By: tanita✿davis,
on 11/1/2016
Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader! As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.Enjoy! Synopsis: "There's a lot in the universe... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 10/28/2016
Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader! As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.Enjoy! Synopsis: At first, Zen Starling was just a... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 10/25/2016
Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader! As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.Enjoy! Synopsis: A year from today, Dylan will... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 10/21/2016
Welcome to the 2016 Cybils Speculative Reader! As a first run reader for the Cybils, I'll be briefly introducing you to the books on the list, giving you a mostly unbiased look at some of the plot.Enjoy! Synopsis: In a series of flashbacks, the... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 10/14/2016
The Cybils Nomination period ends October 15th! Have you made your nomination in every category you can? Turn your attention to something fun - and non-election related, thus SOMEWHAT LIFESAVING AND BETTER THAN FUN - and nominate your favorite 2016... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/17/2016
Check it out--no whitewashing here!Synopsis: The Fog Diver was this year's Cybils Award winner for Elementary and Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction, and I've been intending to read it for several months now—so when it won the Cybils I made a... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 2/12/2016
This year AF and I were on the same judging panel - which has never happened before! There were some really interesting finalists this year; do stay tuned to find out what we - and the rest of our hep cat crew - chose for the YA Speculative Fiction... Read the rest of this post
By: Cathy and Louise,
on 11/9/2015
Overturning Wrongful Convictions: science serving justice by Elizabeth A. Murray, PhD Twenty-First Century Books. 2015 ISBN: 9781467725132 Grades 8-12 I borrowed a copy of this book from my local public library. This is a Cybils book. The opinion expressed in this review is mine, not the committee's. Being wrongfully convicted of a crime you didn’t commit and spending years
By: Jennie,
on 11/5/2015
This is a Cybils book, but the opinion expressed in this review is just mine, and not the committee's.
Here's the guide you've been waiting for on Fandom 101, especially for girls. Everything is covered--how to get started, next steps to take, great books to read and shows to wath, how to make an awesome cosplay costume, tips for writing awesome fanfic, finding your people, and dealing with various levels of trolls. Parts of it are a general rah rah rah celebration of fandom, and parts are very nitty gritty hands-on practical advice (which sites you'll want to be on, but with a throw-away name/email that's not linked to any of your other social media)
It's great and interesting and wonderful with one major fatal flaw that made me want to throw it across the room. It's written right on the back-cover, but I didn't read it, because too much is obscured with library stickers. It's "The Geek Girl's Litany for Feminism."
I m a geek girl and I am a feminist... I don't have to prove my nerd cred to anyone, ever.
From SuperWhoLock to Shakarian, I accept all fandoms and ships as equally meaningful and important in our geek girl lives...I will support empowering, lady-created media and amazing female characters...
Buffy, not Bella
There a lot of media out there (like Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey) that glorifies abusive, controlling, or even violent behavior as a romantic relationship. When we read these books and think, "Wow, that's so sweet that he shows up at her house, uninvited, at night while she's unconscious, to watch her sleep!" we subconsciously accept that behavior as okay.
By: Jennie,
on 10/19/2015
This is a Cybils book, but the opinion expressed in this review is just mine, and not the committee's.
It opens with Elena in a hospital in Germany, not sure why her chest hurts so much. She's then medically evacuated to the US, to be treated for anorexia. She next years are a tangle in and out of treatment as everyone watches Elena slip away while she insists she's fine.
This is co-written with her mother, who is a novelist, and it was that story-telling sensibility. Part of that is we are in Elena's head for the entire time, and not Elena-looking-back, but Elena-then, so... holy unreliable narrator Batman. It's a pretty warped (albeit fascinating) perspective.
One thing I would have liked is something on what was "really" happening during all of this, because Elena's POV is so divorced from reality. (of course, I could just read her mother's memoir of the same time, Hope and Other Luxuries: A Mother's Life with a Daughter's Anorexia)
It's painful and hard to read, but also hard to put down.
Book Provided by... my local library
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
By: Jennie,
on 10/6/2015
Cybils Nominations are Open!
There haven't been that many nominations yet in YA Nonfiction, and we need some more books to read so that we can pick the best ones!
When I was preparing for the Cybils, I started looking around to see what books had gotten stars or a lot of good review so I could start placing my holds and gathering up potential nominees.
Are you still looking for something to nominate? Here's a list of things that I found that would be a good nominee, but no one's nominated yet:
Fuel Under Fire: Petroleum and Its Perils by Margaret J. Goldstein
Courage & Defiance: Stories of Spies, Saboteurs, and Survivors in World War II Denmark by Deborah Hopkinson
The Untold History of the United States, Volume 1: Young Readers Edition, 1898-1945 by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, adapted by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus
The Boys in the Boat: The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics (Young Readers Adaptation) by Daniel James Brown
Also, on Sunday, Jean Little Library posted a long list of possible nominations--all of her suggestions for YA Nonfiction are still waiting to be nominated!
Anyone can nominate! If you're reading this YOU CAN NOMINATE. Go do it.
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
By: Tricia,
on 9/18/2015
By: Sheila Ruth,
on 8/19/2015
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 4/20/2015
If you haven't been over to the Cybils blog in a while, you're missing out--there's been regularly posted content, including book reviews, featured bloggers, and interviews with this year's award winners. AND, there is a new, fun recurring feature:... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/16/2015
Summary: Horror fans take note: if you're a fan of, say, Holly Black, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Allan Poe--you will not want to miss this graphic novel compilation of spooky tales by webcomic artist Emily Carroll. It's beautiful, and frightening, and... Read the rest of this post
By: Jennie,
on 3/11/2015
As you know, I was a second-round Cybils judge this year in YA Nonfiction. To help me prepare, and to have fun arm-chairing the first-round panelists, I read several of the nominations when the first-round was reading them, too.
And, while I was reading, I knit a scarf.
It is warm and cozy and can also be worn as a loose hood to keep my ears warm while not messing up my hair.
It also can cover large portions of my face when the weather requires!
The pattern isn't 100% exact, but if you want to knit one too, here's the general recipe. The actual knitting is pretty easy, but you have to be able to do it while reading. (Knitting while reading is my superpower. It got me through college--the knitting kept me awake while reading boring articles, and if that wasn't enough, I could randomly stab myself with a needle to help me perk up.)
Gather a few colors of yarn in a similar weight.
For this scarf, I used a KnitPicks lace sampler that had been sitting in my stash forever. It's a mix of their various lace-weight yarns, a total of 5 colors.
Find a gauge that gives a nice drape, but is tight enough to still be warm
For me, that was 5 stitches/inch on a size 3 needle.
Cast on 60 inches worth of stitches
So... 300 for me. BUT I did not take into account that, when worn, the weight would stretch it, so it's a lot longer than I intended, so I can loop it 3 times instead of 2.
Join round, being careful not to twist stitches, mark beginning of round
I totally twisted my stitches. :(
Knit in the round while reading your first book
Yes, you have to read and knit at the same time.
When you finish your book, break yarn, join next color
Don't worry about finishing the round. I used a split splice so I wouldn't have to weave in any ends. As you're striping, you can't really tell where the yarns overlap in the finished project.
Purl in the round (reverse stockinette stitch) in the round while reading your next book
Repeat in this way until you've read all your books or are running out of yarn.
I ran out of yarn. Some books were read more than once (especially on the short list) so they have multiple stripes.
Finish final round, bind off in pattern
Lightly steam block
One of the things that makes it so cozy is that the changing between stockinette and reverse stockinette make it bunch up, so it's even more extra warm!
Here's a close up of my striping pattern:
One stripe is not a full round long. Nonfiction lends itself to this, as the books tend to be a size where they stay open nicely on their own. A stapler across the top of the pages also works well to hold it open. If you're working with longer books, you can also switch every chapter or reading/knitting session. I kinda want to do one that is smaller (so it'll just be a cowl, no looping) in shades of dark gray/black with the stories in one of the City Noir books.
Also, just to brag, here's the vintage WWI poster you can see in the edge of the frame:
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/9/2015
Summary: Told through the eyes of a grandmother recalling her childhood during the Nazi occupation of Paris, this story takes the wrenching events of the Holocaust and shows how important it is to remember our history and set it free so that the... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/2/2015
Summary: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II are, by now, well-known to American and African American history. But the regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters--the Army's 369th infantry unit--were the first American unit to reach the Rhine in the... Read the rest of this post
By: Emily,
on 2/27/2015
CREEPY AS ALL HELL,
and wonderfully rich and
compelling to boot.
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll. McElderry/S&S, 2014, 208 pages.
By: Emily,
on 2/25/2015
A different story
of internment, with
complicated characters.
Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner. Disney, 2014, 144 pages.
By: tanita✿davis,
on 2/24/2015
This book is a 2015 Cybils Award YA Speculative Fiction Finalist. This is a review by a finalist judge, so will focus more directly on summary. We hope you pick up this Cybil nominee, read, and enjoy! Summary: Sixteen-year-old Ava is a dichotomy -... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 2/23/2015
Summary: This book has got a great title. Rest assured the premise lives up to the promise. This was one of my personal favorite titles from this year's excellent crop of Cybils graphic novel finalists. The autobiographical story of how the author... Read the rest of this post
By: Emily,
on 2/23/2015
A story of wartime
bravery, tainted by
shameful racism.
The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks. Broadway Books, 2014, 272 pages.
By: Emily,
on 2/20/2015
A turtle for our time:
