Yesterday, on Valentine's Day, a special day for many loving reasons, the winners of the 2015 Cybils Awards were announced. You can find all the winners here. I'm proud to have participated in this final judging round for poetry, and excited to share our choice this year. It wasn't easy; the finalists sent to us are all marvelous and enjoyable books. I enjoyed working with the other judges in our group, Diane Mayr, Laura Shovan, Heidi Mordhorst Rosemary Marotta, and our facilitator, Jone McCullough.
The poetry winner this year is:
Flutter & Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems / Poems de Animales by Julie Paschkis
I read quite a bit this week, and loved them all. For those of you who have urged me to read Rooftoppers and The Wolf Wilder, I thank you. They are wonderful stories.
Rooftoppers - Katherine Rundell, with illustrations by Terry Fan
Many have urged me to read this book, and
somehow I put it off until this past week. What a pleasure, what a sweet
adventure. It’s so creative in its characterization. Like Sophie, the main
character, some parts of the book made me want to sit on my hands to be sure I
was not going to jump out of my seat. A ship sinks, and a one-year-old baby is
found sitting alone in a cello case, in the middle of the English Channel. The
man who lifted the baby out of the water was a fellow passenger, and as the
book says, “noticed that it was a girl, with hair the color of lightning, and
the smile of a shy person.” This was Sophie, and Charles, who became her
caregiver. He had not raised a child before, and as she grew, some things
became unusual, like Sophie breaking plates (no reason given) so they ate on
books. And other things became wonderful, like the utter trust and love they
had for each other, often shown in action (Charles gave her twelve
leather-bound classic books on her twelfth birthday and they ate ice cream in
the rain from the outside box of a four-horse carriage). Unfortunately, a Miss
Eliot from the National Childcare Agency kept interrupting their lives with
frequent visits to see if Charles was doing a good job. The story shared that
she had “an expression like a damp sock.” And sadly, she was not only going to
disrupt their lives, but recommend that Sophie be taken away to live in an
orphanage, so she can learn about the proper way of buttons and to wear skirts,
and on. That’s where the story becomes even more wonderful. There are more
adventures, other good-to-know characters and hair-raising risks for Sophie and
Charles. If you’ve missed this book as I have, please find and read it soon! There
is so much I haven't written because I want you to discover those parts
yourself.
You will see that not only did I finally read The Rooftoppers, I
fairly raced through this latest one by Katherine Rundell. Oh, wow, it is
marvelous.