Last night, I read Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach. This is kid's book -4th grade and up should be able to read it without difficulty. I sat up to finish it - the sign of an enjoyable book. The book promises a mystery and that part moves slowly but the author incorporates info on the immortal Bard and the controversy about his "true" identity. Were Shakespeare's plays really written by Edward de Vere, Lord of Oxford? Was Oxford really Elizabeth I's illegitimate son? I almost put the book down to get a history of the 1500s.
The heroine, named Hero by her Shakespeare loving parents, learns that the house her family just moved into is rumored to have a very valuable diamond hidden in it. Her older neighbor and the police chief's 8th grade son help Hero look for the diamond. There is a subplot about the 8th grader's mother that is wrapped up a bit too conveniently. So what? The book was fun and educational, too!
I'm at work as I write this and I just spent the last 45 minutes doing Peep research for our April Teen Meeting. We are going to use marshmallow Peeps (JustBorn) to create sculptures in celebration of Spring! If you are a teen in the Parkland School District, check out our website to find the date for our April TITO meeting (www.parklandlibrary.org) There is a weird underground cult surrounding Peeps. I found all kinds of websites featuring "scientific" experiments using Peeps - including surgery to separate quintuplet Peeps joined at birth, Peeps in the library, Peeps at the beach - even a slide show "The Fellowship of the Peeps". Wait, wait, let's do Harry Peeper and the Goblet of Fire whahahahahaha! Never mind. I have to do real library work now. Bye.