Cybils Winners!

I'm so excited to announce the winners of the Cybils award for Elementary & Middle Grade Nonfiction!

This year I served as a Round Two judge on the Elementary & Middle Grade Nonfiction panel for the Cybils - Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards. The awards have been going for 16 years now, and I have been volunteering in some capacity for the last 14 years -- wow! 

I have to say that I felt like the entire shortlist for the Elementary Nonfiction category was really strong. As I told my fellow panelists, I wouldn't be sad if any of these books won. I'll be reviewing each of them in the coming weeks. The Middle Grade Nonfiction category had many strong contenders, too!

Books earn the Cybils award by being exemplary in two areas: Kid Appeal and Literary Merit. We discuss and award books on these two criteria. Do kids like the book? And is the book good, from a literary standpoint?

Round one judges read all the nominated books published in the past year (October of the year prior through October of the present year) and evaluate them on Kid Appeal and Literary Merit. They narrow this list (maybe 150 books or more) down to 5-7 titles. This is the shortlist. 

Round two judges narrow the shortlist in each category down to the single winner! And that's what we have here for you today. The BEST nonfiction book for kids ages 5-8 in the Elementary nonfiction category, and the best nonfiction book for kids ages 8-12 in the Middle Grade category.

Bartali's Bicycle: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy's Secret Hero 

written by Megan Hoyt illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

This is a picture book biography of Gino Bartali that is so beautiful and inspiring! 

As one of my fellow panelists pointed out, riding a bike is something kids can relate to in a big way, and that's what Gino Bartali was famous for . . . at least at first. When it came to cycling, he trained persistently and eventually won the Tour de France! But when Nazis invaded Italy, Gino became another kind of hero. He used his cycling skills to protect and preserve the lives of those around him. And the humility he exhibited throughout his life and despite his achievements is memorialized here. 

In deciding between Bartali's Bicycle and some of our other strong contenders, panelists talked about the gorgeous, dynamic illustrations of Iacopo Bruno. Guys, I know "we don't talk about Bruno," but this art is top notch! Each page conveys movement and has an interesting, fresh layout. 

Materials at the end of the book include a letter to readers from Gino Bartali's granddaughter, a timeline, and a full page of sources. 

Definitely give this book a read. As soon as I finished it, I thought I had better share it with the most avid cyclist that I know. I'm sure you'll find someone to share it with, too. When looking at a picture book, you have to consider, is an adult going to want to read this over and over? Is a kid going to want to read it? Bartali's Bicycle will definitely appeal to ages 5+ and stand up to repeated reading.

Mightier than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing

 by Rochelle Melander, illustrated by Melina Ontiveros

Mightier than the Sword was a little bit tricky for some of us judges to get our hands on! It was published by a small press, and so it wasn't available in my library. However, if your library has hoopla (kind of like the Netflix of ebooks and music for libraries?), then you can find this title there. And it is absolutely worth finding!

If I'm totally honest, I wasn't particularly looking forward to reading a bunch of bios of writers. It is really easy for this type of book to become same-samey. Maybe you turn to it for one person, but you'll never read it cover to cover. WRONG! I absolutely read Mightier than the Sword from cover to cover and it was not even a chore. It was delightful! 

For one thing, the writing is engaging and fantastic. (Thank goodness! To have sub-par writing in a book about so many writers would be embarrassing.) Each person's story is brought to life with interesting details and relevant quotes. And then, if that wasn't enough, there are little sidebars or cameos of other relevant writers in each chapter. The organization of the book made it really interesting to me, as well. Each chapter is a writer's biography and they are ordered by year of the writer's birth. So, the book as a whole becomes something of a history book, as you go along. 

I'm reading A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich with my daughter Jubilee right now -- we're just taking a chapter at a time on nights when we can squeeze it in. It's great. But honestly, I can't wait to read Mightier than the Sword with her! She is going to eat it up. Especially because she has some aspirations to writing, and each chapter ends with writing prompts and suggestions. 

Another engaging facet of the book is the illustrations. Each writer and each sidebar gets a portrait by Melina Ontiveros. For the names I didn't already recognize, it was fun to try to puzzle out who this person would be based on the small items included in their portrait. 

As a group, we round two judges loved that it was a diverse group of writers highlighted. Not only were writers from a variety of homelands and races, but also diverse through time, as I've mentioned, and they are diversely famous -- some of them are famous for being writers (Shakespeare is profiled), but others are more famous for other work they've done (Florence Nightingale, for instance). And still others of them weren't already known to me. Mightier than the Sword made learning a pleasure. 

One of my fellow panelists was formerly a teacher and she was very excited about the potential for classrooms to use this book. It would be very easy to read excerpts, and of course the suggested writing activities would connect to teachers and students well, too. 

I hope winning the Cybils award for Middle Grade Nonfiction shines some more light on this book, because it deserves to be found! 

A full list of this year's Cybils winners in all categories can be found here. 

The Beatryce Prophecy

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Well, when I hear that Kate DiCamillo has written a new book, I'm interested. She has been writing amazing books for a long time. Maybe her most famous is Because of Winn-Dixie? The first book of hers that I read was The Tale of Despereaux, for which she won a Newbery Medal. 

The Beatryce Prophecy is her newest book, and it was illustrated by Sophie Blackall, who recently won two Caldecott Medals. 

The Beatryce Prophecy is beautifully written and illustrated. Much like the other novels by DiCamillo that I have read, there's quite a bit of danger and suspense! However, I wouldn't call the book fast-paced. Like its protagonists, who walk through the woods, this story takes its time. Each one of our favorite characters has a tragic backstory. 

In the medieval countryside we meet Answelica, an ill-tempered goat, and Beatryce, a girl who can't remember much but can read, which is forbidden. We meet Brother Edik, a monk who doesn't quite fit in at the monastery, and Jack Dory who lost his parents to highwaymen. As their stories begin to intertwine and weave around one another's, they become happier. 

This is a realistic fiction book marketed to 8-12 year olds -- what is called a middle grade book. It seems to me that with its meaty plot and foreshadowing, combined with the simple writing style (which doesn't skimp on big vocabulary) and beautiful illustrations, it has a lot of the qualities that are loved by kids who love graphic novels. My kids read and enjoyed it, as did I. I received an advance reading copy of the book.

Surprise! The New Top-Selling Book of Everead!

I've been blogging about books here on Everead since July 2008. I just love to talk about books, and when I found out I could get a little bit of credit for recommending them to people, I became an Amazon Affiliate. 

In 2014 I wrote a post recommending some books for a friend's 13 year old son, and that post really took off. I mean, I think that at least for a while there it would come up on the first page of results if you searched google for "books for a 13 year old boy." Apparently the favorite book from that list was Wildfire Run by Dee Garretson, because that was the top-selling book of Everead for over 4 years. (See my posts about it here.) 

But recently I took a look at the reports on my Amazon Affiliate account, and folks! We have a New Bestseller! 

Drumroll please...

Crunch

by Leslie Connor!

I couldn't be more pleased to have another excuse to talk about Crunch. I first read it in 2010 and there are at least 6 posts that mention it here on Everead now. I met Leslie Connor at an SCBWI meeting, and heard her speak at KidLitCon. It's a pleasure to make you aware (or more aware) of this fine book of hers.

Like Wildfire Run, Crunch is a hidden gem of a book. Not many people know about it, but it is absolutely worth reading. I'd particularly recommend it for fans of The Penderwicks books.

The premise of the book is that the Mariss family has 5 kids, and they run a bike shop. 14-year-old Dewey is our main protagonist. His dad is a truck driver, so his parents take a short drive together. All of a sudden . . . the gasoline crunch of the 1970's hits. The Mariss parents are stuck away from home longer than expected. Dewey and the rest of the kids aren't just locking the doors, watching TV and waiting for them to get home, though. They've got to keep the bike shop running and because gas in short supply, the shop is doing big business. Then, things start to go missing.  

Crunch is a middle-grade realistic fiction novel, great for ages 8+, and it would be a fantastic book to read aloud. It is a standalone book, not part of a series. It won top honors from Cybils judges.

As I said in my original review, I felt this book was completely real. So authentic, and uplifting. It gives the reader a lot to think about. I don't often re-read books, but I have read Crunch at least twice. I haven't read Crunch in years, but one quote from it has stuck with me all this time. In fact, I said it to my husband in the kitchen the other day. It's an aphorism that Mr. Meriss shares with Dewey: "An ounce of maintenance is worth a pound of repairs."

I'm also a fan of Leslie Connor's book Waiting for Normal. The "strawberry shaped objects" of that book have stayed with me. Connor has been hitting it out of the park for a long time, and I really need to catch up on her recent releases! She's won numerous awards for The Truth According to Mason Buttle and All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook. Those two books go together, I hear. A Home for Goddesses and Dogs came out in early 2020.   

Benjamin (age 12) has read Crunch multiple times, and says "It's really good." He's hoping I'll read it aloud to the family in honor of it's new status. I'm on board! I think Jubilee would love it, since she really loves biking. She asked 

Well, discovering that Crunch is the new top seller of Everead was perfectly timed, for me. See, I hope to get a bike for my birthday this year. 🚲 And since about March of this year, I think we've all been thinking a little bit more about what happens when supply chains hit snags. 

Haven't heard enough yet? Take a look at some of the five star reviews on Amazon. 😉

Exciting New Installment in The Dragonwatch Series!

Alysa here, and I've got a special guest review for you today. My sixth-grade son Benjamin and his best friend Zaya have both read and reviewed the latest Brandon Mull book. Enjoy!

Dragonwatch: Master of the Phantom Isle—Book 3 in Brandon Mull's Dragonwatch series.

This thrilling sequel to Dragonwatch: Wrath of the Dragon King, is packed with action. Seth is desperate to figure out where he fits in in the magical world. Kendra is equally desperate to find her brother, Seth. Kendra's quest to find Seth brings her to a fallen dragon sanctuary. Can Kendra find her brother? Can she and her allies win the perilous war with the dragons? Can Seth resist the darkness that surrounds him? Find out in Dragonwatch: Master of the Phantom Isle.

Zaya: I was excited to read Master of the Phantom Isle. because the book before is a real cliffhanger. I actually think it’s probably one of the best cliffhangers because it really involves the main characters and its resolution could completely affect the plot line. I had to find out what would happen! It was fun to read and It really pulled me in.

Benjamin: Yep! Ditto.

Zaya: When I only had 20 pages left, my older brother stole it from me at school and I was devastated. And super mad. I yelled at him.

9 Scary Books I Survived Reading (And Actually Recommend)!

I'm not really into scary books. I don't watch scary movies.

I was terrified and haunted by a Goosebumps book I read in my childhood, so I steer clear of those, but I can recommend these scary books.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book 1: The Mysterious Howling
by Maryrose Wood

Ages and ages ago, Ashley told me to read The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place. But I didn't. Then, last week when I went to the library I saw book one The Mysterious Howling on display and it looked like just the perfect thing to pick up. So I snagged it. I loved it.

I'd like to think this is the sort of book I would write, if I wrote a middle grade novel. It's a little silly, our main character has just graduated from The Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. And it's very sweet, she is a thoughtful governess and loves her three new charges dearly. It has intrigue, but I don't find it particularly suspenseful. I knew at once what the "mysterious howling" must be. I still love it.

It reminded me of The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry, and that's a high compliment. I read the beginning of it to Jacob and it reminded him of Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett- another compliment.  I've put the second one on hold at the library; it looks like there are 5 in the series, and the final volume will be published this year. I heartily recommend this book to intelligent readers young and old.

Books for a 7-Year-Old Girl

Hello Friends! A friend recently asked me on Facebook if I had any recommended reading for her daughter. I feel like it is the season! My own kids have started school and the boys, ages 7 and 9 and starting 2nd and 4th grade, have reading homework each night. 

My 9-year-old Benjamin is supposed to read for 30 min/night and my 7-year-old Levi is supposed to read for 15 min/night. What this means for us is that they have an excuse to start reading something, "for homework" and then they get glued to it and I enjoy the peace and quiet and don't stop them until they've finished the whole book. 

I snapped this photo of them reading the Lego Magazine on the kitchen floor before school,
in case they tried to convince me that they hadn't read anything yet, when bedtime rolled around. 

Bottom line: we're needing more and more books around here!

Related: They're reading too much, some days. Is this possible? I submit yes. 

Anyway, Lessa asked the following:

Any book recommendations for a 7 year old girl? Recent favorites have included the Ramona series and the Penderwick series. Reads comfortably to a 6-7 grade reading level.

I responded:

Yes! Have you done Sideways Stories from Wayside school yet? My 7 year old has recently LOVED them. :D Also Odd Duck by Cecil Castelucci. and how about Saffy's Angel (and the series that follows) by Hilary McKay? I have heard excellent things about All-of-a-kind Family, but have not yet read it myself, if she's into the old-fashioned feel. Betsy-Tacy is also a great old-fashioned series!


And Lessa followed up:

Thank you!! We've read Betsy Tacy and enjoyed it, but I'll check out these other books for sure. And how could I have forgotten the delightful silliness of Sideways Stories from Wayside School?!

So here is a little bit more about each book I recommended for Lessa's daughter (You can click the cover images to shop or see more reviews on Amazon.):

Wayside school series by Louis Sachar -- This series has three very very silly books in it. Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Wayside School is Falling Down, and Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger. They follow the kids (and wacky teachers) at an elementary school that was accidentally built as a skyscraper instead of a long, flat building. These books have been around long enough that I read them when I was in elementary school. It was a total treat to read the second one aloud with my boys, recently. They were giggling, reading ahead, and begging for one more chapter. For some reason we only owned the second book, so I gave the first book for Levi for his recent birthday.

Odd Duck by Cecil Castelucci - I picked this one because I can't resist a good graphic novel, and this one was the most Ramona-like graphic novel I could think of. I mean, Ramona is an odd duck. This book follows one odd duck as she meets another, and deals with their friendship. The art is beautiful and while some pages have panels, a lot of them are full bleed, which makes the book look a lot like a picture book. An extra long, thought provoking picture book about friendship and ducks.

Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay - I picked this one because this series is one of the best-kept secrets of middle grade fiction. The characters seem so, so real to me. That is one of the absolute charms of both The Penderwicks and Ramona books, so I thought good character development was a must. This book follows Saffron Casson as she discovers her family isn't what she thought it was. In my opinion the series just gets better and better as it goes along.

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor - As I mentioned above, I haven't actually read this one. But I really want to, now that I've read what Amy had to say about it. I even checked it out from the library, but it was a short loan period and I maxxed out my card that time, so this one returned unread. I understand it's about a family of girls growing up in NYC in 1907. And Amy said it is the perfect book to read in November.

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace - I picked this one because I've caught Levi re-reading it again lately. (I also caught him leaving it on the bedroom floor, in violation of the No Books on the Floor rule I instituted this summer.) I was glad to hear that Lessa and her family had read and enjoyed it already. I need to get more of the books in the series, myself. They're lovely and pleasant. They follow best friends Betsy and Tacy through their growing up years, and are based on the real-life friendship that the author cherished growing up.

What books would you recommend for a 7-year-old who reads well and loves Ramona and the Penderwicks? I'm sure the more books we can recommend here, the better. 

Raising Readers: 11 Excellent Non-Fiction Books for Kids

Hello, friends!

Today I am honored to have contributed to the Raising Readers series over on Sunlit Pages. For those of you who don't know Sunlit Pages, it is one of my favorite book blogs. I discovered it when Amy followed me on twitter and I clicked through to her blog. It's so inspiring and lovely!

For my contribution to the series, I wrote about what parents need to know about non-fiction: namely that the different types of non-fiction are meant to be read differently. From the post:

It is definitely worth it to help your kids enjoy non-fiction. And it's easier now than ever to get them going on it. Remember when I said you could think of biographies and historical accounts as two kinds of narrative non-fiction? Well there are so many more. There are picture books that tell the story of volcanoes creating islands. There are bird watching guides that have a conversational tone and just really suck you in.

Since I alluded to a couple of my personal favorite non-fiction books, I wanted to name them here. Don't want to leave you all hanging! I hope you love these books as much as I do. Put these on your library list, or click on the cover images to shop through my affiliate links. 

All the books below are narrative non-fiction, for more about the difference between narrative non-fiction, see my guest post.

Picture Books

Locomotive - This one is a-ma-zing. It tells the story of a family riding the transcontinental railroad. You can just tell from the illustrations that Brian Floca rode through these areas, did meticulous research, and has a good sense of humor. When it won the Caldecott I was like, "Um, yeah." I gushed about this one here.

The Boy Who Loved Math - Oh, my heart. I love this book so much. It seems to get better with every reading. It is the biography of mathematician Paul Erdős. I wrote about this one at length here.

Papa Was a Poet - This is a biography of Robert Frost as told from the perspective of his daughter. Something about this book (and it's gorgeous illustrations) has made Frost's poetry so much more meaningful to me. And now that we've moved to New England I catch myself thinking about Robert Frost more and more.

Stripes of All Types - This is a great rhyming book about all kinds of striped animals. Suited for young readers, it's text is pretty spare and the pictures are very eye-catching. In the back of the book, you can read more about each animal.

Volcano Rising - This is the volcano book I was talking about, above! I like how it has larger text and smaller text on each page, so you can just read the big print if you're reading to younger kids, but if the big kids want more info, it's right there.

Look Up - This is the bird watching book I mentioned! I confess that I have not taken up birdwatching after reading this book. But now I think about taking up bird watching. And when I look at birds I see them in more detail. Also, it's just a cool, funny book that really sucks you in! When Levi was four he made me read it to him several times, and it's not a short book!

Longer Books 

(These still have a lot of pictures.)

Anubis Speaks - I think of this as the ultimate companion to Rick Riordan's books, The Kane Chronicles. Obviously, the books have companions of their own, but sometimes you want something from a different author that the same audience will like. In Anubis Speaks, we get taken on a journey through the underworld by Anubis. All kinds of facts are woven into the narrative and it's just a lot of fun and learning, if Egyptian mythology is your scene. Looks like there is a book by the same author about Greek mythology, too.

  

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World - The true story of an expedition to the south pole in which (you guessed it!) the ship gets wrecked and the crew stranded and miracles happen and even though it was only 1915 they brought along a photographer. More about this book here.

Skull in the Rock - The amazing true story of a twelve-year-old boy who was out looking for fossils with his paleontologist father and discovered the oldest hominid skull to date. I learned so much from this book and it had awesome photos. It's on my list of recommended books to give at the holidays, and one of my top picks for 13-year-old boys.

One Step at a Time - Just thinking about this book makes me want to read it again. It's the true story of a Vietnamese girl who was adopted by a family in the US. This installment talks about her adjustment to life in the States. Absolutely excellent for developing empathy, in my opinion. I wrote about it here.

Lewis and Clark - For the older crowd, a graphic novel version of the Lewis & Clark expedition. This one opened my eyes to some of the finer points of the journey and what life as an explorer would have been like.

Smile - A memoir of the author's dental and orthodontic work, graphic novel format. I didn't read this one until I was an adult and had already completed my own orthodontic journey (or so I thought! Back in braces now, blah). Anyway, this one is full of humor and heart and is a landmark book in the genre for good reason. My review here.

Bonus Book!

I debated whether or not to include a few non-narrative recommendations on this list, and decided that I really didn't have enough of them that I felt strongly enough about to give them their own section. But then Amy, who hosted the post, said her six-year-old son loves bugs and is into narrative non-fiction. So, here's one especially for the young entomologist.

First Big Book of Bugs - My mom sent us this book a few months ago. Even though she addressed it to my two-year-old daughter, my five-year-old son is the one who is super interested in it. In fact, he asked me to read it to his class. I didn't read all 120+ pages, I can tell you that! More about the reading here. IN general I really like National Geographic's books for kids. They have a solid line called National Geographic Kids that has easy readers that we like. 

Are you looking for non-fiction books on a particular topic or for a particular age? Leave a comment below and I will do my best to hook you up with a good one!