The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

How unlikely a story! A magician striving to impress his audience conjures an elephant that comes crashing from the heights of the theatre to land in audience, the animal crippling a wealthy patron as it lands. A fortuneteller predicts that Peter, an orphaned boy, will find his lost sister when an elephant leads him to her. Working her own magic to suspend disbelief, DiCamillo weaving simple words into a rich fabric of beautiful, poignant interaction among strangers and friends who are all seeking the most unlikely of outcomes. Hauntingly illustrated by Yoko Tanaka, The Magician's Elephant is both a wonderful read-aloud for elementary age kids and a charm-filled title for independent middle-grade and teen readers. Just beautiful. (Candlewick)

"The Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale... Flys to the Heart of the Tale (Full Cast Audio / Bloomsbury)

I never imagined that the fable of "The Goose Girl" could be re-imagined in a way that satisfies so completely. The traditional story gives you a princess whose identity is stolen by her handmaiden as she is en route to marry the prince of a distant kingdom - and well... the very idea often left me wondering "How'd she let THAT happen? I mean, Isn't she a princess with some experience being in charge?". In most versions of the original fable, the ruse relies on the notion that the betrothed have never met and that the princess declines to identify herself to the ruling family for unclear or unconvincing reasons. Shannon Hale's take on the traditional tale resolves the mystery of why the princess remains incognito while building a whole new mythos around the story. Placed in a setting with broader scope and richly developed characters, Hale's "The Goose Girl" is an exciting and dangerous twisting of the tale, a re-telling that leads to a cliffhanger finale that is both deeply satisfying and also leaves the reader (listener) craving more. Happily, "The Goose Girl" is part of Hale's 'Books of Bayern' series with additional books highlighting different characters from the shadows of fairy tales and the stellar imagination of the author. Full Cast Audio's version of "The Goose Girl" is my favorite medium for this story as, once again, the cast of voice actors and producers with FCA develop a deep and textured rendition that exceeds the printed text.

Paige's "Page" wins 2009 PPA Gold Award

While I've won writing and editing awards in the past, I'm certainly aware that the "value" of an award, the merit of it, can vary greatly. When my first-rights editor submitted "A Page in a Book" to the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) awards competition for the first time in 2006, I wasn't even aware of its entry until I got a call from the annual conference in Philadelphia. I remember my editor's husband phoning me late at night and saying "I have somthing to tell you...Are you sitting down?". My knees turned to water as I imagined him telling me that my friend had been suddenly stricken with some terrible illness, or worse...was my 'late' friend. Why else should I be sitting down? I sat.

When he revealed I had won the PPA Gold Award for Reviews, I didn't quite know what to say. I had no idea what the PPA was, what a Gold Award entailed or how my column had ended up 'in the running'. He seemed to think the Gold Award was really a big deal, though. What I said was "Wow! That's great!" What I wanted to say was "Thank God! I thought Carol was dead!"

I learned later that the Parenting Publications of America is a professional organization for the nation's best parenting and family magazines. And I also learned that the awards competition between these magazines at the PPA annual conference is a serious. The categories are judged by respected authorities within the field and the criteria is pretty exacting. Since discovering that the PPA award isn't some generic pat-on-the-back, I distinctly appreciate the honor.

I've just learned that "A Page in a Book"(as published in Birmingham Parent magazine) received its third Gold Award for Reviews at the 2009 PPA convention in New Orleans. I'm very excited about the news and so pleased that APB has been recognized and honored again. This development has definitely inspired me to be more diligent about presenting more reviews through my blog this year. If I'm going to meet my mission of helping young readers, teens and their families find the best titles to try on, I must work harder to present the latest great reads (and audio) into this venue.

Consider me renewed and recommitted - and grateful for the opportunity...

Plan for New Blog - Book Recommendations

I'm so excited about the new blog and look forward to getting fresh book recommendations out, much more quickly. While my syndicated column will remain unique, - I've been a little limited in that "A Page in a Book" features 'themed' book reviews, i.e. the titles in each column are connected somehow (Adoption, Wordless, Onomatopoeia, Back-to-School, etc.)

This "A Page in a Book" blog gives me the ability to highlight ALL the outstanding titles that didn't fit into APB's "themed" reviews...and that's a lot. APB, as published in magazines, is limited to three titles, twelve times a year. Publishers of children's and YA lit are producing significantly MORE, really outstanding and worthwhile titles than just the twenty-four I get to push to the front in print annually. These great books deserve discovery, attention and appreciation - hence, THE APB BLOG! Hurrah!

So here we go! I hope that you'll bookmark this APB Blog and join me on this exploration of the genre of books that finds us as kids and puts us on the path to becoming lifelong readers!

Ex Libris,

Paige