“Once upon a time,

an angel lay dying in the mist.

And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”

Now, can you honestly tell me that doesn’t sound like a wonderfully delicious read?

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the first installment of the series, is one of my favorite Young Adult books. The author, Laini Taylor, has done an incredible job mixing rich, beautiful description with today’s modern––American––sense of humor.

The characters are edgy, tough, and do all sorts of crazy, mythological things you or I couldn’t even begin to imagine (on our own, anyway), let alone try––like a girl flying through the streets without any form of device, cords, or lever.

And how did this story come to be? Well, one day this wonderful woman decided to write this incredible story, and then…

“…something [started] to take shape,

out of magic and will. Smoke and bone.”

The story begins with a girl, her name is Karou––which means “hope.”

Now, she isn’t exactly your typical teenage girl, even if you could look past the hamsas tattooed to her palms, the blue hair is kind of hard to ignore.

But where is this strange girl from? Who knows….

Where could you possibly find her?

Prague, and that’s where the majority of the story takes place.

Karou is not the only unique creature in this book. There is, of course, Zuzana––Karou’s best friend––who is know for her absurd commentary, but even stranger is Karou’s family. Now, I know what you must be thinking, “my family’s pretty strange too”––maybe you even have a crazy Uncle Al, but trust me, your family has got nothing on Karou’s.

Because I seriously doubt that any of you humans out there were raised by Chimera. That’s right, I said CHIMERA––as in super-awesome, super-crazy, mythological beasts that you KNOW you want to read about.

But I’m getting off subject….

And Chimera aren’t the only magical creatures in existence either. There are also Seraphs. Of course, these two beings don’t live in our average human world, nor do they get along. Ongoing war plagues the two species––it has for their entire existence––and now it has seeped into our human world (or more correctly, Karou’s).

Now, there is far more to the story, but I’d hate to give away all Karou’s secrets. Just one more thing before you rush to Lemuria to by this book––because let’s be honest, you’re already looking for your car keys––there is another really important character I should mention. His name is Akiva, and he is a Seraph. I’m sure you know where this is going. Yes, the plot contains a love story. Totally unexpected, I know, but this is a YA series, what did you expect?! But it’s all right, I myself have a crush on Akiva, so don’t worry.

Now, it has been a few months since I have read this book.

So please excuse me if some of my school girl giddiness has escaped my writing––trust me, it has not vanished.

I only hope I have made this book sound like it was worth reading. Because it most certainly is.

So pack your kids and their friends into the car and doodle on over to Lemuria next Saturday at 11:00 for story time. Who knows? it could be the start of a wonderful new tradition.

Hannah showed me up in her last and final Caldecott post. She was absolutely right. My trash talk lacked a certain grace and Hannah in her wisdom called me on it. She gave us all an enlightening history in talking trash, and while you can chose to believe her retelling of our great leaders or scoff at it, the fact is that I fell short. Often when such missteps happen, it’s easy to see one’s entire opinion as a misstep. In this instance, my Caldecott choices might have been tainted, but lords and ladies of the court I am here to not only plead their case, but also to show you two more delectable contestants and to choose a victor for team Emily.

When we lost Maurice Sendak last year, the world lost a great visionary. Yes, he was crotchety, and yes, he probably didn’t actually like children, but he saw children as people and his books spoke to them, not at them. Where the Wild Things Are was first published in 1963, but it was still touching children’s lives when my brother came of storybook age in the early 1990’s  I seriously used to have this book memorized, and there are still parts I can recite. This book was definitely an outlet for our family and really spoke to my brother, who was constantly telling us he was going to run away to the forest. The drawings are the perfect mix of whimsical with a touch of fright, and show us how easy it is to say one thing, but even harder to actually live with those consequences.

As we have been having this Caldecott Hunger Games, I have noticed that the books that touch me the most are the ones that are written by the illustrator whose art garners the award. This story is no exception. The art and text fit together in a way that will forever affect children and their parents.

Another superb example of this melding of art and story is Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg. Much longer than some of it’s fellow Caldecott books, this magical book was one I poured over for hours as a child. The illustrations are so detailed and the story so imaginative. A board game that actually brought things to life? Incredible. We read this before we saw the movie and while the movie was a good time, it took away one of my favorite parts: Van Allsburg’s art. If you haven’t seen this book yet, please come by the store and just take five minutes and read it. So. Good.

And with that said, I have presented my five contestants. The first three were debuted here for those of you who didn’t see it. We will be making our final choices here at the store and presenting a winner on Facebook in a week. If you have any opinion you would like to share, please comment here, on our Twitter @lemuriabooks or on our Facebook page. Personally, I am rooting for Where the Wild Things Are, but we shall see!

It’s been a while since Hannah paraded her contestants around, making promises of Mirette’s hardhitting high-wire fire, Ox-cart man’s intimidating wife, and Sylvester’s pebble with it’s magic powers. Pish posh, I say. The Caldecott is about the fantastical, the mystical, the mysterious, the profound! Not ox and pebbles! I present, the contenders, or should I say the squashers, and the winners!

We’ll start with the 1992 winner Tuesday by David Wiesner. This was Wiesner’s first Caldecott win, but it wouldn’t be his last. Tuesday doesn’t rely on fancy words: this book is almost completely wordless. The beautiful illustrations of Tuesday were the first thing that drew me to Wiesner’s work. Using his brush strokes alone, Wiesner gives me the watercolored tools to mop up Mirette: Frogs. That’s right, frogs. Flying on lily pads. They come in the night, intriguing and terrorizing the characters within this book and amazing the reader. Mirette may be a high-wire show off, but these frogs show her up. Hannah: 0, Emily: 1.

Continuing with this sparse theme, we have my next prize-wining fighter: My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann. “My friend Rabbit means well. But whatever he does, wherever he goes, trouble follows.” And so begins the tale of an imaginative rabbit who, despite his best efforts, is always in trouble. And while trouble is bad when trying to be good, it’s perfect when trying to beat the competition. Look at this rabbit! He can lift a bear! Take that Ox-Cart Man. We don’t need no cart! Boo yah!

And Hannah, I finish with a 1-2-punch: I give you Flotsam by David Wiesner. This was Wiesner’s third Caldecott win and with it he became only 1 of 2 people who have won the award three times (Marcia Brown was the first). Flotsam tells the story of a camera that has been to unimaginable places. With the same beautiful watercolor style as he showed us in Tuesday, Wiesner blows his audience away with breath-taking scenes such as the one below. So which is better: Sylvester’s magic rock, or starfish with whole islands on their backs. Well, dear reader, I’ll let y’all be the judge of that.

As some of you may know, we have a great service called the OZ First Editions Club. Much like our regular First Editions Club, we bring you a signed first edition every month–except these are the best (signed) picture books and middle grade novels we can get out hands on!

OZ FEC took a little bit of a hiatus recently, (the lovely Adie and Zita have been helping me revamp the club) but we are proud to announce we’re back in action! We made a few changes which I discuss here, but the biggest change is that the authors no longer have to come to the store for their book to be picked. We want our selection to be the best and unhindered by publishers’ touring schedules.

For February, we picked Penny and Her Marble by the amazing Kevin Henkes. Mr Henkes’ has won a Caldecott Medal, a Caldecott Honor, and a Newbery Honor, but I’m pretty sure being a selection in Lemuria’s OZ FEC trumps all of that, right? Ok, fine, maybe the Caldecott was a bigger honor, but still, you catch my drift. Penny joins the ranks of Mr. Henkes’ other well loved mice: Lily and her purple plastic purse, Julius her brother, worried Wemberly, Chrysanthemum, and others that have been favorites here at the store for years. In this installment, Penny finds a marble on her neighbor’s yard. Entranced by it, she takes it home, but she starts to worry. What if she stole this marble? Penny will steal your hearts and be a great addition to any collection.

March’s selection will be Otis and the Puppy by Loren Long. This is Loren’s second time to be inducted into the OZ FEC. He was a big hit in 2011 when we picked Otis and the Tornado, and we were thrilled to be able to bring you the newest installment in the “new classic” Otis series. When creating this series, Loren told us that he really studied other classic children’s books such as Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel and The Story of Ferdinand. The Otis series feels like it could be decades old or just created. Loren is one of our favorites not just here at the store, but in the community as well and we are so glad to have signed copies available again!

If you aren’t a part of the club yet, now is a great time to jump on board. We are working on some really cool stuff, kinda like we did here and you don’t want to miss it! To sign up, email us a ozfec@lemuriabooks.com!