Completely Full Bookshelf

Well, I didn't get a book read this week, so I read three picture books on Saturday night so I could get a post together for you all! And hey—that's three books off my TBR list, which I'll count as a win. By the way, I got through all the things I was panicking about last week—I visited my three Halloween parties (I even had a little bit of fun—imagine that), and I got my short story submitted for class! Huzzah—now I should have some time this week to start a graphic novel that showed up in the mail. And since I'm throwing this post together on an enormous time crunch, my reviews will probably be pretty short—you can expect a longer post next week. But let's dive into these picture books! Wishes Written by Mượn Thị Văn and i llustrated by Victo Ngai Preview the illustrations on Amazon          This book has been waiting on my bookshelves for months—but I finally got around to reading it after seeing it recommended by Linda Baie at TeacherDance , Sierra Dert...

This week is shaping up to be INSANE. Besides my plan to attend three different Halloween parties (no comment), I am taking a creative writing course, and I have a short story that is due this Sunday—and I'm planning to write something pretty long that I haven't actually started drafting yet (I just have the outline), so I kind of need to get moving on all that. It probably won't be that bad to write—I just don't want to do it! I just want to go read books and play Animal Crossing  and NOT stay up late—seriously, I stay up 20 minutes past my bedtime and then I am noticeably exhausted the next day. College, y'all—it's a thing. Moving along, today we have a review of yet another truly AMAZING graphic novel (we've been on a great stretch following The Girl From the Sea  and Other Boys )—today's book is Nimona  by ND Stevenson. I wasn't sure if this book was MG or YA when I started it, but after reading it, I am quite sure  this book is better for a YA a...

How are you all holding up? I've had some good and bad experiences involving technology lately. The bad: I was helping run an event at my university on Microsoft Teams, and we were using a Teams live event instead of a Teams meeting (it's like a Zoom webinar instead of a Zoom meeting, except you have to actually choose who/what is visible on screen at any given time by clicking on a bunch of stuff). What happened is, every time one of us went live on the audiences' screens, our entire Teams window disappeared (except for the buttons and the chat), so we couldn't see the slides we were reading off of! I had to pull mine up in my web browser while making awkward technology-rage small talk to the audience. Not a blast. And then the good of technology (which is  very  tangentially related to part of my review): back at the start of the pandemic, I started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons  like about 30 million other people did (although I'd actually been playing ga...

I hope you all are holding up well! I'm writing this review on Saturday afternoon , not Saturday night—that's how you know I'm relatively organized right now. (I used to have these done way earlier in the week, but this year, college has thrown a real wrench in that.) Also, as a judge for the Cybils Awards, I wanted to remind everyone that you have through Friday, October 15  to nominate your favorite kidlit books for the awards! You can  see the details here —I highly encourage you all to take a look and suggest some books for consideration! Now I just need to figure out what to nominate...   (Update on Sunday night: I submitted my first nomination, and you can expect to hear about it on the blog in the coming weeks!) Anyway, today I am recommending an absolutely fabulous YA graphic novel: The Girl From the Sea  by Molly Knox Ostertag. And I'll warn you, I just wrote a paragraph where I said I would "briefly" discuss something and then had to go back and del...

Before we get to the review, I'd like to share some random tidbits with you all. First of all, exciting news—I'm going to be a Round 2 Judge for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction for the Cybils Awards this year!!! You can click here to see my full announcement post. Next, I apologize for being so behind on replying to my own blog comments—I'm trying to prioritize reading other people's posts and commenting on those, but my schedule has forced me to leave some gaps in my usual blogging routine, so I will try to get caught up at some point. Speaking of my schedule, in my personal life, I recently had the rewarding-but-draining experience of helping to coordinate a big project that was a massive pain in the neck for days on end but ended up being a lot of fun for a lot of people—so definitely worth it, but also quite exhausting! Another random thought—is anyone else waiting semi-impatiently for the sequel to Awkward , Brave , and Crush  by Svetlana Chmakova? Her website...

I've got big news, everyone: For 2021, I'll be a Round 2 Judge for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction for the Cybils Awards! Now, many of you know what that means, but if you don't, let me explain. The Cybils Awards are a set of kidlit book awards run primarily by other book bloggers! Publishers and the general public nominate books in October, Round 1 Panelists read the nominated books and create a shortlist of finalists for each category, and Round 2 Judges (like me) read the finalists and choose winners for their categories by February. I've seen many other book bloggers serve as Cybils panelists and judges throughout the years, and even this year, there's many familiar faces I've seen announced (who I will now shout out): Kim Aippersbach , Vidya Tiru , Beth Mitcham (now a category chair!), Helen Murdoch , Cheriee Weichel , Linda Baie , Alex Baugh , Beth Schmelzer , Stacy Mozer , and Andrea Mack ! Helen Murdoch gave me a push in my comment section to apply ...

Hello everyone! I'm excited for round 5 of Picture Book Pandemonium, because today, we're taking a look specifically at some nonfiction picture books. Let's get started! Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America's Doctor Written by Kate Messner Illustrated by Alexandra Bye Preview the illustrations on Amazon          If you're in the U.S. and have been paying attention during the pandemic, you've probably heard in the news from Dr. Anthony Fauci, who, according to Wikipedia, is the current chief medical advisor to the president and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (which I feel bears noting is not the same as the CDC). Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts , Kellee Moye at Unleashing Readers , Alex Baugh at Randomly Reading ,  Beth Shaum at A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust , and Crystal Brunelle at Reading Through Life  have all been recommending ...