Today’s featured books draw on classic styles of storytelling. They meet young audience not just where they are as readers, but also offer them choice in the kinds of stories they want to read. One of our judges likened Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories to Winnie the Pooh and Frog and Toad. Classic stories from our youth …
Wee Ones Wednesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.27.2023
Hint: According to our reviewers, young kiddos are going to be captivated by – and draw a lot from – the illustrations in these two picture books. Be prepared to read these again and again, as these books will engage young readers in similar, yet unique ways. Firehouse Rainbow explores colors, but it also gives young readers a day-in-the-life look at …
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! …
Middle-Grade Monday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.25.2023
Thanks to the magic of scheduling, we can share reviews AND spend time with family and friends. That’s our kind of multi-tasking. Navigating tweendom is neither straightforward, predictable, nor easy. Yet the “process”of trying to figure out who you are is universal, whether it’s 1905 or 2023. In the historical fiction novel A Sky Full of Song, Soshana is a …
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 … …
See Me Read! | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.21.2023
Fermented soybeans, beets, sardines … yum. Not to Gigi and Lola, but their grandparents enjoy them. And they love their Ojiji (grandfather) and Abuela (grandmother). With today’s featured books, young readers explore the unfamiliar and the universal. They will learn about Japanese and Guatemalan cultural traditions, and, at the same time, connect with Gigi and Lola in their feelings of …
Wee Ones Wednesday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.20.2023
Chris Van Allsburg said it better than we ever could … “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” Plus, it’s a “seasonal” quote that perfectly illustrates the concepts behind this week’s featured picture books. Have You Seen My Sock? is all about that sock that inexplicably goes missing. In Invisible Things …
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 …
Middle-Grade Monday | #CYBILS2023 Book Reviews 12.18.2023
This week’s featured books have windows, mirrors, and sliding doors. Tweens will both connect with and learn from Anna, Mia, and the people in their lives. Through them they will learn more about cultural heritage, belief systems, belonging, and themselves, too. And, as you’ll see from our reviewers’ comments, we adults can learn a thing or two, as well. Summaries …