Our last featured blogger review of the 2020 Cybils season looks at Middle Grade Fiction finalist Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk: This is the wonderful story of a spunky, persevering and brave twelve year old girl named Ellie. The setting is the wild woods of Maine in the 1930’s. Her parents lost their home in the Great Depression and were …
REVIEW: Class Act
Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels finalist Class Act by Jerry Craft is the focus of today’s featured blogger review: Fitting in, showing someone you like them, making and challenging assumptions, and finding your own way in life–all of these very real concerns for tweens and teens are beautifully represented in the students of Riverdale Academy Day School. Click here to read …
REVIEW: In a Jar
Today’s featured review looks at Fiction Picture Books finalist In a Jar by Deborah Marcero: Llewellen collects things. In jars. Lots of things. Feathers. Stones. He meets Evelyn, and they collect things together. Things that are hard to hold. Things that they thought might not fit in a jar. But they did… Read the full review on Goodreads by Fiction …
REVIEW: A Wish in the Dark
Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat is the subject of today’s featured blogger review: This says on the cover that it’s a reimagining of Les Miserables. It’s not a blow-by-blow recreation, but we do have the two central characters, one who has broken the law for understandable reasons, and one who believes that …
REVIEW: What About Worms!?
Our featured blog review today takes a closer look at Easy Readers finalist What About Worms!? (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!) by Ryan T. Higgins and Mo Willems: Too funny! Tiger is just what I’ve come to expect from Ryan T. Higgins. Tiger isn’t grumpy like Ryan’s other character Bruce. Instead, he’s a little bit of a mess especially when …
REVIEW: Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything
Our featured blogger review for today looks at Young Adult Speculative Fiction finalist Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland deeply understands her characters, and there was something about Sia’s voice and Gilliland’s writing that felt so real, so raw, so engrossing. Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything should be …
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: The Land of the Cranes
Middle Grade Fiction finalist The Land of the Cranes, by Aida Salazar, is the subject of today’s featured blogger review: This MG novel in verse is GORGEOUS and devastatingly sad. I’m so glad I listened to it because the narration by Dani Gonzalez is incredible and adds so much to the experience. Click here to read the full review by …
REVIEW: Displacement
Our featured review for today looks at Young Adult Graphic Novels finalist Displacement by Kiku Hughes: Powerfully written and beautifully illustrated, Displacement tells the story of the Japanese-Americans who were forced out of their homes and their established lives and stripped of their civil liberties. Read the full review here (along with several others), written by Round 1 judge Rosemary …
REVIEW: We Are Water Protectors
Today on the Cybils blog, we are happy to feature a blogger review of Fiction Picture Books finalist We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade: I am rarely speechless, but this book nearly achieves that for me. The incredibly symbolic and fluid and moving illustrations are masterpieces, page by page. Click here to read the rest of …