The Book Search

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...

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 ...