In a little less than a week, baseball fans will be celebrating the 91st Midsummer Classic, also known as Major League Baseball’s 2021Â All-Star Game. Last year, because of the pandemic, this annual event didn’t happen. But this year, well … we’re ready! To help get ready for the big game, let’s have some fun with a little trivia. âš¾ …
#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List for #SharkWeek 🦈
First let’s mark our calendar: July 11, 2021. Shark Week. Less than two weeks away. You probably already know that #SharkWeek was created by the Discovery channel, but did you know … Caged in Fear, the first Shark Week episode, premiered on 17 July 1988? Sometimes Shark Week is in August, not July? From 2005-2011 shark lovers could purchase DVD …
Backlist Book List: #STEM + #DiverseBooks For Young Creators
In 2019, Frankie Sparks and the Class Pet by Megan Frazer Blakemore won the Cybils Award in the Early Chapter Book. In selecting Frankie Sparks as a finalist, the panelists said:Â Â Â … This promising first book in a series will have children learning about animals, design thinking, and emotional intelligence while turning the pages to meet the new pet. …
#Cybils Awards Backlist Book List: Voices for Social Change
Civil Rights. Voting Rights. Individual Rights. Human Rights. These are some of the many issues in our society where people are moved beyond voicing opinions to “doing something” to influence change. Sadly, while they may seem “new” to our children’s consciousness, these ills are not new to us. For better or worse, since 2016, nearly 100 Cybils-nominated books have centered …
#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: Middle-Grade Fiction Reads
Is there anything better than relaxing in your favorite reading spot, lost in a book? Exactly! If you follow us on Twitter, you know that we often tweet about books that are soon or just newly released. BUT! Before you put the hold on that shiny new book – and wait your turn in line! – why not enjoy some …
REVIEW: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Today’s featured blogger review looks at High School Nonfiction finalist Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi: From the back, you can see this is not a history book, this is a book about the here and now–a book about race, and that’s a great overview of racism throughout the ages. What I liked about …
REVIEW: How We Got to the Moon
Today’s blogger review features Middle Grade Nonfiction finalist How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco: John Rocco is an author-illustrator who wanted to create with this project a book he would have loved to read as a kid. He accomplished his goal in spades—creating a beautiful …
REVIEW: Your Place in the Universe
With this week’s once-in-several-centuries conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the night sky–aka the Christmas Star–it seems appropriate to feature Elementary Nonfiction nominee Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin as today’s blog review: A wonderful way to introduce young readers (and older ones too, I can vouch for it) to those fascinating subjects of astronomy and astrophysics, and …
REVIEW: Fly Like a Girl
Our featured Cybils nominee for today is Young Adult Nonfiction title Fly Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front, a Young Readers Edition of the memoir by Mary Jennings Hegar: The combat chapters are exciting. The descriptions of the different bases with their own cultures and rhythms bring them to life, and the …
REVIEW: All Thirteen
Today’s review looks at Middle Grade Nonfiction nominee All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat: I loved all the great details presented in this book. I knew of this rescue mission, but I really didn’t know much about the people involved, the work involved, or the massive amounts of volunteers that spent …