MD Black-Eyed Susans Winners

Congrats to this year's MD Black-Eyed Susan winners that were voted on by the students of the state of Maryland!! Even though I didn't vote (I'm too old!), a few of my favorites won. "The Day the Crayons Quit" By Drew Daywalt was a really fun book about a few complaints from the crayons of a schoolboy. "Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library" By Chris Grabenstein was also another one of my favorites. Since I work in a library I'm a little bias, but it was a great story and some really funny parts in there too. If you haven't read these books, then I encourage you to do so!

• The Day The Crayons Quit By Drew Daywalt (Picture Book)
• Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library By Chris Grabenstein (Grades 4-6)
• Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity By Dave Roman (Graphic Novels)
• On The Day I Died: Stories From The Grave By Candace Fleming (Grades 6-9)
• Eleanor and Park By Rainbow Rowell (High School)

Looking forward to next year...we have the 2015-2016 MD Black-Eyed Susan Nominees! This list is also copied on a page above.

Picture Books
Peanut Butter and Cupcake!
By Terry Border
What's Your Favorite Animal?
By Eric Carle
The Tooth Fairy Wars
By Kate Coombs
Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas
By Lynne Cox
Dog vs Cat
By Chris Gall
Lost and Found
By Bill Harley
Julia's House for Lost Creatures
By Ben Hatke
Brush of the Gods
By Lenore Look
At the Same Moment, Around the World
By Clotilde Perrin
Joy in Mudville
Bob Raczka
Carnivores
By Aaron Reynolds
Jimmy the Joey: the Ture Story of an Amazing Koala Rescue
By Deborah Lee Rose
The Noisy Paint Box: the Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art
By Barb Rosenstock
The Most Magnificent Thing
By Ashley Spires
Feathers: Not Just for Flying
By Melissa Stewart

Grades 4-6
The Qwikpick Papers: Poop Fountain
By Tom Angleberger
Absolutely Almost
By Lisa Graff
Words with Wings
By Nikki Grimes
Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle
By George Hagen
The Fourteenth Goldfish
By Jennifer Holm
Odd, Weird and Little
By Patrick Jennings
Half a World Away
By CynthiaKadohata
Half a Chance
By Cynthia Lord
Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson
Centaur Rising
By Jane Yolen

Graphic Novels
El Deafo
By Cece Bell
Lowriders in Space, Book 1
By Cathy Camper
Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust
By Loic Dauvillier
Dogs of War
By Sheila Keenan
The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth
By Ian Lendler
The Silver Six
By AJ Lieberman
Bravoman. Volume I: Super-Unequaled Hero of Excellence!
By Matt Moylan
Finding Gossamyr. Volume I
By David A. Rodriquez
Phoebe and her Unicorn: a Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle
By Dana Simpson
Cardboard
By Doug TenNapel

Grades 6-9
I Kill The Mockingbird
By Paul Acampora
The Crossover
By Kwame Alexander
The Night Gardner
By Jonathan Auxier
The Great Trouble: a Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel
By Deborah Hopkinson
Ice Dogs
By Terry Lynn Johnson
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible
By Leon Leyson
Greenglass House
By Kate Milford
The Boundless
By Kenneth Oppel
Screaming at the Ump
By Audrey Veronica
I am Malala: (young reader edition)
By Malala Yousafzai

High School
The Impossible Knife of Memory
By Laurie Halse Anderson
The Naturals
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Nearly Gone
By Elle Cosimano
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone
By Adele Griffin
Open Road Summer
By Emery Lord
Steelheart
By Brandon Sanderson
The Scar Boys: a Novel
By Len Vlahos
Rose Under Fire
By Elizabeth Wein
Noggin
By John Corey Whaley
The Shadow Hero
By Gene Luen Yang

Kate Milford

I was lucky enough to meet Kate Milford on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6 May 2015 at the Edgewater Community Library. She took some time out to visit with the fans of her newest book "Greenglass House". This is Kate's 5th book and it's getting a lot of recognition. I posted about the book when it was first published because the cover really caught my attention. As I always say, you really do judge a book by it's cover and this one is beautiful! I was pleasantly surprised when it was on the middle school list for next year's MD Black-Eyed Susans! Kate is also the recipient of the 2014 National Book Award Longlist and is a recent nominee for the Edgar Award for Juvenile Mystery. 

Kate Milford is a local to our area! She calls Riva home and attended Central Elementary, Central Middle and South River High. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and 2 year old and is looking forward to an upcoming adoption. She does come home to visit though. A few of Kate's favorite books growing up were "The Phantom Tollbooth", "The Westing Game",  "Dark is Rising" series as well as Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew books. 

Kate has tried many types of writing throughout her life from poetry to playwrights to screenplays before arriving at fiction. With a little one underfoot, it's hard to find the time to sit down and write lately, but she does make some time and also spends time at a local diner where she can get uninterrupted time. Kate enjoys writing and says "Half the fun of writing a story is seeing where it's gonna go." 

I can't wait to read "Greenglass House"! How about you?

Couple New Trailers!

I just finished the trailers for "Bruised" and "This Journal Belongs To Ratchet"!! Check them out AND, if you haven't already, subscribe to the Edgewater Books YouTube channel!!!

This Journal Belongs To Ratchet Trailer

Bruised by Sarah Skilton

Black Beauty

Black Beauty

By Anna Sewell

This is my ALL TIME favorite book and I think that it is perfect for the end of National ASPCA month. Black Beauty is set in Victorian London when folks got around in horse and buggy. Horses weren't really considered pets, but creatures of necessity. Anna Sewell documents the life of one of these horses from a kind and gentle masters to harsh and cruel masters. It is told in Beauty's own words, thoughts and feelings. The book was instrumental in creating animal cruelty laws and continues to do so to this day. What I didn't know, was that Black Beauty was the only novel Anna Sewell ever wrote. She wrote it in 1877 during the last years of her life and it was published five months before she died. She was able to see, briefly, how so many people fell in love with the story. I think this is a must read for everyone and especially those with animals...horses or otherwise. 

May Reading Challenge

May Challenge Examples

Pulitzer Prize Winners

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Based On A True Story

Phenomena: The Lost and Forgotten Children by Susan Tarr

Charlie's Pond by C. L. Heckman

Spilled Milk: Based On A True Story by K. L. Rands

Detour From Normal by Ken Dickson

 A Book At The Bottom of Your List

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Crash Into Me by Albert Borris

The Storyspinner (The Keepers' Chronicles #1) by Becky Wallace

Crux by Julie Reece

A Book Your Mom Likes

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (celebrated mom - Marmee)

Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling (celebrated mom - Molly Weasley)

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (celebrated mom - Angela McCourt)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (celebrated mom - Natalie Prior)