Cybils Reading Challenge Update

January 11, 2011 @ 4:00 pm | Filed under: , ,

We’ve been enjoying these two finalists in the CYBILs Early Reader category:

Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl by Tedd Arnold

We’ve been big Tedd Arnold fans ever since Green Wilma. This one is wacky and fun, and just a little gross.

We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

An instant Rilla/Wonderboy favorite. They have adored every single one of the Elephant & Piggie books & this one—a Geisel Honor book, as announced yesterday—is no exception. Our first time through, I loved the way Rilla gasped and cried out, “They know???” when Elephant realized he was in a book and we were reading it.

Of course this book generates an even more earnest “Again please, Mommy!” than the rest of the Elephant and Piggie series—which is saying a lot—because when you get to the end, Elephant begs you to go back to the beginning. As I remarked on Twitter, this may well be the book that tips Rilla over the edge into reading, because she is determined to read all of Piggie’s lines herself.

(Bet I’d read it six times before I realized that what Piggie is thanking us for in the front of the book is starting over.)

My running Cybils Shortlist Reading Challenge tally: 12 of 76


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  1. Heather says:

    I love the Piggie and Elephant books. I thought about a year ago that they would be the books to tip my daughter into reading, but she wasn’t ready. She had all the fundamentals, but didn’t want to sweat it out. The Jenny Linsky books though are the it books now. She’s so stinking impatient to get on to the next one and the next one that’s she’s not waiting for me to have a spare moment.

  2. Jen Lynch says:

    My daughter (10) just finished “Guardian of the Dead,” Brain Jack,” and “Plain Kate.” All since Sunday! She offers two thumbs way up for “Guardian of the Dead.”

  3. Melissa Wiley says:

    Ooh, Jen, good to know! Guardian of the Dead just came in from the library.

    Heather, we love those Jenny Linsky books! Such sweet illustrations. 🙂 Isn’t it fun to see what winds up being the magic bullet for each kid? For my Rose, it was My Father’s Dragon. For Beanie, it was the Bob Books. Now Elephant and Piggie with Rilla. Such fun.

  4. Amy @ Hope Is the Word says:

    Since I haven’t been able to find any of the Cybils shortlisted books at the library, I’ve resorted to purchasing few here and there. Shark vs. Train (thanks to your raves) and Betti on the High Wire just came Tuesday in the big brown truck. As soon as I finish my current novel, I’m on to Betti.

  5. mamacrow says:

    ooooo a new piggie & elephant book! it looks soooo good too! thanks for that!

  6. laurajean says:

    Just had to jump back here and tell you, we had to wait for “We are in a book” from the library, got it, girls read it to each other. At the end, Maggie looked at me with that “Really, Mom?” look, so I said “Maybe you need to read it again.” “No,” she said, “The elephant will probably just freak out again”