The Book Search

 Reading for the CYBILS is so much fun.  It's a little like standing in a firehose spray of children's literature but if you can get past feeling completely overwhelmed (that was earlier this week), it's a blast, because there are SO MANY great books.   Well, not literally, because that would hurt.  Okay, then!  Let me tell you about my two new favorites.  Creatures of the In Between by Cindy Lin is an exciting adventure that starts in the middle of things, with an attack on Whisper Island, a haven for magical beasts.  The Kingdom of the Three Realms is tied to the magical beasts and the leader of the Realm is meant to be bonded to a magical beast.  The current leader is the Dowager Queen who's phoenix does her bidding.  The Crown Prince is Jin, her 12 year old grandson, who has spent his entire life learning from books about magical creatures because, other than her phoenix, there are no other creatures in the kingdom.  Jin really wants to bond with a magical creature

 One of the best parts (in my opinion) of reading for the CYBILS book award, is that, as a panelist, I'm asked to read as many of the middle grade speculative fiction books published in the last year as possible.  Even better, if I blog about them.  So we get a list of the books and are asked to read them.  Invariably, there are some that I've already read and some that are really hard to get a hold of and some that are just terrible.  And some of them are complete gems that I never would have read, had it not been for the list!  That's the case today- my new favorites!  Have a look! The first one is an illustrated fairy tale, which we hardly ever get.  Typically, picture books are a separate category, but this one, even though it is beautifully and lavishly illustrated by P. J. Lynch (one of my very favorite illustrators) is really not a picture book.  The text is dense and complicated and rich, like a beautiful tapestry or a soaring opera.  It's written by Eion Colfer

  There have been SO MANY middle grade fiction books coming out this month.   I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up!   But so far so good!   Here are two of my newest favorites. Nell of Gumbling is a fun new fairy tale/graphic novel/mystery/friendship story.  I’m pretty sure there’s not a specific genre for this one, but it was a very fun read. It's written and illustrated by Emma Steinkellner, who also wrote and illustrated the adorable "The Okay Witch" , which I blogged about here .  This new one is about Nell, or Lenore, who lives in a place called Gumbling.  There was a king there once, but when a witch threatened to eat him, he relinquished his throne and the city has been run by a council ever since.  She lives with her two dads, who are star farmers and her two younger siblings, Rib and Schmitty.  She has two best friends, Gil, who is a Thumbkin and Myra, who is a fairy.  Nell has started a journal because she’s super excited to start her internship. 

So here's a project I've been working on for awhile.  You know how much I love middle grade fiction and this has been something I've been wanting to do and now, YAY!  I have time!  This is a set of comprehension questions for all 15 books for the SSYRA 3-5 list for 23-24.  This year's titles include: The Area 51 Files by Julie Buxbaum Bedhead Ted by Scott Giacomo Better with Butter by Victoria Piontek The Curse on Spectacle Key by Chantel Acevedo Glitch by Laura Martin Good Dogs on a Bad Day by Rachel Wenitsky Honestly Elliott by Gillian Dunn The Haunted Mustache by Joe McGee Odder by Katherine Applegate The Raven Heir by Stephanie Burgis Secondhand Dogs by Caroline Crimi Solimar by Pam Munoz Ryan Strangeville School is Totally Normal by Darcy Miller Stuck by Jennifer Swender Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas It includes an answer key and summaries of all the books.  They are available as a set of all 15 as a Google Doc and I'm working right now on separating them into