CYBILS 2024

 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 dead will wander around wreaking havoc on the land.  Milo also has an older brother, who will probably be the ferryman when his dad stops.  Leif is a constant, consistent, steady kind of a guy and knows what the job means.  Milo, on the other hand, is more of a thinker and a dreamer.  Milo thinks his dad believes that he's too weak to do the job.  The story opens with the death of the local lord's daughter.  She's only 14, the same age as Milo and her parents are bereft.  The mother comes with the girl's shoes, which is how the ferryman starts the process of taking the dead to the great beyond.  But the father comes and says she isn't really dead and they are her favorite shoes and he must have them back.  He has arranged for magicians to come to bring her back from the dead.  The ferryman says no, he must take them this night because the weather will change and it will be too late.  The lord insists and suddenly Milo is tasked with taking the dead to where they belong.  It's a perilous journey and he wonders often if he's up to the task.  And it would be mean for me to tell you the ending because it unfolds so beautifully.  I really loved this book.  It has big themes of family and expectations and how handling things in a different way isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Don't miss this one.  

Check out this gorgeous cover.

Here's the author telling about the book!

This second one is the start of a series (I hope!) because the characters in this one were amazing!  It's called Splinter and Ash and it's written by Marieke Nijkamp, who has written a number of wonderful stories including another one of my favorites "Ink Girls".  "Splinter and Ash" is about Ash, who is Princess Adelisa, who has been living and training in a village a long way away from the palace, but is summoned home because there is trouble on the horizon and the queen believes Ash will be safest with palace guards.  Her older brother is being a jerk to her and her mother is distracted and busy so when she meets Splinter during a party, she's relieved to find someone she feels like she can trust.  Splinter has been living with an uncle, who is trying to improve his own position as well as Splinter's by bringing Splinter to court.  Ok, spoiler alert, stop reading if you want to read this and let the story unfold, because this is a biggie.  It turns out Splinter is a girl-she doesn't want to be a lady and wear dresses, she wants to be a squire and live up to the example that her big brother set.  Having Ash as an ally is big and even though it doesn't follow the usual court protocols, the queen allows Splinter to become a squire, with the condition that she protect Ash.  Being the only girl squire is HARD and the other squires are working hard to bully her and get her to quit, especially Ash's brother Lucen.  But, fate intervenes (and NO MORE SPOILERS) and there are some big plot twists and exciting intrigue.  I thought this story was great.  Both Ash and Splinter are super interesting characters and I want to get to know them better (so I'm hoping there will be more!).  Some of the situations are surprisingly current even with the medieval setting.  I think the kids are going to like this one a lot.