You may not know it, but lurking in the neighborhoods of Jackson, MS are….kids who are amazing readers! That’s right! I have had the privilege to meet with some of these kids and not only do they read and comprehend beyond the normal range, but they also know how to talk about why they liked a book. John Chase Bryan read Brain Jack by Brian Falkner for me and wrote a review. This book is great for fans of Artemis Fowl and video games and—well, don’t take my word for it!

John Chase’s Review:

The book Brain Jack is about a hacker called Sam. One day Sam hacks into Telecomerica’s files and accidentally turns off America’s power for one day. Later he is caught and sent to prison. Sam escapes and is offered a job at CDD or Cyber Defense Division. He accepts and then while stopping hackers, a freak virus destroys the hackers’ computers from the inside.

The team at CDD consists of Dodge, Kiwi, Vienna, and Sam. Later they are beaten by the hackers and Sam thinks it is because the hackers have neuro headsets. So CDD gets neuro headsets, then the virus shocks Dodge to where he is unconscious. The virus is a virtual being that made Kiwi think that Sam hurt Dodge, so Sam, Dodge and Vienna escape to Las Vegas which was nuclear bombed by terrorists. The virtual being is hunting them down by making everyone think Sam, Dodge, and Vienna are terrorists so that the police will hunt them. Once Dodge regains consciousness he builds a virus to destroy the being. Will the Virus work? Read to find out.

I liked the book; it was a good read. The book is easy to understand for someone like me who isn’t that interested in computers. However, there are some parts I had no clue about. It does start at a slow pace but accelerates all the way through the book. Review written by John Chase

Award winning author, Kate DiCamillo is coming to Lemuria! She is an acclaimed author of many books for young readers and the recipient of a Newbery Medal; a Newbery Honor Book and was named a National Book Award finalist. She is a very big deal and we are thrilled that she is coming!

I picked up a really cute book by her this morning called, Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken. Louise is a most unusual chicken in that she longs for adventure and seems to be able to leave the hen-house whenever she wants! The book is divided into several chapters each telling of a different adventure.

In one story, she goes to sea in search of real adventure and has an exciting encounter with pirates! In another, she runs away to the Circus and becomes a tight rope walker and in the last chapter, she visits a far away land with an exotic market where she finds herself in a bit of trouble all in the name of adventure! But, in the end, Louise realizes the same truth that Dorothy learned in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home!”

A precious book with a BIG heart and a BIG lesson. Check out Diane’s blog here and Emily’s blog here! And then don’t forget to come out tomorrow, Sunday, May 15th at 1:00 and meet Kate DiCamillo!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo is a beautiful book that all of us here at Lemuria love. From Bagram Ibatoulline’s beautiful illustrations to the distinct way Kate DiCamillo inspires all of us to be a little better than our original selves, what’s not to love about this beautiful book?

I fell in love with Edward on the first read. For me, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane represents the journey that many of us take in life. At the beginning of the story, Edward has more love than any china bunny, or person, can expect — he is loved selflessly and unconditionally. However, Edward has no regard for all this love and appreciation. Again, as in life, change is waiting to happen, and for our selfish little bunny, this change comes in the form of an accident at sea. This event becomes the catalyst for about twenty years of life adventures — most are full of love and happiness, but a few reveal to Edward all that he had taken for granted. At one point Edward is feeling pretty low and realizes that to be loved you must open your heart, and that to fully be happy you must give love in return. As you all know, opening the heart brings risk. Can Edward open his heart? Get the book and find out!

You will definitely enjoy not only the book but meeting the amazing person who gave us this beautiful story. Kate DiCamillo will be here this Sunday, May 15th at 1:00. We hope you will come out and meet her. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Also, check out Emily’s blog on Kate’s signing here!

I’ve moved to the children’s room! When I first began working at Lemuria over three years ago, I started out in the fiction room. A bit later, I was moved into the main room where I have stayed for quite some time. Now, I am beginning an entirely new journey into the children’s department, known as Oz, and I am loving it! I really enjoy getting to know this last frontier and I am amazed at how much the world of children’s books has changed since I was reading to my own children.

Emily has created a wonderful atmosphere in Oz and I am drop-jawed at all she has going on in this one fairly small room. She has truly ushered in a new era and if it has been awhile since you visited Oz, come on in and we can learn it together.

We have a signing coming up with a special children’s author and artist, Alex Beard. Emily sent me home with his books so I could study up. First off, he and Emily were made for each other. He exudes energy and a grand love and enjoyment of children and loves hands on interaction. In addition to his reading and signing at Lemuria, she is taking him to several schools in Jackson for a wonderful time of “playing.”

His first book came out in 2009 and is entitled The Jungle Grapevine. It is a great take on that old game, “Gossip” where someone whispers a phrase into another ear and it is then passed all around the circle until it comes back to the beginning and said out loud to see how close it remained to the original phrase! In this book, all sorts of things get misheard and miscommunicated much to the dismay and delight of all involved.

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In his latest book, Monkey See Monkey Draw the charming story is filled with monkeys and elephants etc all playing quite happily until a ball rolls into a dark cave that the monkeys have always been too afraid to enter. Elephant isn’t afraid so he walks right in and discovers all sorts of wonderful pictures of animals drawn on the walls, all made from footprints and handprints!” It’s a great story about fear and exploration.

Both of these books are based in Africa where Beard himself has been a frequent traveler. His many journeys there have obviously affected his work both as a writer and as an artist. In reading up on him, I found this:

“Beard was born in 1970. His father was a philanthropist. His mother, Patricia Beard, was an author and former editor for Town & Country, Elle, and Mirabella magazines. He is the nephew of photographer Peter Beard. As a teenager, he was able to travel parts of the world like Panama, Africa, China, India, and Belize. Alex grew up among some of the world’s most interesting and influential people — Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, and their Pop World cohorts were familiar faces in the Beard household.”

Beard divides his time between New York and New Orleans where he has a gallery in the French Quarter. He is married with two children.

He is a part of a new breed of children’s writer–young, talented and with a huge respect for children but a desire to also broaden and educate through his writings and art. He sounds like so much fun, I can’t wait to meet him!

Alex Beard will be at Lemuria on Tuesday, April 12th. Bring your little ones! The reading for young and old will begin shortly after 4:oo with a book signing to follow.

Monkey See Monkey Draw is our April Oz First Editions Club Selection. (Read more about OZ FEC here.)

Click here if you would like to reserve a signed first edition of Monkey See Monkey Draw.

We also have a small number of first editions of The Jungle Grapevine. Click here if you would like to reserve a copy.

More of Alex Beard’s paintings can be viewed at The Alex Beard Studio.

I’m 22 years old, I adore picture books, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  Picture books aren’t only for children, you know.  I admit that I forgot about picture books somewhere between first and second grade and never looked back until I started working at Lemuria.  And now when I’m negotiating with graduate programs and trying to figure out where in the world I’m going to come up with the money to study in Paris, my worn-out, stressed-out self finds solace in the wonderful illustrations found in children’s picture books. I find myself having a bit of a crush on some of these illustrators who build aesthetically-pleasing worlds out of the sparse ( though often catchy and sweet) lines on each page of these books.  I also find myself fighting the desire to deface these children’s books by tearing out my favorite pages, framing them, and hanging them around my room.  (It’s a great idea in my mind, but I’d be sad to have a book with missing pages, wouldn’t you?)

I was delighted when John Bemelmans Marciano visited Lemuria to sign his new book Madeline at the White House. Though any copies of the Madeline books I had when I was a child have long ago disappeared (hopefully they’re being checked out of a library somewhere or sitting on some other family’s bookshelf), I couldn’t resist buying new copies of the original Madeline tales as well as  Marciano’s newest additions to Madeline’s adventures—and no, not for my future child, just for myself.

For more on John Bemelmans Marciano and his grandfather, click on the photo to read Emily’s blog.

And my newest illustrator crush is Carson Ellis.  I was already vaguely familiar with her work as she designs the cover art for The Decemberists, one of my favorite bands.  Maybe you recognize some of it?

Anyway, I am pleased to say that Carson also illustrates children’s picture books.  For example (and this isn’t a picture book but it is a young adult series), remember Nell’s blog on The Mysterious Benedict Society?  Yep, Carson Ellis did the cover art.

And that’s just one of the many.  I was quite happy yesterday when Emily helped me find more of Carson’s work back in OZ.  If you’re interested in Carson Ellis as an illustrator, check out her website here. And if you’re interested in finding some great picture books to marvel at, then come check out OZ.  -Kaycie

Even the mention of the Madeline series brings a smile to my face —for in our family these books have happily spanned three generations—My mother read the first book about Madeline to me when I was a child. Then I, of course, couldn’t wait to read them all to my own daughter. And since I still had a copy of the very first in the series (carefully saving it along with other favorites of my children) it was I who first introduced my grandchildren to the delightful Madeline. Though my daughter has subsequently collected the other books in the series for them, I keep my copy on hand for when they come to Jackson, and it’s become something of a tradition to re-read it each time they come. -Billie

John Bemelmans Marciano was here on Friday, February 18th at 4:30 to sign his new book, Madeline at the White House, and his other Madeline stories.

I remember the first time I found out about Madeline. My mama and daddy went to London to visit my aunt and uncle and they came home with Madeline in London for me. Being a red-headed little girl, I was over the moon to have a book about another red-headed girl. I had a major complex about being red-headed because I was the only one in my class. So along with Pippi, Madeline was added to my list of “reasons it is okay to be red-headed.”

Every so often mama would come home with a new Madeline book from OZ books. A big treat was when she came home with a Madeline doll for me! I still have that doll and she is still just as special to me at 25 as she was at 9-years-old.

John Bemelmans Marciano was here on Friday, February 18th at 4:30 to sign his new book and his other Madeline stories.

What do you think of when you think of the children’s book character Madeline? Is it how you had to have it read to you every night before bed, or how you grew so tired of reading it every night before bed. Does she remind you of yourself? Maybe your precocious child? Or do her books remind you of a golden age in children’s literature, the way a picture book is supposed to be?

In some way, many of us here at the book store have some memory of Madeline’s books, either from growing up hearing them or reading them to growing children. The author and illustrator of the original Madeline books was Ludwig Bemelmans. In his lifetime, he published six Madeline stories. A seventh story was found after his death and his grandson edited it for publication.

Ludwig Bemelmans died of cancer in 1962, but Madeline continued to live on in the hearts of many families, including the Bemelmans. John Bemelmans Marciano is Ludwig’s grandson and grew up hearing stories of Madeline from his grandmother, Madeleine, or Mimi, Ludwig’s wife. He has carried Madeline into a new century with his new books Madeline and the Cats of Rome and his newest book, Madeline At the White House. In one interview with The Star Ledger, Marciano says that in writing these new stories he wanted “to keep it in the spirit of the original.”

And Marciano, a self taught illustrator, has done just that. The new Madeline books are still stories of our favorite Madeline without feeling forced or commercialized. Ludwig Bemelmans himself wanted to write Madeline At the White House and corresponded with Jacqueline Kennedy about the project. Marciano’s book takes place in the spring and Miss Clavel takes all twelve children to the White House to meet the fictional first daughter Candle. They have fun touring the city and even Easter egg hunting on the White House grounds.  When everyone except Madeline gets a tummy ache, Madeline spends her night whispering with Candle over candle light. This book is just as adorable as the original Madeline books and definitely worth adding to your collection.

To top it all off, John Bemelmans Marciano will be here on Friday, February 18th at 4:30 to sign his new book and his other Madeline stories. After the signing we will have a reading and have a jolly old time. Fans old and young, one and all will not want to miss this magical evening.

She’s an illustrator and an author. She has written picture books, books for early readers, books for late elementary kids, and keepsake books. She won a Newbery Honor in 2010 for her book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and a Geisel Honor (an award named for Theodore Seuss Geisel) in 2011 for her book Ling and Ting. She tours schools, encourages creativity, and, as you can already see, is an amazing dynamo of talent. And, she will be here at Lemuria this Thursday!

As I write this blog, we are on the cusp of the new Chinese New Year, the year of the rabbit. One of my favorite books of Lin’s is Bringing in the New Year. I remember a child, celebrating Chinese New Year in school, but the traditions we acknowledged were more like our American new year than a real Chinese new year. In this picture book, Grace Lin sheds light on customs the Chinese practice at the start of a new year.

If you’re looking for a book that’s for an older child, or a book to read from every night, look no further than Lin’s Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Beautifully written and illustrated, this is the story of a girl who goes on an adventure to change her family’s fortune, only to find she doesn’t need to change it. Grace weaves Chinese folklore throughout this novel to create a unique and touching story. This is the kind of book that not only catches a child (or parent’s) attention with its full color illustrations and holds it with the engaging story. Several people, myself included, have been reading it in preparation of meeting Grace and I have heard nothing but exclamations of happiness about this book.

And for those kids just learning to read Ling and Ting is such a perfect fit. Much like Dicamillo and McGhee’s Bink and Gollie, this book is a little smaller than a picture book in height and has three stories much like chapters. Ling and Ting are identical twins, but they are not the same. Each story shows a way their personalities are different. With Lin’s same bright illustrations, this book is sure to become a classic early reader book.

Come meet this amazing children’s writer and illustrator on the first day of the Year of the Rabbit, Thursday, February 3rd at 5:00. We can’t wait to see you there!