Cybils 2015 – Bookmarked!

#cybilsreads: Nimona

“Wow” was all I could say as soon as I finished Noelle Stevenson’s “Nimona.” Very few books manage to surprise me these days, and I must say Nimona blindsided me — I wasn’t expecting to fall completely in love with this book!

Nimona is a young girl with the ability to shapeshift, and she signs on to be the sidekick of the evil villain Lord Ballister Blackheart. Nimona and Blackheart scheme to expose the treachery of the kingdom’s champion (and Blackheart’s nemesis) Ambrosius Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement.

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#cybilsreads: Roller Girl

(Resuming my Cybils reviews!)

Of all the books I’ve had to read for round 2 judging of the Cybils, “Roller Girl” by Victoria Jamieson is the closest to my heart, and I am so happy it came out on top after deliberations and ended up winning the Cybils for graphic novel, in the middle grade category.

In “Roller Girl, it’s the summer before sixth grade, and Astrid is a twelve year-old girl with too much on her plate: a falling out with her best friend, who suddenly doesn’t want to hang out with her anymore; the discovery of a new sport: roller derby, which fascinated her enough to sign up for derby camp (except it turns out she totally sucks at roller derby); and keeping it all from her mom (because how do you tell your mom these things?).

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#Cybils reads: Secret Coders

Now that the Cybils results are out, I can finally post reviews of my Cybils reads! As you may have read earlier, my bookish year started off with round 2 judging of the Cybils (the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards), where I was in the panel for Graphic Novels.

It’s not easy finding the finalist titles here in Manila (I think only three are available in local bookstores, this being one of them) but luckily some publishers have transmitted evaluation copies electronically and there were some books dispatched in the mail so that made it easier for me.

Anyway, as I’m writing a whole bunch of reviews, let me start off with Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang (recently named by the US Library of Congress as a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature) and Mike Holmes.

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