October Book Club: Mallory vs. Max

Our October meeting of the Ashburn Kids Book Club will be on Thursday, October 1, 7-8 p.m. The book we will be featuring is "Mallory vs. Max" by Laurie Friedman. This book is part of the very popular series of books (12 so far) featuring almost-nine-years-old, Mallory McDonald, her older brother, Max, her cat, Cheeseburger, and her best friend, Mary Ann. In this book, Mallory is facing a dilemma--her parents have decided that her brother Max is old enough and responsible enough to get a dog of his own. This worries Mallory who fears the new puppy will take away all the attention from herself and her cat, Cheeseburger. Mallory presents very logical reasons why getting a dog is NOT a good idea--Dogs eat a lot. Dogs drink a lot. Dogs dig a lot. Dogs bark a lot. Dogs poop a lot, etc. But no one is persuaded by her arguments and soon there is a new young puppy joining the family. Everyone has some adjusting to do, especially Mallory who finally realizes that Champ the dog isn't so bad after all. The cartoon-like illustrations by Tamara Schmitz add to the fun. This is a fast-paced easy chapter book that kids are sure to enjoy and, more importantly, relate to.

National Book Festival 2009

Living near the nation's capital does have its perks! One of the best is the annual National Book Festival. It is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th streets from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public. It is a day-long celebration of reading that features dozens of highly acclaimed and award-winning authors and poets. There will be author presentations, book signings, customed storybook characters, and much much more. The list of authors and poets coming this year is truly impressive. Here are some useful weblinks to the event:

Home page for the 2009 Festival: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

This year's participating authors: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/authors/index.html

Schedule of author presentations: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/schedulePavilion.html

Schedule of book signings: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2009/scheduleSigning.html

It's a great event for kids who get an upclose look at such favorite authors as Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid books), Kate DiCamillo (Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie--which we will read in December), Craig Hatkoff (Owen & Mzee--which we read last year), Lois Lowry (The Giver and much more), Megan McDonald (Judy Moody and others), Jacqueline Woodson (Locomotion and many others), etc. Well, there are just too many great authors to mention them all.

If you get the chance to visit the National Book Festival, please post a comment here and tell us who you say and what you thought of the whole experience. I'm hoping to attend, so maybe I'll see some of you down there!