SMPLKids - Kid's Page

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Drawing of red tomatoes growing on a tomato vine

Veggie Attack!
Wednesday, May 21 at 3:45 p.m.
Mail Library, Youth Services Activity Room, for grades K-4

Here's a chance to play with your food! Veggie stories, munchies and a craft.

Co-sponsored by the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

Featured Sites: Archive

Recommended Reading

Me and the Pumpkin Queen
by Marlane Kennedy

Realistic Fiction
Grades 4 and up

Mildred dreams of growing a prize winning pumpkin, a pumpkin weighing over a thousand pounds. However, some things that look easy turn out to be extremely difficult.

According to Mildred's Guide to Growing a Giant Pumpkin, you must:

1. Get the right seeds. These days, no one grows a Pumpkin Show winner without Howard Dill's Atlantic Giant seeds.
2. Convince your dad that having a pumpkin patch in your backyard is a good idea.
3. Make sure that your dogs stay far, far away from your seedlings.
4. Don't let your busybody aunt interfere with your "pumpkin obsession," no matter how much she wishes you were interested in boys or clothes or anything other than pumpkins.
5. Find a best friend who can help out in a pinch.
6. Never, ever, ever give up.

Check out the real heavyweights at the Circleville Pumpkin Show!

Case of the Mossy Lake Monster book cover

The Case of the Mossy Lake Monster: and other super-scientific cases
by Michele Torrey

Mystery
Grades 3-5

Fifth grade detectives Drake Doyle and Nell Fossey quickly solve four fantastic mysteries by using scientific deduction. Their cases include a hungry cat, endangered penguins, a fish-eating monster and defaced posters from a school election. As an added bonus, there is a section with instructions for the experiments used to solve the mysteries. Teachers and homeshoolers will welcome this second book in the series with read-aloud fun and built in science activities.

- Sylvia 8/07

The Road to Paris
by Nikki Grimes

Realistic Fiction
Grades 4-7

Life has been difficult for eight-year-old Paris and her older brother Malcolm. They’ve been sent to live with one abusive foster family after another, and the only people they have been able to rely on are each other. That is, until that fateful day when the foster care system broke them apart and sent the siblings to live in different cities.

When Paris moves in with the Lincolns, the only African-American family on their block, she expects the worst. However, Paris slowly begins to love and trust this new family who includes her as one of their own. Even when Paris is confronted with the harsh reality of racism, she knows she can rely on the love and support from the place she can now call “home.” Readers will undoubtedly cheer for Paris as she embarks on her road to self discovery.

- Shana 4/07

The Pinhoe Egg
By Diana Wynne Jones

Fantasy
Grades 5-8

Marianne Pinhoe is not enjoying her summer. Her grandmother seems to have lost her mind and has to be moved from her big house, there is a plague of frogs, and the cat is always disappearing from a locked house. Then she meets Cat Chance, a young boy from Chrestomanci Castle and life for the Pinhoe family will never be the same.

The two find a strange egg in the attic which has been hidden for many years, and when Cat takes it to the castle, it hatches into a young griffin. Add in a battle of magic between two witch families, Marianne’s brother who has an unusual gift combining technology and magic (imagine a flying machine powered by a stuffed ferret) and you have a wild magical adventure.

Diana Wynne Jones has written a wonderfully witty story of family feuds and magical mayhem. You don’t have to read the Chrestomanci books in order, but once you discover them, you will want to read them all. Other Chrestomanci books include The Lives of Christopher Chant, Witch Week, and Charmed Life.

- Ellen 1/07

Drooling and Dangerous: The Riot Brothers Return.
by Mary Amato; illustrated by Ethan Long.

Humorous Fiction
Grades 3-5

“Make something exciting happen every day.” This is Rule #1 for 5th grader Wilbur and 3rd grader Orville, aka the delightfully mischievous Riot Brothers. High spirited and imaginative, this lovable duo embark on three more exciting adventures in their sequel to, Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All. An excellent choice for family and classroom read-aloud fun.

- Sylvia 11/06