I’ve already read some really great books and I know I’m going to read more but these three from the Cybils shortlist are going to hold their own in my favorites for the year list – I think they are probably going to hold their own for a lot longer than that. These three books were that good. You should read them, even if you don’t normally read kids lit.
First, The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere, we listened to this one on audio and I, for one, was sorry to see it end. Thankfully, book two will be released in a few months.
Olive is a little girl who doesn’t really fit in – she’s never fit in with the other kids at any of the schools she’s lived in. She doesn’t really fit in with her parents, who are math teachers. Olive can’t count to 100 – she gets lost somewhere in the 80s. Or 70s. Or somewhere.
She and her parents move into a very old house, with all of its belongings – after the previous owner died without any heirs. The house is interesting but something about it makes Olive feel uneasy. One of the things that makes her uneasy is the paintings that are hanging throughout the house. The first night, she tells her mom about this and her mom says they’ll just take the painting down that is outside of Olive’s bedroom – but it won’t come off the wall.
Olive plays with some of the things in a dresser in one of the bedrooms – scarves and gloves and such… and then she finds some glasses, on a chain. She puts them off and is playing when she notices movement inside of a painting – she presses her nose to the painting and… she’s inside of it.
Crazy things happen. Scary, creepy, crazy things and Olive has to piece together clues and figure out what in the heck is going on… with the help of some of the people inside of the paintings and the three cats who are guarding the house.
OK that’s enough – go read it for yourself.
Next, the best zombie book I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot)… Rot & Ruin. I did not expect this book to be this good. I did not expect to find myself tearing up in places throughout the story – but I did. The zombies don’t talk, they aren’t “good”, they are just zombies. It’s what the humans do that’s what gets to you. The really horrible things humans can do to each other, and to those who are weaker or somehow less than.
Benny goes from hating his older half-brother, who is a Zombie bounty hunter but not the kind who wanders around bragging about his kills and showing off his fighting skills, to respecting his brother for the job he does. Benny learns that those big, tough bounty hunters might not be what he thought they were either.
Great post-apocolyptic fiction – zombies or no zombies. Kids are going to love this book.
Last, but definitely not least, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Hahaha. This book should be made into a movie. I’m not sure I want a sequel but if one arrives, I’ll definitely read it.
Is the origami Yoda on Dwight’s finger real? I mean he’s definitely real in the way that you can see him and stuff – but is he really giving advice to the kids in school or is the extra weird Dwight being even weirder than normal? And if it is Dwight – how is that even possible? The kid is so clueless and not so smart, except in math, how could he come up with this stuff? That’s the question…
I’m leaning toward Yoda is totally real – the force was using Dwight and the Origami Yoda to help the kids sort out their issues.
Totally real. Also.
Purple.
PURPLE!