By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 12/15/2016
Very classy coverSynopsis: I'm pretty sure this one is also a Cybils Spec Fic nomination—but since I don't see it on Tanita's immediate review docket, I'm jumping on in! I decided to treat myself with this one because I enjoyed Amy Tintera's... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 12/13/2016
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! We've noticed plenty of "hidden princess"... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 12/9/2016
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! While some girls are horse-crazy from the... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 12/2/2016
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! There are elements to this novel which are... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 11/29/2016
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! I'm not too huge a fan of Fated King stories... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 11/21/2016
Synopsis: Forge and Ashes are the 2nd and 3rd books in the Seeds of America trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson. Way, WAY back in 2009, I reviewed the first book, Chains, and was so glad to know there was a sequel in the works: it was an absorbing tale... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 11/8/2016
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! Tera Lynn Childs' previous novels dealt with... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 11/4/2016
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: Amani Al'Hiza is sixteen, and... 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: Sarah Stevenson,
on 10/3/2016
Synopsis: Sacrifice is the sequel to Serpentine (reviewed here), and follows the continuing quest of Skybright to save her world and the people she loves from encroaching demons. By the end of the first book (minor spoilers ahead, so you might want... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 9/19/2016
Synopsis: The Queen of Blood, which comes out TOMORROW, is a foray into YA crossover fantasy by Sarah Beth Durst, author of numerous wonderful, whimsical, fantastical MG and YA fantasy titles such as (most recently) The Girl Who Could Not Dream... Read the rest of this post
By: Amelia Carruthers,
on 8/20/2016
It's time for holidays! Your suitcase is packed, you're ready to leave, and cannot wait to get a proper tan to show on social media. Mark Twain used to say that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”, but unfortunately the health problems we may come across while travelling are far less poetic. Danger is always lurking, especially in far-flung and unexplored destinations.
The post Around the world in 15 travel health tips appeared first on OUPblog.
By: tanita✿davis,
on 8/20/2016
Welcome to another session of Turning Pages! Last November, I went to the grocery store and saw a display of Día de los Muertos - Day of the Dead - stuff on display - imported from a non-Latin American country overseas, in plastic. I was... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 7/15/2016
Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!Aquafortis got me thinking about comfort reads a few weeks ago. While I really started reading fiction mostly late in high school, I have some read-again books which resonate with me mostly because of... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 7/14/2016
Synopsis: With cover blurbs from the likes of Rachel Hartman, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Anne Ursu, and Ingrid Law, the MG fantasy Sparkers by Eleanor Glewwe should have caught my eye earlier. I met Eleanor at a conference this summer and I'm a... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/27/2016
Synopsis: The first book in this trilogy, The Falconer (reviewed here), was one of those surprise reads for me—as a combination of historical fantasy, faeries, and a dash of steampunk and romance, I wasn't sure I would like it. I've read a lot of... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 6/14/2016
Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!Full disclosure: Gwenda is a blog buddy, and she and AF share the same agent, so this is more of a "hey another Bond book!" advertisement than a terribly critical booktalk. AF reviewed the first book in... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 5/12/2016
Synopsis: Much as the cover of this one might suggest a romance novel or something particularly girly, don't be fooled. The Winner's Kiss is the conclusion to the trilogy that started with The Winner's Curse and The Winner's Crime, both of which I... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/31/2016
Synopsis: If you keep up with Finding Wonderland, you'll know I already have plenty of awe and amazement for graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks. (See reviews here, here, and here, and interview here.) Her latest contribution—officially to be... Read the rest of this post
By: Alice,
on 3/30/2016
Preparation for the Spelling Congress is underway. The more people will send in their proposals, the better. On the other hand (or so it seems to me), the fewer people participate in this event and the less it costs in terms of labor/labour and money, the more successful it will turn out to be. The fate of English spelling has been discussed in passionate terms since at least the 1840s.
The post Etymology gleanings for March 2016 appeared first on OUPblog.
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By: Zoe,
on 3/29/2016
Utterly bonkers and enormously fun for all that, full of wackiness, crazy inventions, tight corners and one seriously big (and invisible) problem to solve, The Genius Factor: How to Capture an Invisible Cat by Paul Tobin (@PaulTobin) with illustrations by Thierry Lafontaine (@ThierryArt) has had me and my eleven year old giggling with delight.
It’s a madcap tale of one bright Nate Bannister, who – rather admirably – makes a conscious effort to keep his life interesting; every Friday the 13th he chooses to do three things which are either a challenge or likely to bring some adventure. This year this includes creating an enormous, invisible cat who does indeed make life rather more exciting… by going on the rampage.
Fortunately Nate has a loyal friend (indeed, his only friend), Delphine, and together they try all sorts of things to stop the crazy cat from destroying their neighbourhood. Inventions galore and smart thinking abound, but it’s not at all straight forward, because the Red Death Tea Society (ominous baddies of the most evil variety, who just happen to have astonishing tea brewing skills) are set on preventing Nate and Delphine from saving the day.
This riotous book, ideal for 9-12s, celebrates being a little bit different and being curious and clever. Brilliantly, it does this with a great dose of silliness and laughter, so it always feels exhilarating and never sanctimonious. Pacey, eccentric, highly imaginative and with characters and a story line likely to appeal to both boys and girls, I’d suggest How to Capture an Invisible Cat to anyone who loves off-the-wall adventure and thinking outside the box.
There’s something very mysterious about the Red Death Tea Society and so we couldn’t resist having a go at making up some tea they might enjoy. We gathered our tea making ingredients; a mixture of warm spices (cinammon, cardomum, cloves, star anise), fresh herbs (rosemary, sage mint), citrus zest (lemon and orange) and sugar lumps, plus small muslin squares to make the teabags (alternatively you could make teabags out of coffee filters using these instructions, or be inspired by this tea bag themed pinterest board).
Deciding on tea flavours was a bit like mixing up magic potions.
Once the flavours were carefully selected, the muslin squares (about 12cm long on each side) were tied up with red thread, and a tea bag label was stapled onto the thread (using a knot to hold it in place).
M designed the logo for the teabags, but if you’d like to use them you can download them here (pdf).
Once all our teabags were ready, we made boxes for them:
(Again, if you’d like to re-use the logo, here it is in a large size, idea for using on boxes.)
We filled some our boxes up (you’d better watch out, in case you find one on your doorstep!)…
But we also had to brew some tea for ourselves:
And of course, a cup of tea without a biscuit is no good, so we made some invisible cat cookies.
Yes, you may be able to see them, but this is only because they contain that magical invisible cat de-cloaking device (spoiler alert): peanut butter. (Here’s the recipe we used.)
Whilst making tea and eating peanut butter cat biscuits we listened to:
Other activities which might work well alongside reading How to Capture an Invisible Cat include:
If you liked this post you might like these other posts by me:
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Disclosure: I was sent a free review copy of this book by the publisher and this post is the final part of a blog tour that’s been travelling around the world:
Monday, March 21 — Daddy Mojo (US)
Tuesday, March 22 — Nerdy Book Club (US)
Wednesday, March 23 — Jenuine Cupcakes (US)
Thursday, March 24 — This Kid Reviews Books (US)
Friday, March 25 — Fiction Fascination (UK)
Monday, March 28 — Gobblefunked (ANZ)
Tuesday, March 29 — MumtoFive.com (ANZ)
Wednesday, March 30 — Playing by the Book (UK)
By: tanita✿davis,
on 3/29/2016
Welcome to another session of Turning Pages! Synopsis: Long ago, Fei's community of hearing impaired people was cut off from others by a huge rockslide. Their mining community continued to mine, and to send down their wealth of metals via zipline... 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
Yep, this is a Cybs, and you got the review in before me. I'm falling behind...!
I am so behind on everything it isn't even funny. Getting there, albeit slowly. I've had to skip a lot of reviews, though, and even logging my reading on Goodreads has seemed like too much. This year I thought longingly about doing Cybils Round 1 again someday, though... If I'm good, I might manage it next year.