The Book Search

 My husband and I were traveling last week and lucky me!  I had lots of books on my Netgalley app and lots of time to read!  Here are two of my new favorites. The first one is called Octopus Moon.  It's written by Bobbie Pryon. I hadn't read anything by her before, so this one was a great surprise.  It's written in free verse and it's about Pearl, a girl who lives in a small town on the Florida Gulf Coast.  Pearl is part of a loving family that includes her big sister, her mom and dad, and her grandparents, who live close by.  Pearl feels especially connected to her grandfather.  Pearl also has some really great friends, including her bestie-Rosie.  But lately, Pearl has been struggling.  She feels sad a lot for no particular reason.  She's tired a lot.  She doesn't want to get out of bed or go to school or hang with her friends.  She doesn't even want to run with her dog Tuck, even though she loves running.  It turns...

 I adore historical fiction and the middle grade versions are typically wonderful!  Here are two terrific ones to look for! The first one is called "The Enemy's Daughter" by Anne Blankman .  I haven't read any of her books before, but I'm definitely going to be looking for more!  "The Enemy's Daughter" has such an interesting point of view.  It's told by Marta, a German girl who has been living in America with her extended family but is returning back to Germany, on the eve of World War 1.  She and her dad are traveling on the Lusitania and have been trying to make sure that no one knows they are German.  Marta is an excellent actress and loves trying out different accents and attitudes to match.  When the boat sinks, Marta and her father are separated, but both are rescued and taken to England, where her dad is an accused of being a spy for Germany.  Marta decides that rather than going home, she will go to find and then rescue her dad. ...

 Now that I'm done with the CYBILS for the year, I can dig back into the realistic fiction pile.  Here are two of my latest favorites! Weirdly Walter by Julia Walton is a terrific new book.  It came out in October and I read it over the winter holidays and I wondered why it had taken so long (oh, yeah, I remember-I was reading for the CYBILS award-107 middle grade fantasy books, that's right).  Walter was such a charming and heartwarming read-I think you're going to love it.  Walter is a fifth grader who has always lived with his dad, a musician.  They've traveled around quite a bit and Walter is used to being the new kid at school.  But this is different.  His dad has left him for the first time, with Walter's grandfather, and there's no end in sight for when Walter will go back on the road with his dad.  Walter adores his dad and records some of his dad's wisdom in his journal.  But he's also kind of mad at his dad, that there was no c...

Reading for the CYBILS is SO much fun!  It can feel a little overwhelming sometimes, but I always find books that I never would have read, if it weren't for the list!  Including these two gems. I'm a big fan of novelty and by that I mean plots or characters that are really different from anything I've read before and both of these books fit that bill!  The first one is called Poppy and Marigold and it's written by Meg Dendler.  She's written a number of books but this is the first one of hers I've read.  Her website is here if you want to check it out .  It's about a girl named Poppy, who lives in a dystopian world, where people are segregated by the color of their skin.  Poppy's skin is blue and the Blue Society is steeped in technology and rule following.  There are 50 rules that all Blue citizens must follow and they repeat them every day at school.  There are also hard consequences for rule breaking but Poppy is a good student and an obed...

 I'm super excited to be reading for the CYBILS again this year!  I love reading all the latest speculative fiction and boy are there some great ones!  Here are my two latest favorites.  The first one is "Island of Wonders" written by Frances Hardinge and illustrated by Emily Gravett.  It feels like an old fashioned story.  The format of the book is big-like picture book sized, which is good because there are lot of illustrations.  And the illustrations are just amazing-in three colors-black and blue and white, they almost feel like NC Wyeth or that Art Deco kind of traditional children's literature.  But the STORY.  Whoo-boy, is it great.  A super creepy fairy tale kind of story and so beautifully written.  It's about Milo, whose father is a ferryman, but a special kind of ferryman,  HE ferries the dead to the afterlife.  The islanders place a lot of trust in the ferryman, because if he doesn't do his job properly, the de...

 There have been some amazing new titles in my Netgalley TBR pile and YAY for finally reading them!  Here are two of my newest favorites! The first one is called Westfallen.  It's written by a sister and brother team - Ann and Ben Brashares. This is Ann's website.    Ben doesn't seem to have his own website, but they are both prolific writers and their skills show in this tightly written and exciting story.  The book opens with Henry, a middle schooler who is feeling abandoned by his two best friends-Frances and Lukas.  Frances and Lukas have found different lanes (Frances is goth, Lukas is a sports guy), Henry is neither but when the hamster that they adopted together dies, he invites them over to bury the hamster.  In digging a hole, they find an old radio that remarkably still works.  They are able to connect with three other kids, who also live in their hometown.  The 6 kids agree to meet at the local park and all six are disappointe...