waiting on wednesday (84)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This meme will be the death of me. No, nix that. To give credit where credit is due: my own book hoarding desires will be the death of me. It'll happen when an overstuffed bookshelf falls on me as I try to fit just one more precious volume onto the shelf. All that to say, yes, I'm still longing for new books, even though I have hundreds of unread lovelies at home. I'm working on it (kind of). One book I love LOVE loved, and wouldn't have discovered if it hadn't been for blogging, was Kate Elliott's Cold Magic. That book was/is a perfect Cecelia book, and though I didn't love the rest of the series with quite the same passion, I've been watching Elliott's releases with a close eye to see if there'll be another HIT! in my future (the all CAPS bit was necessary). Lo and freaking behold, Elliott has a YOUNG ADULT FANTASY coming out next summer. You may recall that this is my favorite genre. I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled, even. Yay, so excited!* Court of Fives will be released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette) on August 18, 2015.

A teenage girl secretly competes in her city's prestigious athletic competitions in this high-fantasy adventure that can be pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games meets Little Women.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death. 

What books are you waiting on?

*All of the expression in today's post was absolutely necessary. I'm feeling giddy.

over and under the snow

My close friends are having children.  I've spread the word that I intend to contribute to (or manufacture out of whole cloth) the picture book libraries of these little ones.  I realize that my thoughts on the proper curation of picture book libraries = perfect blog material, but I haven't gotten myself 'together' enough on a Tuesday to do a themed post of Top 10 Books for a Baby's Library.  I have thoughts, though... oh! so many thoughts.  It will have to happen soon.  One of the books that would definitely make my list (for girls and boys) is Kate Messner’s nonfiction picture book, Over and Under the Snow.

Over the snow, the world is hushed and white.

But under the snow is a secret world of squirrels and snowshoe hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many other animals who live through the winter, safe and warm under the snow.

A parent and child cross-country ski through on a winter's day, discussing the various animals that hibernate, burrow and survive winter in their unique snowy habitat.  While they travel along, some animals meet them above ground, while others stay hidden, under the snow.  The book's action is (ostensibly) carried along by an afternoon skiing trip, but the pages focus on the animals in the woods rather than the human travelers observing them.

This book is a beautiful, refreshing entry into the winter-themed picture book canon.  First off, it is really lovely: Christopher Silas Neal's mixed media artwork is fantastic, and brings the wintry, wooded landscape to life.  The contrast of colors and materials show the animals and their habitats in detail, and draw the eye to different parts of the page for each separate scene.  Whether the reader pays any attention to the text or not, he/she is sure to be engaged by the images, for they tell the story very well on their own.

And that's not to say that the text lacks anything!  It's got a great rhythm to it, with just the right mix of repetition, interest and action that the whole comes together into an ordinary/extraordinary adventure.  Add in thought-provoking facts about animal habits, and you have a book that is entertaining, educational, and all-around a work of art.  The mix of fantastic storytelling through art and text will keep the interest of readers of all ages.

Another (small) thing I appreciated about this book is that it references winter without any of the holiday touchstones which might throw kids for a loop.  My friends work in public schools with extremely diverse student populations, and for some of their students, Christmas, Hanukkah and other winter holidays are foreign concepts.  This book is about snow and animals.  The turn of seasons is universal (and unexceptionable)!

Recommended for: anyone looking for a new classic children's picture book to add to their collection, and fans of Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day and Levi Pinfold's Black Dog.

top ten new-to-me authors i read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

This week most of my fellow Top Ten Tuesday meme compatriots are sharing their 'Best of 2014' lists, but I'm nowhere near ready.  My best-of-the-year list will likely appear... in late January, if tradition holds! I haven't yet shared my favorite new (to me) author finds from 2014, so that's what's happening today.  I look forward to what these authors will do in the future, and in the case of a few, delving into their backlists.  New author discovery is a wonderful thing!

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2014

1. Rosamund Hodge – If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I feel strongly about fantasy world-building, good writing, and that I'm a sucker for fairy tales retold.  Hodge wrote two fantastic standalone stories that combined all three this year (Cruel Beauty and Gilded Ashes).  I can't to see what she does next.

2. Malala Yousafzai – Recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala is an inspiring figure and a whip-smart student.  Her memoir I Am Malala makes it clear that this girl/woman is destined for even greater things.  I hope she continues to write, because her story and her drive make for fantastic reading.

3. Emily Croy Barker – Dear the world, I would like to see more intelligent, thoughtful, feminist adult fantasy out there.  Take The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic as an example, and we'll all be fine.  Seriously!  Love, Me.

4. Sylvia Izzo Hunter – One debut author this year wrote just the sort of book that gives me warm fuzzy feelings.  The Midnight Queen was a gem.  Can't wait for more in this world!

5. Rachel Neumeier – I've had several people tell me over the years that I should really try Neumeier's books.  Charlotte at Charlotte's Library is a big fan, and I felt bad that the one book I'd picked up previously went back to the library mostly unread.  Enter Black Dog.  I was smitten with the heroine of this book from page one.  I get the hype now!

6. Ben Hatke – Do you like comics/graphic novels/picture books?  Basically, anything that counts as story+illustration on paper?  Get thee to a Ben Hatke book!  His middle grade sci-fi graphic novel Zita the Spacegirl and totally adorable picture book Julia's House for Lost Creatures turned me into a huge fan.  

7. Maya Angelou – Here is a sad thing: Sometimes it takes an ending to get the ball rolling.  In this case, I knew of Angelou, but I had never read her.  I was inspired to pick up her cookbook Hallelujah! The Welcome Table after her death in May, and I was impressed, inspired and all-around entertained by her writing.  The only negative emotion around here is regret, that I didn't get to her work before she passed.

8. Kat Ellis – Blackfin Sky.  This book!  It's quirky and weird and the kind of morbid that I find funny.  It's also got a circus, a dead girl, and one (or several?) murderers.  Just the sort of thriller-y read for a cold winter's night, and just the sort of push I needed to start following Ellis.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

9. Lydia Millet – Lydia Millet made me want to read dystopian YA again, just when I thought I couldn't handle any more.  Her eco- and pharma-apocalyptic diary Pills and Starships hit all of the right notes (for me).  I'll happily look into her backlist now!

10. Leah Cypess – How did this author win me over?  With assassins, magic, a corrupt political system and a cave.  Also, love?  And plots!  Death Sworn was a roller coaster of a book and I'm always up for fantastical adventures...

I’m excited to go hunting through posts of best new authors from last week.  Tell me, who were your new favorite authors in 2014?

monday memories – the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Emma of Miss Print and Nicole at The Book Bandit have started a new weekly feature called Monday Memories.  To participate, all you have to do is take a photo of one of your books (or a library book that means a lot to you) and talk a bit about why it made an impression.  Today I'm going to talk about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

I grew up on the Chronicles of Narnia series.  My mother read the books aloud to those of us who would listen (I was… seven, maybe?), going all the way through the series, even though we didn’t really ‘get’ The Last Battle.  Several years later, she reread them again, so that my brothers (who had been toddlers the first time around) could get the same experience.  I remember that first time through the series with fondness – I fell a little in love with Mr. Tumnus and Puddleglum – but I got to see the books through my brothers’ eyes the second time.  They adored Mr. & Mrs. Beaver, and Reepicheep the mouse, and all of the sword fighting and battles.  There’s something very special about seeing a book you love come to life for a loved one.

When my mother was reading through the books the first time, she borrowed library copies, but the second time around, my grandmother had sent her own copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  It stayed with us.  When my parents were paring down their own book collection a few years ago I snagged it for my shelves.  And last night, when I was photographing it for this feature, I realized that it is a first edition. 

WHAT.

Needless to say, I will be careful with it forever after.  I already loved this book, but now it’s precious.  Oh, books!  May my love affair with you never end.