Cybil Challenge

Four Cybil Easy Readers (#readathon)

1 Comment / 2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Dewey's Readathon, Favorites /

I don’t always love the easy readers from the Cybils short list. Some are just too – too – typical. So it is with much surprise that I’m here to report that I just finished four really excellent easy readers.

Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus – it was obvious that I was going to love that, because I’ve loved all of the Anna Hibiscus books. This one might be my favorite because Anna went to Canada and met Canadian kids and the Canadian kids met Anna, who is from Africa. Anna also met a dog – a Canadian dog, which is not like an African dog. I love this series and I loved this book.

I read Just Grace and the Double Surprise and I was probably most surprised by this book. I expected it to be… boring. It wasn’t. Just Grace got a puppy, which made me laugh because her puppy is like my puppy which is like every puppy. And Grace’s best friend got a baby brother, through adoption, which is not at all what she was hoping for. Many lessons were learned but the book wasn’t at all boring and I laughed out loud, several times.

Also surprising was my appreciation of The Trouble with Chickens. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t JJ the retired search and rescue dog, Vince the Funnel or the chicken family and their suspenseful mystery. An easy reader suspense drama – almost pulp fiction like in an easy reader animal story kind of way. Excellent.

And, the book with the best title – Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. I know about bad months and about missing people who had to leave and about getting used to new people. Eleanor Abigail Kane knows this stuff too. Another good story with good characters. And now I’m going to think about sprinkling some pickle juice on a cookie… just to see what that’s like.

(Readathon count after two hours and four easy readers: 521 pages.)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Four Cybil Easy Readers (#readathon) Read More »

The Friendship Doll

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge /

I’ve decided I have problems with books about dolls. I don’t know why that might be, I’ve never had any issues in real life with dolls but it’s true, just the same.

I found The Friendship Doll really interesting, and I almost got a little weepy when a little girl died who I didn’t expect to die. And I really loved the Mrs. Roosevelt part and the Alzheimer’s ending. I also found myself looking up more information about the real Friendship Dolls from Japan.

But.

The book troubled me. Much the way Hitty: Her First Hundred Years troubled me, I guess (it’s been so long since I read it, but yea, like that.) Some underlying angst about the story. I don’t know.

It’s me, not the book. The book was good. I promise. (Unless you have doll issues like I apparently have?)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Friendship Doll Read More »

Frost

2012, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Frost is one of the creepiest books I’ve read in a good long while. The house was creepy, obviously, but the brother/sister were creepy, too. Heck, even Leena is a wee bit creepy even without the weird house and/or the… well I won’t give it away.

The question is, was it the house or was there REALLY a reasonable explanation. I vote it was a combo of the two and the next time someone tells you a girl went crazy and died in a house and from then on, only men lived in the house – hang onto that idea and if you’re female, get the hell out no matter how awesome and cute the little Victorian is.

Just sayin’.

Not my favorite from the Cybils shortlist but man it was creepy.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Frost Read More »

Two More YA Cybils

2 Comments / 2012, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Feminism, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

How come all of the books from the Cybils shortlist that I wanted to read on audio are just now coming available, all at once? Gah.  We’re almost ODing on audio books… and poor TW, one of the books is one she had already read. Oops. She was a good sport and listened to The Girl of Fire and Thorns anyway and only gave away one spoiler. She also provided some info that was not really accurate, so a spoiler that could have been a spoiler wasn’t a spoiler after all. Heh.

I liked the book but it did get a little frustrating listening to Elisa go on and on about her looks, how fat she was, how beautiful and confident and capable everyone else was, blah blah blah. It took her an awful long time to grow up and beyond her weight. And really, I’m not sure she ever completely managed it. So that was depressing. Hopefully, if there’s a second book, the author can do away with all of that and just let Elisa enjoy her food and let us enjoy the story.

~~

I started Misfit on Saturday and finished it on Sunday. Yay for me for finally finishing a book (I started two others last week and tossed them in the library bag to take back – I just could not read either of them. That’s a lot of book quitting for me!) It was an easy book to read, enjoy and finish – and then wonder how long it will take for a sequel. Surely it’s going to be a series, there are Three more Dukes of Hell to deal with…

I loved Jael. I really loved everything about her.  A good strong female heroine who didn’t need to spend time worrying over what she looked like or how much she weighed or how popular she was. Breath of fresh air. Really. 

(PS. The Cover of the book on Amazon is a lot better than the cover of my library copy.)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Two More YA Cybils Read More »

Red Glove

2012, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

When we started listening to Red Glove, it took a few chapters for me to remember what happened in White Cat and who all of the characters were. Once I settled into the story, I started wondering whether this was a trilogy or a longer series. It IS a trilogy and this might be the best “second book” ever – I sure liked it more than White Cat and now I’m really excited to read Black Heart.  Poor Cassle. And what the heck is going to happen to his mother, because that’s one heck of a job she pulled on the Governor…

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Red Glove Read More »

Breadcrumbs

2012, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

We listened to Breadcrumbs on audio and I liked it more than TW did. She found it a little tired – retelling of fairy tales. So yea, been there, done that, but I still liked it. I liked Hazel. It was a little slow, particularly for audio, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Good Cybils middle grade fantasy. Not the best but worthy of the shortlist for sure.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Breadcrumbs Read More »

Three More Cybils — All Non-Fiction

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

Let’s see… what did I read?

Unraveling Freedom. This was interesting because I don’t read a lot of books about WW1, fiction or non-fiction. Nice change from the overwhelming amount of WW2 books I usually read. It was also a nice change to read about WW1 and the US – not WW1 in Europe.

Next, I read Amelia Lost. This took me a long time to get through and I’m not sure why. Maybe because I was reading it while Diana Nyad was attempting to swim from Cuba to Florida and following a living, awesome woman was more interesting than reading stuff about Amelia Earhart that caused me to not like her quite so much. (I had no idea the US government paid to build the airfield on Howland Island JUST for Earhart to land on. Sheesh. We/She would have been better off if she’d just had Roosevelt arrange for inflight fueling at Midway…)

Last, but not least, How They Croaked. This was fun. All of the interesting facts about how famous people died. Nice illustrations (cartoon-like.) It would be a fun book to have on the shelf for kids to pull down and flip through for fun.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Three More Cybils — All Non-Fiction Read More »

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction /

I was more amused by The Cheshire Cheese Cat than I expected to be. An animal story done well is a wonderful thing – and not as easy to find as you might think, considering the overwhelming number of animal stories published for kids every year. But, it was the appearance/mentions of Wilkie Collins that did it. And, the role Dickens played in the story.  Brilliant way to, softly, introduce Victorian authors to middle grade (or younger!) readers.  (As a bonus, Skilly reminded me of the Fake Cat and her love of cheese – how could I not love this book?)

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale Read More »

Catching Up on Cybils — Five Down

2012, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

I knew we’d be spending a lot of time at home this weekend, new puppy and all that… so I went ahead and reserved a bunch of the books from the Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books. Generally speaking – I didn’t love them.

These are all perfectly fine books – Clementine was my favorite because I really like Clementine.

I Broke My Trunk – Mo Willems. I know it’s sacrilege to say so, but sometimes his books are boring. This is one of those books.

Dodsworth in Rome – I do not understand these books. OK I understand them, I am just not sure why one might read them to/with their kids. Kids should read travel books and learn about wonderful, famous places but I’m not sure that Dodsworth and Duck are the best books for that.

Aggie Gets Lost – I always want more from an Aggie story than I get. In this case, I really wanted more and it was just the same ole Aggie story stuff.

Frog & Friends – The balloon story was cute. The other two were fine.

Clementine and the Family Meeting – I really like Clementine. I like her a lot. She’s an awesome 8 year old with some of the same problems any other 8 year old might have. I like her parents and I like her teachers/principal. I even like her friends.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Catching Up on Cybils — Five Down Read More »

Two Cybils — Middle Grade SciFi & Fantasy

2012, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

We’ve been listening for Icefall for months. It started a little slow for me but by the end of the first disk, I was hooked. I loved Solveig and Hake. And  Alric. And Munnin. I loved the storytelling, too. And I hope there really will be a sequel. I’d like to find out what happens with Solveig and Hake next.

Tuesdays at the Castle is a book I’ve probably checked out three times and never managed to read – once it was lost for the entire check out time in Elly’s room. I don’t know why I kept putting off reading it, I loved the castle and the children – particularly Celia, obviously.

Posted via email from Life. Flow. Fluctuate.

Two Cybils — Middle Grade SciFi & Fantasy Read More »