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The Reading Bug is a warm, inviting place for families to linger, browse, relax, read, laugh, play, sing, talk and listen. Our mission is to create a nurturing atmosphere for children, parents and grandparents alike. Our knowledgeable staff is always available to help you choose the best gifts, toys and educational products for your loved ones. Upcoming Events: |
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Saturday, September 18 - 4:00PM: Author Jeanne Walker Harvey - Astro the Stellar Sea Lion Join us for a reading, book signing and puppet making with the author of the fabulous new book, Astro the Stellar Sea Lion! Jeanne Walker Harvey loves finding a true story that is inspiring and fascinating, and then using her creativity to tell the story. She hopes children will have a love of words and understand the power and beauty of words. complete details... |
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Sunday, September 19 - 2:00PM: Free Writing Workshop - Creating Fantastic Creatures You've been squinting through your binoculars for weeks, in search of a strange creature, rumored to be roaming in these parts. Then, you hear a rustling and something flashes past the trees... Curious about what happens next? If Yes, then step into our imaginary world, where fantastic creatures thrive. Join us in this interactive, playful workshop of story-telling and writing, led by writing coach Shu-Hsien Ho. complete details... |
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Thursday, September 23 - 11:00AM: Rise 'n Sign - Sign Language Storytime Learn how to sign with your child with Erika Vetter, Northern California's first advanced signing time instructor! We'll read stories and learn vocabulary songs and activities based on the story's theme. Following this free class, participants will have the opportunity to sign up for Erika's 8 week course. complete details... |
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Saturday and Sunday, September 25-26: The Reading Bug's Birthday Weekend The Reading Bug is turning one! Come help us celebrate with special story and craft times, cake, raffles and more - all weekend long! complete details... |
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Saturday, October 2 - 2:00PM: Author Jennifer Holm-Babymouse #13: Cupcake Tycoon She's back! It's Reading Bug favorite, Jennifer Holm, author of everyone's favorite graphic novel series for young boys and girls - Babymouse! With this visit, she'll be introducing a brand-new Babymouse book (#13!) - Cupcake Tycoon! complete details... |
Recent Staff Reviews:
13 Treasures (Hardcover)
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9780316041485Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 04/01/2010
This is a haunting fantasy
about Tanya, a 13-year old girl who sees fairies. But these fairies are
not nymphs who frolic in the garden. They are small, evil fairies who
live in a parallel universe that is invisible to most humans. After an
encounter with several of them results in another sleepless night,
Tanya's mother sends her to her grandmother's home in the Essex
countryside, a place that is filled with mystery and malevolent
fairies. While there, an old photograph leads Tanya to an unsolved
mystery - a young girl disappeared in the nearby forest 40 years
earlier. Tanya and her friend, Fabian, learn that she was abducted by
the fairies and they decide to rescue her.
The characters are well developed and the plot is full of twists and turns that make the book a real page turner. This book, which won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize (which is open only to children's book authors who have published no more than three books), is a great choice fo! r 8 to 12 year olds who love fantasies like Harry Potter and Magyk! and, like these books, there is a sequel coming. 13 Curses has been published in England, where it has been well received, and the third and final book, 13 Words, is in process. Ages 8-12.
The characters are well developed and the plot is full of twists and turns that make the book a real page turner. This book, which won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize (which is open only to children's book authors who have published no more than three books), is a great choice fo! r 8 to 12 year olds who love fantasies like Harry Potter and Magyk! and, like these books, there is a sequel coming. 13 Curses has been published in England, where it has been well received, and the third and final book, 13 Words, is in process. Ages 8-12.
Shanghai Girls (Paperback)
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780812980530Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 02/01/2010
This book (which is newly
available in paperback) is a fascinating story of two "modern" Chinese
sisters, Pearl and May, living in Shanghai during the 1930s. The
sisters are part of an upper middle class Chinese family who believe
that their destiny will be quite different from their mother, who is
hobbled by her bound feet and in an arranged marriage. Their fate takes a dramatic turn, however, when their father sells them to a Chinese American
as wives for his sons to repay his gambling debt. The story of the
sisters' failed attempt to escape their arranged marriages, set during
the Japanese occupation of China, and their new lives in Los Angeles
during a period when discrimination against Chinese was rampant and
government-sanctioned, is told by the older sister, Pearl. I am
convinced the story would have been completely different if it had been
told by May, or by Pearl's husband, an impoverished rickshaw driver who
came to the United States illegally as a paper son of! an older
Chinese man living in the United States.
The story is told in three sections-- Fate, Fortune, and Destiny - depicting key concepts of Chinese culture. I found the storyline to be compelling until the very end, when the novel seemed to drift off course. It appears that See intends to write a sequel to Shanghai Girls, and this may be the reason the ending was not very satisfying and certainly did not bring closure. Despite this, I recommend this book for anyone looking for an historical novel, and I think it would be a great book group book as well.
The story is told in three sections-- Fate, Fortune, and Destiny - depicting key concepts of Chinese culture. I found the storyline to be compelling until the very end, when the novel seemed to drift off course. It appears that See intends to write a sequel to Shanghai Girls, and this may be the reason the ending was not very satisfying and certainly did not bring closure. Despite this, I recommend this book for anyone looking for an historical novel, and I think it would be a great book group book as well.
$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780763648015Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Templar, 02/01/2010
This
is a wonderful book for parents to explore with their curious
elementary school aged children. The book is extremely well illustrated
and chock full of dials, tabs and pop ups containing great information
- starting with how the earth was formed and how life may have begun.
It contains a detailed explanation of what causes earthquakes to occur
(very timely during this period of worldwide quake activity). There are
pages about the water cycle, weather, the ocean, plants, and the carbon
cycle. Not only will this book answer many questions (What is a carbon
footprint and how can we reduce it? What causes extreme weather
conditions? How do we get our water? How old is the earth?), it will
also help children begin to develop a healthy respect for the
complicated ecosystem that we are a part of. I highly recommend this
book for children aged 7 to 11.
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9780810982987Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 05/01/2010
I
have to admit that the cover of this first novel by Corriveau is what
made me pick it up and read it. Who could resist this face? The book is
an interesting one: Nicky Flynn is a sixth grader whose whole life
changed over the summer. His mother and he moved out of their pleasant
suburban home in Littleton and away from his father (whom he hasn't
seen for weeks) and into a cramped one bedroom apartment in Charleston, near Boston.
Nicky is angry about being uprooted, and his mother is working in a new
job and struggling with depression when she decides to get Nicky the
dog he always wanted.
Nicky is not impressed - the apartment is too small for Reggie, a German Shepherd who couldn't make it as a seeing eye dog. But things change and soon Nicky and Reggie are fast friends, while Nicky's mother is ready to take Reggie back to the pound. Nicky runs away with Reggie, assuming that they can live with his dad. Things don't turn out as Nicky expects, but he learns a lot as a result of his journey back to Littleton. Also threaded through the book is a mystery about why Reggie wound up in the pound: did he make a mistake that endangered his blind master? Although the book is written for middle school readers, it does contain some subject matter that parents should be aware of - Nicky's mother is drinking too much wine in the evening; his father apparently is having an affair and wasn't always the father that Nicky wanted him to be even when they were living together as a family; and Nicky runs away from home, breaks into an empty house, hitchhikes and nearly accepts a ride from a sketchy man. On the other hand, by the end of the book Nicky learns a lot and is genuinely sorry for his actions, and his mother steps up to her parental responsibilities and stops drinking in the evenings. For mature 9 to 12 year olds.
Nicky is not impressed - the apartment is too small for Reggie, a German Shepherd who couldn't make it as a seeing eye dog. But things change and soon Nicky and Reggie are fast friends, while Nicky's mother is ready to take Reggie back to the pound. Nicky runs away with Reggie, assuming that they can live with his dad. Things don't turn out as Nicky expects, but he learns a lot as a result of his journey back to Littleton. Also threaded through the book is a mystery about why Reggie wound up in the pound: did he make a mistake that endangered his blind master? Although the book is written for middle school readers, it does contain some subject matter that parents should be aware of - Nicky's mother is drinking too much wine in the evening; his father apparently is having an affair and wasn't always the father that Nicky wanted him to be even when they were living together as a family; and Nicky runs away from home, breaks into an empty house, hitchhikes and nearly accepts a ride from a sketchy man. On the other hand, by the end of the book Nicky learns a lot and is genuinely sorry for his actions, and his mother steps up to her parental responsibilities and stops drinking in the evenings. For mature 9 to 12 year olds.
Armando and the Blue Tarp School (Hardcover)
$17.95
ISBN-13: 9781584302780Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Lee & Low Books, 10/01/2007
This is a beautifully written book inspired by David Lynch, an American teacher who taught, and still teaches, children living in the neighborhood of the Tijuana city dump. The story centers on Armando, a young boy who yearns to learn, but is not able to go to school because his family needs him to work as a pepenador - a trash picker. Armando's father comes to understand that he must find a way for Armando to pursue his education so that he can have a better life. The book is beautifully illustrated by Hernan Sosa, who was born in Argentina and raised in Paraguay, and it includes a glossary in the back that can be used as a springboard for a Spanish vocabulary lesson. Armando won the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People and was nominated for the California Young Readers Medal for Picture Books for Older Readers, among other awards. A great book for ages 5 to 8.
Also available in Spanish.