Nerd Camp 2.0 Review & Giveaway

Nerd Camp 2.0
by Elissa Brent Weissman
Atheneum Books for Young Readers (May 6, 2014)


Description from GoodReads:
Gabe is happily headed back to Nerd Camp, but can he handle a cool-kid invasion?

For Gabe, the equation for ideal summer bliss equals six glorious weeks of vigorous learning immersion at the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment; aka, Nerd Camp. Last year was amazing, and this summer will be even better.

At least, that's what Gabe thinks until a new variable is introduced: Zack, Gabe's cool stepbrother, was supposed to attend a camp nearby, but in the aftermath of a recent wildfire, Zack's camp and nerd camp will be sharing territory. As these two very different worlds collide, will both camps - and both stepbrothers - survive the summer?

My thoughts on the book:
This is the time of the year that I start making lists of books for summer reading. I have a list for my 7 year old niece.  Some we will read together and others that I hope she will read independently.  Recently, I was at a school book fair and I was book talking titles for summer reading materials for students.  Though Nerd Camp 2.0 wasn't available at this particular book fair, it is a book that I would certainly add to my summer reading recommendations.

Gabe is returning to the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment (SCGE) or Nerd Camp for another summer of nerdy fun.  This year, Gabe's new stepbrother Zack will also be going to camp, but due to an unfortunate wildfire, Zack's camp will be on the same property as Gabe's. Summer camp, siblings, and friends with different opinions results in some hilarious situations and also coming to new understanding of one another.  And there's a tiny bit of middle grade romance thrown in.

Nerd Camp 2.0 alternates between Zack and Gabe's Points of View.   In the beginning, I had to laugh about Gabe's description of his head gear and how he used baseball cards to help the band be less itchy. I remember wearing head gear and immensely hating it.  I wasn't aware that kids had to still wear head gear when they had braces. Zack, on the other hand, is still puzzled by Gabe, though he definitely appreciates some of Gabe's unique abilities like figuring out how to convince their parents to let Zack go to sleep-away camp. 

Though I appreciated the relationship between Zack and Gabe and the struggles they had as step-brothers and as siblings with very different personalities and interests, I realize that many readers will find more enjoyment from the funny situations and pranks that the characters get into.   It almost seems like a prerequisite for a book about camp to have pranks and rivalries.  And well, you will have to read it to find out how it turns out. 

If you have not read Nerd Camp, I would suggest trying that one out first.  Nerd Camp does provide a little background, but Nerd Camp 2.0 can also be read on its own.

More about Elissa Brent Weissman:
Elissa Brent Weissman never wore head gear, but she did have braces for over five years. Now a proud nerd, she is the author of many books about smart kids, including The Short Seller, Standing for Socks, and The Trouble with Mark Hopper. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her nerdy husband (who did wear head gear!) and their two super cool nerds-in-training. Learn more at www.ebweissman.com.

Elissa wanted readers to have some Nerd Camp fun and provided us with a Logic Puzzle.  Read the puzzle and the hint.  Figure out the answer and enter to win a special Nerd Camp Prize Pack. (Note: Though we would love to pick a winner that completed the puzzle correctly, please still enter to win.) 

Kayak Conundrum 
Puzzle:

Gabe, Zack, Wesley, and Nikhil all kayaked across the lake to Dead Man’s Island. When they got in their kayaks to go back to camp, they discovered that one of the kayaks had sprung a leak. Now they’ll have to get back in one kayak, and the kayak only holds two people.
* Gabe can kayak across the lake in 1 minute. 
* Zack can kayak across in 2 minutes. 
* Nikhil takes 5 minutes to cross, just to be safe. 
* Wesley is so bad at kayaking, it takes him 10 minutes to cross.
* When two people go together, they can go only go as fast as the slower person. (If Gabe and Wesley kayak together, it will take them 10 minutes.) 
* To make matters worse, it’s getting dark, and they only have one flashlight. That means that when two people go across to camp, one person will have to kayak back to Dead Man’s Island with the flashlight. The batteries in the flashlight will last exactly 17 minutes. 
How can they all get back to camp before the batteries in the flashlight run out?

Hint: Someone at camp needs to bring the flashlight back to Dead Man’s Island, but it doesn’t have to be one of the people who made the most recent trip to camp.

Giveaway:
One lucky reader will have a chance to win a Nerd Camp Prize Pack including Nerd Camp and Nerd Camp 2.0 and a specially designed retainer case.


Please complete the rafflecopter below with the answer to the logic problem in order to enter. You must be 13 years or older to enter and have a US mailing address.

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The Dyerville Tales Blog Tour & Giveaway


In 2011, M. P. Kozlowsky released his debut novel, Juniper Berry.  I was excited to be able to participate in the blog tour and giveaway for his second book.  Thank you Walden Pond Press for organizing the tour and providing a signed hardcover of The Dyerville Tales for one lucky reader.

by M. P. Kozlowsky
Illustrations by Brian Thompson
Walden Pond Press (April 22, 2014)

Description of Dyerville Tales from the Publisher:
Neil Gaiman’s Coraline meets Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs in M. P. Kozlowsky’s The Dyerville Tales, a powerfully imaginative middle-grade novel that blurs the line between fantasy and reality, from the author of Juniper Berry.

 Vince Elgin is an orphan, having lost his mother and father in a fire when he was young. With only a senile grandfather he barely knows to call family, Vince was interned in a group home, dreaming that his father, whose body was never found, might one day return for him. When a letter arrives telling Vince his grandfather has passed away, he is convinced that if his father is still alive, he’ll find him at the funeral. He strikes out for the small town of Dyerville carrying only one thing with him: his grandfather’s journal. The journal tells a fantastical story of witches and giants and magic, one that can’t be true. But as Vince reads on, he finds that his very real adventure may have more in common with his grandfather’s than he ever could have known.

 Its unique voice and ability to combine creepiness with great story and character development make The Dyerville Tales a real standout middle-grade novel.

My thoughts on the book:
In the above description, The Dyerville Tales are compared to Coraline meets Breadcrumbs. However, it feels more like a modern twist on Grimm.  Two Vincents, the grandfather Vincent whose stories are told as tales, and the young Vincent who sets out to his grandfather's funeral and a journey to hopefully see his father again, find themselves on nearly parallel adventures to find hope and family. They are each pursued by a different nemesis and each must find their own way with the help of unlikely friends.

Kozlowsky spins together this complex tale filled very real characters whose lives are intertwined through curses and magic, and an old crone, a giant, a gnome, a talking horse and more.  The language in the story is beautiful and rich and provides a just right tone for this style of storytelling.

As you go on this journey with Vince and Vincent, you grow fond of the two heroes. You want to see them succeed and find yourself turning pages just to see what will happen next and will they find what they are searching for. However, I will caution that because of how the two tales are intertwined it does become a bit complex at times and a bit confusing.  There were a few spaces where I needed to re-read a passage to make sure that I did not over look an important detail that I would need later in the story.  When I arrived at the ending, I was a bit surprised and could not help speculating about whether another book would follow.

Students who enjoy scary tales will find a new favorite in this novel.  I suspect that they will also appreciate a number of the scenes in this book as well as the way Kozlowsky spins his tale.   
Illustration by Brian Thompson

Look for The Dyerville Tales by M. P. Kozlowsky at your local library or indie bookstore.

More about the author: M. P. Kozlowsky is also the author of Juniper Berry. A former schoolteacher, he lives in New York City with his wife and daughter. Visit him online at mpkozlowsky.com

Don't forget to check out all of the stops on the blog tour:

4/28 - Word Spelunking Book Blog 
4/29 - Book Smugglers
4/29 - KidLit Frenzy
4/30 - Mundie Moms
5/1 - Bunbury In the Stacks
5/2 - A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust
5/3 - The Book Rat
5/5 - Mundie Moms
5/6 - Bluestocking Thinking
5/7 - Small Review
5/7 - Paige in Training
5/8 - Novel Novice
5/9 - The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia
5/9 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
5/9 - Buried in Books
5/10 - The Book Monsters
5/13 - The Flashlight Reader
5/14 - The Hiding Spot

Thanks to Walden Pond Press, one lucky reader (with a US mailing address) has the chance to win a signed hardcover copy of The Dyerville Tale.   Please complete the Rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway: 

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Going Over Blog Tour - Interview with Author Beth Kephart & Giveaway


Beth Kephart stops by to talk about her new book, GOING OVER, and shares with us about her own writing journey, favorite Indie Bookstore, and more.


GOING OVER takes place in 1983. Do you see this as a story that is told in the recent past or historical fiction? Does the difference even matter? 

I love that you ask — does the difference matter. Because I am just the worst of the worsts when it comes to labeling things. I think of GOING OVER precisely as you describe it—a story that takes place in 1983. Because I live inside that space in my imagination, it feels like right this instant.

What drew you to the story of Ada and Stefan? 

I had a conversation with my editor, Tamra Tuller, about Berlin—a city to which we have both traveled and a city with which we both fell in love. We felt it was important to tell a very personal story about the impact of the Wall. The Wall came first, then. And then I began to study geography, character, the historical record. Ada and Stefan emerged from that.

Authors doing research for books have some great tips and ideas for gaining information. Do you have one or two techniques that English teachers could adapt to make writing projects/prompts more interesting for students? 

There’s little I love more than doing the research. My gosh, it breaks my world wide open with the new. I think the trick lies in making the whole thing relevant, making it feel urgent. So, for example, Ada has pink hair. I needed to be sure that she would have access, in 1983, to pink dye, I needed to know how the pink hair would grow out, all of that stuff. I hopped on down to my hairdresser. Sat in her chair. Had her talk to me about hair color and its history. And then she began to talk to me about graffiti, believe it or not. And she gave me the details with which I begin the book.

What is your book story? (What was the book that made you a reader/writer and who was the person who recommended it if there was someone?) 

The book that made me a reader/writer! What a great question. Well. Let’s see. I was a writer (or thought I was) before I was a real reader, I hate to admit (since everything is wrong about that). Then again, I was only nine years old. But I have to say that it was a research project I did when I was sixteen (the subject: F. Scott and Hemingway) that turned me into a reader. You couldn’t stop me after that. For many years, I read only nonfiction—biography and history. (I majored in the History and Sociology of Science at Penn.) When I was in my early thirties I turned to memoir. Then I became a book omnivore.

Is there an author or authors that influenced your writing journey? 

I wish you could come to my house and see the hundreds upon hundreds of triple stacked books on my many shelves. (My house isn’t big, but my shelves are wide and long.) Every single book here has influenced me in some way — either because I loved it or because I didn’t and because, no matter what, I study the pages to understand why. But I happen to love Michael Ondaatje, Alice McDermott, Colum McCann, Chloe Aridjis, and many, many others. Really, the emphasis is on many.

What is your favorite indie bookstore? Where is it located? Why do you like it? 

I have visited many a great independent bookstore in my day. Locally I love, for example, that Children’s Book World, the Spiral Bookcase, Main Point Books, Harleysville Books, and Chester County Book Company are still here and near and proud. In Florence, Italy, I love Paperback Exchange. In California, I love Book Passage, Copperfield, and Kepler’s. In Decatur, GA, it’s all about Little House of Stories. In Larchmont, NY, it’s all about The Voracious Reader. When I’m on the Penn campus I always visit the used bookstore, The Last Word, and always bring something home (most recently Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue). But I also have to mention the very first independent bookstore I ever frequented, as a young college girl. It’s called Joseph Fox Bookshop. Fabulously small and fabulously smart, in the city of Philadelphia. I bought every single architecture book they had, way back when. And today, at many Philadelphia events, you can count on Fox to be there.

Any new projects that you are working on that you can share with us? 

Gosh, yes. Many new projects. Next year, Chronicle will publish One Thing Stolen, a book that takes place in Florence, Italy, and West Philadelphia. In the fall, Temple University Press will re-release my river autobiography, Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River, as a paperback—excited about that, because it’s such an odd, little book and because my river was just named PA River of the Year (woot) and because, after all these years, schools are beginning to assign the book in their science and literature classes. I’m also at work on an essay/photography collection about Philadelphia, based on my monthly columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer. And I have just started work on a new novel.

What is in your TBR (to-be-read) pile? Can you share a picture of it? 

Well, you just opened up a huge can of words, I mean worms. Because my TBR pile is the oddest one in the universe. I teach memoir at Penn, and so there are some old and new memoirs in there (not to mention my students’ work). I review adult novels for the Chicago Tribune, and so I’ve got some stuff I cannot show you. I’m still fascinated by Berlin and by walls in general, so I’m reading some new texts like Within Walls and Border Patrol Nation. I’m reading about linguistics and environmental science, I want to read several grand new novels like The Flamethrowers. I’m halfway through Andrew Smith’s Grasshopper Jungle. And on my Kindle reader is Boy, Snow, Bird. Yep. I’m one confused, crazy person.


by Beth Kephart 
Chronicle Books (April 2014)

To read a excerpt:



What would Ada and Stefan have listened to on their Sony Walkmen?



Check out the blog tour schedule here

 4/2/2014 My Friend Amy
4/3/2014 The Flyleaf Review
4/4/2014 The Book Swarm
4/5/2014 There’s A Book
4/6/2014 YA Romantics
4/7/2014 Teenreads Blog
4/8/2014 The 3 R’s Blog
4/9/2014 Forever Young Adult
4/10/2014 Kid Lit Frenzy
4/11/2014 Tales of the Ravenous Reader
4/12/2014 Addicted 2 Novels

Enter to win a copy of Going Over - the book and audiobook.  Please enter by completing the Rafflecopter below.  The winner must have a US mailing address and be over 13 years old. 

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The Pigeon Needs a Bath Giveaway


by Mo Willems
Disney Hyperion (April 1, 2014)

Look!!! There is a new Pigeon book out by Mo Willems.  I love Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus, and well all the Pigeon books, and The Pigeon Needs a Bath is just as fun and filled with the same humor we have come to expect from Pigeon and creator Mo Willems.  Check out the book trailer and giveaway below.  One lucky person has a chance to win a copy of the new book and a collection of Pigeon books. 


About the Book & Series: The Pigeon really needs a bath! Except, the Pigeon's not so sure about that. Besides, he took a bath last month! Maybe. It's going to take some serious convincing to try and get the Pigeon to take the plunge.


First in the series, Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus recently celebrated its 10th birthday! Over the last decade, The Pigeon books have sold millions of copies and enchanted young readers. The books have received numerous starred reviews, have appeared on many "best of" lists, and have even been inducted into the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame.

 Check out the official book trailer:



About the Author:
Mo Willems, a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator, has been awarded a Caldecott Honor on three occasions (for Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity). Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! was also an inaugural inductee into the Indies Choice Picture Book Hall of Fame. And his celebrated Elephant & Piggie early-reader series has been awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal on two occasions (for There Is a Bird on Your Head! and Are You Ready to Play Outside?) as well as three Honors (for We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, and Let's Go for a Drive!). Other favorites include Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed and City Dog, Country Frog, illustrated by Jon J Muth.  Mo lives in Massachusetts with his family.

Official Site: Pigeon Presents!



Please enter to win a copy of:


The Pigeon Needs a Bath! and “It’s a Busload of Pigeon Books!” collection 

Prizing courtesy of Disney Publishing.  This  giveaway open to US addresses only! Complete the Rafflecopter below to enter to win....

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The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut: Invasion of the Ufonuts: Special guest Laurie Keller

by Laurie Keller
Henry Holt and Co. (February 25, 2014)

Description from Goodreads: Arnie finds himself in trouble when his neighbor, Loretta Schmoretta, begins telling news reporters that she was the victim of an alien abduction. And not just any aliens—alien doughnuts from outer spastry, who will continue the abductions until people stop eating doughnuts! Although Arnie thinks this is a ridiculous story, he notices that everyone is treating him differently, as if he is an alien doughnut rather than just a doughnut-dog. And then Arnie gets abducted! Arnie must think fast in order to rescue his fellow doughnuts and the townspeople from the alien invaders.  The slapstick shenanigans continue in this hilarious second book in Laurie Keller's Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut series.

Kid Lit Frenzy welcomes author and illustrator, Laurie Keller to the blog.  After reading Arnie the Doughnut, and The Bowling Alley Bandit (Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut), I was curious about the transition from picture book to chapter book.  Thank you Laurie for answering my question, throwing in some of your great humor, and sharing some artwork with us.

Arnie Rolls Into Chapter Books 
By Laurie Keller 


When you write a picture book about a doughnut and you turn him into a doughnut-dog at the end and he’s happy, what do you do with him when you decide to write an early chapter book about him? In what point-of-view should you write it? How much back-story do you need to include? And the conundrum that keeps many writers awake at night: do you keep him as a doughnut-dog? Those were just a few of the DOZENS of questions I had to answer when I started writing Bowling Alley Bandit, first book in the series The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut.

After writing several drafts, the point-of-view became clear: first person (actually, first DOUGHNUT, in this case) to separate it from the picture book and to really let the reader into Arnie’s doughy head. Back-story: sum it up in the first chapter and get out — he has new stories to tell now. But the really perplexing one: is he still a doughnut-dog? I thought it could work but to carry that through book after book seemed too limiting. SO, Arnie explains in chapter book one that there are places that don’t allow dogs or even like them, so sometimes he’s a doughnut-dog and sometimes he just a regular doughnut.


ALL RIGHT!

Now we’re getting somewhere — on to the jokes. In my picture books I pepper them with all sorts of asides that aren’t necessarily a main part of the story and occasionally, depending on the age of the reader, might “go over a child’s head.” But with this new format designed for a more independent reader the jokes needed to be as much a “sure thing” as I could make them. It’s hard to gauge which jokes a child will understand or appreciate but when I asked my friend’s 5th grader if she knew who Marilyn Monroe was and she DIDN’T, I knew one of my favorite bits that referred to her famous NYC subway scene had to be cut (whaaaa!).

Arnie as Marilyn Monroe - image by Laurie Keller

Another editing issue and the last major hurdle was that my editor thought it was too long (160 pages the first go-round) and that I was going off on too many tangents with sideline stories and bits of information like the one where Arnie goes — NO — never mind. I’ll save it for another Arnie book. It was hard at first to make the big cuts she was asking me to make but it read much more smoothly after doing so (why is she ALWAYS right?).

As challenging as it was, it has been a lot of fun navigating my way through this new style of writing and I look forward to trying my hand at writing for other age groups. I don’t know how many books will be in The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut series but I have a goal of making a dozen of them. I’d love to see them sold together like a box of doughnuts. Hopefully Arnie won’t get STALE before then.

Okay, okay, doughnut puns OVER.

No more.

DO-NUT worry.

AHHHH, I did it again! Please, make it stop — I can’t stand it either!

Thank you Laurie for stopping by and sharing with us some of the behind the scenes insight on Arnie. Second and third graders love this kind of humor.

Where to find Laurie Keller: website |  twitter | facebook

  

Don't forget that you can can check out a copy of INVASION of the UFONUTS or BOWLING ALLEY BANDIT at your local library or pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore.  If you have a US mailing address and are over 13 years old, you can enter to win a copy of UFONUTS by completing the rafflecopter below.
 
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