The Book Search

I'm moving back into my post-CYBILs life.  For the last two months, I've been reading virtually nothing but middle grade fantasy (speculative) fiction.  It's been a lot of fun but I'm ready to move onto something else. So imagine my immense joy this morning to look in Netgalley and find something completely different from what I've been reading, NON FICTION.  So I dove in and what a reward!  Here's some of what I found. The first one is called "Spy on History: Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army" by Enigma Alberti.  It's the story of a group of soldiers during World War II that were artists, weathermen, sound engineers and writers that helped to mislead the Germans into thinking that there were a lot more American soldiers in different places than there actually were.  The story is written in a very easy to read conversational prose that moves the story along quickly.  It recounts several different times during the war when the Ghost Ar

So I'm knee deep in the CYBILs list.  In case you didn't know, CYBILs stands for Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Award.  I've been lucky enough to serve as a panelist this year on the middle grade speculative (fantasy) fiction and it's SO MUCH FUN.  It is a bit daunting to see the list-there are over 120 books (chapter books!) and we have two months to read them.  I was WAY behind the power curve this year, because I've mostly been reading picture books for another book award I read for so I've been scurrying to catch up.  I'm getting there, but I'm a little relieve that weather here in South Florida is supposed to be terrible tomorrow, in hopes that I'll actually think it's a good idea to sit down and read during the day time, instead of waiting until I go to bed, when invariably, I'm tired enough, I get to "The ..." and fall asleep. Anyway, this week, I've had a chance to read some great ones that I'

I don't usually read ghost stories.  I don't really like to be scared (there's enough scary stuff in the world for me-keep it out of my head!).  But I read a couple this week that were quite remarkable! The first one is called "Olive and the Backstage Ghost" by Michelle Schusterman.  It's about Olive who lives with her mom.  Her mom used to be a famous singer and now she wants Olive to be a famous singer.  Olive's dad has disappeared?  Gone away?  Died?  It's a bit mysterious about what actually happened to dad, but he's not in the picture.  Olive is feeling over pressured by her mother and when she does poorly at an important audition, Olive runs out looking for an escape.  She finds solace at the Maudeville theatre, a beautiful old theater she never noticed before.  She finds people who appreciate her talents and want to make her a star, but there's something not quite right.  This is a super creepy story with a kind of an alternate reality

I'm plowing through the CYBILS middle grade speculative fiction.  There were a few dogs in the pile but I've hit a bit of a hot streak and it's SO much fun to read such imaginative, creative, exciting stories!  Check out these beauties! The first one is called "The Shadow Cipher" and it's the first one a series called York by Laura Ruby.  I'm relieved that this only the first one because the characters and plot of this one were so interesting, I was really sorry for the book to end!  It's about fraternal twins, Tess and Theo, who live with their parents in an old apartment building in New York.  The apartment has been in their family for several generations and there is a story about a mysterious treasure that's hidden with lots of clues and ciphers.  They connect with a boy who lives in their building, Jaime, who is a computer whiz.  He lives with his grandmother, the building's caretaker.  Suddenly, they have a very sharp deadline for solvi

This has been a super busy week.  We had our state librarians conference called FAME in Orlando this past week.  There were lots of workshops, authors to meet, vendors to talk to and most of all friends from all over our wonderful state.  It was a great conference but I'm exhausted and exhilarated at the same time!  I'm also still whittling away at the CYBILS speculative middle grade fiction.  I'm sure you're not shocked to hear that I barely had time to open a book this past week, much less read one.  But I finished one today that is not to be missed.  It's called "Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth" by Frank Cottrell Boyce.  The last sentence in the completely irresistible first chapter is this "I probably shouldn't have written it all down.  It might get me into trouble.   We broke a lot of laws, including some of the laws of physics.  But I wrote everything down anyway, because I didn't want to forget any of it."  I sincerely hope I

I'm plunging into the dark heart of fantasy or speculative fiction.  I haven't had a chance to go here for awhile, so I'm looking forward to it! The first one is called "Last Day on Mars" by Kevin Emerson.  I'm going to tell you straight up that science fiction is not my favorite, but this one was a breathtaking adventure.  It's about a boy named Liam who has grown up on Mars.  His parents are scientists and they moved to Mars before Liam was born because the Earth was failing.  They've been living on Mars for the past 15 years and now it's time to leave there too because the protections they've built to help them survive there are failing. Liam is sad to leave Mars (it IS the only home he's ever known) and although he's heard lots of stories about how amazing Earth was, the new place they are going is uncertain and a bit fraught with peril.  But it also seems that there is some sabotage going on and Liam and his best friend Phoebe se

Are you looking for something new in middle grade fiction?  Well, have I got a couple of titles for you!  These are new releases and are DEFINITELY worth looking for! The first one is called "The Adventurers Guild" by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos.  It's about a group of kids who live in a town called Freestone.  Freestone has an annual event called Guildculling where children who are of a certain age are called to join their professions.  For many of lower class children, there isn't too much of a choice, but members of higher societal families have greater opportunities for choices.  But there are always some surprises, and there are some very big surprises at this particular Guildculling.  I don't want to give too much away because each layer of this well written book has excellent suspense and interesting plot twists.  There is some wonderful political drama, some great opportunities for talking about class expectations and racism, as well as magic and

We bugged out in advance of Irma and now I have a bit of a break in the action while we debate about when to go back... with no power it doesn't sound like that much fun to be at home, but I'm itching to get there!  Good thing I have some awesome new non-fiction to read to keep me occupied. The first one is called "Bugs from head to tail".  It's written by Stacy Roderick and illustrated by Kwanchai Moriya.  It's an up close look at some really interesting insects.  Each double page spread shows one part of a bug (like it's eyes) and asks the reader to guess what insect it is.  Then the next two pages show the whole insect and tell a little about it.  There is a perfect amount of text to tell about each insect, enough to peak an early reader's attention (and maybe send them for more research) but not so much to be overwhelming.  I really loved the artwork in this one.  It's paper cuts and they are so closeup you can actually see the texture of the

I'm so lucky to get to read all these new books!  My fourth and fifth grade book clubs decided that they also want to read the latest and greatest, in hopes of discovering the next Newbery award winner.  It's so much fun talking books with them!  Here are a few that are coming out in the next couple of weeks. The first one is called "Click'd" by Tamara Ireland Stone.  It's was released on September 5, 2017.  It's about a girl named Allie Navarro who has just spent an amazing summer at a coding camp making friends with other girls who love coding just as much as she does.  When she gets back to school, she's feeling a little left out because her friends spent their summer together at home.  She is very excited about the game she created at camp and is hoping that she will be able to win the local coding competition.  Her game is called "Click'd" and it lets helps you find friends among the database of people who play the game and rank th

School started and YAY!  It's so much fun to be back and start talking about some of the awesome books I've been reading!  The kids are glad to be back too, even though they complain about getting up early and the structure of the day.  Here are some of the amazing books I'm looking forward to! The first one is called "Vanished" by James Ponti.  It's the second in a series (and I hope there will be more!) about a middle schooler named Florian Bates who has developed a theory called T.O.A.S.T., the theory of all small things.  TOAST helps Florian to notice and put things together in ways that most people do not.  Florian's best friend is Margaret, a soccer player and musician who also like TOAST.  Together with a team from the FBI, they solve mysteries.  The mystery in this book revolves around a series of pranks played at an exclusive prep school in Washington, DC.  Florian and Margaret attend a slightly less prestigious school and are rivals with Chatha

I've been reading a TON of children's literature this summer (if you enjoy data, I've read 212 books since school got out).  However, it's been quite some time since I picked up a chapter book and finished it in ONE DAY and then kept talking about it to everyone I meet.  It's called "Ban this Book" by Alan Gratz.   It's about a girl named Amy Anne.  She lives in Raleigh, NC with her mom and dad, two little sisters, and her big dogs named Flotsam and Jetsam.  Amy Anne loves to read and has strong opinions but often feels too embarrassed to share her opinions with anyone.  One day she goes to the library to re-check out her favorite book, "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg, only to find that a parent has challenged this book (along with several others) and so it has been removed from the library.  Amy Anne is outraged and the librarian, Mrs. Jones, invites Amy Anne to come to the school board meeting wh

So my husband says to me this morning "We only have one more Monday off school."  Um, what???!!!  Wait!!!  How did THAT happen?  As I often say to people when they ask, "Are you ready to go back to school?"  "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not, the kids are coming anyway!"  I've been meaning to read all the Sunshine State Young Reader nominees for this year.  I tried downloading them from Mackin Via and I ended up with a spinning rainbow wheel of death, both on the iPad and on my laptop.  FINE.  So today I made a trip to the public library and happily, they had most of the titles I hadn't read yet.  YAY for public libraries!  I can't think why I waited so long to read this one, because it was terrific!  It's called "Save Me A Seat" by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan.  It's told from two different boys' perspectives.  Ravi and Joe are both in the same fifth grade class.  Ravi's family just moved from Banga

My students LOVE non-fiction books.  In fact, I'm always surprised when school librarians lament the fact that their students don't check out non-fiction books, because my kids check out at least as many non-fiction as fiction books, maybe more.  I'm really excited about some of these new titles that are coming out soon. The first one is called "Her Right Foot" by Dave Eggers.  I'm a big fan of Dave Eggers work for adults and I really love his voice, so I was very intrigued his new book, which is a picture book.  The artwork is terrific-the first part has collages that have a very art deco period feel to them.  The second part is also collage, but more modern.  The text is amazing.  It's about the Statue of Liberty and the first part of the book has background information about the Statue of Liberty-how it was a gift from France, the architect Bartholdi, Eiffel's role, how it was put together in France and then taken apart, shipped to America, and pu

I'm taking a break from reading picture books.  I've been visiting my parents and my brother in NC and the picture books are too heavy to bring along!  Thank goodness I have my iPad loaded with middle grade fiction.  There are some great ones coming soon! The first one is called "The Shadow Weaver" by Marcykate Connolly.  It's about a girl named Emmeline who can weave shadows using magic.  What that means is that she can use her magic to get the shadows to do what she wants them to do.  It's a very cool power to have but her parents think it's creepy and scary.  Emmeline also has a shadow friend who encourages her to use her power and kind of helps her along with the magic.  Dar has been her friend since she was little and really, Emmeline's only friend.  One day some people come to Emmeline's home and offer to take Emmeline to cure her of her magic.  Emmeline's parents think this is a great idea, since they think the whole shadow weaving is

I just looked at my Goodreads profile and it says I'm 62 books behind schedule for reading 400 books this year.  Rats.  I guess I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit.  Thank goodness summer's here so I can have some time to read!  Through Goodreads, I belong to a group called Mock Newbery and they try to pick which book might win the Newbery  and although we don't seem to have guess correctly yet, they have THE BEST suggestions for books.  This month we voted on 5 titles (See You In the Cosmos by Jack Cheng was the consensus for this month) but I read them all.  My new favorite is called "Crack in the Sea" by H. M. Bouwman. This is Bouwman's second novel and I missed her first one.  This one is so big that it's a bit hard to describe.  It starts with two main characters, a brother and sister-Pip and Kinchen.  They are orphans but live with a kind old man named Ren who has adopted them and cared for them on an island that is quite far away from