Happy Monday! Today’s featured review is a nominee from the YA Fiction category: Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley. Earlier this year, Round 1 judge William Polking (a high school teacher and coach) reviewed the book for Guys Lit Wire, a group blog devoted to highlighting great books for guys and the people who love them. According to William: …
REVIEW: The Girl from Everywhere
Our featured blog review for today comes from Cybils regular Katy Manck of the blog BooksYALove. Katy is a librarian-at-large (how cool is that?) and a Round 2 judge this year in Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction. She also reads a wide range of other YA books, such as YA Speculative Fiction nominee The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. Here’s how …
REVIEW: In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse
Randomly Reading is a book review blog by Middle Grade Fiction Round 2 judge and former 4th grade teacher Alex Baugh; many of us know her from her blog Alex’s Bookshelves/The Children’s War, which focuses on books for young people that include World War II themes. Just last month, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction nominee In the Footsteps of Crazy …
REVIEW: Puddles!!!
Over here in your trusty co-blog-editor’s neighborhood, the fall/winter rains have been starting, so it seems like a good time to post a blog review of Puddles!!! by Kevan Atteberry, a nominee for Fiction Picture Books. The review comes from Round 1 judge Lynne Marie Pisano, a children’s author from South Florida who blogs at My Word Playground. In her …
REVIEW: Afterward: A Novel
Round 1 YA Fiction judge Jenni Frencham is a Goodreads librarian as well as a real-life librarian–specifically, she’s Youth Services Director at a rural public library. She reviewed today’s title, YA fiction nominee Afterward by Jennifer Mathieu, on her Goodreads account earlier this year. This suspenseful novel about recovery from trauma, living with a disability, and healing through friendship earned …
REVIEW: Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom
Today’s featured review is from Brandy Painter, Round 1 judge in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. She is a homeschooling mom and English teacher who blogs at Random Musings of a Bibliophile. She reviews realistic and speculative fiction for middle grade and young adult readers, and earlier this year she reviewed Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom by David Neilsen. …
REVIEW: All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook
Karen Yingling is our Middle Grade Fiction Category Chair this year, as well as a Round 1 judge, middle school librarian, reviewer for SLJ and YA Books Central, and, of course, blogger at Ms. Yingling Reads. Earlier this year, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction nominee All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor, a family story with …
REVIEW: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde
What a mouthful of a title–and this hilarious book (the third in a series) promises much more than a mouthful of satisfaction. Today’s featured blog reviewer, Sondra Eklund, wrote about The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, earlier this year and gave it a stellar review. Sondra is …
REVIEW: Salt to the Sea
Today’s featured review is from Round 1 YA Fiction panelist Kelly Hager, an avid reader from Baltimore who blogs at KellyVision (tagline: “That’s what she read.”). Earlier this year, she read and reviewed YA Fiction nominee Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray. This novel, also set in WWII, got a thumbs up from …
REVIEW: Dark Energy
I am proud to note that today’s featured review comes from my co-blogger over at Finding Wonderland, YA author Tanita S. Davis, who is a Cybils veteran and Round 1 YASF panelist. Just last week she reviewed YA Speculative Fiction nominee Dark Energy by Robison Wells, which sounds like an intriguing sci-fi adventure with aliens and a biracial main character: …