Children's Literature Alphabet

A while ago, I put together a children's book character name game for a baby shower and it got me thinking about children's book character names. Now, I'm working on putting together a set of alphabet flashcards for my son, with a book character for each name, but I need you help. I'm having trouble coming up with characters for some letters (I don't want just any old random characters, but fairly well-known characters that I love because I'd also love to give away a few sets of these as gifts). Here's my list so far:

A


Alexander





Alice






Amelia Bedelia



Angelina

Arthur

B

Babar

Babymouse

Berenstain Bears

C

Charlie

Charlotte

Cindy Lou Who

Corduroy

Daisy

David

Dr. De Soto

E

Ella

Eloise

F

Francis

G
George (Curious)

George (& Martha)

George (Shrinks)

Gossie

Grinch

H
Harold

Harry

Horton

I
Imogene

Ira

J
Jeremy Jacob

Judy Moody

Junie B. Jones

K

Kipper

Knuffle Bunny

L
Leonardo

Lilly

Lyle

M
Madeline

Maisie

Max

N
Fancy Nancy

O
Olivia

Olive

P
Pepito

Peter Rabbit

Pigeon

Piggins

Pinkerton

Pippi

Q - ?

R
Ramona

Rolie Polie Olie

Rosie

S
Scaredy Squirrel

Strega Nona

Spot

Stink

Sylvester

T

Tacky

Time Warp Trio

Trixie

U - ?
V

Verdi

Viola Swamp

Violet

W

Wemberly

Wilbur

Wild Thing

Wodnet Wat

X - ?

Y - ?

Z - ?
So which character would you pick for each letter? And what do you suggest for the letters that I'm missing? I'd love to hear your ideas!

The Battle of Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Many series tend to go downhill after the first book; maybe the novelty of the premise has worn off, maybe the author is scrounging for material as they try to stretch the series out or maybe the author has to rush to meet deadlines. At any rate, there are a few new series that I'm really enjoying these days and Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, just might be my favorite. I mean, come on, each book gets better and better!

The Battle of Labyrinth is the fourth book in the series, and it did not disappoint. I won't go into the plot here because if you've started the series I'm sure you're already addicted (everyone I can get to pick it up loves it, even if they are sure they won't). The books really do need to be read in order so if you haven't been reading the series yet, run out and pick up the Lightening Thief. Hey, why are you still reading this? I mean it! Go pick up the book!

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams

To enjoy this book, I think you have to know that it does not have much of an ending. It sort of reminds me when my husband saw the first Lord of The Rings movie; he knew nothing about the books and was shocked and dismayed when the movie ended. If it wasn't for the credits rolling, he would have been sure the film broke or something because he could not believe they would end the movie right in the middle of the plot with zero closure for any of the characters. While fans of the books left the theater excited, my husband was ticked. I can't help but think some readers are going to feel the same way about Tunnels. I can even imagine a few of them examining the binding to make sure they aren't missing a few chapters in the end because the ending is so abrupt. Maybe that tidbit will help you enjoy the book a little more than I did in the end.

It all starts out with 14 year-old Will. Will's father is an archaeologist working is a tiny museum by day, scouring the city by night, hoping to make a big discovery. Will himself has a hobby of digging holes so he assists his dad on digs around the city. Just as Will and his dad start making discoveries in one of Will's tunnels, his dad disappears. No one has heard from him and the police have no clues. After looking in on Will's couch potato mom, the police hint to Will and his sister that maybe his dad wanted to leave. Will doesn't believe a word of it, but doesn't tell anyone about his latest cave because in the past other archaeologists have swept in and claimed the dig and all of the glory and will and his father don't want to be scooped.

Instead, Will recruits his friend Chester to help with the dig to look for more clues. Just as they are making headway, someone fills a huge section of Will's tunnel with backfill, hoping to disguise it as a cave-in. Will becomes really worried about what's going on with his dad's disappearance when mysterious men start following Will and Chester around town. They persevere and discover Will's dad had his own hidden tunnel that leads to a mysterious underground world. Will gets excited and drags Chester along woefully under prepared in a search for Will's dad. Of course all sorts of craziness ensues.

It was a really interesting plot and I can see why they're making a movie of it, but it was so long!!! I think every review I've read mentions that it should have been cut to about half the length. It also had a lot of violence and was just all around creepy and dark. That said, there were some MAJOR plots twists I did not expect in the slightest that kept things exciting. I wish I could say more, but I really don't want to spoil it. If this peaked your curiosity, you'll just have to check it out yourself, and if you enjoy it, the sequel, Deeper, is due out in March of 2009.

Ever by Gail Carson Levine

I know you can't judge a book by it's cover, but I did, and I was way off on this one. I saw the latest novel by Gail Carson Levine, Ever, and I assumed that it was another fairy tale version by Gail Carson Levine (not that that's bad, I was really excited about it). I mean, look at the covers of her fairy tale adaptations; the covers are deliberately designed to match. This is probably not a problem for the average reader, but I have this weird habit of avoiding the publisher's summary because I hate having any of the plot spoiled.

At any rate, just so you don't make the same mistake, Ever is not a fairy tale adaptation, it is an original mythological story. It seemed to be vaguely middle eastern, but as far as I know it has a set of totally made up Gods and Goddesses that remind me a little of the Greek Gods. The novel starts out following the youngest God, Olus, the 17 year-old Akkan God of the winds. Olus is lonely because he's so much younger than all of the other Gods. His parents hesitantly agree to let him temporarily live among Humans but warn him that he will not fit in and find happiness among them. Of course, Olus has to learn that the hard way when he makes a new friend and decides he can confide in his friend that he is actually a God, which terrifies the human and his family. Olus learns to hide who he truly is in order to live among mortals.



He flits from one job to the next until he settles on being a goat-herd and spies Kezi, the beautiful daughter of his wealthy landlord. Altough he only watches Kezi from afar he quickly falls in love with her and he watches her dance and artfully weave her rugs. Tragedy strikes when Kezi's mother falls ill and her father Pleads to Admat (the only God Kezi's family believes in). He pledges that if Admat will heal his wife, he will sacrifice the first human who congratulates him on his wife's recovery. Kezi mother does indeed recover, and Kezi is horror struck when her beloved aunt tries to congratulate her father. She quickly intervenes and congratulates him before her aunt has a chance. Of course both parents are full of sorrow, but they fear Admat too much to betray their promise. Kezi submits herself to her destiny to be sacrficed, but she prays to Admat to let her live for 30 more days.



In the meantime Kezi, meets Olus and begins to fall in love with him. She suspects he's a magician, and has a hard time believing he is a God because she only believes in one God, Admat. Olus doesn't know if Admat is real because none of the Gods he knows have even heard of Admat, but he joins Kezi on a quest to help her overcome her parents' pledge to sacrifice her without angering Admat.



See, that was not the fairytale that I was expecting, although Kezi's father did remind me of King Midas losing his beloved daughter when he got his wish. Overall, I found the setup and plot interesting (parts of it were admittedly a little hard for me to buy into (warkis, people who slowly become covered with knitted feathers and eat dirt, etc.), but what I really struggled with was trying to figure out what Levine was trying to say about faith and religion. It really bothered me that the Gods showed no interest in humans, and Kezi's reasons for doubting her faith kept growing. In the end I'm still not sure what the point of it all was. Did anyone else feel that way?



All in all I'd rate this an interesting book, but Ella Enchanted remains my favorite Gail Carson Levine book by far!

Waiting For Normal by Leslie Connor

I knew from the publisher's one sentence summary that this novel would be sad/depressing. Since becoming a mom, I have a particularly hard time with stories of child abuse or neglect, but I repeatedly heard such great things about this book that I had to pick it up, and I'm very glad that I did!

Sixth-grader Addie and her mom, Denise, are left in dire circumstances after Denise failed to make her mortgage payments with the money her Ex gave her and lost custody of Addie's two half-sisters. Ex-husband Dwight has the little girls and wants nothing to do with Denise, but offers up a trailer home he has parked downtown so that Addie (who is not his daughter) will still have a place to call home. He has his reservations about leaving Addie alone with her mom, but is left with no choice because he is not Addie's blood relation and he has no claim to custody. While Addie struggles to keep track of her mom, make new friends, and overcome her learning disabilities, Dwight and the little girls find a new family and a welcoming home.

See, sounds depressing, huh? But oddly enough, Addie carries an optimism that keeps the reader hopeful. Her mom is terribly neglectful, but Addie still has a network of people who love her and watch out for her. The book covers some heavy issues; that abuse isn't always physical, that kids shouldn't be the ones responsible for taking care of their parents, that having a learning disability doesn't mean you're not smart, and that sickness can be mental, not just physical. Yet somehow the story isn't too depressing. It has it's heartbreaking moments, but I was still able to close it with a smile.

Olivia on TV!

Have you heard the news? Ian Falconer's Olivia is going to be on tv! I just heard the announcement that Nickelodeon will have 26 episodes of a 3-D half an hour cartoon starting at the beginning of 2009.

I'm interested to see how my favorite pig will look in 3-D.

Found: The Missing Book 1 - by Margaret Peterson Haddix

So I admit that I'm a fan of the Shadow Children series even though it dragged out a bit. As a reader, I've been spoiled by many clearly laid out series lately; I knew Harry would be at Hogwarts for seven years and there would be a novel for each year, I knew there would be 13 unfortunate novels about the Baudelaire orphans; so it drove me nuts to read a series in the making that would obviously have a big event that would end the series (The shadow children would revolt/be discovered and either be accepted or destroyed) but I had no idea how many books would be in the series so with each new release I wondered if that book would finally end it all or leave it hanging.

Well, maybe Haddix got tired of people asking her if each new book in the Shadow Children Series would end it all because I think of Found less as a complete novel and more of an intro to the entire series. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, and I wasn't disappointed by the ending, but I'm more excited about what Haddix has mapped out next.

It begins with 13 year-old Jonah getting a mysterious letter in the mail that says, "You are one of the missing." Jonah has always known that he was adopted so he thinks the letter must be a prank from kids at school who also know Jonah's adopted. That is until his friend Chip gets an identical letter and discovers he was also adopted and his parents kept his adoption a secret. Neither boy can find any information about their birth parents except that an FBI agent's name and number is posted as a contact in each of their adoption files. By the time they each get a letter stating, "Beware! They're coming back to get you." they are both worried about what the truth might reveal and the plot only thickens as Jonah's 12 year-old sister, Katherine, helps them discover that their story involved an FBI cover up, a plane that appeared out of nowhere, 35 other kids, and people who appear and disappear.

How does Margaret Peterson Haddix do it? she can write mysterious sci-fi, historical fiction, fairy tales, even early-readers, and here she is with another series that's sure to be a another hit.

MAJOR PLOT SPOILER

I'm warning you, don't read the rest of this if you haven't read this book!

So the kids on the plane are 36 of the most famous kids missing from history and they can't stay in their modern lives with their adoptive families unless they fix the problems in history their disappearances caused. We know the group includes Virginia Dare, who vanished with the Roanoke Colony, the youngest children of Czar Nicholas II (Anastasia and Alexis), the Lindbergh baby, and we're starting off with Princes Edward and Richard, who disappeared from the Tower Of London in 1483. Wow! That is a major undertaking, and I can't even begin to imagine how much research it will take to write each of these books. Fans of this series are going to be learning a lot about history. I can't wait to learn more about each historical figure's life, and it will be interesting to see what goes wrong because of each disappearance and how Haddix will fix it.

Now when does book 2 come out?

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

So, you already know that I like Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, so I was happy to learn that he extended the trilogy and released a fourth book. I thought most people knew about it, but some bookclubbers were surprised when I mentioned it a few months ago, and I've been meaning to mention it here.

Extras takes place a few years after the first three books and is set in a modern version of Japan where citizens are valued by their fame ranking, which means Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 makes her a complete no-one with no special privileges. The publisher describes it as, "a gigantic game of American Idol where, 'Tech-head' flaunt their latest gadgets, 'kickers' spread gossip and trends, and 'surge monkeys' are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules."

Aya is convinced that if she can kick an amazing story, her rank will rocket and she'll get the life she dreams of. In a desperate effort she joins the Sly Girls (a group of girls that avoid the media as much as possible leading many people to believe they aren't even real) and sneaks footage of their dangerous fun, and she uncovers a much bigger story than she bargained for.

I know a few teenagers out there were disappointed to learn that this wasn't another novel focused on Tally, the main character in the first three books, but I thought it was so interesting and provided some good discussion points about what makes a person famous, is fame necessarily good, and what's the difference between news and gossip. Things teenagers today should be questioning as they watch Paris Hilton parade across the news, spend time surfing myspace, and tune into TV shows like Gossip Girl.

I really enjoyed this book and after discussion with friends, I have to admit that it probably helped that I speak Japanese so I didn't stumble with any of the names or placing where the story was supposed to take place. I would still start with Uglies and work my way through the series, but don't miss Extras at the end!

2007 banned book list

Every year the ALA publishes the banned book list, or in more formal terms, American Library Association’s (ALA) 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007. Some books are on the list for obvious reasons, but every year it seems I'm surprised by one or two. For instance this year, Olive's Ocean made the list. What? Really? I loved that book! Do I have a selective memory? Did any of you find it offensive?

Here's the list:

1. “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3. “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language

4. “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism

6. “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7. “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit

9. “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

May - Member Recommendations

For May's meeting we met at Heather's to discuss some favorite recommended by readers. Here's the reading list along with some discussion questions that Heather put together.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer (recommended by Heather)

1. Why do you think Hope changed her name? What does the name "Hope" mean to you? How does it fit her character?
2. Describe Addie's character. What motivates her? Why does she move them across country?
3. What is Hope's relationship like with her mother?
4. How does her mother's brief visit effect Hope?
5. If a rule of waitressing is to never date the cook, why do you think Hope dates Braverman? What kind of a guy is Braverman?
6. Do you think G.T. is the father figure Hope is looking for in her life? How does meeting him change her?
7. How has Eli Millstone corrupted the mayoral election?
8. Why do you think G.T. decides to run for mayor? How can Hope help him win?
9. Over the course of the novel, how does Hope change and grow? 10. In the end, which characters in this book have hope?

Mara , Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (recommended by Tara)

1. How are Mara and Hatshepsut similar? How are they different?
2. At what age would you introduce your children to this book, taking into account the way the main character uses her female wiles to manipulate the men? Did you feel the romance was "too passionate" for sixth graders (used as a staple in most 6th grade homeschool units)
3. How did the author deviate from true Egyptian political history in regards to the rulers of the day? How do you as mothers/teachers get appropriate background info to help young readers differentiate? Like in Da Vinci Code.
4. Who feared the gods the most in the story?
5. Did you like the way McGraw discussed Nuit, the great mother in the final pages of the story?
6. At what point does Mara really decide to stop playing the double agent and really work for Sheftu and Thutmose III?

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (recommended by Steph)
Author's Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever had a friend like Peris, who abandoned your friendship after they moved away?
2. At first, did you hope Tally would get the operation? When did you change your mind? (Or did you?)
3. Have you ever found yourself trusting someone more or paying more attention to what they said not because they deserved it, but just because of their looks?
4. In what ways did Tally's trip through the wild prepare her for what she learned in the Smoke?
5. Would you give up your ability to think independently in exchange for being happy, beautiful, perpetually healthy, and rich?
6. How did David see Tally differently than she saw herself?
7. If Shay could have gone back in time and never have met Tally, do you think she would?
8. Other than the pretty operation, what are the main differences between the pretty society and our own? (Are there any ways in which the pretty society is healthier than ours?)
9. To what extent did Tally decide her own fate, and how much did other people decide it for her?
10. The Rusty civilization collapsed because of its dependence on oil. In what ways is your lifestyle dependent on oil and gasoline? How easily would you survive if it all disappeared one day?

April - Mormon Authors Part 2

There are so many famous Mormons in the media these days including several authors. Many of you have heard of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, but you may be interested in reading some of these other books written by Mormon authors for children and young adults. I'm just listing either their most popular or most recent books.

Shannon Hale, Goose Girl, Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days
James Dashner, The 13th reality: The Journal of Curious Letters
Brandon Mull, The Candy Shop War, Fablehaven
Janette Rallison, How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend
Obert Skye, Levin Thumps
Jessica Day George, Dragon Slippers; Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow
Louise Plummer, Finding Daddy
AE Cannon, Loser's Guide to Life and Love, Charlotte's Rose
Mette Ivie Harrison, The Princess and the Hound
Randall Wright, The Silver Penny
Michael Tunnell, Wishing Moon, Moon Without Magic

We decided on the bold titles for April's book club because we've already read Stephenie Meyer's and Shannon Hale's book along with Wishing Moon by Michael Tunnell, The Shakeress by Kimberly Heuston, and Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe.

I'm not sure why there seem to be so many new Mormon YA/chldren's authors out there, but we're glad to see their success.

Book Plates

Of course my favorite gifts to give are children's books and we have quite a library of our own so I'm always keeping an eye out for cool book plates, especially book plates designed with kids in mind. Lately I've seen a lot of free book plate downloads so I thought that I would share a few.

Jan Brett has a few on her site.

And this site has several to choose from by famous illustrators (although it's a British site so don't be suprised if you don't recognize a few of the illustrators). Here's one by Mike Inkpen. Another from Anita Jeram.

And one from Jez Alborough

These are from the nested blog and you can download them here.Book plates from the famous Etsy seller The Black Apple. Download them here. And last, but not least, one from Mo Willems' blog.

Jon Scieszka

Oh we love us some Jon Scieszka around here (author of many fabulous books like the True Story of the Three Little Pigs as told by A. Wolf, and the Stinky Cheese Man)! We jumped at the chance to meet him at a book signing when we were in CA last fall. Every once in a while, it's a little disappointing to meet an author in person because they don't live up to the expectations of them that you've dreamed up in your head. That was not the case with Scieszka; he was EXTREMELY personable and funny in real life.

First off, how to pronounce his name; Scieszka rhymes with Fresca. At the time he was touring for his book Cowboy & Octopus so he read it aloud to the crowd. In reading this book on my own, I thought it very funny, but a little over most kids' heads, but it had all the tiny members of his audience rolling. He explained that he created this book because some of his favorite books were books about two friends like George and Martha, Frog and Toad so why not Cowboy and Octopus. An interesting fact I didn't observe the first time that I read the book is that Cowboy and Octopus are supposed to be clipped from something else so in each illustration they always look the same. It's really fun to page through the illustrations and see how Lane Smith Managed to pull that one off.

And speaking of Lane Smith, Jon pointed out that Lane Smith turns his illustrations over to his wife, Molly Leach, who is in charge of book design (end papers, where the text goes, the title page, etc.). Talented family, eh?

Other interesting tidbits? Jon grew up with five brothers who all blamed each other for everything that went wrong. he thinks if the wolf had a brother of a dog to blame, the True Story of the Three Little Pigs never would have taken place. Jon's favorite book beginning is The Frog Prince Continued.

Now Jon is working on an autobiography, but it's about his youth, not his grown-up years. He says he'll be including things like the time his big brother Ted was left to babysit and Jon and his brothers used his dad's ties to tie Ted to the bed.

A new author introduced Jon, so new in fact that his first book hasn't been released yet. Jon says to watch for Billy Twitter's Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett because Mac is one of the funniest people he knows.

Two big things involving Jon have happened since this book talk. First was the release of Smash! Crash! the first book in Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Series. Jon has been a big part of the movement to get more boys to enjoy reading because the statistics of how many boys give up reading for fun and flounder in their reading comprehension are dismal. He even started the site http://www.guysread.com/ and he wrote the Time Warp Trio series just to appeal to boys at that key age. Now Jon is starting younger with his new Trucktown picture book series. Studies show that both most boys prefer reading non-fiction, but most teachers want them to read literary fiction so both of Jon's series strive to meld non-fiction with literary fiction and provide kids with fun storylines chock full of interesting information. The publishing work is all abuzz about the Trucktown series, because it really is the first of it's kind. Jon has a deal for over 50 books in many different formats over the next three years so keep an eye out for picture books, board books, easy readers, and pretty much anything else that you can think of. But how will one illustrator possibly illustrate over 50 books in 3 years? Well, they won't. Three illustrators (David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon) collaborated to created the car characters and their world and came up with the illustrations for the first book. Word is from here on out they will be working with a team of digital artists to create illustrations for the other books while maintaining their hand-painted appearance. Should be interesting to see how it all works out.

Oh, I said two big things, didn't I? Well, a few months ago, Jon was selected by the library on congress to be the first ever Ambassador of Young People's Literature. Fancy title, huh? Well this teacher turned author really cares about kids and works hard to help each of them harbour a love of literature so the title is well deserved.

March - Ohio Authors

Local talent abounds so for the month of March, we decided to focus on some of our local Ohio Authors. Here's what we read along with some questions to inspire your own conversations:

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
1. How does this book differ from other Cinderella re-tellings?

2. Why is Prince Charming not so charming?

3. Who is the real villain in this book?

4. In this book, Ella changes her own circumstances without the use of magic. How do you think this can encourage young readers in making their own decisions?

5. At the end, Ella does not immediately get married to live happily ever after, but rather chooses her own happily ever after. How can this empower females today?

Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis (book of poetry)
1. How does this book of poetry compare with other children's books of poetry?

2. How does Lewis play on words in his poems? Do you enjoy this type of poetry?

3. Is it easier or harder to read poetry when poem after poem is written with a few illustrations, instead of one poem and many illustrations making an entire children's book?

4. How can we get children to enjoy poetry more?

The Dragon's Eye by Kaza Kingsley
1. With Harry Potter being so popular, many books with magic and a young boy as the main character are inevitably compared to Harry Potter. How is this book both similar and different?2. Who do you think Erek Rex really is?

3. What does this book teach about self-reliance, courage, and trust?

4. Erek Rex comes to realize he can do much more than he thought he could as others rely on him. How can young readers identify with him, even though the events occurring in this book are fantastical? Do you think it is difficult or easy to identify with the main characters from fantasy books?

Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou (picture book) (If you haven't read East by Edith Pattou, we highly recommend it!)
1. This book is beautifully illustrated, and demonstrates the power teachers have to influence children. What do you think of that power? Does it inspire or frighten you?

2. Did you understand immediately what the plants symbolized in this book, or did you have to read the summary to understand it?

3. Does this book encourage you to be more active in finding good teachers for your children?

4. Is this book aimed at young children, or adults?

Little Miss Spider by David Kirk (picture book)
1. This book addresses the issue of adoption; however, it implies that Little Miss Spider was abandoned and unwanted by her birth mother, even though her adoptive mother loves her. Is this a good book to share with adopted children, or not?

2. How can this book be used to teach children about adoption?

3. Did you feel that the story was complete, even though Little Miss Spider never learns anything about her mother, or did you want more information? If so, what information could Kirk have added without changing the outcome of the story?

Thanks to Tara for hosting and putting these questions together!

February - Cybils Award Finalists

I wish we had to time read all of the wonderful Cybils Awards Finalists, but since we didn't we decided first to read all of the fictional picture book finalists:

Pssst! by Adam Rex

Go to Bed, Monster! by Natasha Wing

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington

Leaves By David Ezra Stein

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn William and Khadra Mohammad

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

Then we also selected a few of the middle grade fiction finalists. Heather did a great job hosting, and for those of you who weren't able to attend, here are a few of her discussion questions:

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of A Tree by Lauren Tarshis
How did the author use the two voices to her advantage in the telling of this story? What do we gain as readers from hearing both points of view?Did the ending seem to be missing a final chapter? Was there enough climax? Do the seemingly random subplots get tied up a little too neatly at the end?Did the short length of the book appeal to you or leave you wanting?

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban
Why did this win 2007's most appropriate title award? Who or what is a crooked kind of perfect in the book?How does Zoe's father cross over from home-bound to holding an actual job?Describe Zoe's relationship with her mother. How does it change over the course of the book?How did the author demonstrate Zoe's social awkwardness? Was it mirrored by the instrument she had to play?Which relationship is the most believable?What is an example of a funny part you remember from the book? Why is it so hard to write good humor?Was anyone bothered by her swapping her organ for a piano at the end?

The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy
Assign partners. Ask your partners interesting questions and be prepared to introduce something "true" about her.Which girl do you feel worse for, Newt (parents fighting and Dad leaving), or Fox (abandoning mother returning)?What did you learn about masks in this book? When and why did the characters use them?Truth was an important theme in this book. What experiences stood out as "true" to life for you in Wild Girls?Why is it often so hard for girls to get along with their own mothers, but easily relate to the mothers of their friends?

If you read these three and are looking for more to read, check out the other middle grade fiction finalists:

Cracker: The Best Dog In Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata

Leap of Faith by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Leepike Ridge by Nathan D. Wilson

Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden

Miss Spitfireby Sarah Miller

Of course discussion lead to which books we wanted to see win the Cybil awards. We wanted A Crooked Kind of Perfect to win for middle grade fiction (that's probably not a surprise to you since I've been pushing it into the hands of anyone who will read it. Good humor in middle grade fiction is so hard to come by and this book is brilliant!) but we didn't agree on a second choice. We were all in agreement that we wanted Pssst! to win in the fiction picture book category. It's so clever and I love the artful illustrations.

In case you missed it, the award winners have been announced. The Middle Grade Fiction committee saw things the way we did and selected A Crooked Kind of Perfect as the winner! The Picture book committee Chose The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County, which wasn't a favorite among our group. You were robbed, Adam Rex!!!!! Robbed I tell you! (Although he did win the Cybil Award for elementary/middle grade fantasy/science fiction for his book The True Meaning of Smekday so the Cybils did recognize his genius so everything is still good, eh?)