Cybil Challenge

Some Children’s Books – 4 Of Them

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge /

I read some of these in August. Some in September. Whatevs. I think some are Cybils but I won’t know until I finish writing this and go take a peek. Most were just impulse pick ups from library visits with JMP.

Melvin Might was awesome because JMP LOVES TRUCKS. ALL THE TRUCKANOW. I wish this series had an iPhone app instead of games that you can play on your computer. Trucktown really needs an app y’all. I think we need all of the Trucktown books.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild — and gets naked and roars and stuff. I think this was a Cybil. JMP liked it and I liked it. Animals can be so stuck up and judgy, ya know?

Pick a Pup was adorbs. At least I thought so. JMP wasn’t so sure. I don’t think he groks the concept of choosing a puppy. Why would he when he is surrounded by dogs. Dogs just happen in JMP’s world.

Never Poke a Squid. Well. That’s a good rule. However the book was a jumbled mess of I don’t even know what and I should have just ad-libbed my way through. I might read it again, to JMP, and make up my own damn story because the one in the book… I couldn’t even tell you how the squid got poked. I’m not sure we ever found out.

Some Children’s Books – 4 Of Them Read More »

6 Children’s Books, 2 Cybils

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge /

It’s that time again. Time for me to read my children’s books than anything else. 😉

Tractor is a cute little touch & feel type board book. JMP likes tractors.

Woof! Woof! was the dumbest board book EVER. I only looked at the first page while in the library and that was cute. It was three DUMB pages long. Total waste of time.

That’s Not My Panda was … cute enough. The author has a whole series of these and I’m not super impressed. Reading one was enough.

Boats was nice. JMP likes boats. It’s a nice book for new readers with vocabulary words in it. Very nice.

The Pet Project is from the Cybils shortlist. A little girl wants a pet and her parents make her research pets. She finds out that she’s not really a pet person.

Count the Monkeys is also from the Cybils shortlist. I umm went off the rails and did some special grandma cursing, which amused JMP’s mom. It was cute but the monkey pay off at the end wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Too many monkeys to count.

6 Children’s Books, 2 Cybils Read More »

The Waking Dark

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Don't Read This, Young Adult /

Not only am I behind on reading, I’m behind on blogging what I have read. I’ve almost forgotten what I’ve read — thankfully, there’s GoodReads.

So, the easy one first. The Waking Dark. On audio. From the Cybils shortlist.

Shudder.

All the killing. And the descriptive killing.

Shudder.

Did not enjoy.

Also, too many characters and we found ourselves constantly confused by which was which.

Would hope my teens wouldn’t enjoy it if they read it.

Shudder.

The Waking Dark Read More »

Three Graphic Novels

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

All Cybils and all better than I expected.

I absolutely loved Templar and didn’t expect to.

Uzumaki was freaky. It’s hard to read a book while you’re covering your eyes. Also, I will never look at spirals in the same way. Shudder. Also, it’s been awhile since I read real manga (front to back) much less horror manga.

War Brothers is heartbreaking. I think I’d have liked the real book better than the graphic novel.

Three Graphic Novels Read More »

Boxers & Saints

2014, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Young Adult /

I really liked Boxers & Saints — I particularly appreciated the way the second book (Saints) tied into the first book (Boxers)… with the opera mask girl. I liked that very much.

What I didn’t like was good grief, how depressing. All the dying peoples. All the blood and gore. All the unhappy unhappy. I mean obviously there would be a lot of that, it was a difficult time period in China but sheesh. ALL the unhappy and ALL the blood & gore. Shudder.

Well drawn. Well written. (Some typos in my version, I hope there aren’t any in yours.)

Boxers & Saints Read More »

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Lol

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp is a cybil middle grade book, I believe. We listened to it on audio and you’d think the fact that it was read by Lyle Lovett would make this a slam dunk. It did not, my friends, no it did not (lol — I’m laughing at myself for typing that, which you would understand if you’ve read this book.)

He started slowly and it took awhile to warm up to him. The whole book started a wee bit slowly and then suddenly, we were hooked.

The language is fantastic. The vocabulary — holy hell, sports fans… remember those dumb assignments where you had to find five words you didn’t know (while reading some library book) and write the definitions and it was impossible because you already knew all of the words. If you have a kid like that, try this book. Brilliantly done. Really.

I’m not generally a fan of anthropomorphism, but in this case — I loved the racoons and the canebrake rattlers, and the armadillo and even that horrid porcine family. Oh and the cat. I liked him, too.

I’ve also got a nasty craving for a sugar pie…

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp Read More »

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

We listened to The Screaming Staircase on audio and man that was creepy. I think this was on the Cybils middle grade scifi/fantasy list and if that’s true… I hope the middle grade readers can handle some really creepy, yukky descriptive content.

It was good. Really good. I liked all of three of the kids a lot. I’m looking forward to book 2.

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase Read More »

The Rithmatist

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We really enjoyed listening to The Rithmatist on audio. Except… it took a chapter or so to get into (alternate realities often do) and at the beginning or end of each chapter, they describe a rithmatic defense. It would have been nice to be able to see those lines as they were described. Instead, we kept going online later and looking at the drawings.

I don’t usually do this but… it was very Harry Potter-like. A boy. His father died. He’s at a boarding school. There are professors, some of whom the boy suspects of wrong-doing. There’s magic. There’s even a “symbol” — it may not be a lightning bolt on a forehead but… see, very Harry Potter-like. Which possibly explains why we enjoyed it?

The Rithmatist Read More »

Three YA Non-Fiction from the Cybils Shortlist

2014, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

First, the one I liked the least — Breakfast on Mars. I actually liked it a lot, there are some great essays in this book. But, as examples of great essays for kids who have to write essays — I’m not so sure. They’re too good. Though as I type this, my problem might be that I really thought this book was focused at middle grade, not YA readers (because it’s middle grade kids that could really use the proper foundation for writing an essay.)

Next, The President Has Been Shot was good. Very cleanly written. No extraneous emotions for flowy words to try and push emotion. You either feel emotional while reading this book or you don’t. That’s a good thing. But, that also makes it a little dry and for kids a dry non-fiction book is very close to feeling like a text book. The photos were excellent. The diagrams were excellent. Very good book.

My favorite of the three, Imprisoned. There are not enough books about the Japanese internment during WW2 for people of any age but especially for kids. So — five stars! I loved the photos. I loved the clean writing. I did not love the complete absence of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. We just skipped right over that little fact and went straight to the release and aftermath. If you’re telling the hard, bad stuff then why skip that? Otherwise — excellent book. Everyone should read it (and more about this horrible period in our history.)

Three YA Non-Fiction from the Cybils Shortlist Read More »

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

1 Comment / 2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Library /

Best book from the Cybils shortlist so far this year! I loved Escape From Mr Lemoncello’s Library and I’m extra glad we listened to it on audio.

We chuckled our way through it and were sad when it ended. Equally sad that Nickelodeon optioned it for a TV movie. Sure wish Pixar would have grabbed it. It would make a great movie — and a great theme park attraction.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Read More »