Great Interview with Wendy Mass on Cynsations

Wanted to share a link to a great interview with one of my favorite authors, Wendy Mass. Enjoy!

2009 Cybils Winners announced

The Cybils are literary awards judged by children's and YA bloggers (one of which is not me, unfortunately.) The 2009 recipients are listed here and I agree with some of the winners. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games for YA Fiction (SF/F), obviously, had my vote. And, not surprisingly, Newbery winner The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman took the middle grade SF/F category.

I personally would have voted for Every Soul a Star for Middle Grade Fiction. I tried to read The London Eye a few months back and just couldn't get into it. I'm sure it's a great book and nothing against Siobhan Dowd at all, just didn't do it for me. Plus, Wendy Mass just happens to be one of my favorite authors, so I may be a bit biased on that category ;)

Other winners were Mo Willems,  Shannon and Dean Hale, and E Lockhart. See all the winners.

Congrats to everyone!

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

Witnessing a total solar eclipse is something that not many people can claim to do. But the three main characters in the latest book from Wendy Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life and A Mango Shaped Space) do just that... and they learn a little about themselves in the bargain. 

Told from the perspective of three kids: model wanna-be Bree, slightly overweight loner Jack and homeschooled astronomer in the making Ally, Every Soul A Star explores the wonders of space, Earth and how everybody has to find their own place on it.

Ally has grown up in the boonies, her parents built Moon Shadow campground out in the wilderness as a place for stargazers to pilgrimage to, and this particular summer, they'll be coming in droves as the camp is in the direct path of a total solar eclipse. She loves living under a blanket of stars, and has looked forward to this summer pretty much her whole life. But there's a catch. After the eclipse her family is going to be moving to the city for the first time ever. 

City girl Bree has just found out her family is moving to Moon Shadow to take over for Ally's family, and she's none too happy about being away from her cell phone and friend network. She's more concerned about her toenail polish than which constellations are which, and has no problem letting Ally know that she's getting the raw deal.

Jack finds himself in Moon Shadow as a way to make up for a failing science grade, and summer school. Not exactly one of Bree's popular crowd, Jack just wants to get through the summer and enjoy the outdoors while doing it.

Mass weaves these three stories together masterfully, all told in first person POV yet retaining unique voices for each. Even the snobby Bree comes off as sympathetic and likable.

I'm a huge fan of Jeremy Fink and Mango Shaped Space, and have looked forward to Mass's latest dip into a fascinating subject. She demonstrates why astronomy is so fascinating and young readers will enjoy the celestial tidbits of info they'll pick up along the way. 4 bookmarks -- would make a great holiday gift!!

(NOTE:

I'm hoping to have an interview with the author in the near future, so if you've read Every Soul a Star and have a question for Wendy Mass, post them in the comments section and I'll try to include them in the interview.)