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First look. Wolf pack ready to grin and bare it for “New Moon”

Animal instincts: Paul (Alex Meraz), Sam (Chaske Spencer), Jared (Bronson Pelletier) and Embry (Kiowa Gordon), a gang of werewolves in New Moon, due Nov. 20.Step aside, aloof vampires with all your undead issues. The wolf pack is ready to howl.

Unlike cold-blooded neck biters, these poster guys for animal magnetism are hot. So hot that their temperature runs a steady 108 degrees, as anyone who has read Stephenie Meyer's series of gothic romances knows.

MEET THE WOLF PACK: Birth and brawn combined

That gives them a great excuse to doff their shirts on-screen and expose the physiques they've been pumping up for playing werewolves in The Twilight Saga:New Moon, the sequel to last year's supernatural sensation, due Nov. 20.

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Watch and Read – Holes by Louis Sachar

Hole by Louis Sachar

Hole by Louis Sachar

"If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers.

HTML clipboard"It's a strange story, but strangely compelling and lovely too."

Read more about the book, watch the trailer, get lesson plans and more ...

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Book – Grizzly Trap (Extreme adventures)

THE GRIZZLY ROSE UP ON ITS HIND LEGS AND LET OUT A FEARSOME ROAR, HALFWAY BETWEEN THE BARK OF A DOG AND THE BELLOW OF A BULL. WE WERE DEAD MEAT…

Sam Fox is on a trip to North America with his scout cub pack when their bus crashes down a steep canyon. Some of the group are seriously injured, so Sam and two cubs set off to find help.

But Sam is thousands of miles from home, in the middle of the American wilderness. A wilderness full of howling wolves, voracious snapper turtles, rabid raccoons, and a massive, unpredictable grizzly bear that’s following them and just won’t give up…

Click here to read an excerpt from the book, to play the game, and catch up with Justin d'Ath, the author.

Click here to buy the book

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Book – Pretty Monsters: stories

by Kelly Link

Link, who has two breathlessly received books of strange, surrealistic tales for adults under her belt, makes the leap into the YA fold with this collection of short stories (most previously published in separate anthologies) that tug at the seams of reality, sometimes gently, sometimes violently. In nearly every one of these startlingly, sometimes confoundingly original stories, Link defies expectations with such terrific turnarounds that you are left precipitously wondering not only “What’s going to happen now?” but also “Wait, what just happened?”

more .... Amazon .... eBook

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar

From Newsweek: The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 40 this year, and Eric Carle’s now-classic picture book has sold 29 million copies. Newsweek spoke to its creator about the caterpillar’s metamorphosis.

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Book – Chicken Little

by Rebecca Emerley

Illustrated by Ed Emberley

"An old chestnut of a tale comes to rip-roaringly glorious, hilarious, gorgeous life in the hands of two picture-book masters...Emberley fille’s dry wit acts as the perfect complement to Emberley père’s art, which leaps off the page, mixing colors with crazed combinations that provide the perfect balance between text and image. Ideal for reading aloud and as a visual stimulant, this title is bound to become the favored version for children and adults alike."

Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales, Down on the farm lesson, Chicken Little lesson plans, Video, Lesson plan for a similar telling of the story, Chicken Little Literacy/Art Lesson

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Book – Finnikin of the rock

fnnikin of the Rock

by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Read an extract, Author's website, Audio reading, Author video, Teacher Notes

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‘Twilight’ brings supernatural fiction to life, boosts genre

'Twilight' brings supernatural fiction to life, boosts genre

Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer, shown at her home in Cave Creek, Ariz., has opened the door for other teen novels about the paranormal.
Stephenie Meyer may be the reigning queen of teen vampire novels (and USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list), but there are plenty of authors ready to take a bite out of her kingdom.

Meyer's best-selling Twilight series has been the biggest story in publishing for months. But with no new Meyer title on the horizon, young fans are quenching their thirst for paranormal fiction by turning to other authors — and publishers are eager to benefit from the Twilight bump.

more...

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Book – One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

 
A CLASSIC IN THE MAKING FROM THE 2008 CALDECOTT HONOR WINNER

ONE BOY is a perfect example of why Kirkus Reviews calls Laura Vaccaro Seeger the “emerging master of the concept book”—a die-cut book exploring counting and words-within-words, and the power of art and imagination.

 

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Laurie Halse Anderson wins Scott O’Dell award

Laurie Halse Anderson has won the 2009 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for her novel Chains (Simon & Schuster). Set in New York City at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the novel follows a young house slave, Isabel, who is caught between the Rebels and the Loyalists. Chains was a finalist for last year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature, as was Anderson's first novel, Speak, back in 1999. The O'Dell Award comes with a $5,000 prize.