The Facttracker by Jason Carter Eaton - Ages 9+

"

The Facttracker

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU ARE A GENIUS

Is that true?  Who knows!  But it sounds good.  So Does:

THIS BOOK IS BETTER THAN ICE CREAM, 

TELEVISION AND YOUR BIRTHDAY COMBINED!

The Facttracker is full of such statements.  Unfortunately, most of them are lies, which is odd,

since Traäkerfaxx is the town that produces all the world's facts.

So how can a story about a bizarre town with a weird name become

THE GREATEST NOVEL EVER WRITTEN?

Dinosaurs would help. Or maybe aliens. Alien dinosaurs would be dynamite! Alas, we have none of those. 

Here's what we do have: the Facttracker, who tracks all the facts in Traäkerfaxx. 

The just small enough boy, who lost all his facts. And Ersatz, but the less said about him the better.

 And, of course, there are lots and lots of facts and lies, such as:

THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU GOOD LOOKING 

AND POPULAR!

Was that a fact or a lie? For the answer, read on and encounter adventure, peril, and even more 

LARGE OVERSIZED WORDS!

What's the Buzz?

“The Facttracker,” by Jason Carter Eaton has a plot that seems to get more and more exaggerated, like a lie that starts out small and then gets larger." - Inkweaver Review

" I really think this a good book because it is really funny. The chapters have interesting names like “A Tiny Chapter That Isn’t Really a Chapter at All So Much as a Really Long Chapter Title Placed Strategically to Waste a Bit of Time In Order to Give the Facttracker and the Small Enough Boy a Moment to Compose Themselves”.  The chapters themselves are even more interesting." - Ayesha Reviews

"The author is full of authorial asides to the reader and lots of playing with authorial conventions. For example, Chapter 13 has the heading crossed out, with the title, "There Will Not Be a Chapter 13 Because It Might Be Unlucky and the Facttracker Needs All the Luck He Can Get Now." - Sonder Books

"The Facttracker is laugh out loud funny, but also has much to say about the relationship between truth and falsehood, understanding and self-deception." - Provo City Library

More reviews? 

 Library Thing * GoodReads

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Book Review: My Rotten Life - Book 1 of the Nathan Abercrombie Accidental Zombie Series by David Lubar - Ages 9+

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger - Ages 9+

Zombiekins

What's the Story?

The little town of Dementedyville is as boring as they come--but a mysterious stuffed animal is about to liven things up . . .

Stanley Nudelman buys Zombiekins at the yard sale of his neighbor, the Widow Imavitch. It looks cuddly and creepy-cute--but expose the TEDDY OF TERROR to moonlight, and strange things happen. . . . 

When Zombiekins gets loose at his school, Stanley finds himself in GRAVE danger. Because if his teacher Mr. Baldengrumpy discovers he turned the whole school into zombies, Stanley will be in detention till he's, like, 80!

Can Stanley and his best friend Miranda save their schoolmates from eternal zombiefication? If not, will Mr. Baldengrumpy even notice?

What's the Buzz?

"Take the “Bunnicula”, “Goosebumps” and “Captain Underpants” series and mash them all together, and the result would be something resembling Zombiekins. An elementary school teacher for a decade, Bolger obviously knows what will amuse his audience..." - Canadian Review Magazine

 "For those of you who worry about finding books for reluctant boy readers, look no further!" - Book Aunt

"The pictures in the book are very cool. The cover is perfect for the story too. So if your looking for a book to read you should get Zombiekins." - With A Book

 "Bolger skewers the teachers... and their attitude ... But his tone never reads as snarky or snide. He skewers dodgeball. He skewers Winnie the Pooh, Barney and Elmo. No one is safe, not the interfering neighbour, not Stanley, not even Bolger's own horror story, as he parodies the genre."  - Globe & Mail

"Onomatopoeia, puns, and alliteration rule the school in this ghastly gala of gleefully goofy gore by Kevin Bolger" - Library Journal

 "Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm pretty immature.  One of the best parts of being a mother for me is discovering the childhood I missed.   I bought Zombiekins for my son yesterday.  He loved the book, but I think I've loved it even more." - The Zombie Review

Where Can I Eat Brains?

Try the official Zombiekins website

Aaron Blecha the illustrator of Zombiekins has his website here

If you'd like to read an interview with Author/teacher Kevin Bolger just click on the zipster below (hipster + zombie = zipster)

It's the First Day of School...Forever! by R.L. Stine - Ages 9+

The Squampkin Patch Written by J.T. Petty - Ages 9+

The Midnight Curse by L.M. Falcone - Ages 9+

The Devil The Banshee & Me by L.M. Falcone - Ages 9+

Series: Tales from the Five Kingdoms - Author: Vivian French - Ages 9+

Series: The Penderwicks - Author: Jeanne Birdsall - Ages 9+

The Penderwicks

Book 1

Summary - This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures.

The icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is not as pleased with the Penderwicks as Jeffrey is, though, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will—won’t they? One thing’s for sure: it will be a summer the Penderwicks will never forget.

Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day.

Reviews

"Now there's nothing in the book description that would have given me the idea that this book would have been action-packed, but for some reason I kept waiting for something really big to happen. It didn't -- it just wasn't that type of book." - Booking Mama

 "The Penderwicks is charming. If you’re a fan of The Sound of Music, Pippy Longstocking, or any of Enid Blyton’s books, then this new series will seem like an old friend." - So Misguided

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
Book 2

Reviews

"There are books that are exciting and thrilling, holding you on the edge of your chair; there are books that make you laugh; and there are books that contain numerous twists and turns of plot, intricately setting up the conclusion. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street is not one of those books.

 Then there are the books that you just smile at, content knowing the end from nearly the beginning, savoring the characters and loving the plot -- such as it is -- and patiently waiting for the characters to realize what you already know. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street is one of those books." - Book Nut

"Humorous and original, Birdsall's writing will remind adult readers of a time when children's novels coped less with edgy reality than with comfortable, solvable family conflicts. If you haven't dipped into family life with the Penderwicks yet, you're in for a satisfying read." - Bookloons

"It's full of surprises, this often laugh-out-loud book, and it feels comfortable like an old shoe" - Read Kiddo Read

The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

Book 3

Reviews

"Everything you expect out of a Penderwick novel is here. It just happens to be done better by this author than any other you might name." - School Library Journal

 "A couple of key plot points rely heavily on coincidence, but I found I didn't care a bit because they're such great coincidences. Which just goes to show that you can break the rules of literature with abandon as long as you can sell it!" - Book Aunt

 "When I read one of the now three books in the Penderwicks series, it makes me feel like I am about ten years old and back in southern Maine, curled up reading on the attic bed in the little cottage we rented every summer. This, presumably, is exactly what Jeanne Birdsall intended."  Jenny's Books

Official Author's Site - Jeanne Birdsall

Video

Jeanne Birdsall talking to a group of kids abut her books

Series: Accidental Adventures by C. Alexander London - Ages 9+

We Are Not Eaten by Yaks

Accidental Adventures Book 1

What's the Story?

Eleven-year-old twins Oliver and Celia Navel live on the 4-1/2th floor of the Explorers Club with their father, Dr. Navel. Their mother, Dr. Navel, has been missing for years. So when an explorer shows up with a clue as to where his wife could be, Dr. Navel drags Oliver and Celia to Tibet to find her. Once there, the twins fall out of airplanes, encounter Yetis, travel through waterfalls, and end up in the Demon Fortress of the Warrior King where they - just possibly - might find their mother and save their father from the Poison Witches. Thing is, they would much rather be watching television. And if their trip doesn't work out as planned, the twins could end up as slaves to Sir Edmund Thitheltorpe III, an evil explorer with breath that smells like boiled carrots, who has it in for the whole Navel family.

What's the Buzz?

Portsmouth Teen Book Review

Book Dads

Miss Print

 We Dine With Cannibals

Accidental Adventures Book 2 

What's the Story?

When we last saw Oliver and Celia Navel, they had fallen into the clutches of Sir Edmund S. Titheltorpe-Schmidt III and were doomed to spend their entire summer vacation doing his deadly bidding.


In their second unwanted adventure, We Dine with Cannibals, Oliver and Celia will travel from the ruins of ancient temples to the shadowy forests of the Amazon. They'll need all their reality TV survival skills when they ride a llama, race the rapids, and even fly an airplane! If that's not enough excitement for you (it is decidedly too much excitement for Oliver and Celia Navel), they'll be forced to learn the proper etiquette for a cannibal feast and confront the strangest and most brutal rite of passage ever devised by human imagination: dodgeball.

The second installment of the Accidental Adventures series is just as funny, just as exciting, and just as kid-friendly as the first.

What's the Buzz?
BookDads
Kirkus Review
Boys & Literacy


What Else Ya Got?


Official Author Site

C. Alexander London

Interview with the author & a video as he reads from Book 2