Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Cover Love is hosted by Bookshelvers Anonymous and is for the purpose of sharing the love of amazing and wonderful covers. Today I am featuring Christopher Healy's Heros Guide books. These covers are some of my favorites to show up in the past couple of years. As a bonus the cover is even better when you spread the whole jacket out and see it in its entirety. (At least it was with book 1, hoping for the same with book 2.)  I adored The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom cover from the first time I saw it. Then I read the book and loved it even more because it just nails the whole things so perfectly. Characters, story, ambiance. It gets it right. The fierce defiant look on Ella's face. The sneering bratty face on Briar Rose. Liam's face and the what-is-wrong-with-you-girl-why-would-I-want-to-marry-someone-like-you expression he's giving Briar Rose. Perfect. I really didn't think they would be able to match that first cover. But they did. The Hero...

Being greatly fond of both When You Reach Me ( my thoughts ) and Liar & Spy ( my thoughts ) I thought is was high time I read Rebecca Stead's first novel First Light . I am very glad I did. Synopsis (from Goodreads): Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and–finally–share in his dad’s adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and entice him. Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they’ve built deep inside the arctic ice. As Thea dreams of a path to Earth’s surface, Peter’s search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home.    Like Stead's other works First Light is a mystery of sorts. I love the way she writes, creating a tone of uncertainty and yet connecting th...

Newbery Honors: Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage My Thoughts: I really like this group. Bomb was my favorite going in and I'm happy to see that it won an Honor. I like that this is a diverse group of books with many different strengths and a wide range of appeal. Printz Honors: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe written by Benjamin Alire Sáenz Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein Dodger by Terry Pratchett The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna My Thoughts: As usual when confronted with a Printz winner all I can think after reading the synopsis is, "Wow that sounds hopelessly depressing." Some of the Printz Award winners have surprised me (two actually). I'm really disappointed Code Name Verity didn't win, but at least it won an Honor. Caldecott Honors: Creepy Carrots! illustrated ...

Monday is the day that all kid lit lovers look forward to with bated breath. After months of reading, analyzing, discussing, and rooting for our favorites we will know the winners of the 2013 Caldecott, Newbery, and Printz medals. Exciting stuff. As always I have some thoughts. And they are MY thoughts. I don't do predictions. The Newbery is the award I'm the most familiar with both in terms of past winners and current contenders so we will start there. I will be over the moon with happiness to see any of these win: I will be almost as pleased to see a host of other books get that shiny gold sticker: The One and Only Ivan , Splendors and Glooms , Starry River of the Sky, Crow, (though I would like to see another genre than historical fiction win the day this year). I may cry if Wonder (which I liked but think is far from the most distinguished book of the year) or Summer of the Gypsy Moths (which I neither liked nor found distinguished) wins. I think it would be tre...

The contenders for School Library Journal's Battle of the Books has been posted . This should give everyone plenty of time to read all the books. I am excited because I only have three to read. The list this is year is the top notch. Monica, Roxanne, and Jonathan did a great job as usual. Bomb by Steve Sheinkin ( my review ) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ( my review ) Endangered by Eliot Schrefer ( my review ) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ( my review ) Jepp Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead ( my review ) Moonbird by Philip Hoose ( my review ) No Crystal Stair by Vauda Micheaux Nelson ( my review ) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ( my review ) Seraphina by Rachel Hartman ( my review ) Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz ( my review ) Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin ( my review ) Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery Three Times Lucky by Shiela Turnage ( my review ) Titanic...

Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson is the sequel to her incredibly popular much beloved Newbery  Honor book Hattie Big Sky . It's been a while since I read the first book. I remember enjoying it, but I enjoyed Hattie Ever After even more. Probably because I am a city girl and my eyes sort of glaze over reading anything about the prairie. Also Hattie Ever After is really well crafted. Synopsis (from Goodreads): After leaving Uncle Chester's homestead claim, orphan Hattie Brooks throws a lasso around a new dream, even bigger than the Montana sky. She wants to be a reporter, knowing full well that a few pieces published in the Arlington News will not suffice. Real reporters must go to Grand Places, and do Grand Things, like Hattie's hero Nellie Bly. Another girl might be stymied by this, but Hattie has faced down a hungry wolf and stood up to a mob of angry men. Nothing can squash her desire to write for a big city newspaper. A letter and love token from Uncle Ch...

There are several YA titles that came out when my daughter was first born that I missed out on and I have wanted to read for ages. I decided that I should probably do something about that rather than just thinking about it. I started with The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart. I read the much acclaimed The Disreputable History of Frankie  Landau Banks by Lockhart and had mixed feelings overall, but liked the writing so much that I really wanted to give one of her other books a go. This one I enjoyed oh so much. Synopsis (from Goodreads): Fifteen-year-old Ruby has had a rough ten days. During that time she:    * lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list)    * lost her best friend (Kim)    * lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)    * did something suspicious with a boy (#10)    * did something advanced with a boy (#15)    * h...