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May 19, 2011 by Travis Jonker

New Books: An Annotated Guide

May 19, 2011 by Travis Jonker   10 comments

A nearing-the-end-of-the-school-year book order just came in to the 5th and 6th grade school where I work. Here’s a peek at the goods, and a few words:

(click the images to enlarge)

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  • Book I can’t believe I didn’t pick up before: The Lexicon. This guide to the Harry Potter world was once at the center of a major copyright lawsuit, but changes were made and it’s been available to buy for a while now. It is unbelievably thorough. I can see Potter fans digging into this for a while.
  • Nonfiction that nicely fills a need: Should I Play the…. 5th grade is often when kids begin band, so this series from Heinemann seems like a nice way to help pick an instrument. This is probably better than just telling everyone to follow in my footsteps and set their sights on last chair alto saxophone, right?

  • Purchase that proves I don’t just buy books I like: Hannah Montana: In the Loop. Part of being a librarian is staying open-minded about the likes and needs of patrons. No further comment.
  • Author that my 5th and 6th grade students love: Mary Downing Hahn. Her spooky stories continue to circulate like mad.
  • High interest book everyone should probably buy: The Complete Dog Book for Kids. You know what kids like? Dog/cat/horse books that show color photos of every breed. For some reason, these are kind of hard to find. Two years ago I had to hit the Amazon used book section to pick up the sadly out-of-print DK Smithsonian Handbook: Dogs. This title fills the same role and is bound to be a fan favorite.

  • Book that blew me away, first place: Whaling Season. An entry into Houghton Mifflin’s  Scientists in the Field series that didn’t get quite as much attention as the book directly below it on my shelf, Kakapo Rescue. It is another stellar entry.
  • Book that blew me away, honorable mention: Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures. The amount of photos contained within is amazing. And the variety is impressive, covering not just Anne but her entire family. A nice addition to the biography section.

  • Series that is amazingly popular from 2nd to 5th grade: Captain Underpants. These were student requests, and the ones on the shelf get checked out all the time.
  • Books that needed replacing: Artemis Fowl series. Our copies were looking worse for wear, so the update was needed. That actually goes for a number of books in this order, including Brisingr, books in the Pendragon series, and Firewing.

Thanks for taking a look.

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Comments

  1. Abby says

    May 19, 2011 at 9:57 am

    So neat to get a look at your book order! Thanks for sharing!

  2. John says

    May 19, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    Thanks for sharing your book order.

    • www.timaydelottproductions.com says

      February 18, 2014 at 6:04 am

      We need a lot more insights like this!

  3. christina says

    May 19, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    LOVE THIS POST.

    And seriously. I would love to see the top ten authors that your students are reading. As a middle school teacher, I’m soooo curious. 🙂

    • Travis says

      May 19, 2011 at 10:40 pm

      I’m planning on doing a top 10 books of the year at each of my schools, so that will sort of point to favorite authors as well.

  4. Jennifer says

    May 19, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    Sheesh, that’s practically my entire middle grade order for the year! I think I may hate you…or your budget at least…

  5. Irasema says

    May 21, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    I see that you also have a cookbook. I am amazed at how often cookbooks get checked out from my library. I got some fun ones for kids from Scholastic at the beginning of the school year and not once did we have to shelve them because there was always a hold on them.

    • Travis says

      May 21, 2011 at 10:25 pm

      Very true. We had to order this one to replace another cookbook that was too beat up to keep circulating.

  6. Ed Spicer says

    May 25, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Catching up with some neglected posts: Fearless Fernie is a favorite. One of my most requested poems (in first grade and even among 4th and 5th graders who are former first graders) is King Kong vs. Me. This is a great poem to act out!

  7. Maureen says

    May 27, 2011 at 11:54 am

    One of the contributors of the Lexicon is a friend of mine. It is a great resource for die-hard Potterheads, isn’t it? 🙂

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