What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. Pop on over there to share your new books and ogle what other bloggers got.

I belong to a group of school and public librarians who review books. We meet quarterly to share our reviews and choose a new bunch to review. We are a collegial and unfortunately dwindling (thanks to budget cuts) group of dedicated readers who donate tons of free time to read and write reviews for books that we then donate to our libraries to shore up collections (shrinking budgets again) thanks to the generosity of publishers. 

I just stopped to reread the last paragraph and feel I must insert that I feel like the luckiest librarian alive because I do get time to leave my library to attend meetings. My budget is comparatively generous and, while it has not increased in five years, has not decreased. I am aware that others are not so lucky.

Back to the books. Here's my stack:

I will dispense with my usual practice of copying and pasting publisher synopses as it will make for a rather long post, but there are one or two that I'm particularly pleased about snagging, so there may be some commentary.

From top to bottom:

FaceSpace by Adrian Chamberlain. 114 p. Orca Currents series. Orca Book Publishers, March 1, 2013. 9781459801509.

Sidetracked by Deb Loughead. 129 p. Orca Sports series. Orca Book Publishers, November 1, 2012. 9781459802506.

The New Normal by Ashley Little. 222 p. Orca Book Publishers, March 1, 2013. 9781459800748.

Rotten by Michael Northrop. 246 p. Scholastic Inc. April 1, 2013. 9780545495875.

Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun by Liz Kessler. 272 p. Candlewick Press, February 12, 2013. 9780763658243.

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner. 279 p. Candlewick Press, February 12, 2013. 978076366531.

Pip and the Twilight Seekers (a Spindlewood Tale) by Chris Mould. 170 p. Albert Whitman & Company, March 1, 2013. 9780807565537.

Hide and Seek by Kate Messner. 240 p. Scholastic Inc., April 1, 2013. 978054541978.

The Wild Boy: the real life of the savage of Aveyron by Mary Losure. Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering. 170 p. Candlewick Press, March 26, 2013. 9780763656690.

Sneaky Art: crafty surprises to hide in plain sight by Marthe Jocelyn. Candlewick Press, March 26, 2013. 9780763656485.

Desmond and the Very Mean Word by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams. Illustrated by A.G. Ford. 32 p. Candlewick Press, December 3, 2012. 9780763652296.

Paul Thurlby's Wildlife by Paul Thurlby. 32 p. Candlewick Press, March 26, 2013. 9780763665630.

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares. 40 p. Candlewick Press, February 12, 2013. 9780763656461.




Commentary: Readers of this blog might recognize Maggot Moon as I have already read, reviewed, and marked it as a favorite of 2013. This past week, I book-talked it to the entire seventh grade and many expressed an interest in reading it. I hoped that I would get it and almost didn't. Another reviewer picked it up pretty quickly but ended up putting it back. Lucky me.

I thought I had featured Rotten in a Waiting on Wednesday post since I pre-ordered it back in February. I'm a sucker for dog stories and I really enjoyed the author's last book, Plunked. 

Great bunch of books, eh? That's what's new with me. What's new with you? Happy reading!