Category: Windows & Mirrors

cybils ya spec fic short list books
Book Awards, Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

The CYBILS Award YA Speculative Fiction Short List – A Wrap-up

Serving as a judge for the CYBILS Book Awards provided me with the opportunity to discuss 7 great stories with fellow book nerds. I read the spec fic category, which includes fantasy, sci fi, magical realism, and alternate history – all genres with lots of world building and action! If this is the type of story you enjoy, you should check out these short-listed books. It was hard to pick a winner! Continue reading The CYBILS Award YA Speculative Fiction Short List – A Wrap-up

Rebecca J. AllenLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Featured: GAME OF STARS

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. This week we are featuring GAME OF STARS, book #2 in the KIRANMALA AND THE KINGDOM BEYOND series by Sayantani DasGupta. Princess Kiranmala is back home in plain old New Jersey, trying to readjust to normal middle school life. Just four months ago … Continue reading Featured: GAME OF STARS

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Featured: WATCH US RISE by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. This week we are featuring WATCH US RISE by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan. Chelsea and Jasmine grow frustrated with the way girls are treated at their supposedly progressive New York City high school– body shaming, stereotyping, and unapproved … Continue reading Featured: WATCH US RISE by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Featured: The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. This week we are featuring The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith. I have been wanting to read The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away since before I knew the title! Ronald. L. … Continue reading Featured: The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Featured: THE BRIDGE HOME by Padma Venkatraman

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring THE BRIDGE HOME by Padma Venkatraman. Eleven-year-old Viji and her younger sister Rukku quickly discover how vulnerable they are when they run away from their abusive father and try to make a home for themselves … Continue reading Featured: THE BRIDGE HOME by Padma Venkatraman

Michelle Leonard1 Comment
Book Recommendations, Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Featured: THE LOVE & LIES OF RUKHSANA ALI by Sabina Khan

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring THE LOVE & LIES OF RUKHSANA ALI by Sabina Khan.  Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali’s life is nearly perfect. She has great friends, good grades, and she and her very cool girlfriend are headed to Caltech in the … Continue reading Featured: THE LOVE & LIES OF RUKHSANA ALI by Sabina Khan

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Windows & Mirrors, Young Adult

Featured: THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS by Bill Konigsberg

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS by Bill Konigsberg! Max and Jordan couldn’t be more different on the outside. Max is an athletic, half white/half Latino dude bro who is in the closet about his sexuality with his … Continue reading Featured: THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS by Bill Konigsberg

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Windows & Mirrors Feature: TIGHT by Torrey Maldonado

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. This week we are featuring Tight by Torrey Maldonado Bryan is a Puerto Rican sixth grader whose home life is always full of drama. He has a very awkward relationship with his dad, who is newly released from prison. … Continue reading Windows & Mirrors Feature: TIGHT by Torrey Maldonado

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Featured: YOU DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING, JILLY P! by Alex Gino

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino! Jilly loves hanging out on the fan site for her favorite book series, the Magically Mysterious Vidalia trilogy. She’s especially good friends with username=profoundinoaktown, a boy … Continue reading Featured: YOU DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING, JILLY P! by Alex Gino

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Picture Books, Windows & Mirrors

Alice Faye Duncan- A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring TWO new books by author and librarian Alice Faye Duncan! First up, A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks. Through free verse, Alice Faye Duncan celebrates the life and times of Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet whose gifts … Continue reading Alice Faye Duncan- A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

Michelle LeonardLeave a comment
Book Recommendations, Middle Grade, Windows & Mirrors

Window & Mirrors: BLENDED by Sharon M. Draper

Welcome to Windows & Mirrors, where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. Today we are featuring BLENDED by Sharon M. Draper. Because her parents are divorced, eleven-year-old Isabella feels like she’s literally torn between two different worlds. Every other week, she’s Isabella who hangs out with her black dad, his girlfriend … Continue reading Window & Mirrors: BLENDED by Sharon M. Draper

Michelle Leonard1 Comment