books and reading

"Benita loves to read in bed but keeps getting interrupted by a whistling Tunche, a scary Supay and other spooky creatures from Peruvian lore. To the creatures' disbelief, Benita is so absorbed by her book that she's not the least bit scared of them. This humorous celebration of bedtime reading puts a global twist on taking the "scary" out of monsters"--.

In three-and-a-half stories, friends and roommates Bat, Cat and Rat share, joke, and read together.

"A scarecrow stood in the garden. Tall, proud, and smiling. Every day a girl brought her favorite books to the garden and she read to him. He heard tales of courage and of hope. And when she said, 'The End,' the scarecrow always felt a little bit taller and braver. Year after year, she came and she read to him. Until one spring, two different hands picked him up from the garden shed and placed him in the garden. He waited, but she didn't come to read to him . . . a tender distillation of the enduring power of friendship and a . . . look at the ways stories connect us"--Provided by publisher.

"1919. Mama is ill. Father has taken a job abroad. Nanny Jane is too busy to pay any attention to Henrietta and the things she sees--or thinks she sees--in the shadows of their new home, Hope House. All alone, with only stories for company, Henry discovers that Hope House is full of strange secrets: a forgotten attic, ghostly figures, mysterious firelight that flickers in the trees beyond the garden. One night she ventures into the darkness of Nightingale Wood. What she finds there will change her whole world"--Provided by publisher.

As eleven-year-old Dawz and Mim, the terrifying but kind-hearted monster who lives in his closet, become more aware of each other, they must uncover the true nature of their mysterious connection.

The only rule in Larry's book is that the reader not push the button, but when no one is looking, it may be irresistible.

"[This book] dares to ask the obvious but crucial questions about the whole business of reading: What is reading really for? What are stories trying to do for us? Why should we care? In a tone that's engaging and playful, we're shown how books help us to grow, why we cry about the fate of certain characters and how to read for genuine pleasure rather than to please a teacher or parent. Along the way, we learn about the history of literature and about some of the many . . . books from around the world we might enjoy"--OCLC.

"Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape.".

Celebrates the work of librarians in the twentieth-century American South who delivered books to remote families by horseback. Follows librarian Anna Mary and her horse, Sand, as they travel through rural Kentucky providing books to children. Includes an author's note.

Disappointed that the new class pet is just a hamster, Polly uses her magic book, Spell, to conjure up a more interesting pet--and than has to figure out how to resolve the resulting topsy turvy chaos.