Fiction

A Ton of Children’s Books

1 Comment / Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Non-Fiction /

I read a bunch of these in September when I visited JMP but never got a chance to talk about them. So… here’s a combined Sept/Oct list:

Cybils (12):

– Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain was pretty good. Not the best Angel Island book but not bad.
– Chasing Cheetahs was fantastic. I loved it.
– Feathers: Not Just For Flying was a nice book. The illustrations were especially nice.
– Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey was fine. Not great, not horrible.
– Separate Is Never Equal was wonderful! Best book of the bunch.
– The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats was interesting.
– When Lunch Fights Back was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.
– Brimsby’s Hats was a nice book. JMP was interested in it, mostly because of the snow and the “friends”.
– Maple was beautiful and I loved it. JMP was not really that into it. Probably because he hasn’t grokked the idea of maple treas and willow trees and such.
– Shhhh! We Have a Plan made me roll my eyes and I mostly hated it. JMP, however, liked it.
– The Girl and the Bicycle was a nice story. The underlying idea seemed lost on JMP, lol, he just wanted to talk about the bikes.
– This is a Moose was another one that made me roll my eyes and JMP didn’t get it at all. (Because, duh, of course he didn’t.) We stopped with the ridiculous story mid-way and just talked about the illustrations and that was good.

Non-Cybils (8):
– Seven Orange Pumpkins was cute (and it’s a counting backwards book, which is good)
– Max the Brave, I loved it. JMP isn’t sure about it but I think he’ll come around.
– Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin was cute. JMP wouldn’t let me read it to him, he wanted MAMA to read it. And she did. I think he liked it.
– Otis and the Puppy is a really cute story. JMP read it twice, once with me and once with MAMA. He liked it but he wasn’t sure Otis is really a tractor, lol.
– Bad Kitty’s Tasty Treats is a cute alphabet board book with just the quirkiness you’d expect from a Bad Kitty book.
– Scholastic Discover More: Rocks and Minerals… I love this book. JMP loves this book. I hope he loves it for many years to come. Also, he wants a green egg rock and I’m pretty sure he’s going to get a green egg rock.
– The Moon Is Going to Addy’s House is a beautiful, beautiful book.
– Thesaurus Rex is amusing. Really.

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Zombie Cows, Sort Of

2015, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Texasebeth recommended Apocalypse Cow and I put it on my TBR list. Then some other people mentioned it in threads about books so I moved it up the list and reserved it. While I was at it, I reserved World War Moo. I figured what the heck, right?

I liked Apocalypse Cow pretty well but I didn’t love it, love it. I liked it enough to read the second one which I ended up liking better (that never happens!) If there’s a third one, I’d read that, too.

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The Book of Speculation

1 Comment / 2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction /

I absolutely loved The Book of Speculation. Loved it. Everything about it. The book. The cards. All of the characters. I’m so glad I read this one and didn’t skip it like I’d planned. Hah. I also kind of want to go to a carnival. See the sideshow. Have my fortune told. Visit a spellcaster… (that’s an inside joke for Sassymonkey or anyone who deals with spellcaster spam … which I’ve probably just lured into my own comment stream. Oops.)

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The Swallow

2015, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

The Swallow was an awesome ghost story and I admit that I didn’t see that ending coming. Not at all. I knew something had to happen but I couldn’t figure out what because obviously the ghost girl wasn’t a ghost… that would have been too, well, obvious.

Side note: When I went to amazon to grab the url for the book, only the kindle edition is available. I wonder why. I got my copy at the library… print, not ebook. Oh, maybe because it’s a Canadian press? Still… very unusual.

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Two from the Cybils

1 Comment / 2015, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Death Sworn was… not bad. Not my favorite, but not bad. I liked Ileni and I am kind of looking forward to the next book (which is on my library cart now.)

I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved Death By Toilet Paper and didn’t expect to. That darn kid broke my heart over and over again. You don’t realize just how good your toilet paper was until your family can’t afford to buy it any more. *sniff* Also, professional sweepstakes folks, haha. I love those people.

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Now, Voyager

2015, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, From the Stacks Challenge, Women /

Oh dear, I’m way behind on tracking my books here. I’d be even further behind if I’d actually been reading as much as I normally do. Silver linings?

The library cart was mostly empty so I turned to my shelves … and had trouble figuring out what to read because when we Kondoed our books, my little shelf of mixed TBR was integrated into the full library. Oops. Blue was easy to get to so I started there and decided a little pulp fiction was in order.

Now, Voyager was awesome, as most old pulp fiction is. I’m glad I read it. I also kind of want to watch the movie again. It’s been a zillion years since I’ve seen it.

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