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Help a Reader Out: Mystery Moose

I’m so excited! I got to have an awesome superlibrarian moment today thanks to Brice, who sent us this inquiry:

I was looking over your sight for a Halloween book I had as a kid (early 1970’s) but I can’t remember the name and was wondering (with your knowledge of kids Halloween books) if you might know the book. This is an illustrated book of 2 animal friends who dress up in costumes to go trick or treating. I think one of them was a moose. My sister and I had this hardback book about 1974 or 1975 I believe and have both been searching for it but without the title it’s difficult. She swears the story was about 2 monsters who dress up as other monsters but I think they were animals. Regardless, if you have any ideas I would appreciate. Or if you have some search ideas that will help too

Waay back in some creaky corner of my brain a barely-remembered Morris the Moose poked his head out. Did Morris have a Halloween story? I couldn’t remember. But I could find out…

It turns out that Morris does have a Halloween story, Halloween with Morris and Boris, by Bernard Wiseman, published in hardcover in 1975. It’s out of print, but if you want it, it’s possible to find it used.

When I told Brice I’d found the book, it sounded like I’d made his day… Brice, you made my day, too.

Posted on August 22, 2011 by , Reply

Help a Reader Out: Don’t Feed The Aliens At The Zoo

Here’s our most recent request for help: a reader seeking a short story collection for children themed around aliens.

Allison writes:

Hello, this may seem like a strange request. I am trying to locate this book
that I absolutely loved as a kid (possible publication date, between
1994-1997ish).

It was a children’s/young adult book in the line of “More Scary Stories To
Tell In The Dark”. I believe I actually got it at an elementary school book
fair many many MANY years ago, or possibly from the Scholastic book catalog
that was sent to us in elementary school. It was a collection of short
stories about aliens, some funny and some scary. It was a paperback and on
the cover was a picture of a green alien with one eye reaching through a
cage. It corresponded to an inside story about these kids from the
not-so-distant-Earth who go to an “alien zoo” to see the alien specimins.
The antagonist kid chucks an ice cream cone at the alien, who eventually
escapes and enacts his revenge. Another story was about two kids who
discover cave art and upon further inspection realize it is depicting the
true “aliens” on Earth are the human race, who invaded and killed the
original inhabitants. There were more and I just remember snippets. It was
very “Twilight Zone”…but for kids…I can’t find it anywhere! It was not
either of the Bruce Coville collections, and I’m not sure if it was an
anthology of authors or just one author.

I figured a website devoted to children’s horror books might be able to
assist me.

Can anyone identify Allison’s unidentified favorite?

Posted on July 29, 2011 by , Reply

Help a Reader Out: Entering the Twilight Zone

No, this has nothing to do with a certain series by Stephenie Meyer, or even with Rod Serling. I’ve received a request from a science teacher moving from teaching high school to teaching eighth grade who needs to build a classroom library appropriate for middle school students. If you follow trends in YA fiction at all, you might have noticed that  some YA books are very dark, and they can be very explicit. In fact, there’s a debate going on right now about this very thing.  Most of these books are aimed at older teens, ages 15-18, and that means that they aren’t terribly appropriate for a classroom library for middle schoolers.  Just because younger kids CAN and DO read some of those books, doesn’t mean they are the best selections for their classroom library. However, in spite of the fact that I personally enjoy reading books for upper elementary students, most middle schoolers are moving beyond those. It is a tricky age to find reading material that walks the line.

This doesn’t mean books can’t have dark themes. But  books with foul language, explicit sex, and extreme violence and gore are not great choices for the majority of middle schoolers. As with any age, though, many of them love suspense, cliffhangers, a good scare, adventure, a little romance, humor, mystery, and stories about kids who might be going though the same things they are.  Among other things.

Do you have any ideas as to good titles for a middle school classroom library? What did you read for pleasure at that age? Honestly, I probably read more of a variety of titles and genres in middle school than I have at any other time of my life, and I’d be happy to share some of my favorites with you, and with her, but I’m one person. What are your suggestions?

Posted on July 20, 2011 by , 4 comments
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