, Favorites, Middle Grade, Series Tagged: Balzer + Bray, Chris Columbus, Denver Kristoff, dystopian novel, Greg Call, HarperCollins Publishers, Himalayan monks, House of Secrets #2, Ned Vizzini, Rome, Wind Witch

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Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of reading Never Fall Down, Patricia McCormick's most recent young adult novel.  Never Fall Down is inspired by the life of Arn Chorn-Pond, who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide and went on to become a musician-peacemaker celebrated by Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and many others.  Rare is the writer who could take on such a subject and do it honorably.  For very good reasons, Chorn-Pond trusted Patty, a journalist whose earlier young adult novels—Cut, My Brother's Keeper, Sold, Purple Heart—are both deserving literary prizewinners and commercial successes.  Patty McCormick's career is proof that you can write with great meaning, originality, purpose, and more than a little poetry and still find a fervent readership.

I'll have more to say about Patty McCormick in the weeks to come.  For now, please watch the video above, in which Patty and Chorn-Pond (introduced to one another by one of Patty's neighbors) speak of the making of Never Fall Down.

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Perusing the library with my son never fails to entertain. He has very specific criteria in mind when it comes to choosing books. Basically anything with a train, car, airplane or other vehicle on the cover will garner his approval. Does this selection method hold true for all preschool-age boys? I don't know, but judging from the ragged condition of the transportation themed books in our library, I'd say this subject is very popular with little boys and quite possibly with little girls as well.

Since we've devoured nearly every transportation book in the library, we're always on the lookout for the latest and greatest zooming, zipping, chugging, or digging book. Enter Brian Biggs and his new Everything Goes picture book. My son's reaction? Love at first sight!

Everything Goes: On Land by Brian Biggs. Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins (September 2011); ISBN 9780061958090; 56 pages

From cover to cover, Everything Goes: On Land is chuck full of cars, trucks, bikes, trains -- tons of land-going city vehicles. Eye-catching and completely riveting for all transportation book aficionados, Biggs doesn't leave anything out in his jam-packed, cartoony illustrations. Even the odd, not oft seen vehicles make an appearance. Double Decker Bus. ✔ Elevated Train. ✔ Penny-farthing. ✔ Bird with a hat. ✔ (No, that's not a typo. There really are birds with hats. What's that got to do with vehicles? I have no idea, but the birds are pretty silly and appear in all the city pictures along with a lot other out-of-place things! Channeling Richard Scarry and Goldbug, perhaps?)

This is the kind of seek-and-find book one could easily stare at for hours, days, and not see everything, and there's also an interesting storyline weaving through the book about a little boy to consider. Henry drives into the city with his dad to a surprise location and the two talk [via speech balloons] about all the vehicles they see along the way, discussing some in great detail. Through a number of simple vehicle diagrams, the reader learns along with Henry about the interworkings of a car, tractor-trailer rig, RV, bicycle, and motorcycle. To add to the educational experience, Everything Goes: On Land also works as a challenging counting book. Readers can count one-by-one to 100, searching for each number in order.

The side-stories are quite amusing

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A shark has the power to strike fear into the hearts of many. But what do sharks fear? Bob Shea presents a very silly scenario in his very humorous book, I'm a Shark, about the most awesome, self-assured shark ever.

I'm a Shark by Bob Shea. Balzer + Bray (April 2011); ISBN 9780061998461; 40 pages
Book Source: Copy from public library

"Well, I guess everyone is scared of something. I'm not."
"What about spiders?"

Shark has an ego the size of a whale and doesn't mind boasting a little to his two ocean friends, fish and crab. He's not afraid of anything -- not shots, not bears, not dinos. Not even the dark, as evidenced by his remark, "the dark is afraid of me. Dark heard I was coming and ran." But shark isn't as brave as he lets on. There's something itsy bitsy that does frighten him just a tad. In fact, Little Miss Muffet just might be able to offer that shark some helpful advice, though he's so full of himself that he probably wouldn't listen. From the unexpected picture of the author and son on the dustcover flap to the hilarious tongue-in-cheek text -- everything in this book works swimmingly.

After seeing the bold, enticing cover of I'm a Shark, my shark fanatic son couldn't wait to read this one with me. Neither of us was disappointed. The book contains all the elements of a fun read-aloud: lively dialog, sharp illustrations, and plenty of humor. Add in the snappy shark with an attitude and my son has a newest favorite book. Plus, like many kids, my son understands the shark's fear of spiders. He hates them, probably even more than shark. Pick this book up before Shark Week ends!


Related Links:
Bob Shea - Website
Bob Shea - Facebook & Twitter

▪ ▪ ▪ Story + Art craft - Paper Plate Shark Craft ▪ ▪ ▪

Earlier this year, Almost Unschoolers posted one of the neatest shark crafts I've ever seen. I knew someday my son would enjoy making one, so I saved the link. Visit her blog for the complete directions.

We didn't alter the craft much. My son wanted the inside of the mouth to look red so he colored the interior of the mouth with a marker. What's a shark without a little blood? He tried to cut some of the teeth out of the paper plate himself, but that task proved a little too challenging for his preschool skills. And as a tie-in to Shea's I'm a Shark book, we attached a construction paper spider to the shark's fin. My daughter said it looks like the shark has a spider yo-yo. Maybe that's just what the shark needs to help him get over his arachnophobia?