Game On! a #CYBILS2023 Book List

This week, the name of the *game* is book lists. Each day we will have a list, built around a theme. These are books our judges are reading, as they were nominated or submitted for the 2023 CYBILS Awards.   From the sweet science to the beautiful game and Olympic sports to chess and robotics, these books will inspire and engage …

SpecFic Saturday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.25.2023

Magic carpets? Check. Time loops? Double Check. This week we have – according to the reviewers – two un-put-downable books. Sounds like the perfect way to spend a Saturday! Book summaries come from Goodreads. Click the book cover image to add it to your own TBR. ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE-GRADE SPECULATIVE FICTION Gina @ Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – I’m telling you, I was …

Poetry Friday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.24.2023

Ready for some poetry? We sure are! In lieu of a Poetry Collection nominee, we’re sharing an interactive book with haiku designed for young listeners. While the haiku may not rhyme, the title does: Peek-a-Boo Haiku. This week’s novel in verse wraps the journey of a young girl coping with a debilitating disease in multiple forms of poetry, giving readers …

Wee Ones Wednesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.22.23

Snuggle. Cherish. Sweet. Those are three words that popped out to us in the reviews we’re featuring this week. And, perfectly timed for tomorrow’s feasting: books about family and being together. Book summaries come from Goodreads. Click the book cover image to add it to your own TBR. BOARD BOOK Gina @ Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – This charming board …

Nonfiction Tuesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.21.2023

Happy Feast Week! Today’s featured nonfiction nominees were chosen with family dinner conversation in mind. Fun, interesting tidbits humorously told. These books have lots of factoids that you can drop onto the table when those inevitable long, silent pauses kick in. Oh! And we brought desert: after dinner, you can enjoy some poetry. Summaries via Goodreads. Click the cover to …

Middle-Grade Monday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.20.2023

Consider yourself warned: we are going back to ancient times with this week’s featured books. Well, at least to life in the world before the Internet. Mexikid is a graphic novel memoir that is a nostalgic road trip through the 1970s. Simon Sort of Says is set in a time where the internet exists, but Simon and his family move …

SpecFic Saturday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.18.2023

What do two of our judges say about today’s selections? That if if weren’t for being CYBILS Awards judges, they would not have discovered books they characterized as “gems” and “one of my favorite books of the year.” The authors and illustrators may be familiar to you – Eoin Colfer, Francis Hardinge, PJ Lynch – but their latest works are …

Fri-YA | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.17.23

Fiction with all the feels? It must be Fri-YA! Let’s go! Book summaries come from Goodreads. Click the book cover image to add it to your own TBR. YOUNG ADULT FICTION Gina @ G’s Reading Spree – You think the book can’t make you cry until you get to the author’s note 😭The things Heera sees and experiences are things …

Food, Family & Home: A Harvest of Books

Welcome to our #CYBILS2023 book feast! Today’s book list give a nod to Thanksgiving but more broadly embrace broader themes of family, sharing, and celebration. There are sweet picture books and savory novels. There are title foods and  books about big emotions. Some served with a side of humor or fantasy, too. And, in what may be a CYBILS Awards …

Wee Ones Wednesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 11.15.2023

This week’s featured books, though very different in subject, have a common thread: Acceptance. For yourself and of others. Book summaries come from Goodreads. Click the book cover image to add it to your own TBR. Board Book Sam @ Little Cub Literacy – “This book tackles an important—and sometimes tough—topic with little ones and get them to really be …