Cybil Challenge

6 from the Cybils Shortlist

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

3 Graphic Novels:

– Monster on the Hill — This is a middle grade book and I chuckled my way through the whole thing. VERY cute.
– Bad Machinery — I don’t know if I was tired or if I just plain didn’t like this one. It bored me.
– Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant — I love Delilah!

3 Poetry:

Follow Follow — Cute reverso poems. Very cute. I don’t think these are as good as those in Mirror Mirror, though. And unless you just love reverso poems you should skip this in favor of Mirror Mirror.
Forest Has a Song — Ho hum poems. Great illustrations.
Poems to Learn By Heart — Great compilation of poems. Really excellent. Nice intros to sections. Nice diversity of poetry. I’d buy this one for JMP.

6 from the Cybils Shortlist Read More »

The Boy on the Wooden Box

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

From the Cybils shortlist, The Boy on the Wooden Box is the story of Leon Leyson, one of the Jews on Schindler’s List. It was an ok book — not great but if you’re a middle school kid or even a high schooler who doesn’t know anything about Schindler, this would be a good easy book to dive into. Though it was more about Lesyon and his family than Schindler, of course.

The Boy on the Wooden Box Read More »

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight

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

I’ve always been a Carol Danvers fan but I was afraid In Pursuit of Flight wasn’t going to live up to the hype. It did. It definitely did. I’m not a big fan of time travel stories (funny, I was just ranting about that a bit in my journal, before I picked up this book) but this one worked for me. Helen calling Carol “kitten” — fabulous. Just fabulous. Loved the Banshees. Loved all of the art. And of course, loved Carol taking up the Captain Marvel mantle.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight Read More »

Rose Under Fire

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

From the Cybils Shortlist and the sequel to Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire was excellent. Troubling, as books about WW2 often are… seriously, I need a moratorium on concentration camps or something. So sad and horrible and OMG did I mention horrible?

Rose was awesome, I even enjoyed her poetry. And while I might have kind of complained about the Girl Scout camp songs earworm, I enjoyed that, too. Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout and all that.

I even liked the way it ended.

Rose Under Fire Read More »

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

I can’t decide whether I’m glad we listened to Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass on audio or not. I LOVED the Spanish in it but my Spanish is bad so I’d have liked to have been able to look some of that stuff up. Not that I didn’t understand the gist of it but still, it would have been more fun to do that (in some ways.)

The book itself, excellent. Very nice change to have great Latina characters. I very much loved that. I really liked Piddy and her mom and Lila. I spent much of today saying “Que lindo!” to myself because Lila said it and it made me laugh (a friend in Panama used to say it a lot) and it was very appropriate at many times today (sarcastically and not sarcastically.)

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass Read More »

Two Graphic Novels

2014, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

One Cybil, one not. The Lost Boy is from the Cybils shortlist and it was good. Though if creepy talking dolls scare you, then maybe this is not the graphic novel for you. I got a little confused at the end so I think I’m going to go back and re-read it to see if I can sort out the confusion. Though it might just be confusing as a set up for future books and not me reading while I was tired.

A Matter of Life is not a Cybils book and is also not YA and it’s not fiction. I just got tired of looking at it on the library shelf and decided to check it out so it would quit staring at me when I was looking for something new on the graphic novel shelves. It was… ok. The jumping around bugged me. Jeff as adult, Jeff as a young boy, Jeff as adult, Jeff as teen. All very confusing. In some cases the panels flowed well, in others the jumps were too jarring and I was left saying, “huh?” a lot.

Two Graphic Novels Read More »

2 Graphic Novels

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

Both of these are from the Cybils Shortlist — and both are good. One is exceptional.

First, Nathan Hale is back with the story of the Donner Dinner Party. Just like the other Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales — this is long, long, long. But I’m not sure how it could be much shorter because that’s a lot of story to tell via graphic novel. I particularly like the last pages — the list of people who died and how, the mythbusting at the end. I’m a fan of this series, in general, and this one was just as good as the others.

March — the first volume. This series is one nobody should miss. Congressman Lewis is telling his story, via graphic novel, and it’s one hell of a good story and a really great idea. I couldn’t put this first volume down and suspect the next two books in the trilogy will be just as good. Must read — for everyone.

2 Graphic Novels Read More »

Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets

2014, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

Yawp!

From the Cybils shortlist, Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets was awesome. I loved it. Didn’t want to put it down and I’m not even a very big Walt Whitman fan.

What I loved is that it’s just different enough from every other book about kids and depression/anxiety but familiar enough and true enough to keep me nodding my head.

Excellent. Really. I’d like to read it again (and maybe Yawp a little.)

Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets Read More »

Eleanor & Park

2 Comments / 2014, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /

From the Cybils Shortlist, Eleanor & Park… what to say, what to say. I liked it. A lot. I might have even loved it but… I kept wondering if any of my kids would have loved it when they were teens and I don’t think that they would.

There were so many 80s references. SO MANY. Neither of our girls knew what I was talking about when I asked them about a few of them. It’s one thing to have a few 80s references that a kid can figure out in context but so many? I dunno. Seems like something might be lost in translation. TW and I smiled all the way through it though BECAUSE of the 80s references.

I did particularly appreciate that Eleanor wasn’t a hero… there was no attempt to save her siblings. She didn’t even really try. Or even pretend to try. She thought about it but halfheartedly and with the awareness that she just couldn’t, she wasn’t even sure she could save herself.

I also really liked Park’s parents. And Park, sure I liked Part, too. Surprisingly, I liked the ending. I liked the abruptness of it. I like that we don’t see the complete resolution of all of the problems. The postcard ending — pretty much perfect. And, now I want to go immerse myself in 80s movies and TV shows. Sheesh.

Eleanor & Park Read More »