Star Wars: The Clone Wars

So apparently there's a new Star Wars movie coming out? An animated one? I guess I'm a little out of the loop, because I didn't know about it until I checked all these books in. We have a Clone Wars Galactic Photobook, Clone Wars chapter books for two different levels, two early-reader books (levels 1 and 2), an activity book, a sticker book, a picture book, and The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide! Wow. My brothers would have gone crazy for these back in their Star Wars-obsessed phase.

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig

Kate DiCamillo's latest addition to the Mercy Watson series arrived at The Alphabet Garden this week.

Mercy is up to her usual antics in book 5, driving Eugenia crazy and endearing herself to everyone else. In this book, Eugenia calls Animal Control to take care of Mercy once and for all. As this "Unmentionable Horror" approaches, the Watsons fret over how to save Mercy, who disappears to the neighbors' house for a tea party and, as usual, proves herself a "porcine wonder" who doesn't need rescuing!

I always love Kate DiCamillo's writing, but Chris Van Dusen's artwork is what really makes this book. He captures every character perfectly!

Booknaps

I just read this article (thanks to Fuse #8 for the link) expressing the comfort and importance of something I've never been able to accomplish: the booknap. Simply put, a booknap is when you read until you fall asleep. The article states, "If you set your book or magazine aside, rolled over and slept you have not booknapped. The experience should be seamless. One moment you are reading sleepily, the next you wake up with messy hair and a strange taste in your mouth." Like I said, this is not something I have ever experienced.

I remember once hearing an aunt say that she had fallen asleep while reading, and wondering how that was possible. I just can't let go of a story (even if I've read it many times before) enough to fall asleep in the middle. Am I missing out? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Summer Sunshine Rays of Reading

The sun is shining, birds are singing, someone is jamming on a guitar in the courtyard, and I've drawn the name of our first weekly prize winner for this year's summer reading program at The Alphabet Garden! Summer is one of my favorite times to work at The Alphabet Garden; I love it when kids come in excited to write down more books, and it's always fun to call the prize winners!

The Summer Sunshine Rays of Reading program is open to all students entering grades K-12 in the fall of 2008. For each book read between June 15th and August 23rd, 2008, a sun-shaped card with the name of the child and the name of the book will be added to our store window. Each sun with equal one entry for our prizes. Come in often to report books and earn chances to win weekly prizes. Weekly prizes will be drawn each Saturday, June 21st through August 16th, and the winner of the grand prize, a $50 gift certificate to The Alphabet Garden, will be selected on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008.

Stop by soon to register!

A Babysitter for Billy Bear

We just got in A Babysitter for Billy Bear, by Miriam Moss; it is a sweet book that would be great for preparing a young child for the experience of staying home with a babysitter for the first time. Moss's gentle prose follows Billy Bear through the evening as his mother gets him ready for bed and then goes to her pottery class, leaving him with a friend. He can't sleep, and goes downstairs, telling the babysitter he is worried his mother won't be able to find her way home in the dark. She reassures him, showing him the streetlights and the moon and stars, and he goes to sleep. Nothing groundbreaking, but the story would help to get a child comfortable with the idea of going to bed without Mom.

Spring Events

We have a number of fun events coming up at The Alphabet Garden!

The first is our Teachers Only Night on May 21st from 6:00-8:00 PM. There will be refreshments; door prizes; and a 20% discount; as well as guest speaker Susannah Richards, assistant professor of reading/language arts at Eastern Connecticut State University; and author Bob Shea, author of the picture book Big Plans. Please call (203) 439-7766 to RSVP.

On Thursday, May 29th, at 4:00 PM, we are excited to welcome Billy Steers, author of the Tractor Mac books. Come meet the author and make a fun craft! Call to reserve a signed Tractor Mac book.



And on Thursday, June 12th, at 4:00 PM, we will be visited by Bill Thomson, illustrator of Karate Hour, Building with Dad, and most recently, Baseball Hour. These books would make great gifts for Father's Day, teachers, coaches, and kids!

Leslie Bulion

Leslie Bulion joined us on Thursday, April 10th, for a signing of her latest book, The Trouble with Rules. In the book, the kids have a great time drawing with chalk on the road in their neighborhood. During Ms. Bulion's visit to our store, the kids who attended got creative drawing chalk pictures on some fake pavement indoors!