Every now and then, for years, TW has asked me if there are any more Seraphina books.. I dutifully look, even though there just never are any… and suddenly, there was! It’s not really a Seraphina book, but it’s a book about one of Seraphina’s sister. Turns out, Tess of the Road is the 2018 Cybils YA Speculative Fiction winner.
We listened to it on audio, as we did the Seraphina books, and liked it a lot, maybe more than I liked the Seraphina books. I hope there’s a sequel.
We listened to the first Scythe book on audio last month. It’s an actual real live Cybil, woohoo. It’s also pretty grim and gruesome but also very interesting.
Let’s suppose The Cloud takes over the world because human beings suck at taking care of the world (or themselves) and in doing so resolves all the world’s problems, including mortality. People keep being born but nobody is dying… that’s where the Scythes come in.
Makes sense… except that Scythes are humans and The Cloud hasn’t actually solved the fact that human beings are horrible… very interesting, really.
Scythe (Arc of a Scythe) Read More »
Amina’s Voice is a middle grade Cybil that reminds me of a half dozen middle grade Cybils all bunched together in one book. I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it. Considering Amina is the primary character, she did very little to advance the storyl ine. She found her voice at the end, but that seemed a little too easy, considering she didn’t seem to grow, as a person, at all.
Another middle grade fiction from the Cybils shortlist, Caleb and Kit wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t as good as I think it could have been. I wasn’t drawn to either Caleb or Kit, something was just missing. I think the CF information was good, certainly better than the other novels I’ve read with characters who have CF. I think the neglect and abuse issue was not well covered, and that was disappointing. This was really Caleb’s story and not Caleb’s and Kit’s together story, which was also disappointing.
Again, not a bad book but not great either.
My first thought was “Oh look, another book about desegregating schools, but hey this one is in California and not the south, woot!” my next thought, 20 pages in, “Oh man, I love these kids!”
Armstrong and Charlie is a surprisingly good book. The characters are wonderful, the setting was spot on (being a child of the era, I found myself reminiscing about Clackers and Tootsie Pop Drops, and the SRA box, to mention just a few), and the book “told the truth.”
Armstrong and Charlie Read More »
OK I think Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights is the last non-fiction Cybil I’ll read this year. Probably. I’m kind of glad I finished on such a high note.
This was a pretty comprehensive history of Alice Paul’s life and work. It was a quick read but not a simple read. Well done, I highly recommend it to kids (or adults) who don’t know much about Alice Paul.
Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights Read More »
I reserved I’m Just No Good at Rhyming because I thought it might be fun to play with while the boys were here. hahaha. As with many of our big ideas around kids and poetry, this didn’t happen. I, however, enjoyed it a good bit once the boys went home. I’m not a huge fan of extra-silly poetry so I was worried — but, it wasn’t too silly, just clever. (Mostly.)
I reserved the only two books that I was really interested in, from this year’s non-fiction shortlist, Motor Girls: How Women Took the Wheel and Drove Boldly Into the Twentieth Century and Queer, There, and Everywhere. As expected, I really enjoyed Motor Girls and have a love/hate/disappointed/frustrated thing going with Queer, There, and Everywhere.
Three from the Cybils Shortlist Read More »
While the boys were here for Grandma Camp, we read some books – obviously. Here’s what we read:
Hiding Phil — we bought this at the Wild Iris closing (sniff). It was cute, if you like elephants and hide-and-seek (which Squishy does.)
Circle Triangle Elephant is a board book (from the Cybils shortlist) and Squishy liked it because elephants and boats and BLUE (he likes blue!)
The Book of Mistakes is also a Cybils shortlist book and I LOVED IT. I’m not sure how the boys felt about it but this is about me and I LOVED IT. It’s all about how a “mistake” in a drawing can turn into something amazing. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT.
Another Cybils shortlist book, Peek-a-Moo was a hit. Turns out they own another book in the series, Peek-a-Who, and it’s a favorite. Also turns out Jenn didn’t know it was a series at all so Grandma had to buy them all. Had to!
And because they are moving, and Pippin is a bit sad about it, I had to pull out an old favorite from the days when my kids moved (and moved and moved), Mitchell is Moving. Pippin liked it and he was thrilled when I told him that I’d bought that for him and he could take it home with him.
Five Children’s Books Read More »
Hah, another 2016 Cybils book. I think this is (maybe) the last book from that list that I’ve had on hold at the library. Maybe. I can’t remember. There might be another. Whatever.
The Keeper of the Mist was pretty good. I was a little frustrated with Keri, particularly in the beginning. She spent far too long thinking other people could do things better than she. Imposter syndrome, too much imposter syndrome. This is why our girls grow up to be women who feel this way. Sure Keri mostly fixed it all in the end but after you’ve spent 100 pages telling girls that the heroine doesn’t think she can do shit, it’s not so much comforting as it is conditioning. Stop it with the imposter syndrome story line for girls.
Anyway, yea. The book was pretty good. I thought it was a series but so far, it seems as though it is not. Too bad, I’d have liked to learn more about what happened to the Bookkeeper.
The Keeper of the Mist Read More »
From the 2016 Cybils shortlist, we listened to Save Me a Seat on audio. It’s a short book, told from the perspectives of two very different boys — one who grew up in New Jersey, and another who grew up in Bangalore and both find themselves outcasts at Albert Einstein Elementary. One who is very smart (an IQ of 135! lol) and one who has an auditory processing disability so people often assume he is not smart.
On audio, having two separate voices tell each boy’s story was a nice touch. An even nicer touch was the glossary in the back of the book. You’d think, being white Americans that you are (or I am), that there would simply be a glossary of Ravi’s “unfamiliar” Indian words. But nope, Joe’s “unfamiliar” words are there, too.
Kids who are struggling with bullying or self-esteem should read this. Or, anyone who needs a refresher in why there’s more to a person than meets the eye or a reminder that giving up is not an option should this one.