Great+New+Books

= Great New Books =

Did you find a must-have picture book, novel, or non-fiction book in the Expo or at the OLA store?
Did you hear about some great reads during one of the sessions you attended? Please share your new finds here.

//Come Thou, Tortoise// by Jessica Grant
This book is the Evergreen Award winner for 2010 and was the One Book, One Conference selection for this year's conference. I bought the eBook on a whim after visiting the Superconference site and viewing the "thermometer thingy" they were using to keep track of the number of readers who had read //Come Thou, Tortoise//. I quite enjoyed the book and particularly appreciated the sections told from the perspective of the 300-year-old tortoise, Winnifred, who has been left behind by her owner and must suffer the indignities of being used as a bookmark by Chuck, an aspiring Shakespearean actor who seems destined to be an Antonio forever, but never a Hamlet. Winnifred is a particularly wise tortoise, drawing frequently on her 300 plus years of life experience. I like Winnifred's pragmatic way of looking at the foibles of humans. When watching Chuck half-heartedly rehearse one day, Winnifred observes: "You can't be Hamlet every day. Or maybe you can. Maybe part of being Hamlet is not knowing if you are Hamlet. Maybe part of being Hamlet is being Antonio. Some days, anyway." Posted by Chris Passmore.

Speaking of treasures discovered at OLA Superconference, Melanie Watt's latest Scaredy Squirrel tale, "S.S. has a birthday party" is every bit as brilliant as the orginal. Expecting the unexpected is key to Scaredy's adventures. Anticipating problems and problem-solving, planning and preparation, organization and itemization, graphs and T charts...and of course, humour, all contribute to a thoughtful, meaningful, story with which students can make innumerable connections to self, to texts, and to the world. Scaredy Rules! Posted by Peggy MacDonald
 * //Scaredy Squirrel has a Birthday Party// by Melanie Watt**