Congratulations to Tynea Lewis,
our LitPick Site Administrator,
 An International Literacy Association (ILA)
30 Under 30 for 2016

 

 

A Blue Ink Starred Review Best Book of 2016.  Walter is a pigeon living with his parents in a rancher's coop when a deranged wildcat attacks and sends them scrambling for their lives. Barely escaping with his life, Walter finds himself in a city where kindly street pigeons teach him about language, philosophy, and politics.
A venture south to find a human family for the winter sees him face more desperate peril as a flock of snow geese help him finish the journey. Finding solace in a dorm room with two young college students, Walter heads home with one of them to a ranch in Texas where he is adopted by the close-knit family and their quirky pets.
Walter forms a quick bond with the scientist grandfather who spends every day with Walter, working on a project in a mysterious tiny shack behind the house. This secret work soon becomes the center of Walter's life--and his fate--when he is thrust into an epic struggle for survival against cosmic forces that threaten to destroy the world.
For fans of Watership Down and The Secret of NIMH, A Pigeon's Tale is a mind-bending sci-fi adventure tale about friendship, loyalty, and destiny.

Childhood anxiety is becoming a more and more common situation that we have to deal with today. In book 1 of the Grateful Bob series, Bobby was learning fast to become Grateful for almost everything that happens in his life. In book 2 Grateful Bob: Tommy defeats the Dragon, Bobby is able to show how grateful he is for his friend Tommy by helping him cope with anxiety and panic attacks. Bobby hopes that by reading his story, he can also help you as well. Anxiety is very hard to understand if you have not experienced this yourself. Grateful Bob is written through the eyes of a child and Bobby's actual experience of childhood anxiety. The first step to a better life, is understanding. Every child needs to know they are normal and always going to be okay. Grateful Bob will show you the way.

The story of a mole who hears singing the day he is born drifting into his den. His family doesn't make any noises like singing, so where is it coming from? Will he have the nerve to defy traditions and venture into no mole territory? Can he have membership in two worlds? Join him and see.

The arrival of Queen Elin is the beginning of a new alliance between the three light elf villages, but is also the cause of their new dangers. King Helmar learns the long-lost queen is alive and is determined to capture her, enlisting the most dangerous creatures in Murkwood to assist him. The villages have to stay on high alert as the three guardians try to rid the area of these creatures, who this time are a danger to humankind, as well.The arrival of Queen Elin is the beginning of a new alliance between the three light elf villages, but is also the cause of their new dangers. King Helmar learns the long-lost queen is alive and is determined to capture her, enlisting the most dangerous creatures in Murkwood to assist him. The villages have to stay on high alert as the three guardians try to rid the area of these creatures, who this time are a danger to humankind, as well.

Eleven-year-old Martin can hardly imagine a worse summer. Martin's dad wants him to like "normal" boy things—playing sports and exploring the outdoors—so he sends Martin to his great-aunt Lenore, who lives on a tiny island called Beyond. Nothing about Beyond is what Martin expects, certainly not the strange, local boy who unexpectedly befriends Martin. Solo can canoe and climb trees and survive on his own in the wilderness, and Martin's drawn to him in a way he doesn't quite understand. But he's not sure he can trust Solo. In fact, can he trust anything about this strange island, where everyone seems to be keeping secrets?

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Bradbury loved her father so much that she worried about him constantly. After all, he was a photographer who traveled to the most dangerous places in the world. To allay her fears, each time he came home he brought her silly gifts, each one with supposed magical powers: the Seal of Solomon, the Ring of Gyges, even Aladdin’s Lamp. It was that lamp that Hannah found most unbelievable, for it looked like an ugly teapot. Nevertheless, her father assured her it was real, and made her promise to save her three wishes for something very special. Then . . . six months later . . . the unthinkable happened. Her father was killed while on assignment to Baghdad. And so on the day of his funeral Hannah did something she never thought she would ever do. She took out that teapot and gave it a rub . . . The Ugly Teapot by Fred Holmes is a timeless tale, filled with magic and adventure. More importantly, it will make you believe in the overwhelming power of love.

"Milo won't fall asleep because he thinks the monsters in the basement are gonna get him. And, if he can't get to sleep, no one will. Mom and Dad better hope his wild imagination doesn't get the best of him!"