Hello all. I must start by apologizing for the lack of blog updates. Head buried in work (buying books, cataloguing books, circulating books, hanging with my school kids) and reading for the cybils! Also preparing very slowing and surely for March of the Middle Grade 2014!
I will be back, though. Finally feeling organized and ready to be getting back in with the Marvelous Middle Grade Monday posts as well as sharing with you some of my Cybils Reading. I am so fortunate to be on a team of reader who love the middle grade and love to read to find the best of the best!
Ta for now!
Monday, 28 October 2013
Monday, 30 September 2013
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, #Cybils and other things Middle Grade
It is another Marvelous Middle Grade Monday as inspired by Shannon Messenger. I am heading over there to grow my to read list and see what all of you think of recent middle grade reads. Right now I am reading The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya by Jane Kelley. Oh my. It is one of those books you put down and want to get right back to because of the characters. Love those two. They need each other and we need them to see the power of connections we can have even in passing. Anyhow, I am not done, but will be by end of today. Plan on making it my read to self book when hanging with the grade three's.
And it is the last MMGM of September AND I am thrilled that it is also the eve of Cybils Nominations.
I will be sitting on the panel with a group of fine first and second round judges for...you guessed it...middle grade fiction (realistic). Here we are:
Here is the description of our category, described on the Cybils site by Karen Yingling:
And it is the last MMGM of September AND I am thrilled that it is also the eve of Cybils Nominations.
I will be sitting on the panel with a group of fine first and second round judges for...you guessed it...middle grade fiction (realistic). Here we are:
Here is the description of our category, described on the Cybils site by Karen Yingling:
Middle Grade Fiction--Category Description
Middle grade fiction encompasses a wide range of stories that do not have magical elements and are geared toward the 8 to 12 year old age group. These stories could be mysteries, histories, humor, sports, adventure and other tales set in the real world. Books should containing mature content in regards to violence, sex or language are more appropriate for the Young Adult Fiction category.
Sometimes, they like to read about kids just like themselves in real life situations, whether they are kids who get good grades or constantly get into trouble. If these books are funny and action-packed, so much the better! On the other hand, since readers are expanding their world views, they often like to read about kids who are not like them—characters who have other interests, live in other places and times, have different kinds of families, and face struggles they may never have experienced.
The Cybils hopes to find realistic fiction books that are well-written and thought provoking but also make Middle Grade readers want to keep turning the pages. This is your chance to tell us what books you think middle grade readers will not only learn from but be excited about recommending to their friends.-Karen Yingling.
Here are my fellow judges:
Sometimes, they like to read about kids just like themselves in real life situations, whether they are kids who get good grades or constantly get into trouble. If these books are funny and action-packed, so much the better! On the other hand, since readers are expanding their world views, they often like to read about kids who are not like them—characters who have other interests, live in other places and times, have different kinds of families, and face struggles they may never have experienced.
The Cybils hopes to find realistic fiction books that are well-written and thought provoking but also make Middle Grade readers want to keep turning the pages. This is your chance to tell us what books you think middle grade readers will not only learn from but be excited about recommending to their friends.-Karen Yingling.
Here are my fellow judges:
First Round
Mark Buxton
http://buxtolicious.blogspot.com
http://buxtolicious.blogspot.com
Second Round
Start stopping by the cybils site beginning October 1 to make your nomination in this category and all the others.
Finally, Akoss and I are beginning to put together Middle Grade March 2014 (see last years event to experience what it is all about). We are reaching out to editors, agents, authors, bloggers and writers who have been part of it in the past and want to take part again and hopefully picking up some people to join us along the way, including debut 2014 middle grade authors. We will keep you posted over the next few months.
Ta for now!
Monday, 9 September 2013
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday and the Best of Summer KidLit Hop Winner
I did not get around on the Best of Summer Kid Lit Hop as much as I wanted to, but really appreciate everyone who hopped by here to check out a couple of my favourite summer reads. Did the Random Org "thing" and the number was 28 and that commenter was:
Katie from http://youthlitreviews.com/ ! Congrats to Katie and thanks again to all who stopped by.
Now on to a rather delayed post. This is one I have been thinking on since mid-august while I was still running the Summer Reading Club. For that club I had an average of 17 9-12 year olds who came twice a week for two hours. We shared books, crafted, played games, did creative drama-ate! One of those kids was a 12 year old boy who loves to read Gordon Korman, who loves Holes, who read and loved-Hoot and Chomp by Carl Hissan. It was recommendation heaven for me because as I named off other books...he had not yet read them! Some of the books he took from me and loved are:
Wednesday Wars (an all time favorite of mine) by Gary D. Schmidt
Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior: the success of his business depends on it. But how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.Scat by Carl Hissan (well, I was pretty sure he would like this one!)
Bunny Starch, the most feared biology teacher ever, is missing. She disappeared after a school field trip to Black Vine Swamp. And, to be honest, the kids in her class are relieved.But when the principal tries to tell the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a "family emergency," Nick and Marta just don't buy it. No, they figure the class delinquent, Smoke, has something to do with her disappearance.
And he does! But not in the way they think. There's a lot more going on in Black Vine Swamp than any one player in this twisted tale can see. And Nick and Marta will have to reckon with an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and a ticked-off Florida panther before they really begin to see the big picture.
Tucker McBean enters a contest to win a scholarship to college to enable his mother to quit her job so she can go to school. He has always loved to draw comics so when there is a contest to create a sidekick to a comic book hero, he is a natural to enter. He creates Beanboy who achieves power through the bean.
Al Capone Does My Shirts (what a concept, what characters, what voice!) Gennifer Choldenko
Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.Plunked by Michael Northrop (the way to story unfolded to show the MC's growing fear was really well done)
When a young slugger gets hit by a pitch, he needs more than practice to get back his game.Sixth grader Jack Mogens has it all figured out: He's got his batting routine down, and his outfielding earns him a starting spot alongside his best friend Andy on their Little League team, the Tall Pines Braves. He even manages to have a not-totally-embarrassing conversation with Katie, the team's killer shortstop. But in the first game of the season, a powerful stray pitch brings everything Jack's worked so hard for crashing down around his ears. How can he explain to his parents and friends why he WON'T be playing? Readers will root for Jack as he finds the courage to step back up to the plate.
I have more, many more to recommend to him, including Neil Armstrong Was My Uncle, The Fourth Stall...Okay for Now, Dead End in Norvelt, and Wonder and....well, the list goes on. If you have any you'd like me pass on do let me know!
That is it from me. Next week back into more full sharing and thoughts on some of the middle grade I have been reading, but really wanted to share what I've been sharing with one of my young patrons. Ta for now and do head back over to Shannon Messenger's for more MMGM love!
Monday, 26 August 2013
Best of Summer 2013 Kid Lit Giveaway Hop
Welcome to the Best of Summer 2013: Kid Lit Giveaway Hop hosted byYouth Literature Reviews and Mother Daughter Book Reviews.
From YouthLitReviews: This giveaway hop is an opportunity for a community of kid lit bloggers, teen lit blogger, authors, and publishers to come together and share their favorite books of the summer! There are almost 70 great giveaways as part of this hop! Click here to check them out!
I am giving away one of two books. I will leave the choice up to you. Will be using Book Depository to send the book out and random.org to choose the winner from the comments. And that is how you enter. In the comments, with your book choice and email so I can contact you if you win. Now. On to the two books to chose from:
THE EMERALD ATLAS-Called “A new Narnia for the tween set” by the New York Times and perfect for fans of the His Dark Materials series, The Emerald Atlas brims with humor and action as it charts Kate, Michael, and Emma's extraordinary adventures through an unforgettable, enchanted world.
These three siblings have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage.
Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about.
Until now.
Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world...a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is correct—what they do can change history, and it is up to them to set things right. (Good Reads)
ZERO TOLERANCE-Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that he's not the person she assumed he would be--and that the lines between good and bad aren't as clear as she once thought. (Good Reads)Happy Hopping Everyone!
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
What? Another Monday is here already? The time is a flying by and that is fine with me because tomorrow is my first day at the new school. Prep time before the kids are back, oh yes yes it is. I here I must SQUEE. Even went shopping for new school clothes. Will confess that it was all I could do to keep myself from buying school supplies.
This is the final Marvelous Middle Grade Monday of the summer! Hope you had a great one and are looking forward to the fall.
It's always been my favourite time of year and now even more so because of #Cybils. Even if you are not applying, start thinking of books in all the different categories that you'd like to see nominated. I did apply again this year and even if I don't get placed on my panels of choice I am ready to take part by nominating and helping spread the word!Here is some of my Marvelous Middle Grade reads, I recommend you check out:
Oh my, what a ride. It has everything that would have appealed to middle grade me who loved dark and scary, creepy gothic style. It also captivated with the crazy world the siblings are pulled into via a curse unleashed by a rather nasty being. And I loved loved the sibling relationship...so real, believable, it really made the book pop. Siblings with very different personalities that will clash, but when the going gets tough the sibs get tight. Good stuff.
From Goodreads:
The Walker kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . but everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by Denver Kristoff, a troubled writer with a penchant for the occult.
Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Walker family’s secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.
Speaking of showing real and true family relationships. This book does that via the voice of Billy Miller. A short novel with fourth sections that take us through those relationships and into the year. Billy is in grade two, so it will most likely have the highest appeal to younger and same age. However, I am thinking this will be one to share with my third graders. In both cases with readers who are already strong or as was pointed out in a review (can't remember which! Maybe Ms. Yingling?) as a read aloud. I am a huge Kevin Henkes fan and think he is a master at portraying kids in their family and peer dynamics in his picture books and novels.
From Goodreads:
When Billy Miller has a mishap at the statue of the Jolly Green Giant at the end of summer vacation, he ends up with a big lump on his head. What a way to start second grade, with a lump on your head! As the year goes by, though, Billy figures out how to navigate elementary school, how to appreciate his little sister, and how to be a more grown up and responsible member of the family and a help to his busy working mom and stay-at-home dad. Newbery Honor author and Caldecott Medalist Kevin Henkes delivers a short, satisfying, laugh-out-loud-funny school and family story that features a diorama homework assignment, a school poetry slam, cancelled sleepovers, and epic sibling temper tantrums. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white art by the author, this is a perfect short novel for the early elementary grades. Yeah, so quite likely more a chapter book than a middle grade-especially when it comes to Cybil Nominations?
Ta for now and thanks for stopping by. Will see you around the blogosphere as I head over to Shannon Messenger's to see what Marvelous Middle Grade Goodness she is a rounding up for us!
Monday, 19 August 2013
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with The Heartbreak Kid, #Cybils and Some Housekeeping
Hey all! I am back and ready to roll with blogging at my new spot, "My Library Notebook". I kind of messed up how I made the switch so I know some of you are wondering where my blog disappeared to! I re-directed my domain back to my host servers. It is now going to function as my author website, www.debamarshall.com . Have non-fiction middle grade book on Russia coming out with Weigl Publishers so just making preparations for that.
ALSO--this fall I start my dream job which is running a school library. Hence the "My Library Notebook". Thought when I did the nifty switcharoo, you would all still be pointed to this blog. NOPE. So, here I is at mylibrarynotebook@blogspot.ca
CYBILS are here, they are here! Love this time of year.
Applications are open for Cybils Judges! Please do go read the requirements and if you think you are a fit, apply. Don't think it is not possible, or that you are not qualified. If you love children's literature, read it, blog about it, review it, this could be for you. And if you are not successful the first or second time, apply again. That is what I did. Now, lots and lots of reading is required as a first round judge...you will be giving over your live for a couple of months. But let me tell you it is so worth it to be part of a team of professionals who are just as passionate about finding the best of the best when it comes to high kid appeal with the kind of literary quality that makes you go...whoa.
Finally, it is Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Boy I love this day and so appreciate that decided that Middle Grade deserved a special day. Speaking of Marvelous Midde Grade, watch for announcements coming this fall and winter about The March of the Middle Grade, formerly hosted by Jill at the Owl. This 2014 it will be Akoss and myself taking it over.
Shannon Messenger
My suggested read for this Monday is The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance. Watch this book trailer:
Read this blurb from Goodreads: Twelve-year-old Quentin never asked to be "The Heartbreak Messenger," it just kind of happened - and he's not one to let a golden opportunity pass him by. The valuable communications service he offers is simple: he delivers break-up messages. For a small fee, he will deliver such a message to your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. If you order the deluxe package, he'll even throw in some flowers and a box of chocolates...well, you don't want to leave a girl completely alone.
At first, Quentin's entrepreneurial brainchild is surprisingly successful. But as he interacts with clients and message recipients, from the teary-eyed football player to the dangerously powerful soccer chick, it doesn't take him long to start wondering whether his business will create negative repercussions in how life, especially for his relationship with his long-time best friend Abigail. Quentin discovers the game of love and the emotions that go with it are as complicated as they come - even for an almost innocent bystander.
ALSO--this fall I start my dream job which is running a school library. Hence the "My Library Notebook". Thought when I did the nifty switcharoo, you would all still be pointed to this blog. NOPE. So, here I is at mylibrarynotebook@blogspot.ca
CYBILS are here, they are here! Love this time of year.
Finally, it is Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Boy I love this day and so appreciate that decided that Middle Grade deserved a special day. Speaking of Marvelous Midde Grade, watch for announcements coming this fall and winter about The March of the Middle Grade, formerly hosted by Jill at the Owl. This 2014 it will be Akoss and myself taking it over.Shannon Messenger
My suggested read for this Monday is The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance. Watch this book trailer:
Read this blurb from Goodreads: Twelve-year-old Quentin never asked to be "The Heartbreak Messenger," it just kind of happened - and he's not one to let a golden opportunity pass him by. The valuable communications service he offers is simple: he delivers break-up messages. For a small fee, he will deliver such a message to your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. If you order the deluxe package, he'll even throw in some flowers and a box of chocolates...well, you don't want to leave a girl completely alone.
At first, Quentin's entrepreneurial brainchild is surprisingly successful. But as he interacts with clients and message recipients, from the teary-eyed football player to the dangerously powerful soccer chick, it doesn't take him long to start wondering whether his business will create negative repercussions in how life, especially for his relationship with his long-time best friend Abigail. Quentin discovers the game of love and the emotions that go with it are as complicated as they come - even for an almost innocent bystander.
And let me tell you this one if filled with heart and funny and believable kid characters who are on the cusp of becoming teens, but still very much middle graders. This is a book I could easily hand to a boy or girl. At first I was concerned that the cover might be something I'd have to talk a boy into taking, but after seeing the video and taking a second look at it, that could just be me-either way I am totally book talking this one. Heck, I will even quote the author if I have to. From his website:
Don't let the pastel hearts on the cover of this book fool you. It's chock full of manly chest-thumping testosterone. Heck, I cry every time I read it.
I mean, I laugh.
Laugh every time I read it.
Laugh until I cry. Yeah...that's it.
Have one young summer reading club member (boy) who I am pretty sure will love this. He is a fan of Gordon Kormon, Louis B. Sacher and Gary D. Schmidt. I am saying he and many others will be a fan of Alexander Vance!
Until next Monday all!
Monday, 22 July 2013
Still on that Blog Break
Howdy all! Still on the blog break but will be heading to Shannon Messenger's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Round-Up next week with a guest post.
Hope summer is treating you all well. Ta for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
It's time for some follower love. And what better month than February. Thanks to I'm A Reader, Not A Writer and Rachel Renee Anderso... -
What. What is that you say? Another giveaway hop? Yep, yep. I love going around and seeing new blogs and sharing in the book love, I must sa...
-
Chick Loves Lit is celebrating her blogoversary and I am taking part! You can pick one of the following books. All you need to do is comment...
