Two Must Reads from the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Short List

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites /

First, Operation Yes – Goodness I loved that book. It’s probably the military family in me but who cares, it was awesome. Little green army men. Air Force (and one Army) “brats” at a small school in a small school in a small military town. What’s not to like? Particularly when there’s a great teacher involved. Heck, the book even made me like air shows and I really do not like air shows.

Next, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis. Hah. We listened to this one on audio (and I do believe this is my preferred method of reading middle grade fiction) and at first, I was confused. How could a middle grade fiction book start in such a horrible, depressing way? It didn’t make sense. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a middle grade fiction book that started this way and I was pretty sure I was going to hate this book after listening to the first two chapters. But then… the Holiday Rambler appeared and the “vocabulary words from Velma” really got going and I just loved this story. TW loved it too and we were sorry to see it end – but very happy that it ended exactly the way it did end.

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Amulet: Cloud Searchers

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Favorites /

Argh! How many books are there going to be in the Amulet series? They keep ending just when they’re getting interesting and I’m once again left wondering what happens next. Same darn thing happened last night when I read Cloud Searchers.  I was just settling in and getting excited about the story and … BAM. When is the next book coming out? Sheesh.

Have I mentioned I really like this graphic novel series (for younger kids)?

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5 More Cybils – Easy Readers and Picture Books

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Don't Read This, Favorites /

Finishing the Cybils Shortlist Challenge is going to be errr challenging. I’ve got a lot of books to read and some of them have been on my reserve list for a very long time. I’m beginning to think the cuts in library funding are going to prevent me from reading them all. But, I’m still trying. I finished five last night. I only really loved one of them and I couple were just plain bad.

The two that I really did not like were Shampoodle and The Book that Eats People. The Book that Eats People was really disappointing. I had high hopes but it was boring. A book that eats people should not be boring. Shampoodle was just one of those boring rhyming books where dogs have weird grooming things done to them – for nothing. I’m not a fan of those sorts of books.

The Curious Garden was nice. I liked the story. I liked the idea of helping nature grow in the middle of the city and seeing others join in. Very nice. Not great but good enough.  Good Dog, Aggie wasn’t bad either but it wasn’t super awesome. Just good enough  — though the boxy faces on the animals weren’t my favorite dog illustrations in the world.

The one I loved was Alice’s Shooting Star, though I didn’t love the title. I want a better title for this fun story. Rosie is an awesome kid and Alice is an even more awesome big sister for recognizing her sister’s personality for the great thing that it was. It can be difficult having a kid (or a sibling) like that but it’s who they are and there are lots of things to like about a quirky kid. I almost wish I had a kid in this age group so I could buy the whole series of Alice books.

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Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, From the Stacks Challenge, Queer, short stories, Women /

Doesn’t it seem like all of the books (by color) from my From the Stacks Challenge have been short stories? OK maybe not all of them but a lot? I think I should pay more attention to the books I’m choosing for this particular challenge because I’m just not a big short story fan. BUT… Fat Girls and Lawn Chairs was pretty darn good. Cheryl Peck needs to write more books – or more short stories. I don’t care which, I liked her. Hmmm does she have a blog? Because if she doesn’t, she needs one.

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The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

The very first book I picked up off of the shelf of our brand new library was The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap. The cover pulled me in. TW saw it on the shelf at home and commented on the cover. Elly saw it yesterday on my bed and commented on the cover. It’s a very comment-worthy cover.

The story’s not half bad either.  TW thought it was a little creepy for a middle grade fiction but I didn’t think so. Some bad things happen – through magic. Some of the people aren’t as nice as you might like them to be, but that’s how life is. I think the start is a little jarring – taking a newborn baby to the Lifestone garden to leave him to die. But, to be clear there was no choice, the curse was killing him – not the leaving him in the garden.  I think there’s a big difference and most kids will understand that.  It was the curse, not abandonment.

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The Bedwetter

2010, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

I don’t really love Sarah Silverman. I don’t hate her either, which I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear because she’s had a whole lot of people hating on her and she probably doesn’t want one more person piling on. I never would have read The Bedwetter but TW read the cover jacket and was forced to bring it home because it was funny – and crazy, much like Silverman herself.

If I liked fart jokes more. Or rape jokes more. Or [insert politically incorrect label for an ethnic minority] jokes more, I’d probably be a fan. But I don’t so I’m not. I was pretty fascinated with just how … weird her life has been, or how weirdly she talks about her life. I think I’d probably like her dad a good bit, he seems funnier.

I’m still not a fan but I don’t like her less than before I read the book. I call that a win.

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North of Beautiful

2 Comments / 2010, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Women, Young Adult /

Another Cybils YA short lister and another that I kept pushing back on my list because… another beauty/body image book? Really? Do I have to? Because I’ve read an awful lot of them this year. North of Beautiful is better than I expected. It’s more than I expected. I yelled at Terra’s dirtbag father all the way through the book. I cheered at the end. It’s a lot more than a beauty/body image story. It really is. Read it, you’ll see.

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Zombies vs Unicorns

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, short stories /

Unicorns FTW!

Last night when I was just a wee bit into Zombies vs Unicorns, Michelle wandered into my bedroom and plopped herself down on my bed – which led me to gripe about kids always laying on my darn bed. My griping didn’t send her away so I figured I’d try asking her some stupid question, a normal surefire way to get her to wander off to do something more interesting… “Zombies or Unicorns?”

She said Unicorns (smart girl) which led TW to try and argue that Zombies were better… unfortunately TW is not very good at debating and she proved the Unicorn’s side over and over and over again with her arguments, which caused Michelle to continue to lay on my bed laughing her a** off. So much for surefire ways to get a kid to get off of your bed.

The zombies vs unicorn debate seems like a good debate but it isn’t. Unicorns win hands down. They’re smarter. They’re magic. The stories about them are better. Not that that zombie stories in Zombies vs Unicorns were bad, they were excellent – but they just proved that Unicorns are just plain smarter, meaner, more magnificent and BETTER.

Don’t believe me? Read the book. Princess Prettypants, the prettiest, sweetest, rainbowyest (that’s totally a word) unicorn in the entire book will kick your ASS and make you like it. No zombie would stand a chance.

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Death and the Lit Chick

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Mystery /

How have I never read the other St Just books before? Death and the Lit Chick was fun! Particularly amusing, the crime/mystery writers arguing over how soon you must insert the dead body into the story before the reader gets bored… the dead body hadn’t been inserted by the point(s) being argued. I wasn’t bored! Also – I didn’t figure out the who did it, which was a bonus since I usually do.

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The Clue of the Velvet Mask

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Classics, Nancy Drew Challenge /

There have been moments this year when I have to laugh out loud at the old Nancy Drews  – Yesterday, there were a lot of moments like that. The Clue of the Velvet Mask included a bad woman in a “Javanese” costume and every time I read the word “Javanese” I laughed out loud. I mean really. I cannot even imagine what I thought of the word when I was 10… I wish I remembered.  

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