I've been hearing about "The Secret of Platform 13," by Eva Ibbotson, for years, so this weekend, I finally decided to give it a try. This book is set both in London and on an enchanted island. The two are connected by a secret passage that only opens every 9 years. The book has a typical fairy tale-like beginning: the good-hearted king and queen long to have a child, and finally, the queen gives birth to a sweet-tempered baby boy. However, on an excursion to London with his nursemaids, the boy is stolen by an evil, rich woman who is determined to pass him off as her own baby. As the portal between the Island and London has shut, the king and queen must wait 9 long years to see their child again.

The meat of the story involves the somewhat rag-tag group of rescuers that the king and queen send to bring back their son: a one-eyed ogre, a young hag, an elderly wizard, and a fey. They do manage to find the Prince, now named Raymond, but unfortunately, he is horribly spoiled and rude. Here is one of my favorite passages, which reminds me of Mrs. Dursley and Dudley from Harry Potter. =)

"Raymond continued to scream.

'Tell Mama; tell your Mummy, my pinkyboo,' begged Mrs. Trottle.

'I've got a pain in my tummy,' yelled Raymond. 'I'm ill.'

Mrs. Trottle pulled back the covers on Raymond's huge bed with its padded headboard and the built-in switches for his television set, his two computers, and his electric trains.
...
'Where does it hurt, my pettikins? Which bit?'

'Everywhere,' screeched Raymond. 'All over!'

Since Raymond had eaten an entire box of chocolates the night before, this was not suprising, but Mrs. Trottle looked worried."

I definitely enjoyed this story, and recommend it to all fantasy book lovers!

What I love about children's nonfiction books is that they are entertaining as well as informative. Even as an adult reader, I often learn things that I didn't know before.

A perfect example is the nonfiction picture book "Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George," that I'm reading this week. This biography, written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and beautifully illustrated with oil paintings by James E. Ransome, introduces modern-day readers to the life of Joseph Boulogne, a gifted musician and a contemporary of Mozart. Joseph's father was a white plantation owner, but his mother was a slave, so while he grew up with many advantages, he also faced prejudice due to his skin color. As a child, he took violin lessons, and when he later moved to France with his father and mother, he began studying music even more seriously, eventually performing for the French nobility. Don't miss this fascinating true story!

In the 2nd grade library classes, we are currently doing a mini-research project on endangered marine animals. So far, we have been mostly using the database Pebble Go, which is available to anyone with a Minuteman Library card. This weekend, I also picked up an amazing book on endangered animals called "Animals Alive: The fight for survival in the wild." This book was published by DK (Dorling Kindersley), and has the same beautiful graphics that this publisher's other books have. Each animal is given a double-page spread, which includes a large color picture of the animal, various facts (population, size, diet, etc.) and the main threats to its survival. I look forward to introducing this book during class this week!

I just realized that this is my 50th post, which is exciting!

Here are two books that I'm reading right now:

"Le carnet à secrets," follows the experiences a girl named Clem, who is entering 5th grade. She has typical problems: her brothers are bratty and annoying, she tries to do everything right but in her mother's eyes, always seems to be wrong, etc. I like the book so far, though I feel that Clem acts younger than written (more like a third grader than a fifth grader).

"Mrs. Harkness and the Panda" is a nonfiction book about an American woman named Ruth Harkness. Ruth's husband was an explorer who had gone to China in 1934 to find a panda to bring back to the United States (at that time, no one here had ever seen a panda before!). Unfortunately, he died while still in China, and in a bold move for her time, Ruth took over the expedition. She faced many obstacles but eventually did find a baby panda and bring it to the States. This was a heart-warming picture book, although I was a little troubled by the panda being taken away from its home. I like that the book discussed this question in the last few pages.