MadLuck Books Blog

A Children's Books Blog - information on award winning children's books, personalized books, reading tips, and book reviews.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

National Book Award for Young People's Literature 1996 - present

Since 1950 the National Books Awards -- the nation's preeminent literary prize -- has been awarded to recognize "books of exceptional merit written by Americans". In 1996, The National Book Foundation, which presents the awards, added the additional category of Young People's Literature to the already existing categories of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The winners of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature from 1996 to the present are:

2006 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party -M. T. Anderson


2005
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy - Jeanne Birdsall







2004 Godless - Pete Hautman







2003 The Canning Season - Polly Horvath






2002 The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer






2001 True Believer (Make Lemonade Trilogy) - Virginia Euwer Wolff







2000 Homeless Bird - Gloria Whelan






1999 When Zachary Beaver Came to Town - Kimberly Willis Holt







1998 Holes - Louis Sachar







1997 Dancing on the Edge - Han Nolan






1996 Parrot in the Oven: Mi vida - Victor Martinez








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Monday, August 28, 2006

The Love of Learning

Quote of the week:

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.


- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Thursday, August 24, 2006

My Christmas Wish Personalized Book

Product Spotlight

Title: My Christmas Wish Personalized Book
Manufacturer: Create-A-Book
Illustrator: Valerie Webb
Seller: Personalized Books by MadLuck Books
Description: In this personalized story book your child visits the North Pole, experiences all the excitement of Santa's work shop and helps deliver gifts.

A Life time Keepsake:
  • Wipe-clean hard cover
  • Personalized Dedication
  • Professionally Printed
  • Quality Craftsmanship
  • full-color illustrations throughout



Full text of book and sample illustrations:


Pages 1&2 - illustration pages


Page 3
My Christmas Wish
was created especially for
Jessica Ann Smith
at the age of 6

Merry Christmas! From
Mommy and Daddy

December 25, 2006


Page 4
"Oh what a busy, busy time of year. Christmas is coming, and I have so many things to do," said Jessica to Amy, who had come to play. "I have gifts to make and cookies to bake, but that's not all. We'll get a tall tree, and hang three, four, or maybe more stockings."

Pages 5 & 6 - illustration pages

Page 7
Later, Jessica was talking to Amy about Santa Claus. They could picture Santa's jolly, round face and his big smile that was nearly hidden by his long, white, bushy beard.

Page 8
"I have a great idea," said Jessica. "Let's get our crayons and pencils, each make a list, and call it "My Christmas Wish." This list will be special. We'll pretend that we can go to the North Pole and see how Santa and Mrs. Claus get ready for Christmas."

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Pages 9 & 10 - illustration pages


Page 11
All of the elves work so hard in Santa's toy shop that Mrs. Claus bakes them lots of cookies for snacks. Some have red icing; some have chocolate icing; and some have green icing.
"Ummm, I really like cookies," said Jessica, "I wish that I could be there to share some of them with the elves."

Page 12
Santa's elves are very busy running here and running there.
"I wish that I could be there to help feed the reindeer and polish all of the brass bells," said Amy.

Pages 13 & 14 - illustration pages

Page 15
Jessica thought of another wish. "I wish that Santa could bring Rudolph to Warrenton. It would make the whole town happy."

Page 16
"I just thought of an even bigger wish," said Jessica. "I wish that Santa Claus would come with ALL of his reindeer and take me for a ride. Up, up, and away we would fly. I would wear a green suit to match the color of Santa's green sleigh. As I fly by, I might even shake a bell or two myself."

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Pages 17 & 18 - illustration pages


Page 19
"Well, I have the BIGGEST wish," cried Amy. "I can't write it down, because it is so BIG. I wish that all of the children in Warrenton could take turns flying around with Santa Claus. I can just see their BIG smiles."

Page 20
Jessica, along with Amy, was enjoying this pretend game very much. They were wishing that they could go and see where Santa and Mrs. Claus lived. They had been told that the walkway to the front door was lined with candy canes!

Pages 21 & 22 - illustration pages

Page 23
All of the sudden, they found themselves sitting at Santa's table. Santa was reading through his very long list of names of children who had been very good. Jessica, as well as Amy, hoped that their names were on the list.

Page 24
"Welcome to our home, Jessica. Would you like some cookies," asked Mrs. Claus. "Santa and I will sing you some Christmas songs. How about 'Silent Night' or 'Jingle Bells'? Yes, 'Jingle Bells,'" and they began to sing.

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Pages 25 & 26 - illustration pages


Page 27
The music could be heard in the workshop where the elves were working very hard. One elf was painting some finishing touches on the roof of that doll house. "I wonder if one of the elves made that little doll," said Jessica. "I would like to have that as a gift for myself."

Page 28
Jessica saw an elf pick up a colorful book about the real meaning of Christmas. She thought that it seemed like a good idea to add the book to her wish list.

Pages 29 & 30 - illustration pages

Page 31
"This has been a very exciting adventure to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus and see how hard all of the elves work to get ready for Christmas," said Jessica.

Page 32
As the children watched Santa load his sleigh, they realized that it was time to say good-bye. "Before we go," said Jessica, "we have just one last wish."

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Pages 33 & 34 - illustration pages


Page 35
"Peace on Earth and good will

to all the children of the world."

December 25, 2006


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Monday, August 21, 2006

It is books...

Quote of the Week

It is books that are a key to the wide world; if you can't do anything else, read all that you can.

- Jane Hamilton

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Friday, August 18, 2006

My Dinosaur Adventure Personalized Book

Product Spotlight

Title: My Dinosaur Adventure Personalized Book
Illustrator: Valarie Webb
Manufacturer: Create-A-Book
Seller: Personalized Books by MadLuck Books
Description: In this personalized book, your child gets to experience an exciting Jurassic tale. It's a delightful book for young paleontologist everywhere! Includes a pronunciation guide for the dinosaurs.

A Lifetime Keepsake:
  • Wipe-clean hard cover
  • Personalized dedication
  • Professionally printed
  • Quality craftmanship
  • Full-color illustrations throughout


Full text of book with sample illustration pages:


Pages 1 & 2 - illustration pages

Page 3
My Dinosaur Adventure
was created especially for

Michael Jeremy Smith
at the age of 8

with love from
Mom and Dad
December 25, 2006

Page 4
Mike Smith of Warrenton had a special dream. His favorite books to read from the library were always those about dinosaurs, but he wanted to learn a lot more about them. As he was thinking about this, a beautiful white unicorn appeared at his bedroom window.

Pages 5 & 6 - illustration pages

Page 7
To his surprise, the unicorn spoke, "Mike, I want to take you to the Land of the Dinosaurs. Can you come with me?"
Mike said, "Wow! I would love to go, but first I must ask permission and leave a note for Larry, Wayne and Bob." Moments later, the unicorn whisked him back in time to the Land of the Dinosaurs.

Page 8
When Mike and the unicorn arrived at the shore of the beautiful lake, an apotosaurus
(uh-pat-o-SORE-us) greeted them. He was longer than a big school bus.
"What's your name?" asked Mike.
"I don't have one," answered the plant-eating dinosaur sadly. "No one has ever named any of us."
Mike thought for a while and then said, "I will call you Stretch."

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Pages 9 & 10 - illustration pages

Page 11
"Look at that mountain over there!" shouted Mike, pointing off into the distance. "Is it on fire?" he asked.
"Oh no, that's just a volcano," replied the unicorn. "Look all around you. The Land of the Dinosaurs is filled with many, many volcanoes, swamps and fern jungles."
Mike added, "It's also very hot!"

Page 12
While exploring, they met a stegosaurus (steg-uh-SORE-us). "He sure does have a lot of sharp points on his back," whispered Mike.
"Those are called plates," said the unicorn. "A stegosaurus uses them for protection. They also trap heat from the sun to help keep them warm."
Mike told the stegosaurus, "A great name for you would be Spike."

Pages 13 & 14 - illustration pages

Page 15
Next, Mike and the unicorn entered a dense, humid forest where they found giant ferns and many reptiles of all sizes and shapes. While there, they heard a strange, snapping sound in the distance and cautiously crept closer to investigate. After all, Mike had wanted to come here to learn as much as he could about dinosaurs!

Page 16
Not far away, they met an allosaurus (al-us-SORE-us). She had large teeth and stood on powerful, hind legs. A huge tail helped her to stand up.
"So you are the one who is making all that noise," said Mike. "I shall name you Alli."
Alli said, "Thank you," as she handed Mike a branch of flowers.

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Pages 17 & 18 - illustration pages

Page 19
Mike was having so much fun in the Land of the Dinosaurs that he had not noticed that his friend the unicorn was crying. "Why are you crying?" asked Mike.
"You have given names to everyone today except me," sighed the unicorn.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Ariel would be the perfect name for you," said Mike.
"I love it!" smiled the wide-eyed unicorn with a big grin. "Thank you!"


Page 20
As they were talking, a tiny compsognathus (komp-sog-NAY-thus), about the size of a cat, raced past them and said, "You must follow me. There is something you will want to see." Mike and Ariel chased after him.
"Wow! He is as fast as lightning. That's a great name for him," shouted Mike as he ran.


Pages 21 & 22 - illustration pages


Page 23
They ran and ran until they came to some rugged, rocky cliffs. Lightning showed Mike a nest along the top of one of the cliffs and directed him to get a close look. The nest contained three baby pterodactyls (ter-uh-DAK-tuls).
"Who is supposed to be taking care of these babies?" asked Mike.


Page 24
"I am!" echoed a voice, circling above them. Just then a large pterodactyl glided past them. Mike found it hard to believe that a lizard could fly. Its wing span was about as long as his arm. Mike decided that Dack would be a fine name for a flying lizard. The father pterodactyl glided down to the nest. Ariel was quietly talking to Dack, but Mike could not hear what they were saying.

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Pages 25 & 26 - illustration pages


Page 27
Mike, Ariel and the pterodactyl flew back across the Land of the Dinosaurs until they once more reached the beautiful lake. This time Mike saw a lot of activity at the water's edge. Dinosaurs were decorating the beach with streamers and balloons. Mike wanted to help decorate and wondered if he could go to the party.


Page 28
As they landed, a pentaceratops (pen-tuh-SARE-uh-tops) rushed to greet them. Mike quickly counted the five horns on his head and decided to call him Penti. Then he asked if he could help them decorate.
"I want you to come with me, but for a different reason," replied Penti. "We have a surprise for you!"


Pages 29 & 30 - illustration pages


Page 31
The dinosaurs were gathered around a large two-tiered cake. "What a beautiful cake!" exclaimed Mike.
"It's for you!" shouted his new friends. Now Mike knew what Ariel had whispered to Dack. The dinosaurs realized that Mike had to return soon and had wanted to help him remember his first visit to the Land of the Dinosaurs.


Page 32
After the party, Alli, the allosaurus, told Mike that it was time to leave for Warrenton. Mike was a bit sad, but could hardly wait to tell Larry, Wayne and Bob about his exciting adventures. Before he left, they all thanked Mike for the nice names he had given them.

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Pages 33 & 34 - illustration pages


Page 35
Ariel flew Mike home and said, "I also have a surprise for you, Mike." In his room, he found a dinosaur cake with a personalized card signed by all the dinosaurs. Mike hugged Ariel for making his secret dream come true and told her how much he had enjoyed his trip to the Land of the Dinosaurs. "I will never forget what you have done for me! Thank you for my fabulous dinosaur adventure."


Page 36
Here are the pronunciations for the dinosaurs you have read about in MY DINOSAUR ADVENTURE.

Use your book to spell them correctly.

(uh - pat - o - SORE - us)
(steg-uh-SORE-us)
(al-uh-SORE-us)
(komp-sog-NAY-thus)
(ter-uh-DAK-tuls)
(pen-tuh-SARE-uh-tops)

What other dinosaurs can you name, Mike?

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Sibert Award Winners, 2001-present

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award was established by the Association for Library Service to Children in 2001. It is awarded annually to the author "of the most distinguished informational book published in English during the preceding year."


2006: Secrets Of A Civil War Submarine: Solving The Mysteries of The H. L. Hunley
by Sally M. Walker (Carolrhoda Books)









2005:
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights
by Russell Freedman (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company)










2004: An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (also Newbery Honor Book) by Jim Murphy (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Company)










2003: The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Cross Giblin (Clarion)









2002:
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Houghton Mifflin Company)








by Marc Aronson (Clarion Books)










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Monday, August 14, 2006

From your parents...

Quote of the Week

From your parents, you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot in front of the other. But when books are opened, you discover that you have wings.

- Helen Hayes

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Monday, August 07, 2006

Outside of a dog...

Quote of the Week:

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

-Groucho Marx

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