Wonderstruck
by Brian Selznick

Caldecott Medal Winner Brian Selznick strikes back with Wonderstruck, an extraordinary story filled with remarkable illustrations and a captivating storyline.  Ben and Rose have been faced with a series of events will change their lives forever. Despite of such unfortunate events, the characters set off to pursue their goals risking everything including their own lives.  Selznick cleverly combines text and illustrations to narrate the stories of Ben and Rose.  Each is presented in different formats set fifty years apart dating back to the 1900s.  As the plots of these stories unfold, Selznick astutely showcases the American Museum of Natural History and touches base on Deaf Culture as well.  Wonderstruck is unquestionably a compelling story about love and perserverance that will surprise you with its astonishing ending.


Over and Under the Snow
by Kate messner     
                                       

 A secret world awaits in Kate Messner's Over and Under the Snow.  This story takes readers on a journey into the snow covered woods with Dad and his young daughter.  While gliding on the snow the girl observes animals, tracks, and more.  Dad explains about the many different animals that hibernate in the winter in a secret world under the snow.  Messner magnificently talks about the subnivean zone in her story with simple and fun text.  Each page displays views of snowcovered landscapes and of the life that takes place underneath the snow.  The book also includes an author's note where Messner explains all about the subnivean zone.  Readers are also presented with facts about the animals that appear in the story as well as additional resources for further reading. 


              Lemonade and Other Poems
        Squeezed from a Single Word
                                                 by Rob Raczka
                                                                                                                                                                       

Squeeze into Bob Raczka's single word poems in this clever, fun, and bold book.  Inspired by the poetry of Andrew Russ, Raczka entertains readers with a book filled with poems based on ordinary words like chocolate, spring, and friends!  Each page is harmoniously illustrated to complement the word poems.  Ingeniously designed, the book also allows readers the opportunity to self check, displaying the answer to each of the word poem puzzles.  Dare to read poetry in an enjoyable and peculiar way with Bob Raczka's, Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word.

                                                 
                                        

                                                                 Chopsticks
                                                                                 by Jessica Anthony

Intriguing and ingeniously elaborated is  Chopsticks, a novel narrated in photographs, drawings, letters, IM conversations, and so much more.  The story of Glory Fleming, a piano prodigy  begins with her disappearance from a rest facility.  Author Jessica Anthony, takes readers 18 months earlier in the story to share the events that occurred prior to Fleming's disappearance.  Following her father's rigid daily routine keeps Glory extremely busy until she meets Francisco, a young man from Argentina. They both fall in love and begin a relationship despite of her father's will. In an effort to keep them apart, Glory's father takes her on a tour to Europe.  Strangely, Gloria  slips into playing the melody Chopsticks during her concerts.  Upon discovering this pattern, her concerned father decides to put Glory in a rest facility.  What happens next is a mystery and although revealed, you will ponder... Was everything that occurred real?  Was it a  product of Glory's imagination or madness?


                          Around the World: 
          Three Remarkable Journeys
                                                     by Matt Phelan

Immerse into a reading journey with Matt Phelan's, Around the World: Three Remarkable Journeys, a historical fiction graphic novel narrating the stories of three daring individuals.  The first in 1884 was Thomas Stevens, a former miner and wheelman who traveled around the globe by bicycle.  His amazing journey boosted the popularity of the bicycle.  The second in 1889 is girl reporter, Nellie Bly, who proposed to travel around the earth in seventy-four days breakings Phileas Fogg's eighty day record.  Such absurd proposal was not accepted at first.  Nevertheless, the idea was accepted a year later and despite the many challenges she faced throughout her trip, Bly broke the record indeed completing her destination two days earlier.  Last but not least is the story of mariner Joshua Slocum in 1895.  After rebuilding a boat, he set sail aboard the Spray on his own for a trip around the world that would last three years and two months.  Without a doubt, Phelan's clever way of portraying historical fiction in this novel will entice many young readers.



The Unforgotten Coat
 by Frank Cottrell Boyce


Frank Cottrell Boyce delights readers with this fascinating story. A young woman named Julie returns to her sixth grade campus after many years.  During her visit she not only runs into her former teacher, Mrs. Spendlove but also comes across the unforgettable coat of Chingis Tuul.  While searching the pockets she finds the photographs that Chingis had taken with his Polaroid camera.  Chronicled in words and photographs, Julie begins to narrate the events of her sixth grade year when she met Chingis and his little brother Nergui,  two children (refugees) from Mongolia.  When chosen to be their Good Guide,  the person who shall show and teach them everything there is to know about school and Bootle, Julie begins to see things from a different perspective appreciating the wonderful places around her.


 Chloe and the Lion
  by Mac Barnett

Whose book is this?  Would you say that it belongs to the author Mac Barnett, or to illustrator Adam Rex, or to both of these brilliant gentlemen?  Join these two friends and Chloe, the main character of the book, as they hunt for the answer.  As the author is narrating the story, something unexpected happens with the illustrations!

Incredibly funny, this story goes beyond the main plot, and into other topics such as cooperation, sharing, and courage.  With a variety of art media, they bring to life the cleverly multi edited story of Chloe and the Lion.

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It
by Gail Carson Levine

This is just to say that Gail Carson Levine's false apology poems were not as great as I thought.  Forgive me, but they were way better than what I imagined!  The humorous and yet sarcastic style used in this poetry collection is an innovative manner of enticing young readers to become poets themselves.  Using well-know fairy tale characters, Levine keeps us wickedly laughing at her
"sincere" apologies.  The recipe for cooking up your very own scrumptious false apology poem is somewhere within the pages of this book.  Although you will be tempted to skip throughout the book to find it, I must warn you...beware of the curse of
                                                       the mummy.


Where Things Come Back
by John CoreyWhaley

Whaley gently interweaves two seemingly nonrelated stories into a true masterpiece.  Cullen Witter's boring life takes an unexpected turn the day his fifteen year old brother, Gabriel vanishes from the little town of Lily, Arkansas.  Similarly, Cabot Searcy's life is forever changed after the suicide of his college roommate, Benton Sage, on Christmas Day.  While gathering Benton's belongings Cabot comes across his late roommate's journal.  Upon flipping through the pages he discovers a written scripture from The Book of Enoch.  This discovery radically influences Cabot to such a degree that more than one life will be greatly impacted.  Oblivious to Cabot's growing obsession, the young Witter brothers go about their ordinary teenage lives until... John Corey Whaley's debut novel is both an easy and addicting read that will not only keep you on your toes, but will deliver an ending that leaves you longing for more.


                                            Meanwhile
                                                                                by Jason Shiga
Jason Shiga's Meanwhile, will take you on

3, 856 different story possibilities.  Readers will be able to create their own storyline depending upon the choices they make as they follow Shiga's intricate labyrinth comic book.  Chocolate or vanilla?  This simple choice is presented in the first page's scenario which leads to the many possibilities aforementioned.  This complex story is presented via flowcharts directing readers to various options to the story by following the tubes.  The book also contains codes which are located throughout, giving access to top secret pages.  The latter will require a lot of backtracking in order to complete the story path that was chosen. Out of the 3, 856 story possibilities only one will take readers to a happy ending.  Are you up for the challenge?  follow the tubes to find if your choices will lead to doom and disaster or to success.   

                                               Metafiction 

        Metafiction books are becoming more popular today than ever before even though they've existed for hundreds of years.  The books listed in this blog portray characteristics of metafiction each in their own unique way.  For instance, Wonderstruck and Where Things Come Back are books that have two interconnected stories including, books that use illustrations rather than text to narrate the story.  Other books such as, Lemonade and other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word and Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It are plainly playful.  Another characteristic of metafiction is when the author becomes a character in his own story such as in Chloe and the Lion where Mac Barnett and Adam Rex, the illustrator, are part of the story.  Some stories may require more from the reader in order to understand the storyline like in Jessica Anthony's novel Chopsticks, which uses very few text and photographs, are used to decipher the plot of the story.  Metafiction books may also be interactive and with multiple endings such as Shiga's Meanwhile, that has over 3,000 endings and target higher order thinking. Last but not least, are books that provoke questions about the topics or events that occurred in the story like in Around the World: Three Remarkable Journeys and Boyce's The Unforgotten Coat.