The Shortlisted Elementary/Middle Grade speculative fiction books for the 2019 Cybils Awards!

Today's the day for the announcements of the 2019 Cybils Awards Shortlists! I'm the category organizer for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, and I'm so proud of our love list of seven books!

Cog, by Greg van Eekhout
The Dark Lord Clementine, by Sarah Jean Horwitz
Homerooms and Hall Passes, by Tom O'Donnell
Love Sugar Magic: A Sprinkle of Spirits, by Anna Meriano
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, by Kwame Mbalia
We're Not From Here, by Geoff Rodkey

Thanks so much to my fellow first round panelists:

Debbie Tanner, The Booksearch
Beth Mitchell, Imaginary Friends
Jennifer Miller, Raise Them Righteous
Sondra Eklund, Sonderbooks

Now it's over to the round 2 judges, who have to pick just one to be the winner! The announcement's on February 14.

And if you think it sounds like fun to read over 100 elementary/mg sci fi and fantasy books, and pick seven, you are right and should apply to be a Cybils panelist next year. The only requirement is that you write or talk about books on line. Look for the call for panelists next August!

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The Princess Who Flew with Dragons, by Stephanie Burgis

I still am busily reading elementary/middle grade speculative fiction a in my roles as a judge for the Cybils Awards (mainly going back to re-read things I read early last year), but I am in good enough shape that I treated myself one dreary day last week to a shiny and new and much anticipated book-- The Princess Who Flew with Dragons , by Stephanie Burgis (Bloomsbury, November 2019). This is the third in the series that began with The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (link to my review), and it's possibly the one I enjoyed most. I certainly think it was the fastest read; it was a (more or less) single-sitting of about an hour read for me (when I like a book and need to know what's going to happen next, I read faster, and it was relatively short-- 216 pages). Princess Sophia, who we met in Book 2, The Girl with a Dragon Heart , is the main character here, and when her story begins, she's being sent by her older sister, the ruling princess, to a distant city to attend a Worl...

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The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, by Ronald L. Smith (review and interview)

I first had the pleasure of meeting Ronald L. Smith at Kidlitcon back in 2015 (PSA--come to Kidlitcon 2020 in Ann Arbor next March!). His first middle grade book, Hoodoo, a tale of supernatural horror in the south, had just been published, and I enjoyed it very much ( my review ). I likewise enjoyed The Mesmerist (2017), about kids fighting evil in 19th century London ( my review ). I never reviewed Black Panther: the Young Prince (2018)….someday I will. So in any event, I was very excited about his most recent book, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away (Clarion Books, February 2019). This is the story of an air force kid, Simon, son of a black mom and a white dad, who's obsessed with aliens. He's convinced owl-like aliens have arrived, watching and experimenting on humans. His family has no time or patience for aliens, so Simon is alone with his fears of the Grays, as he calls them. When something very strange happens on a camping trip with hi...

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The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, by Christopher Edge

I'm still holding on to the middle grade sci fi/fantasy books of 2019, with a slightly over the top grim determination to read all the ones at hand before the end of January...(fortunately January 2020 is not a huge mg sci fi/fantasy release month, so I'm sure I can catch up on this year's in just a few days of reading!). The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day , by Christopher Edge, is an English import that came out here in the US back in April 2019 (Delecorte), and in 2018 in the UK. It's a story of sisters caught in an altered reality, with time and space gone wonky, with birthday balloons and tasty food meeting a horror of chaos and despair. It's Maisie's tenth birthday, and her parents are making a huge effort to give her a great party. The greatness of the party is supposed to make up for the fact that none of her friends are coming. Maisie in fact has none at all. She's a home-schooled science and math prodigy, who's never had a chance to socialize ...

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