Who is Nick Bruel?

I put quite few Nick Bruel books in the bag the last time we went to the library. I heard him speak at the AASL conference a couple of years ago when he won the North Carolina Children's Book Award for Who Is Melvin Bubble? I hadn't read many of his books prior to this last library visit, though. Contrary to what many of you may think, school librarians do not read every children's book that is published. We just pretend that we do.

Now that I have read a few of his books, I kind of like them. Isaac did, too. The three we read were very different books.

Bad Kitty is a favorite with many students. Bad Kitty is just that, doing everything naughty you can think of from A to Z. There are many Bad Kitty books, including chapter books. I am sure we will be revisiting Bad Kitty soon.

Bob and Otto was probably my favorite of Nick Bruel's books that we read, but mainly because it has a sentimental history. Bruel the elder actually wrote the story and Bruel the younger illustrated and published it after his father's death. It is a story of friendship and has a nice twist at the end.

Who Is Melvin Bubble? was the one that NC school children chose as their favorite a couple of years ago. In it, various people from Melvin's life try to define him, each giving their perception of what kind of person he is, what he likes and doesn't like. In the end, Melvin tells the reader about himself. It is a good reminder for adults that we are many different things to different people. The lesson is packaged in a very appealing format for kids which obviously resonated with kids in North Carolina.

Okay. I will go back to pretending to have read everything in my library now. Happy reading.