Library Chicken: 2013 Cybils Shortlist

Showing posts with label 2013 Cybils Shortlist. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Cybils Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalists

This is probably my favorite category, with the imagination and adventure of speculative fiction, but without the angst and romance drama of YA. These kids are here to save the world, or themselves, or their families, and they don't spend a lot of time on their hair or wondering whether their marriage is doomed. There's a nice variety among the selections, some alternate worlds, some set in a different version of this world with magic inserted, and some set in this world and the kids discover some private magic that's all their own.

Jinx, Sage Blackwood. I really enjoyed this story of a boy growing up in an enchanted forest who doesn't know how he is different from other people. To make it more fun, the reader doesn't know if he is different -- we don't know what regular people can do in his forest. I had a great sense of perspective -- what is right and what is wrong is filtered through the people seeing the events, and it can be hard to see through to what needs to be done. Jinx has a interesting habit of underestimating himself, and of being unestimated by both the reader and the other characters. I immediately tracked down the sequel and I can't wait for more from Blackwood.

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase, Jonathan Stroud. My older son is a huge Bartimeus fan, so it wasn't hard to talk him into trying this one with me. We both had fun with it, enough to pick it for our family book club which ensured my younger son read it as well. We liked the alternate history, with the setting hinting at Victorian times but then surprising the reader with more modern technology. Finding ghosts changed things, which makes sense. We also liked the kid-run business, and the different professional relationship among the company. I have the sequel on hold at the library.

Rose, Holly Webb. This had more depth and nuance than the cover promised. (My cover was much more pink and young looking. I think my boys would have liked it, especially the plucky underclass servant vs spoiled but less capable snooty apprentice dynamic. Unfortunately, they never picked it. I think looked too juvenile, although the pink didn't help.

Sidekicked, John David Anderson. I actually won an ARC for this in a 48 Hour Reading Challenge. The plot was nice and twisty, but I was uncomfortable with the main character. He seemed to feel that his female friend owed him her affections because he was so nice, and he was always trying to be nice so that she would want to date him. Which is actually kind of creepy. I'm probably projecting stuff that was going on elsewhere onto this book a bit, but it left a bit of a bad taste.

The Rithmatist, Brandon Sanderson. I liked the chalk adventures and the puzzle about how chalk magicians get chosen. For some reason I've never read anything by Sanderson before but now I want to seek out more of his stuff. I bet my son would have enjoyed this one but he didn't notice it in time and the library called it home.

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Kathi Appelt. Even though this book gave me a state for my state challenge, I couldn't really warm up to the quaint characters and the plot sliding back and forth between the various people and the animals and the creatures of the swamp. It was clear all along that all the pieces would come together and I didn't have a lot of surprises. I tried to get my boys to read this but they didn't bite.

The Water Castle, Megan Frazer Blakemore. I really like this genre of kids in a regular life dealing with issues and then finding pieces of magic that they can use to help fix things. I wish the magic had come in a bit earlier, although the jumps into historical people helped a bit. I found it a bit too grim for complete enjoyment -- the family situation is dire, the main character's social life is awful, and the family tries to pull together but frequently lets each other down.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Cybils Fiction Picture Books

I have forced all my kids and some relatives into reading the Cybils picture books. Our committee:

Me: Parent, book lover.
X: 15 year old boy, book lover
P: 12 year old boy, book liker. Willing to read picture books with me fairly often. Enjoys reading to his 2 year old sister when she behaves herself.
N: 11 year old boy, emerging reader. Book acceptor.

Sophie's Squash, Pat Miller. I loved this one -- it's my favorite. P & N liked it. X panned it as weird, which amuses me since he carried around a bruised pumpkin as a buddy for several days in his misspent youth.
Open This Little Book, Jessie Klausmeier. Fun for me, P, & N. X thought it squandered a great premise on a flimsy story.
Mr Tiger Goes Wild, Peter Brown. N's shocked look when the NUDITY happened was priceless. X's third favorite. Appreciated by me & P.

Journey, Aaron Becker. X's clear winner -- "a thinking man's Harold the Purple Crayon". N, P, and I also liked it. This is the one I urge friends to buy -- it's a clear parent's favorite that kids will like.
If You Want To See a Whale, Julie Fogliano. X found it dull. P & I liked it, as did N.
Count the Monkeys, Mac Barnett. N's declared victor ("they are all good, but this is best"). X's second choice, and his first pick as a read-aloud. P also approved of the concept and art.

The Bear's Song, Benjamin Chaud. Our library eventually processed this one. Everyone liked it, although the illustrations were not as expansive as our favorites. We liked the Where's Waldo aspect but were frustrated a bit at the cub's nondistinctiveness.

And the winner was: Mr Tiger Goes Wild. Well, it was no one's favorite, but everyone liked it. I shall enjoy telling N that the book he considered borderline pornography was the judge's choice.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Cybils Early Chapter Book Finalists

Dragonbreath #9: The Case of the Toxic Mutants, by Ursula Vernon. It was probably the Cybils that introduced me to Vernon's work, and I've been an eager convert ever since. Even my high schooler still perks up when a new Dragonbreath is out, and in full disclosure, I'll probably get to meet her next year at Foolscap. Anyway, this series entry is still fresh and lively, since Vernon manages to avoid top-heavy recounting of previous stuff and sticks to what's important now -- which is getting Wendell's retainer back before his mother discovers its loss. Vernon is a master at blending the fantastical with the mundane for hilarious result, and even her stock characters (harum-scarum Danny, nerdy Wendell, ever-practical Christiana) have plenty of individuality and charm.

Home Sweet Horror (Scary Tales) by James Preller. This is a good, creepy story full of noir and evil consequences, just right for the young elementary crowd. It starts off with a grieving family -- the mom is dead, and the power of loss helps stir up the evil that the children awaken. I especially liked how the bad guys almost won, and did destroy a lot of stuff.

Kelsey Green, Reading Queen (Franklin School Friends), by Claudia Mills. I admit I approached this book with trepidation -- I worry about reading contests and about mocking people who love them, and I dislike when the purpose of the book is to have the main character Learn a Lesson. Mills managed to keep me happy by deftly dodging both bullets. The problems and benefits of a reward based reading program are illustrated naturally, the evil boy reader is unmasked as a boy who likes reading, and I liked watching Kelsey grow and mature even as she reigns as Reading Queen. Also, I've read most of the books name-checked in the story, which always gives me warm fuzzies. (Bonus points for Kelsey imagining in an over-the-top way the fifth grade reading champ still reading in lines at Disneyland, since I just went there and I did, in fact, read in most of the lines.)

Lulu and the Dog from the Sea, by Hilary McKay. This is a warm and cosy family story about love, patient parents, and a stray dog. The plot is gentle and reassuring -- there's not much doubt that everything will turn out all right, but the path is fun to explore and the interactions between the characters seem real and comforting.

The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle. Another cosy family story, this time with a young boy dealing with the birth of a new sibling and the resulting diffusion of his mom's attention. It had more of the Learn a Lesson feel, and the penguin problems were so unlikely that they threw me out of the book.

Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat by Anna Branford. Another cosy family story, with an articulate girl in a loving family who deals with appropriately sized problems -- mismanaging a pet ladybug and helping her older sister with a project. The family is close but still realistic, with the big sister reacting with frustration but coming to scratch in the delicate matter of a dead ladybug. I like these a lot. For added fun, I got to share-read this with my emerging reader, and he seemed to like it although he had a bit of trouble with the British-isms.

I'm going to vote for Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat. My sons both voted for The Case of the Toxic Mutants, and my nephew voted for Violet but that was the only one he read so his vote counts less. I now peek at the winner: Home Sweet Horror. Well, I liked that one too, and probably only didn't vote for it because I have a grudge against books with dead moms.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Cybils Poetry Books

Poetry is a tough category, because so many children's picture books rhyme. Are they all poems? When does a picture book become an illustrated poem? And it's hard for me to drag along the rest of my family -- a few years ago I'd sneak in a poem each night as part of our reading, but somehow the habit of reading with my kids at night has fallen away. We read in our separate beds, and make sure we overlap at least one book a month with our family book club (a good excuse to go out and eat sushi!).

So I'm glad I'm not a judge. I have almost no experience of kids liking poetry. I know the Cybils tries to pair kid appeal with adult assessments of quality, and on that basis I'd have have to give the nod to Follow Follow although my favorite read of these books was Poems to Learn By Heart. Both my kids vote for Follow Follow but I barely count that since they refused to read most of the other books.

I now peek at the winner and it was: Forest Has a Song.

Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems, Marilyn Singer. I read this last year when it came out -- my family is a big fan of Reverso poems. We liked it, but without the wild enthusiasm of the first book.
Forest Has a Song: Poems, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. Nice enough, but more a picture book than a poetry collection.
Poems to Learn by Heart, Caroline Kennedy. I like learning poems by heart, although sadly I've never convinced my kids to try it. In fact, they tend to recoil if I start to recite. But I enjoyed seeing some old favorites (some of which I know by heart) and I even added a few to my poetry notebook.
Pug: And Other Animal Poems, Valerie Worth. Picture book with nice illustrations.
The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses, Lisa Wheeler. A sa, almost tragic story of a girl afraid to love, frightened by the idea of imperfections. It ends with the child's commitment to loneliness and isolation. But I liked the kitten poem, except for the last line -- I say yes to the contradictions, and open my heart to joy and pain. The poet backs away.
What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings, Joyce Sidman. I liked the idea, but none of the poems themselves spoke to me. I found nothing I wanted to commit to memory.
When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders, J. Patrick Lewis. This felt more like a picture book about the various leaders.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Cybils Elementary & Middle Grade Graphic Novel Finalists

I called to me all the Cybils Early Chapter Book finalists from my excellent library, which has almost everything anyone could want. King County Library System Rocks! And if occasionally I think of something they don't have, they either find it for me somewhere else or else get it for me because I'm special. Just like everyone else.

You wouldn't tell it from my reviews, but I'm actually doing fairly well on my Cybils Finalist Challenge -- I think I'm at 52 books (I don't do the apps). If I ever finish early I'll start a lifetime Challenge to catch up the years before I started doing this -- I think I started with the 2010 list but they started in 2006.

If I haven't messed them up, the book titles below should be Amazon links that benefit the Cybils, so if anyone wants to buy these books, use that.

Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton, Matt Phelan. The water color illustrations give this a gentle, old-time feeling that suits the optimistic story of a small town boy intersecting with the exotic Buster Keaton. Even as we watch the boy struggling against the conformity of his life the love and affection his family and friends show him correctly predict that he'll find happiness. It held my middle school boy's attention.

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite, Barry Deutsch. This felt a bit "lesson-y" to me -- Mirka must learn to conform more to her gender role but without giving up her dreams. Except when her dreams are foolish (and there are foolish dreams -- wanting to be great without wanting to work for it, for example). Mirka is saved by her clever siblings instead of by herself, but then she did save them all at the start of the book.

Both boys read it and seemed happy enough. X was more positive than me.

March Book 1, John Lewis. This was very powerful, and also accessible to me. I don't know much about this part of history so I liked reading about a memoir that gave a feel for how people felt and acted.

X thought it was all right; P never picked it up.

Monster on the Hill, Rob Harrell. This was jolly, a bit gory, and a lot of fun. The switches between sympathizing with the people and the monsters was well done, and the bright colors and active panel sizes matched the story and characters well. This was a lot of fun and unexpectedly emotionally powerful.

Both kids ate it up.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party Nathan Hale. Both X and I enjoy the Nathan Hale books, swallowing the historical medicine easily with the spoonful of grim humor and careful drawings. This story is especially dark, with death piled upon death and no escape for the young or likable.

I think P skipped it; probably just as well. X was an enthusiast; in fact I just brought home one about WWI and he's gobbling it up.

Squish #5: Game On!, Jennifer L. Holm. Fun, and I've been been meaning to try these. I don't think starting with #5 made me lose much -- the relationships seem pretty straightforward and the story likewise. Pleasant but not lingering.

Both boys zipped through this. I tried to interest the beginning reader but he didn't bite.

The Lost Boy, Greg Ruth. I was impressed by how spooky this story was -- I think it's right on the border between this category and the older one. The drawing was also impressive, although the darkness made it hard for my barely-graphically-literate eyes to keep track of the characters. This is all me -- I have a feeble visual memory and tend to have huge troubles distinguishing characters in comics, which my children find highly amusing.

I'm not sure if the junior high boy finished this, but the high schooler liked it.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Cybils 2013 Easy Reader Finalists

I gathered the collection of Cybils Easy Readers and read them all. Then I tried to read them with the not-quite-independent reader. This is exciting because he's right about the level that these books are aimed at, so I feel it's a fair test.

Then I got my high schooler to read them. There are many reasons I love my son, and the fact that as a high schooler he's still willing to read and enjoy books like these is only one of them. But it's a wonderful reason, isn't it?

Finally I watched the junior high boy read them, so I completed my family of testers.

A Big Guy Took My Ball! (An Elephant and Piggie Book), Mo Willems. I loved share reading this with the elementary student. He's very familiar with Elephant and Piggy books (I think one was his first official READ BOOK), so he claimed Gerald and had me read Piggy, and listening to his expression and dynamic changes was refreshing. We both read the parts of the Big Guy, using Dory's whale accent from Finding Nemo. As always, Willems delivers a fun story with great characters using minimal text.

So this one was a hit with everyone, adult, high school, junior high, and elementary student.

Joe and Sparky Go to School, Jamie Michalak. When I share-read with a new reader, we often alternate pages. This works really well for Michalak's fun story about a field trip to a school by a giraffe and a turtle, and my emergent reader is also currently very game for pauses to speculate what will happen next or what the effect of what just happened. Particularly relevant was the scene where poor Joe gets lectured for interrupting when he tries to hush Sparky in order to hear the teacher, and then the teachers rubs salt in his wounds by awarding Sparky a star for good listening.

We've all been through the agony of injustice, haven't we? Then the chapter about the "restroom" literally had the boy rolling around laughing. The words "magic pond" will never be the same. This was his and my top pick of the set, and enjoyed by everyone.

Love Is in the Air (HC) (Penguin Young Readers, L2), Jonathan Fenske
This was a sweet small story, almost as easy to read as the Willems book but with enough plot and emotion to justify itself. I also liked the action in the pages, both the constant up and down and the vividly depicted twists and spins.

The high schooler actually found it creepy -- he read the final scene as a Romeo & Juliet style suicide pact. Interesting connection there. The junior high boy also appreciated that ending; he's been a bit depressed lately so any book that ends with "and then they all died" is pronounced a Happy Ending.

Penny and Her Marble (I Can Read Book 1), Kevin Henkes. I enjoy almost everything Henkes has written, from picture books through early readers into middle grade books. I do admit that my older boys find them dull now -- they are not charmed by the cosy family life or Penny's very realistic moral crisis.

So, I liked it, but all three boys regarded this as a snoozer.

The Meanest Birthday Girl, Josh Schneider. I actually read this one months ago, pulling it off the library "New Books" wall for its cover. But in fairness I reread it with the others and then offered it around.

The high schooler awarded it the prize, and loudly guffawed as he read it. He proclaimed it one of the the best books he's read all year (OK, it's February) and called it a "Monkey's Paw for little kids." High praise indeed. The junior high boy and the elementary kid both praised it as well.

Urgency Emergency! Big Bad Wolf, Dosh Archer. I liked how the lost child in the first pages tied back to the devoured grandmother inside the wolf. The pictures were good and the story solid, although I have more sympathy for the wolf than the text supports.

This got high marks from the youngest reader, but the older two were just mildly amused. The Cybils judges gave it the prize, but after all, they could keep the real audience in mind while my test readers really stretch that border. Well done Cybils authors -- it's not every author of an Easy Reader who can also keep the attention of teenagers!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013 Cybils Finalist Challenge!

The Cybils are here! The Cybils are here! Just in time too, since it's only a few days since I finished reading last year's list and discovered how closely I matched up with the judges' final verdicts (answer, not very well, although I approved of almost all the finalists). Anyway, time to start this years quest to read through all the choices.

This year the categories are separated by age, rather than by topic, and I officially approve of changing Science Fiction & Fantasy to Speculative Fiction, since I like to call it all SF anyway. Again I'm moving Book Apps to the bottom since I don't really have any way of obtaining them, so I don't count it against myself if I don't read them. Also, I'm attempting to leave the links as is, so that clicking on them leads to Amazon and I hope money for the Cybils.

Books I've read are highlighted in yellow.

Elementary & Middle Grade

Fiction Picture Books DONE