Reading for CYBILS 2023 - Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
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. ...