» Karen's pick: The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby » Nancy's pick: The Double Disappearance of Walter Fozbeck by Oscar Steve Senn » Podcast coming 5/30
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This book trailer for The Lost Hero was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our One Story, Multiple Narrators theme. For more on The Lost Hero, check out our “Look Who’s Talking!” podcast.
Usually field trips are a nice break from everyday school life. But what if you’re on a field trip — and you’re suddenly attacked by magical spirits? Then you’re transferred to a camp for the children of Greek gods… and guess what, you’re one of them! That’s how the story starts for three different but connected teens in Heroes of Olympus Book 1: The Lost Hero. Watch our video to meet them!
Thank the gods, the world now has a sneak preview of The Throne of Fire (Book 2 of Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles)! The first chapter has been released, along with the cover!
As you might have guessed from my obsessive — I mean, thorough coverage of the cover for The Red Pyramid when it was first released, and from my recommendation of the book in Kidsmomo theme Globe-Trotting Adventures, I really like this series so far.
As you’ll see from Chapter 1 of The Throne of Fire, posted exclusively on USA Today, Carter and Sadie are at it again with their baboon companion, Khufu, and the Egyptian gods that are semi-inhabiting their minds.
So, onto the new book cover!
What are some things you notice from the beautiful cover?
— Nancy
Nancy is very much afraid of bugs, which is pretty obvious from the freak-out in the last bullet point.
Meet Nancy »
Submitted by Brianna, Age 11 from Rhode Island
Rating:
This book by Rick Riordan is amazing. It’s about Percy and Annabeth traveling into the labyrinth and trying to find the inventor Dadelus to help them to keep Kronos’s army from invading Camp Half Blood. This book was so good that I could not put it down for one second.
Submitted by Hope, Age 12 from Rhode Island
This book has so many mysteries, but not the best. In this book Percy tries to save Manhattan from Kronos, an evil god. He used to kill his sons until he got cut up by his other son and got set down in a pit in the underworld. If you like action,and mysterious books you will like this book.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere (where Kidsmomo makes its home), the winter solstice is today. That means that tonight, the North Pole will be tilted as far away from the sun as it possibly can go, and we’ll experience the shortest day and the longest night of the year. It’s also the official first day of winter.
Now, unlike pretty much EVERYONE ELSE I’ve ever met, I enjoy the winter more than the summer — and I even like the way it gets dark early. Feels cozier to me that way.
But I may have to change my mind, based on what I just read in The Heroes of Olympus Book 1: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. In the book, Chiron the centaur offers a much spookier description of today’s big event than anything I learned in science class:
“The winter solstice,” Chiron spoke up, “is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things… stir.” The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister — like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough. “Okay,” Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. “Thank you, Captain Sunshine…”
“The winter solstice,” Chiron spoke up, “is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things… stir.”
The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister — like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.
“Okay,” Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. “Thank you, Captain Sunshine…”
As if Chiron’s warning about the winter solstice isn’t chilling enough, I’m a bit freaked out that I happened to read it on winter solstice day itself! Uh, should I be concerned about what’s coming tonight? Is this a sign?! For now, I’m going to fix myself a cup of hot cocoa and pretend like there’s nothing to worry about. But I just hope I can get to sleep later…
— Karen
Karen tends to have an overactive imagination, so this winter solstice stuff is probably no big deal. Then again, that’s what the protagonist always thinks at the beginning of a horror movie…
More about Karen »
With the new Deathly Hallows movie finally in theaters, there’s been tons of recent Harry Potter mania around the world. But sadly, no new HP books. [insert wail of despair here]
Luckily, there are other options for devoted Harry fans — and we’ve got them covered in our latest podcast, all about Harry Potter withdrawal. You’ll meet Olive, Percy, Charlie, Sophie, and Josh, plus hear why we’re wild about Harry!
Also, don’t forget: next up, we’re celebrating the countdown to 2011 with a special month-long theme dedicated to new beginnings! So check out our New Beginnings booklist. Plus, keep an eye out for a couple KidsmomoMos before the year is done: our review of the new Narnia movie and an interview with the creators of the Joey Fly, Private eye graphic novels!
— Karen and Nancy
Obviously, we love Rick Riordan’s books. Based on the amount we’ve talked about Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles, you’d think we’re a teeny bit obsessed. But you’d be wrong — because we’re actually majorly obsessed. So, of course, we’re super excited to share news about Rick Riordan’s new series, The Heroes of Olympus!
A while back, we heard that Riordan would be writing a PJTO spin-off about a new group of demigods at Camp Half Blood, but we didn’t have any details. Well, this week, Riordan finally spilled some juicy info:
And you can learn even more about the new series on the official website, where you’ll also find… are you ready?… A SNEAK PEEK OF THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome!
Can you tell I’m excited? Just a tad? Let me put it this way: I intended to read just a little bit before going to bed last night because I was really, really tired. But once I started, I could not tear my eyes away. And when I got to the last page, I clicked “Next” anyway — even though I knew I had reached the end — because I just wasn’t ready to stop reading. So yeah, you could say I kind of dug it. Kinda.
So… what are you waiting for? Go check out all the goodies at the Heroes of Olympus site! The first book in the series, The Lost Hero, won’t be in stores until October 12th, but at least Riordan’s giving us some entertaining stuff to keep us busy until then. I just wish he’d included a few more chapters. Sigh.
Karen once took a quiz to tell her which Percy Jackson character she’d be. The answer was Annabeth Chase. Well, obvi. Because Karen’s wise. Right?
The books for our current theme are all about new kids — some of whom don’t exactly get the warmest welcome. Sure, you could luck out like Emily Ebers (in the books by Lisa Yee) and make friends with someone really cool like Millicent Min. Okay, Millicent isn’t exactly “cool,” but she’s really nice.
On the other hand, some of the locals aren’t so nice to the new kids in our books for this theme. And I caught up with some of them to get the inside scoop for Kidsmomo:
“Well, once there was this girl who was just… just… WEIRD. Her clothes didn’t match. I mean, I guess some people would think she’s original and cool, but I thought it was weird. She dressed like it was Halloween every day. It must be a family thing, because her little brother dressed like it was Halloween all the time, too. Maybe they’re just really into Halloween.” — Rosemary
“Well, once there was this girl who was just… just… WEIRD. Her clothes didn’t match. I mean, I guess some people would think she’s original and cool, but I thought it was weird. She dressed like it was Halloween every day. It must be a family thing, because her little brother dressed like it was Halloween all the time, too. Maybe they’re just really into Halloween.”
— Rosemary
“Word of advice: When you meet the new girl, don’t pull her pigtails and call her ‘Carrots,’ no matter how much you want her to pay attention to you because she’s really cute. Because she’ll hold a grudge for a really, really long time. It might be years before she agrees to be your friend.” — Gilbert Blythe
“Word of advice: When you meet the new girl, don’t pull her pigtails and call her ‘Carrots,’ no matter how much you want her to pay attention to you because she’s really cute. Because she’ll hold a grudge for a really, really long time. It might be years before she agrees to be your friend.”
— Gilbert Blythe
“I hate when people get in my face. Especially losers. So when a new kid — a big-time loser — gets to camp, I show him who’s boss. I usually grab his scrawny neck and drag him into the bathroom. Then I give a good dunking in the toilet.” — Clarisse La Rue When asked about the incident with a certain son of Poseidon, Miss La Rue rudely stated the interview was over, tore off her microphone, and hit me in the face with it.
“I hate when people get in my face. Especially losers. So when a new kid — a big-time loser — gets to camp, I show him who’s boss. I usually grab his scrawny neck and drag him into the bathroom. Then I give a good dunking in the toilet.”
— Clarisse La Rue
When asked about the incident with a certain son of Poseidon, Miss La Rue rudely stated the interview was over, tore off her microphone, and hit me in the face with it.
Okay, I didn’t actually interview these characters, obviously. Because they’re fictional. Which is just as well, because I’m pretty sure Clarisse would beat me up.
After re-imagining an encounter with Clarisse, Nancy decided that she could get a decent punch in. She’s pretty feisty.
More about Nancy »
Hello. My name is Nancy, and I have a confession to make.
I’m a font nerd. A lettering geek. A typophile. (This last term could be interpreted as someone who enjoys typos, which is just plain wrong.)
Basically, I’ll pay special attention to what kind of font was used when I look at posters, movie credits, books, and more.
So imagine by utter delight when I was flipping through Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2: The Sea of Monsters and happened to see:
Photograph of the copyright page in The Sea of Monsters.
“This book is set in 13-point Centaur MT.”
Teeheeeheeee! Get it? The font is Centaur, just like Chiron! I thought it was pretty ingenious and immediately told Karen. Her response was a facial expression like this:
Meaning, she was not impressed.
Nancy gets that look from Karen a lot.
A perilous ocean voyage from Britain to America. A trip to Africa to cure monkeys. An around-the-world chase to battle a god. And a nightmare plane ride, sitting next to total strangers… Okay, that last one is just Nancy complaining. But in our latest podcast, all about globe-trotting adventures, we do feature books with some actually terrifying and dangerous exploits. And yet, we still whine about how freezing it is on an airplane. Hey, we get cold easily, okay?
Also, don’t forget: our new theme is summer camp. But instead of postcards, send us a review of your favorite summer camp book! And check out our picks for summer camp books.
