Dream Entry*
May 23, 2003
It’s Christmas Eve. My friends and I are decorating our tree with old keys, paper clips, and a garland of four-leaf clovers. Three beagle puppies howl at a knock at the door. Bigfoot opens it. There’s a duck standing on the porch blowing a Christmas kazoo. Bigfoot invites him inside.
The puppies start to howl again, this time at the sound of something knocking around on the roof. Their ears twitch and they run into the next room. We join them in time to see Santa somersaulting out of the fireplace. The puppies rush him and lick his chubby cheeks.
“Come with me,” he says.
He takes Bigfoot by the hand and they swoosh up the chimney. Santa comes back to take each of my friends up the chimney. He comes back for me, but I’m scared. I don’t like tight places.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “It’s easier this way. Books are too heavy to carry in my sleigh.”
So I let him carry me up the chimney. Up, up, up we go. The inside of the chimney smells like candy canes. All my soot-covered friends are waiting for us on the roof. Morzant is explaining string theory to Rudolf.
Santa’s sleigh doesn’t look big enough to hold us all, but we squeeze in, except for the duck who flies along beside us kazooing “Silent Night.”
We don’t travel long, but we travel a far distance to a tropical island.
“All that North Pole stuff is to trick the paparazzi,” Santa tells us.
He takes us to a huge library made of palm fronds. It has coconut shutters and seashell shingles. In the lobby is a giant snow globe with tutu-wearing guppies performing The Nutcracker. I stop at the drinking fountain. Egg nog comes out. Nutmeg clogs up the drain holes.
“In here,” Santa says.
He shows us a room with hundreds of bookshelves, all draped with tinsel. A jingle-bell chandelier hangs overhead. There are plates of snickerdoodles on every table.
“Enjoy the books,” Santa says. “When I get back, we’ll have a cribbage tournament.”
And then he’s off, back to delivering toys to the world’s children.
My friends, the puppies, and I find books to read. Even the duck, now kazooing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” makes a pile of books for himself by the big window so he can watch the falling snow.
In BIGFOOT’s pile of books:
WHY WE BROKE UP by Daniel Handler,
with illustrations by Maira Kalman
[YOUNG ADULT]
Little, Brown-Hachette
December 27, 2011
LOVE AND LEFTOVERS by Sarah Tregay
[YOUNG ADULT]
Katherine Tegan-HarperCollins
December 27, 2011
GIRL MEETS BOY: BECAUSE THERE ARE
TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY by Kelly Milner Halls
[YOUNG ADULT]
Chronicle
December 28, 2012
THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT by Jennifer E. Smith
[YOUNG ADULT]
Little, Brown-Hachette
January 2, 2012
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO
SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE by Lucas Klauss
[YOUNG ADULT]
Simon Pulse-Simon & Schuster
January 3, 2012
LOVE? MAYBE by Heather Hepler
[YOUNG ADULT]
Dial-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In MORZANT’s pile of books:
ZOMBIE TAG by Hannah Moskowitz
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Roaring Brook
December 20, 2011
LITTLE DOG LOST: THE TRUE STORY OF
A BRAVE DOG NAMED BALTIC by Monica Carnesi
[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICTION]
Nancy Paulsen-Peguin
January 5, 2012
LOOKING AT LINCOLN by Maira Kalman
[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICTION]
Nancy Paulsen-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In PENNY’s pile of books:
LEGACY by Molly Cochran
[YOUNG ADULT—FIRST IN THE SERIES]
Paula Wiseman-Simon & Schuster
December 20, 2011
STILL WATERS by Emma Carlson Berne
[YOUNG ADULT]
Simon Pulse-Simon & Schuster
December 20, 2011
EVERY OTHER DAY by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
[YOUNG ADULT]
Egmont USA
December 27, 2011
UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi
[YOUNG ADULT]
HarperCollins
January 3, 2012
UNRAVELING ISOBEL by Eileen Cook
[YOUND ADULT]
Simon Pulse-Simon & Schuster
January 3, 2012
In THE DUCKS’s pile of books:
PANDEMONIUM by Chris Wooding,
illustrated by Cassandra Diaz
[MIDDLE GRADE—GRAPHIC NOVEL]
Graphix-Scholastic
January 1, 2012
THE CABINET OF EARTHS by Anne Nesbet
[MIDDLE GRADE]
HarperCollins
January 3, 2012
CINDER by Marissa Meyer
[YOUNG ADULT—FIRST IN THE LUNAR CHRONICLES]
Feiwel & Friends-Macmillan
January 3, 2012
WINTERLING by Sarah Prineas
[MIDDLE GRADE]
HarperCollins
January 3, 2012
DRAGONSWOOD by Janet Lee Carey
[YOUNG ADULT]
Dial-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In NORMAN’s pile of books:
SHOWOFF by Gordon Korman
[MIDDLE GRADE—FOURTH IN THE SWINDLE SERIES]
Scholastic Press-Scholastic
January 1, 2012
HOW TO BEAT THE BULLY WITHOUT
REALLY TRYING by Scott Starkey
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Paula Wiseman-Simon & Schuster
January 3, 2012
FANGBONE! THIRD-GRADE BARBARIAN by Michael Rex
[GRAPHIC NOVEL—FIRST IN THE FANGBONE!
THIRD-GRADE BARBARIAN SERIES]
Putnam-Penguin
January 5, 2012
THE EGG OF MISERY by Michael Rex
[GRAPHIC NOVEL—SECOND IN THE FANGBONE!
THIRD-GRADE BARBARIAN SERIES]
Putnam-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In BEVERLY’s pile of books:
PROMISE THE NIGHT by Michaela MacColl
[YOUNG ADULT
Chronicle
December 28, 2011
DUMPLING DAYS by Grace Lin
[MIDDLE GRADE—SEQUEL TO THE YEAR OF THE DOG &
THE YEAR OF THE RAT]
Little, Brown-Hachette
January 2, 2012
THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK by Kristin Levine
[MIDDLE GRADE]
Putnam-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In OLIVER’s pile of books:
PLANT A KISS by Amy Krouse Rosenthal,
illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
[PICTURE BOOK]
HarperCollins
December 27, 2011
ALL KINDS OF KISSES by Nancy Tafuri
[PICTURE BOOK]
Little, Brown-Hachette
January 2, 2012
MAUDIE AND BEAR by Jan Ormerod,
illustrated by Freya Blackwood
[PICTURE BOOK]
Putnam-Penguin
January 5, 2012
In LENNY’s pile of books:
SOLOMON CROCODILE by Catherine Rayner
[PICTURE BOOK]
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
December 20, 2011
In VIOLET’s pile of books:
THE BIGGEST KISS by Joanna Walsh,
illustrated by Judi Abbot
[PICTURE BOOK]
Simon & Schuster
December 20, 2011
MR. PRICKLES: A QUILL-FATED LOVE STORY
by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Scott Magoon
[PICTURE BOOK]
Roaring Brook
December 20, 2011
THE REALLY AWFUL MUSICIANS by John Manders
[PICTURE BOOK]
Clarion-Houghton Mifflin
December 20, 2011
A GIANT CRUSH by Gennifer Choldenko,
illustrated by Melissa Sweet
[PICTURE BOOK]
Putnam-Penguin
December 22, 2011
5 comments:
I can't wait to read UNDER THE NEVER SKY!
Happy holidays!
Hello. I'm glad you're looking forward to "Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian!" However, I hope you aren't let down that they are graphic novels and not chapter books. Happy Holidays!
---Mike Rex
Kelly, That looks like a good one! Being able to read Briar’s journal in advance has its drawbacks. It’s hard waiting for all the books she dreamt about to be released.
Michael, I fixed the listing to show your books are graphic novels. Briar’s dream journal said as much (she’s never wrong). I was the one who typed these in this time and I made the mistake. Please forgive me…I had had too much egg nog.
These books sound like a sweet way to start the new year. I am especially intrigued by Mr. Pickles. I can't wait to check them out!
Kelly
Oops. It’s supposed to be Mr. Prickles. He’s a porcupine, not a cucumber. Again, I blame the egg nog.
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