Cybils Finalists Announced!

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Katy K.

Happy 2019!

The 2018 Cybils finalists have been announced!

FB-ELMG-specFic-Finalists-1184x666

Here are the titles that my panel selected for the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category:

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Snared: Escape to the Above (Wily Snare) by Adam Jay Epstein

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

The Stone Girl’s Story by Sarah Beth Durst

Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman

Thanks to my fellow panelists for being such a great team to work with!

I was super geeked to find out that three of the books I nominated in other categories made it to the finals – a record for me.  Here they are:

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill in Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson in Middle Grade Fiction
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland in Young Adult Speculative Fiction (and Tess of the Road, which I reviewed in the same post, also made it!)

[1/18/19: updating this post to add links to books reviewed since the original.]

Posted in books, Lists, Middle Grade, Teen/Young Adult | Tagged | 3 Comments

New Books at Christmas!

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Katy K.

Here are the new books received for Christmas at our house. I’ve always enjoyed curling up with a new book after the gifts are opened, and it’s delightful to see my children carrying on the tradition.

My books:

My son’s books:

My daughter’s books:

What books did you get or give for the holidays?

Posted in books | Leave a comment

Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Katy K.

I’m not having a lot of time to write reviews with my kids home from school and seeing friends and family for the holidays, but here’s one more Cybils nominee review to tide you over until the finalists are announced next week.

Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac GormanThisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman. Harper Collins, 2018.

Thisby Thestoop was found as an infant, abandoned by the stoop of a dungeon, and named for a misinterpretation of the note – “Found this by the stoop”.  Like Wiley Snare, she’s grown up working in the dungeon, though her job is gamekeeper to the many and various creatures of the dungeon.  She travels around with her enormous backpack full of supplies, and her glowing slime friend Mingus in a jar.  Unlike Wiley, she doesn’t have any special talents for her job, but survives by taking lots of notes.

Just now, the big project is preparing for an inspection by the prince and princess of Nth: the well-liked, charming Prince Ingo and the very unpopular, even mean-spirited Crown Princess Iphigenia.  Then, Prince Ingo and Thisby’s unpleasant boss both go missing.  Thisby is Iphigenia’s only hope of getting out of the dungeon alive.  And as creatures from the Darkdeep, the even more dangerous realm below the dungeons, start to escape, Thisby’s goal of making it to the surface seems even less possible.

Michigan author and graphic novel artist Zac Gorman’s illustrations add a note of whimsy to the book, showing two girls with different shaped noses as well as numerous non-human dungeon inhabitants.  All humans in the book appear white, though dungeons do seem likely to produce pasty skin.  The book is focused on the difficulty that Thisby and Iphigenia have going beyond their differences in class and upbringing to come to a place of trust and friendship, even as their lives depend on it.  It’s also got a fine feminist theme to it –refreshing since most of the books I’ve seen that feel aimed at a D&D crowd also focus on the male characters.

This would of course pair well with Escape to the Above, as well The Dungeoneers.  The combination of humor and illustrations also reminded me of previous Cybils finalist Castle Hangnail.

This book has been nominated for the Cybils award.  This review reflects my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.

Posted in books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

3 Holiday Picture Books + Bonus Craft Book

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Katy K.

This year, I was given a last-minute request to read a Christmas book to the Girl Scout Junior troop. Here’s what I found on the shelves.

underthechristmastreeUnder the Christmas Tree by Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. HarperCollins, 2002.
This is Coretta Scott King award-winning powerhouse of a team.  Nikki Grimes write 23 poems of Christmas time, centering on the African-American experience and illustrated beautifully as ever by Kadir Nelson.  We didn’t have time to read the whole book – I read a poem about an ice skating fantasy, since we’d gone ice skating as a troop in the past, and a funny one telling the Christmas tree that the popcorn and candy canes belonged to the child telling the poem.  With poems ranging from that humor to meaningful, this is one to look for.

Here Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood and Claudia RuedaHere Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood and Claudia Rueda. Dial Books, 2014. We read Here Comes the Easter Cat when it first came out, but I hadn’t read this one.  Like the other, the cat appears on the left page, holding up signs to communicate with the text, on the right side.  In this story, Cat has decided s/he is too naughty to get presents from Santa, so dressing up as Santa must be the only solution!  Can the narrator find a way to help Cat?  This is hilarious and touching, and went over very well with my group of fourth graders even though it’s probably aimed at a younger audience.

emmaschristmasEmma’s Christmas by Irene Trinkas. Orchard Books, 1988.
I dug back into my memory, when my good friend A- recommended this to me 20 years ago.  In this twisted picture book version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Emma is a farmer’s daughter being courted by a very determined prince.  She’s just as sure, though, that life in a castle isn’t for her.  Will they find a way?  What will she do with the flocks of fowl and troops of dancers, lords, pipers, and drummers that keep showing up?  This was just background reading while the girls were crafting, but lots of fun. It looks like it’s really popular with teachers, as it makes for a very good multiplication lesson along with the silly story.

I also brought a couple of books on Kwanzaa, because the girls had been asking what it was, and my favorite winter solstice-y picture book, Lucia and the Light. Over the River and Through the Wood, another favorite for reading aloud to groups, was checked out, but I still enjoyed re-reading it myself when it came back!

Doodle Stitching: the Holiday Motif Collection by Aimee RayDoodle Stitching: the Holiday Motif Collection by Aimee Ray. Lark Crafts, 2014.
Not a picture book – I found this craft book at the library and have been selfishly keeping it at home for a couple of loan periods.  It’s filled with fairly simple embroidery designs, some with full projects like a sweet shop tea cozy or a stocking with a scene of cute woodland animals sledding, but also some just motifs with instructions that you could put on any project you want.  Many of them are Christmassy, but there are plenty of just winter designs and a full page of Hanukkah motifs as well.  My daughter and I are dreaming of doing some fun embroidery together over the holidays!

Posted in Adult, books, Fantasy, Historical, nonfiction, picture books, Print, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The House with Chicken Legs

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Katy K.

The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie AndersonThe House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson. Scholastic, 2018.
Marinka has lived in the house with chicken legs all her life, helping Baba Yaga.  Others may see her as an ugly and dangerous hag, but Marinka knows her as kind and caring, if strict.  Every day, Marinka repairs the fence of human bones and skulls around the house and helps prepare a feast of mostly Russian food for the spirits of the newly dead.  Every night is a party as the spirits flock in, celebrating their lives, with Baba Yaga listening to their stories, helping them to distill what they’ll take with them from their lives as they pass beyond the Gate.  Every few days, the house moves, so that they can help the dead from another area.

It sounds like a nice life, but Marinka is tired of not being allowed beyond the fence and of friends that last only one night and are rarely her own age.  One night in England’s Lake District, she sneaks away, meeting a boy named Benjamin whose lamb she borrows for the night – only to have the house move away in the night.  It’s used to Marinka spending more time with it, and jealous of her new friends. The more Baba tells Marinka that she’s destined to be a Yaga herself, the more uncomfortable she grows, until a series of bad choices lead her to a very bad place indeed, on her own and with no choices that seem good.

Marinka was so unhappy, and the choices she made so clearly leading her on a path to even more unhappiness, that this wasn’t the most pleasant of reading experiences for me.  I appreciated that Marinka’s travels and attempts to make friends exposed her to people of many different cultures and ethnicities.  But I really loved the world-building here, with an international society of Yagas in their sentient, literally globe-trotting houses, as well as the positive way death is treated, enough so that in retrospect, my overall feelings for the book are quite positive.

Try Baba Yaga’s Assistant by Marika McCoola and Emily Carroll for another fun take on Baba Yaga.

Posted in books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Art of the Swap and The Magic Misfits: the Second Story

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Katy K.

The Art of the Swap by Kristine Asselin and Jen MaloneThe Art of the Swap by Kristine Asselin and Jen Malone. Simon and Schuster Kids, 2018.
Hannah is the caretaker’s daughter in the Elms, a mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.  She annoys the docents by listening in on tours and correcting their mistakes – most of them don’t know the history as well as she does.  She’s fascinated with the mystery of the long-ago heist of the portrait of 12-year-old Margaret Dunlap, painted by Mary Cassat.  The portrait vanished just before it was officially unveiled in 1905, though a replica was made and now hangs in its place, on top of a large mirror.

One day, touching this mirror causes Hannah and Margaret – or Maggie – to change places or perhaps minds with each other.  Hannah thought she knew all there was to know about Maggie’s world – but it’s much harder than she thought to fit in, especially while trying to sneak where she shouldn’t to solve the theft that’s just about to happen.  Maggie, meanwhile, has lots of modern technology and attitudes about women to catch up on, all while trying to help Hannah from afar.  The book kept a light tone while still looking at the restrictions on people of all classes in 1905.

The Magic Misfits: the Second Story by Neil Patrick HarrisThe Magic Misfits: the Second Story by Neil Patrick Harris. Read by Christina Hendricks. Hachette Audio, 2018.
I haven’t read book one here, because just this one was nominated for the Cybils.  We open with Leila, locked in the closet of her orphanage, desperately trying to pick the lock in the dark so she can catch the tail end of Mr. Vernon’s magic show.  When she escapes, she’s adopted by Mr. Vernon and his husband, the other Mr. Vernon!  Flash forward to the present, where Leila and her adoptive brother Carter are members of a kids’ stage magic club, along with wheelchair-bound Ridley, siblings Ollie and Izzy with New York accents, and Theo with a British accent.  Together, they are the Magic Misfits, each with their own magic specialty.

Out of the blue, a member of Mr. Vernon’s similar childhood gang, the Emerald Ring, turns up.  She’s now Madame Esmeralda, famous stage psychic.  But is she back for the reason she claims to be?

This is fun and fast-moving, with a plot strongly reminiscent of Annie. It’s only slightly magical, and I was confused about the time period – the technology here stops at rotary phones, but we have an openly gay couple adopting children.  We definitely need more fun books with same-sex parents, though, so I’m not complaining!  NPH himself reads the magic instructions that appear between chapters, while Christina Hendricks ably narrates the story for the audiobook.  You’ll want to start with the first book, but this is definitely a fun series for the younger middle grade reader.

Posted in Audiobook, books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Truth about Martians and the Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Katy K.

Here’s a couple shorter takes on some more Cybils books, as I try desperately to keep up with my reading.

truthaboutmartiansThe Truth about Martians by Melissa Savage. Crown Books, 2018.
In 1947 Arizona, Mylo Affinito is still struggling to get over the death of his older brother, Obie.  He and his best friend Dibs, crush Gracie, and two other boys together try to investigate the mysterious large objects that crashed in a nearby field.  The adults and especially the Air Force are telling them to stay away, but a voice in Mylo’s head is asking for help.  The author takes first-hand accounts of the Roswell crash, lots of gee-whiz 1940s culture, and kids dealing with serious issues like grief and depression on Mylo’s part, an alcoholic and abusive father on Dibs’ part, and restrictive gender expectations on Gracie’s part, weaving them together into a story that’s strong on community and kindness – and a fair bit of alien contact, too. Though there is adventure, it’s more thoughtful than I would have guessed based on the cover.

TThe Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn GrayThe Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray by B.A. Williamson. Jolly Fish Press, 2018.
Gwendolyn’s curly red hair sticks out in the monochrome world of the Grey City where she lives.  She’s also not able to look into Lambents the way everyone else does at home and at school. One day, she accidentally grows bunny ears on a bullied girl, who then vanishes.  She finds herself on the run from a pair of men in bowler hats – but running leads her to the first fiction books she’s ever found, about the dashing pirate Kolonius Thrash.  Just when the bowler-hatted men are about to nab her, she’s led by siblings Starling and Sparrow into another world.  Here the story turns into a trippy world-hopping, reality bending experience, with them meeting Kolonius Thrash himself – a Black, teenaged pirate just the right age for sparks to fly between him and Starling.  Gwendolyn is described as having great powers of the imagination, but it was never clear to me whether what was happening was in her imagination, made real by her imagination, or her imagination allowing her to travel to a pre-existing world.  Despite this confusion, this was a very fun adventure.

Posted in books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews, Sci-Fi | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lifters by David Eggers

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Katy K.

The Lifters by David EggersThe Lifters by David Eggers. Read by Dion Graham. Listening Library, 2018.
Granite Flowerpetal’s father named him Granite to be a strong name – but starting school in a new town, Granite has decided to try being Gran instead.  They’ve just moved to his great-grandfather’s collapsing house in the tiny town of Carousel, states away from their old home in Florida.  His parents – mechanic father and now wheelchair-bound artist and zoologist mother – are both out of work and hoping to find some work and lower living costs.

But their hopes seem likely to be dashed as there’s no work for the parents and no one in the small town needs a new friend – though Gran’s five-year-old sister Maisie seems to be doing fine.  Gran starts to fixate on the only kid who’s talked to him, the mysterious Catalina Catalan, who wears an RBG t-shirt with a flannel tied around her waist (I kinda loved 90s grunge being so romantically portrayed.)  He also befriends the school caretaker, known as the Duke, who plays his Cuban records for him and tells him about the town’s history as the leading manufacturer of hand-carved carousels, back when people cared about such things.

The town itself is collapsing – literally, as buildings fall into the ground.  It’s a highly divisive political issue, as none of the adults know quite what’s causing it.  A leading theory is that wild moose are rampaging through the town.

Then, Gran finds out part of Catalina’s secret – a network of underground tunnels made by the mysterious Hollows, which she’s trying to shore up and keep from collapsing.  But the collapses are becoming more and more frequent.  Can Catalina and Gran slow down their lifting work long enough to figure out why things are getting worse and stop them?  This book, like Maggie & Abby’s Never-Ending Pillow Fort, involves a global secret society of kids, but has – I’m going to say it – an even more uplifting ending.

Posted in Audiobook, books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Katy K.

Kids riding dinosaurs in New York City!  Does it get more fun?

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José OlderDactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older. Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic, 2018.
It’s 1863 in New York City – the middle of the Civil War.  Magdalys Roca, a resident of the Colored Orphan Asylum, is waging an ongoing and so far unsuccessful campaign for the matron of the school to call her by her real name instead of the anglicized Margaret Rochford.  But neither that indignity nor the  slow old dino they have to take to get there is enough to keep her away from the theater – a local African-American brother and sister who put on high-energy Shakespeare productions.  Soon, Magdalys has bigger things to worry about as the theater and orphanage are attacked and burned down in the very real and racially motivated Draft Riots.

It also appears that the orphans who didn’t attend the theater were kidnapped in order to be sold into slavery.  Magdalys and her surviving friends (including a Mohawk girl whose father is a general in the army) join with the mostly adult Vigilance Committee to find them and save them from slavery.  There’s also a good bit of adventuring on the side as Magdalys discovers that she shares a special bond with the dinos and pteros that live and work around the city.

Though the addition of dinosaurs seems pretty clearly there to add fun to an otherwise grim situation, the author clearly thought through what kinds of jobs they would be able to do if used as domestic animals, so that this aspect really worked for me.  An afterward explains more both about this possibilities and the draft riots, which are also featured in 2016 Cybils finalist The Door at the Crossroads  by Zetta Elliott and covered in a Stuff You Missed in History Class Podcast episode.  Content warning: the orphans find that their school’s caretaker was lynched as the orphanage was attacked, but this is a brief and not too graphic episode.

If I’m really honest, I still love Older’s Shadowshaper a little bit more, but this was lots of fun and should be an easy sell to kids, especially those who love stories of military history, dinosaurs, or self-reliant orphans.

This book has been nominated for the Cybils award.  This review reflects my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.

Posted in books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ice Wolves. Elementals Book 1

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Katy K.

One of the co-authors of the best-selling teen series The Illuminae Files kicks off an exciting new middle grade series.

Ice Wolves. Elementals Book 1 by Amie KaufmanIce Wolves. Elementals Book 1 by Amie Kaufman. Read by Jonathan McClain. HarperAudio, 2018.
Twin street orphans Anders and Rayna look dissimilar enough despite their matching brown skin and hair that they’re able to pretend they don’t know each other while making their living as pickpockets in the crowded port city in the kingdom of Vallen where they live.    The monthly test in the city square to find twelve-year-olds who can transform into the ice wolves that protect the city is one of their best gigs.  But when Anders fumbles his mark, Rayna goes up on stage to protect him – only to transform into a scorch dragon, enemy of the city, who then flies away.  Anders has to be tested, too, to keep the pretense going – and is shocked to transform in to a wolf.

Anders decides that the only way to track down Rayna is to go the Ulfar Academy with all the other young ice wolves and learn how to use his new-found powers.  There he meets and makes friends with a girl named Lizabett, who holds the very unpopular opinion that ice wolves and scorch dragons used to be friends and could be again one day.  Anders was used to Rayna being his only friend, and the one who did all the talking for him, so he’s got quite the learning curve trying to make friends and speak for himself – even as he’s still trying to hold a part of himself back, as he plans to leave the Academy despite its strict code of loyalty to the pact.

This is an exciting story in a new world that still made room for some great characters. It feels contemporary even though it’s a historical setting with a Nordic flavor.  It sets us up to learn lots more both about the wars of the past and what might happen next in the series.  I’m looking forward to reading more, and my son, who loved the Illuminae Files, is also excited for this one. I’d give this to fans of the Magisterium series or other stories of magical schools, too.

This book has been nominated for the Cybils award.  This review reflects my opinion, not that of the Cybils committee.

Posted in Audiobook, books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments