ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE-GRADE A First Time for EverythingDan SantatFirst Second BooksNominated by: Maria Marshall In this humorous and heart-warming middle-grade graphic memoir, Dan Santat recounts the life-changing “firsts” of his middle school life: first time being ridiculed, first party, first school trip to Europe, first Fanta, and of course, first love. It is impossible not to get swept into Dan’s story, and …
CYBILS 2023 Speculative Fiction Finalists
ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE GRADE FINALISTS Conjure IslandEden RoyceWalden Pond PressNominated by: Amber Delphinia Baker is happy with her life, living with her grandmother and her dad who is deployed, moving often from military base to military base, but when her grandmother falls ill, Del finds herself in a place she never thought she’d be – at a magic school run by her …
SpecFic Saturday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.30.2023
Alrighty friends and bookworms! We are here. The last collection of book reviews for 2023. We’re shifting gears and polishing up the finalist lists, which will be announced Monday, 1 January 2024 at 9:00 am Pacific Time | 12:00 pm Eastern Time. So let’s dive in! Summary excerpts come from Goodreads. Click the cover to add this book to your …
Fiction Fri YA | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.29.2023
It was a dark and stormy night … or should we say a dark and stormy life? Today’s reviews feature characters dealing with different kinds of darkness. The Black Queen is a YA murder mystery. Duchess Simmons is sure she knows who killed her best friend, and she’s determined to “go to the dark side” [befriending her prime suspect] to prove …
Nonfiction Tuesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.26.2023
Tell us. What do these three things have in common: extraterrestrials, a Jewish musician, and a conspirator to kill the President of the United States. You guessed it! Each of them is the subject of a 2023 CYBILS Awards nonfiction nominee! Debbie’s Song is a picture book biography for an elementary audience. Both Is There Anybody Out There? and Hanged! …
SpecFic Saturday | #CYBILS2023 Reviews 12.23.2023
What do the disappearance of a grandfather and vanishing letters have in common? They are at the heart of two captivating speculative fiction stories that take readers deep into page-turning stories of family ties, secrets, and the power of love. ELEMENTARY/MIDDLE-GRADE SPECULATIVE FICTION Mark @ Mark My Words – This book focuses on the haunted Finch House and the author …
Poetry Friday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.22.2023
This week’s featured poetry books tap into “childish things” that are timely, timeless, and as engaging for adult readers as they are for the intended audience. There is that sense of wonder that comes with the lights, decorations, and all things abstract or unseen during the dawn of the winter season. Then there is the magic of it all … …
Nonfiction Tuesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.19.2023
Welcome to Nonfiction Tuesday. Hope you brought a bookmark (or two or three). This week’s selections will captivate readers across a full spectrum of subjects and emotion. We are going to deep, dark places both physical (the Mariana Trench) and intangible (victim trauma). We’ll observe creatures most beautiful (birds) and humans at their ugliest (racism, sexism). Spend time lingering over …
SpecFic Saturday | #CYBILS2023 Reviews 12.16.2023
Is it too corny to say this week’s SpecFic Saturday selections are out of this world? Probably not if you ask our reviewers! Whether it was Alysa Wishingrad’s Between Monsters and Marvels or Sacha Lamb’s When Angels Left the Old Country, the words “wonderful,” “delightful,” and “rich” repeated shemselves within reviews and across them. Read on. See for yourself. Summary …
Fri YA | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.15.2023
There’s no such thing as a “girl book,” but there is definitely such a thing as girl power. And it is on full display in today’s featured young adult books. Exhibit A: Perry Firekeeper Birch, the MC in Warrior Girl Unearthed (sequel to CYBILS 2021 YA Fiction finalist Fire Keeper’s Daughter). After attending a meeting at a local university, Perry learns …