Lockwood & Co

Jonathan Stroud  (remember Bartimaeus?) has a new series.  Yippee! Lockwood & Co follows the adventures of Lucy Carlyle after she joins the ghost investigator firm of Lockwood & Co.  Luminous emanations, chains, screams, grisly skeletons and dripping blood -these things can actually kill you in Stroud's haunted London.  Only children can find the Visitors that keep everyone else locked in their iron bedecked homes from sundown to sunup.  Children and teens guard factories and streets.  The more sensitive children actually hunt dangerous visitors and destroy them.  And that is what Lockwood, Lucy and nerdy George do night after spine-chilling night.

Can you say awesome?  Repeat after me.  AWESOME!  I got an e-galley and this series will be great.  And I don't even like ghost stories.

2,000+books = Awesome

Seattle Public Library kicks off their Summer Reading Club with the longest book domino chain ever!

Bakery Books for kids!

So many books - for all ages - in a great many genres - feature recipes that Kidsread.com has put together a short list of new fiction for middle grades and up that revolve around cupcakes, bakeries and sweet treats.  There are a couple of notable titles missing - Sarah Weeks' Pie, for instance, and Patricia Reilly Giff's Gingersnap - but the other titles look awesome.

Checking in - Sandwich Bag art

In a very round about way, I discovered the Flickr pages of a man who draws on his children's lunch sandwich bags and has done so since 2008.   His name is David LaFerriere.  His drawings are all whimsical and super creative.  Wish I thought of that.

Here's a video of his explanation for what he does.

Thanks to Betsy at Fuse#8 and Crooked House for sharing this.

Happy Dad's Day to all the Dads out there.  You don't need to do artwork on your kids' food to be a super Dad.

Favorite Author tour with Hilary McKay

I am going on a blog mini-hiatus which means; don't expect much in June.  Tomorrow, my remaining parent goes in for surgery; my son is finishing his degree which means we are babysitting more; and I must battle bunnies in the garden - oh, and weeds.

I suddenly got an urge to re-read Exiles at Home by Hilary McKay.  This was the first McKay book I ever read and the the way the girls' project intersects with another family member's project delights me.  I want to revisit the details.  Why exactly DID they send in that magazine coupon?  How did they manage to meet their commitment?  What happened to that nice older couple?

So, a visit to the library is in order.  I may re-read all the Exiles books, and then, who knows?  The Amber Cat?  The Casson Family series?  It's summer.  Time to go on a Favorite Author tour.