Today's featured blog gives us a bunch of bonbons — short and sweet — and all Middle Grade Fiction. Karen Yingling organizes her blog, Ms. Yingling Reads, into handy categories such as adventure, history, fantasy or humor. I first heard of her a couple years ago when she emailed my husband at his blog to ask if he could recommend books for boys. He sent her to me, and next thing we knew, we had another great, read-a-holic judge with a keen sense of mission. Karen's goal is to tempt boys to read more with some truly delicious fare.
Calli Be Gold
by Michele Weber Hurwitz
Wendy Lamb Books
Nominated by: Jennifer Wharton
In this post, Karen gives us a batch of capsule reviews of Cybils nominees with a few lines of plot summary and some notes on each book's strengths. They're clearly written by someone who works with kids and has an innate sense of what a book needs to reach them.
Strengths: There are so many over programmed children and hovering parents, yet this is the first book I can think of that features them. The family dynamics are interesting and true to life; Calli wants to please her parents but also wants to be true to herself.
Read the full review here.