Thanksgiving, Home of the Blues, Comments, and The Cricket in Times Square Audiobook

Hey, gang, it's me, simple old Carl this time. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did!!! My sister invited me to come over to Memphis, where we grew up. She's an awesome cook and I earned a new name, the Great and Powerful STOMACHMAN!! We also saw the Memphis Zoo, which we went to as kids, and the Enchanted Forest, a Christmas exhibit at the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, whcih we also saw as kids. We all enjoyed ourselves, but it's a looooong drive there and I'm glad to be out of the car!

I didn't get to do much reading but did hear a terrific audiobook (or book on CD) called The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, read by Rene Aubernojois. I'd never read the book but heard the story was good. It sure was! A cricket named Chester, who lives in the Connecticut countryside, accidntally gets trapped under 3 roast beef sandwiches in a picnic basket. When he fianlly escapes, he finds himself in the 42nd St. stop in the Times Square subway station. There he's adopted as a pet by Mario, a boy whose family runs a newstand there. Chester also makes friends with Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, two streetwise New York animals living in the subway. Mario thinks the cricket might be good luck, which his family needs because the newstand is losing money fast, but his Mama is convinced that Chester is a jinx (bad luck)--which Chester and his firends nearly prove when they almost set the newstand on fire! But Chester has a special talent that might make Mario's family rich and famous--but can he do it before Mario's Mama throws him out?? As I said, this is a great story and not just some cutesy animal tale. And Rene Auberjonois (who was Odo on Deep Space Nine) does an absolutely awesome job of reading it--not just reading it, but getting all the voices of the characters just right! Plus there are sound effects and music with the reading, so you've got a really good time here. Just the thing if you're on a car trip or like to listen to books.

We also have a comment and review. The comment is from Warnell:

Hello--long time reader, first time commenter, thanks for taking my call. I am a baby librarian (in a public school-first year) and found a very cool site I wanted to pass along (if you haven't already seen it). ReadKiddoRead.com is a site designed by Jame Patterson because he is the parent of a boy who is (was) a reluctant reader. There is a page with interviews (Rick Riordan and Jeff Kinney) and LOTS of booklists. I thought it was right up your alley!

Thanks for the call, Warnell. This site really is good. Take a look here. It's aimed at parents and teachers, but you guys would find a lot of good stuff there, especially under the Page Turners and Advanced Readers. There's also a section on books for boys--take a look here. I'll add it to our links.

There's also a new review from Lord Vader (aka Mikey):

I just finished Star Wars:the Clone Wars by Tracey West. I really loved this book. I thought it was funny when Anakin got stuck with a Padawan and he didn't want one. I like when they foil Count Dooku again. I didn't get to see the movie so reading this was great.

Fantastic! I haven't seen the movie either but I'd like to check it out or rent it. Do you watch the series on Cartoon Network?

Well, thanks for sticking with me for such a long post, guys!!

Carl

Summer Insanity

Greetings all out there in the Land of Blog. It is I, Darth Bill, cruising the known and unknown universe in my brand-new-super cool- tricked out Death Star. I've seen a couple of movies this summer such as Iron Man, The Hulk and WALL-E. I enjoyed all these movies immensely. The two out now that I really want to see are Batman: The Dark Knight and Hellboy II. Coming out in August is the movie I am most looking forward to seeing.
Drum roll please.........................................

Star Wars: The Clone Wars


























Well, hopefully I'll get to see one of these these soon and I'll let you know what I thought. If you have seen something cool this summer you can also write in and let me and others know about it. Now let me tell you about some really cool graphic novels I have read recently:


Acredale Kolor Komics Kollection by Harold Buchholz - First I must sadly say that the PLCMC Library System does not as yet own this fantastic graphic novel written and drawn by Harold Buchholz. This graphic novel reminds of Charles Shultz's Peanuts with a heavy dosing of Warner Brother's type humor. The graphic novel is set in the town of Acredale where Miss Goodpenny's Home for Strays has a new border. That border is Apathy Cat and this cat has his own way of doing things and is a total original. This puts him on a collusion course with a Professor Straightlace who is the sort of teacher that thinks there is only one proper way for things to be done and hates originality. Apathy Cat and his friends don't want to hurt anyone and welcome all into their gang. Professor Straightlace sees them all as menaces to be put in their places. But never fear brave reader, with Apathy Cat at the wheel victory over conformity is assured. This really is a great graphic novel and if you are interested in learning more about it check out the website for Kids Love Comics. It is on there featured list of graphic novels and rightfully so. This is great stuff!!!!!!



Knights of The Lunch Table: The Dodgeball Chronicles by Frank Cammuso - Have you ever read any of the stories about King Arthur and The Knights of The Round Table? Well whether you have or not, I think you will find this graphic novel to be very clever and extremely funny. The main character in this graphic novel is Artie King (get it?). Artie and his family have just moved and Artie is starting school at Camelot (eh) Middle School. He makes new friends with Percy and Wayne, Hannibal a tarantula, and his science teacher, Mr. Merlyn (that's a familiar-sounding name). He also makes new enemies in Principal Dagger and big bad Joe, leader of the Horde (a bunch of bullies that terrorize all the kids at the school). The fun really starts when Artie is assigned the mythical locker at the school that no one else can open; no one, that is except Artie. This starts a series of events that leads to an epic dodgeball game where the winner literally takes all!!!! This is a great graphic novel, so do yourself a favor and check it out.



Marvel Adventures Hulk: Defenders by Paul Benjamin, David Nakayama and Mario Gully - The Hulk is back in this second volume of Marvel Adventures' Hulk graphic novels. This is Volume 2 in the series and collects issues 5 -8 of the comic book series. This Volume is even more action packed than Volume 1. In this graphic novel the Hulk teams up with such marvel heroes as Dr. Strange (Master of The Mystic Arts), The Sub-Mariner (also known as Prince Namor - Ruler of the undersea city of Atlantis), and The Silver Surfer (Master of the Power Cosmic). If that isn't enough to make you want to take a look at this fantastic book, the last story in the graphic novel has all these heroes, and let's not forget Rick Jones and Monkey, all teaming up together as The Defenders to fight the all-powerful Nameless One and his evil forces. Hulk is STRONGEST of them ALL!!!!!!!!!!


Until next time peace all,

Bill