-
Join 896 other subscribers
- Follow alibrarymama on WordPress.com
-
Recent Posts
- Buzzworthy Historical Books for Young Readers: Red River Rose, Where Only Storms Grow, and The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli
- Guest Post: Isabelle Knight on “Why Middle Grade?”
- Magic and Secrets: The Ink Witch, Farrah Noorzad and the Realm of Nightmares, and Scarlet Morning
- Top 14 Percy Jackson Read-Alikes for Young Readers
- Crossing Magical Borders: 3 Middle Grade Fantasies
Archives

Tags
- #OwnVoices
- #ReadDiverse2017
- Adult Nonfiction
- adventure
- African-American
- Armchair Cybils
- Asian-American
- audiobooks
- award winners
- bibliography
- book-review
- book reviews
- books
- contemporary fantasy
- cooking
- Cybils
- diversity
- dragons
- fairy tales
- Fantasy
- fiction
- graphic novels
- historical fantasy
- historical fiction
- humor
- knitting
- Latino/a
- Latinx
- LGBTQ
- Middle Grade
- mr. fp
- multiculturalism
- Mystery
- mythology
- parenting
- picture books
- pirates
- reading
- Romance
- science fiction
- steampunk
- teen
- teen fantasy
- teen fiction
- teen science fiction
- Top Ten Tuesday
- youth fantasy
- youth fiction
- youth graphic novels
- youth science fiction
-
Top Posts
-
© Katy Kramp and alibrarymama.com, 2004-2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katy Kramp and alibrarymama.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Category Archives: Reviews
3 Fun Early Chapter Books
Jasmine Toguchi: Super Sleuth by Debbi Michiko Florence. Pictures by Elizabet Vuković. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. I’d been wanting to read the new Jasmine Toguchi series, especially because I have a Japanese-American niece who’ll be needing some early chapter books … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Early Chapter Books, Fantasy, Print, Realistic, Reviews
Tagged Asian-American, Early Chapter Books, Japanese, princesses, science
6 Comments
Scythe by Neal Schusterman
Scythe has been sweeping up the honors – it won the Young Adult Speculative Fiction Cybils Award, a Printz Honor, and was being talked up by my teen librarian, to boot. Scythe by Neal Schusterman. Simon & Schuster, 2016. Humanity … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Print, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Teen/Young Adult
Tagged dystopia, teen science fiction
6 Comments
2 More Cybils Middle Grade Graphic Novel Finalists
Here are two more of the Cybils Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalists. Coming back to write these reviews reminds me that I still haven’t read the only one I couldn’t get from my own library – Suee and the Shadow. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Middle Grade, Reviews
Tagged #OwnVoices, Asian-American, Cybils, youth graphic novels
7 Comments
The Dollmaker of Krakow and the Ice Sea Pirates
I said I was done reviewing Cybils books. I lied. Here are two more that were nominated for last year’s Cybils, both read from review copies kindly sent to me by the publisher. The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews
Tagged dolls, Holocaust, pirates, Poland, youth fantasy
2 Comments
3 Cybils MG Graphic Novel Finalists
Here are three of the Cybils elementary/middle grade graphic novel finalists. It’s always good to read what the other Cybils panelists came up with! Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham. First Second, 2017. Newbery-honor winning (and personal favorite) … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Middle Grade, Realistic, Reviews
Tagged Cybils, France, India, South Asian, youth graphic novels, youth memoirs
12 Comments
Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older
Sierra and her Shadowshaper crew return in the second full-length novel. Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2017. The school year is starting again for Sierra and her friends, all now in training, as our story opens. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Print, Reviews, Teen/Young Adult
Tagged #OwnVoices, Brooklyn, Latino/a, teen fantasy
3 Comments
All the Crooked Saints
All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. Narrated by Thom Rivera. Scholastic, 2017. Beatriz, Joaquin and Daniel Soria are cousins living in Bicho Raro, Colorado, in 1962. The Sorias have developed a reputation over the past century as miracle workers, … Continue reading
Posted in Audiobook, Books, Fantasy, Reviews, Teen/Young Adult
Tagged Colorado, Latino/a, magical realism, spectrum, teen fantasy
4 Comments
Watchdog by Will McIntosh
I think I’m finally approaching the end of books I read for the Cybils award! No guarantees, but here at least is a fun, fast-paced story, especially for fans of giant robot dogs. Watchdog by Will McIntosh. Delacorte, 2017. In … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews, Sci-Fi
Tagged Chicago, homelessness, robots, spectrum, twins, youth science fiction
2 Comments
The Marvelwood Magicians
I’ve enjoyed books by Diane Zahler in the past, including Baker’s Magic and The Thirteenth Princess, so I was happy when this new offering came up in my Cybils reading last year. The Marvelwood Magicians by Diane Zahler. Boyds Mills Press, 2017. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews
Tagged circuses, psychics, South Asian, youth fantasy
Leave a comment
Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino
This book was a 2016 Christmas gift from my love to my son and I. We finished the book we were reading and then took several months reading it aloud together. Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino. Roaring Brook Press, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews
Tagged art fantasy, historical fantasy, Renaissance, youth fantasy
Leave a comment

