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Friday, January 30, 2015

Newbery and Caldecott Picks for 2015

The Newbery and Caldecott awards are going to be announced soon - all of the American Library Association youth media awards, actually, including the Alex, Printz, Morris, Coretta Scott King and Pura Belpre, Batchelder and Seuss Geisel awards. (along with a few more that I'm sure I'm forgetting!) But, the Caldecott and Newbery awards are the ones that get people really excited. I've put together a list of predictions - things that have been getting a lot of buzz. We'll see in a few days, if any of these end up as winners, or if the awards will go to some dark horse from a small press that none of us have heard of.

Caldecott Predictions


Sam and Dave Dig a Hole - Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen
     I loved this book. Will it strike gold?

Brother Hugo and the Bear - Katy Beebe & S.D. Schindler

Flashlight - Lizi Boyd

The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus - Jennifer Fisher Bryant & Michelle Sweet
     Super educational. Teachers and librarians will be so happy if this one wins. I like Michelle Sweet's illustrations a lot, even if they don't feel "strange" enough to win.

Draw! - Raul Colon

Firebird - Misty Copeland & Christopher Myers

Gaston - Kelly DiPuccio & Christian Robinson

Some Bugs -Angela DiTerlizzi & Brendan Wenzel

The Farmer and the Clown - Marla Frazee.
     Lots of good buzz on this nearly wordless picture book. I can see this one winning. I'm a longtime Frazee fan.

Grandfather Gandhi - Arun Ghandi & Bethany Hegedus & Evan Turk
     How great would it be if this was a winner? I love to think of generations of school children enjoying this title.

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? - Rita Gray & Kenard Pak

Extraordinary Jane - Hannah E. Harrison

Firefly July - Paul B. Janeckzo & Melissa Sweet

Winter is Coming - Tony Johnston & Jim La Marche

Have You Seen My Dragon? - Steve Light 

The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse - Patricia MacLachlan & Hadley Hooper
     Another wonderful biographical picture book. I'm rooting for it.

Viva Frida - Yuyi Morales & Tim O'Meara
     Really distinctive.

Hi, Koo! - Jon J. Muth
     This book is such a charmer!

Baby Bear - Kadir Nelson

The Book with No Pictures - B.J. Novak
     I'm including this book, just to be ornery! I think it would cause such a stir to nominate this book for an award that goes to the best pictures.

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art - Barb Rosenstock & Mary GrandPre
     I think people will go wild, if the American illustrator for Harry Potter wins for this book.

Aviary Wonders, Inc.: Spring Catalog and Instruction Manual - Kate Samworth
     Such a strange and wonderful book. This could really be a winner.

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Best Friend - Dan Santat

Henny - Elizabeth Rose Stanton

Bad Bye, Good Bye - Deborah Underwood & Jonathan Bean

Stella's Starliner - Rosemary Wells



Newbery Predictions

Crossover - Alexander Kwame
     I love narrative poetry.

The Madman of Piney Woods - Christopher Paul Curtis
     Lots of buzz for this one. Will multiple award winner Curtis snag the gold again?

Glass Sentence - S.E. Grove
     Fantasy doesn't usually stand a chance, but maybe this one will come up with an award.

The Secret Hum of a Daisy - Tracy Holczer

A Snicker of Magic - Natalie Lloyd
     This is the kind of thing that I'd love to see win. Magical and fun.

West of the Moon - Margi Preus

The Riverman - Aaron Starmer

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson
     Okay, you heard it here first. I think this book is going to sweep multiple categories. I'm hearing so many wonderful things about it.


Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Top 10 Book Club Books - Take 2

This week's topic from The Broke and Bookish is Top 10 Book Club Books. I'm lucky to belong to the best book club ever: The Not So YA Book Club, for readers who are adults, but still enjoy reading YA. It's hosted at one of my favorite book stores, Little Shop of Stories.

It's been a while since I've done a post about book club, but here are another 10 books that I really enjoyed reading with my book club. (with links to reviews, where appropriate)


Salt & Storm - Kendall Kulper
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks - E. Lockhart
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Akata Witch - Nnedi Akafor
Jackaby - William Ritter

Are you in a book club? What are you reading?

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Harry Potter news


Harry Potter news: new art has been revealed! I like how the characters don't look movie star perfect in these illustrations.


What?? This lady apparently has a beef with Harry Potter fans in her rant against this wonderful Golden Snitch engagement ring. I'm astonished! First, even if you don't know what it is, it's a lovely looking ring. Second, for folks who grew up with Harry Potter, there's so much positive symbolism there. As a huge nerd myself, I am all for book-inspired jewelry.

J.K. Rowling gives some writing advice on twitter.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Weeding the TBR 2015

This could be my biggest cull yet. Who knows? Maybe some of these books will find their way back onto my To Be Read list. But for now, it seems wisest to admit defeat and let these books go - trust me, I've no shortage of other items clamoring to be read. Interestingly, I'm eliminating a lot of these because of a lack of access... I don't have a copy of the book right to hand, and while it's certainly true that with a bit of effort on my part I could eventually procure a copy, it just doesn't make sense to chase after some of these when I have so many other books stacked right next to my bedside table, so...

Illuminate (Gilded Wings, #1)
Loop (Loop #1)
Chains (Seeds of America, #1)
Trial by Fire (Worldwalker, #1)
The Poison Apples
Being Henry David
The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy, #1)
The No. 1 Car Spotter
The Peculiar (The Peculiar, #1)
Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker, #1)
Legacy of the Clockwork Key (The Secret Order, #1)
The Wide-Awake Princess (Wide-Awake Princess, #1)
White Lines
You Killed Wesley Payne
The Looking Glass Wars (The Looking Glass Wars, #1)
Survival Colony  Nine
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Glimmerglass (Faeriewalker, #1)
Prisoner of Night and Fog (Prisoner of Night and Fog, #1)
Some Boys
The Name of This Book Is Secret (Secret, #1)
Plain Kate
Taken (Taken, #1)
Wrapped (Wrapped, #1)
Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)
Born of Illusion (Born of Illusion, #1)
Dragon Castle
The Dark Unwinding (The Dark Unwinding, #1)
Pulse (Pulse, #1)
Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)
The Goddess Inheritance (Goddess Test, #3)
Wolves, Boys and Other Things That Might Kill Me
Forgive My Fins (Fins, #1)
Spirit and Dust (Goodnight Family #2)
The Dead Gentleman
The Kingdom of Little Wounds
Poison Princess (The Arcana Chronicles, #1)
Notes from the Blender
Incarnation
Doon (Doon, #1)
Nameless (Tales of Beauty & Madness, #1)
Tell Me a Secret
Top Ten Clues You're Clueless
The Explosionist
Tempest Rising (Tempest, #1)
Exquisite Captive (Dark Caravan Cycle #1)
Homeland (Little Brother, #2)
How My Summer Went Up in Flames
Between the Sea and Sky
The Other Countess (The Lacey Chronicles, #1)
Winter Town
Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy, #1)
Inhuman (Fetch, #1)
City of a Thousand Dolls (Bhinian Empire, #1)
If I Ever Get Out of Here
Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles, #2)
Babe in Boyland
Stalker Girl
All That Glows (All That Glows, #1)
Keep Sweet
Chantress (Chantress, #1)
My Life in Pink & Green: Pink & Green Book One
The Homework Machine (The Homework Machine #1)
The Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern, #1)
A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry, #1)
The Shifter (Healing Wars, #1)
Forget Me
Clarity (Clarity, #1)
The Fine Art of Pretending (The Fine Art of Pretending, #1)
The Shattering
Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1)
The Native Star (Veneficas Americana, #1)
Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always
Solstice
A Wounded Name
A Countess Below Stairs


The Locket
The Gathering Dark
Claire de Lune (Claire de Lune, #1)
The Mark of the Dragonfly
13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1)
Torment (Fallen, #2)
Hero (Woodcutter Sisters #2)
Flyaway
Liar
Sublime
Scumble (Savvy, #2)
Toxic Heart (Mystic City, #2)
Innocent Darkness (The Aether Chronicles, #1)
Going Vintage
Princess for Hire (Princess for Hire, #1)
Winterspell
The King's Rose
Ashes on the Waves
Tabula Rasa
Adaptation (Adaptation, #1)
Huntress
The Treachery of Beautiful Things
Winter Falls (Twin Willows, #1)
Roses
The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons
Carnival of Souls
Sweet Unrest
Violins of Autumn
Don't Expect Magic (Magic, #1)
Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink, #1)
Perfectly Good White Boy
Eye of the Storm
Kissing Shakespeare
Suspicion
Timeless (Timeless, #1)
Wonderland
Strands of Bronze and Gold
Fated (Soul Seekers, #1)
Transcendence (Transcendence, #1)
Beware the Wild
Fathomless (Fairytale Retellings, #3)
Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1)
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Die for Me (Revenants, #1)
Heart of a Samurai
What Can(t) Wait
Spellbinder (Spellbinder, #1)
Above World (Above World, #1)
Castle of Shadows
The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1)
The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, #1)
Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer
Other Words for Love
Altered (Altered, #1)
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Dork Diaries, #1)
Zodiac (Zodiac, #1)
The Cabinet of Wonders (The Kronos Chronicles, #1)
Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
Okay for Now
The Near Witch (The Near Witch, #1)
The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, #1)
Live Through This
The Sweetest Spell
When You Were Mine
Famous in Love (Famous in Love, #1)
Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)
The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter, #1)
Everlost (Skinjacker, #1)
Bruised
I'll Be There
Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
Anatomy of a Boyfriend (Anatomy, #1)
Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles, #1)
Sway
Skylark (Skylark, #1)
Born Wicked (The Cahill Witch Chronicles, #1)
Underneath
The Most Dangerous Animal of All
Ink (Paper Gods, #1)
Stray (Four Sisters, #1)
Ashes of Twilight (Ashes Trilogy, #1)
Bad Island
Wolven (Wolven, #1)
The Hit List
Breadcrumbs
Voices of Dragons
Going Underground
The Young World (The Young World, #1)
Variant (Variant, #1)
The Fire Artist
When You Were Here
A Deadly Business (Mia Quinn, #2)
Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous
Don't Touch
The Cure for Dreaming
Belzhar
Across the Great Barrier (Frontier Magic, #2)
Paper Valentine
A True Princess
The Lucy Variations
Prophecy of the Sisters (Prophecy of the Sisters, #1)
Poison
The Book Thief

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