Schoolwork got you down? Do the holidays have you too distracted to concentrate? Here are some new books for kids that are funny or scary, silly or just plain incomprehensible! Look for these books here on BookBag with the Amazon or World Catalog search boxes, and be prepared to laugh ... or shiver!
Bink & Gollie, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee; illustrated by Tony Fucile (Candlewick Press) Fiction. Short, wild-haired Bink lives in a tiny cottage nestled in the roots of a big tree; tall, neat-as-a-pin Gollie lives in a sleek house in the big tree's branches. The two young neighbors are best friends despite their many differences, and this book tells three stories of their (somewhat fanciful) adventures in both pictures and words. Involving very bright socks, pancakes, a pet goldfish, and roller skates, these funny, lighthearted tales will tickle fans of Annie Barrows' Ivy and Bean books, Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie stories, and the Clementine tales of Sara Pennypacker.
The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade Books) Fiction. The infamous class that no one (except the extraordinary Mr. Jupiter) wanted to teach have all graduated to fifth grade...and, once again, none of the teachers wants to take them on. Fortunately, Mr. Jupiter is up to the task, and he's got all kinds of lessons in store for the kids from The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School (including one that involves singing guinea pigs). If you enjoy silly, fantastical stories with a moral--such as those in the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books--or wacky school stories like those in the Wayside School series, you'll have fun with The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School.
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books) Ghost Story. Twelve-year-old Florence is overjoyed to be moving in with her newly discovered great-uncle and leaving Miss Medleycoate's orphanage behind. But soon after arriving at Great-Uncle Thomas' estate, Crutchfield Hall, Florence meets the ghost of one of its former residents...who is out for revenge. Set in Victorian England, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall is a creepy, spine-tingling tale that will thrill fans of the author's Deep and Dark and Dangerous or of Betty Ren Wright's Crandall's Castle.
Framed, by Gordon Korman (Scholastic Press) Humorous Mystery. Griffin Bing, "The Man with the Plan," and his mystery-solving friends Savannah Drysdale and Ben Slovak have moved up to middle school, where the new principal, Dr. Egan, is anything but a pal. He's got his eye on Griffin, and when a valuable Super Bowl ring goes missing from its locked display case in the school, Dr. Egan accuses our hero of the theft and sends him away to JFK (jail for kids) ... Can Savannah and Ben clear Griffin's name and spring him from kid-prison? Packed with suspense, misadventures, and action, this third volume in the rip-roaring series (after Swindle and Zoobreak) is a wild, fun ride.
How to Grow Up and Rule the World, by Scott Seegert; illustrated by John Martin (Egmont USA) Humorous Fiction. Attention, all you puny, undeserving whelps! I, Vordak the Incomprehensible, deign to bestow my limitless knowledge of world domination techniques upon you! (You should know that, should you actually
one day rule the world, I will be your automatic and highly untrustworthy second-in-command...) Read this book and use my ingeniously diabolical plans, my advice on what to wear as a Supervillain, and my Inconceivably Evil Evil Name Generator as your first steps toward ultimate control of the planet. (Or, if you aren't quite evil enough, you can just laugh at my blowhard manner and many disgusting jokes ... at your own risk.)
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I love the whimsical nature of these books
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