Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Top Ten Tuesday  is a Meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish This week's TTT topic: Favorite New to Me Authors Read in 2015 Covers are of the books I read by these authors: Melanie Crowder Victoria Jamieson: Daniel José Older: Jason Reynolds Laura Ruby Robin Stevens Renée Watson What are your favorite author discoveries of 2015?

Yes, there is still almost a whole month left in the year, but I don't read many new books in December. I'm so busy this is definitely a month  of rereads for me. (Except for the Cybils books I need to finish.) Every year Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner  creates an end of year reading survey. It's a fun way of recapping the year and I've participated that last couple of years. I still wait until the end of December to do all my Top 10 Best of Lists though. Number of New to Me Books: 137 Number of Rereads: I don't count rereads, but it was a lot more than I've read in the last few years. This is because I decided to not do the Goodreads challenge this year and just enjoy myself. I'm continuing this policy in 2016. Genre I Read Most of: MG Realistic Fiction (my Cybils category!) Best Books of 2015 (links to my reviews) MG Realistic: The Penderwicks in Spring  by Jeanne Birdsall MG Speculative: A Pocket Full of Murder by R.J. Anderson YA Reali...

I am loving the battle this year so much. I don't love many of the books, and I don't agree with all the decisions. BUT. The decisions themselves have been amazing. The judges are setting a new standard this year for sure. I usually pick a favorite quote from each decision, and it is often hard to find one I like. This year it would be impossible to narrow it down to one. Read them all. They are all so good. Match One, March 21 The Animal Book  versus Boxers & Saints Judge: Tonya Bolden My Pick: Boxers & Saints I really loved Boxers & Saints . I like the way the two stories overlap and intertwine, the history, the different perspectives, and the mixture of mediums. I enjoy The Animal Book , but as I said before story will win over books like this for me every time. Match Two, March 24   Eleanor & Park  versus Far Far Away Judge: Rae Carson My Pick: Eleanor &Park I enjoyed Eleanor &Park  for the characters. Both Eleanor and...

The battle commences on Monday. I did a prediction post earlier this week, but this is where I will do my typical breakdown of the entire round with my hopes and dreams for each outcome. I still haven't read Midwinterblood . My library still hasn't purchased a copy. At all. I don't even know what to do with that given it just won the Printz and we have all his other books. I didn't buy it because I thought for sure they would have it by now, and I had to buy two of the other books. I'm a girl on a budget. Ah well. 15/16 is not bad. Better than some previous years. Links are to my reviews. Monday, March 10 All the Truth That's In Me  versus The Animal Book Judge: Vaunda Nelson  My Pick: All the Truth That's In Me I had some MAJOR issues with All the Truth That's In Me . (My review will post on Monday. I just finished it yesterday.) However. The Animal Book , while delightful, is basically a coffee table book for kids. I'm sure we n...

The Undead Poll is open for this year's BoB's competition. If you want to ensure your favorite stays in the competition to the end be sure and vote here . Usually I have a book that I desperately want to back, but not this year. It would be nice if we could keep the MG books going strong this year . I personally ended up voting for A Corner of White though. (I know, not MG.) But I feel like it is the most unique book on the list and one that definitely doesn't appeal to everyone so may not make it past Round One. And I really loved it. I don't usually do a predictions post, but this year I decided to go for it. So here are my predictions: Round One  All the Truth That's In Me  versus The Animal Book : All the Truth That's In Me Boxers and Saints  versus A Corner of White : Boxers and Saints Doll Bones  versus Eleanor & Park : Doll Bones Far Far Away versus Flora & Ulysses : Far Far Away Hokey Pokey vs March Book One: March Book One Midwi...

As I posted on Friday, I attended the ALA Midwinter meeting in Philadelphia over the weekend. It was my first time, not only at Midwinter, but at any ALA event. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and learned so much. The adrenaline high I was on when I came out of the YMAs on Monday morning was unbeatable. I'm going to need to return just for that. Here are some highlights of my weekend, chronicling the things I enjoyed the most. The Youth Media Awards: I watch these on my computer all by myself every year, BUT NOTHING can compare to actually being there for it. The energy and excitement in that room are palpable. Listening to the audience reactions on the webcast is nothing beside actually feeling it as it sweeps through the room. The one drawback is that I was unable to write my usual reaction post right away. And I won't be writing a full one up at all. My short thoughts: I love and adore the Schneider, Corretta Scott King, Belpre, and Caldecott committees to the moo...

In case you missed it, the contenders for the School Library Journal Battle of the Books was posted yesterday . If you have never followed BoB before, it can be great fun. Sixteen books and fifteen author judges deciding between them. Honestly, I have mixed feelings on the process, but I get super invested in it at the same time. I love to root for the books I love, and hope the ones I don't like are eliminated early. Checking the judge's decisions is the first thing I do every day during the month of March, and boy can those be revelations in and of themselves. I have decide to read some authors based on the decisions they have written. And many decisions have left me scratching my head. But overall it is a tons of fun to follow and interact with other people who are as passionate about children's literature as I am. This year I don't have an all time favorite as the competition begins. I have no idea what I'm going to do about the Undead Poll, but I'll cr...