Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins. OK, so listing this one is both a cheat and a tease. I’ve already read Ms. Perkins’ new book (ARC), and I’m planning to review it here just as soon as it hits the bookstores sometime after the publication date of January 13, 2009. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Tuck by Stephen Lawhead. This third in the trilogy that began with Hood and continued with Scarlett promises to be another adventurous story with some thoughtful moments thrown in to make the mix delightful.

Foundling and Lamplighter, both by D.M. Cornish. I have review copies of both of these books, but what with all the Cybils reading, I haven’t managed to start this series. The blurb says that they’re about Rossamund Bookchild, an orphan with an unfortunate name, and Europe, a girl who can shoot electricity out of her body. The series is called Monster Blood Tattoo, which I think is an unfortunate name, but since Lamplighter was one of the finalists for the Fantasy and Science and Fiction Cybil Award, I’m also thinking I can overlook the series title.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Barrows and Annie Barrows. Recommended by caribousmom. I think it was the quotations that Wendy included in her review that got me on this one. It’s about a literary society with an unwieldy name that serves as a front for resisting the Nazi occupation of one of the Channel islands. I still haven’t read this book, but I requested it at the library today. Everybody seems to have loved it.

Brett Lott, author of Jewel (Semicolon review here) and A Song I Knew By Heart (Semicolon review here), has a new book, Ancient Highway.. It’s about “the hopes and regrets of three characters from three generations as they reconcile who they are and who they might have been.” And the grandfather is from Texas. How could I not read that one?

I still haven’t read Leif Enger’s not-so-new anymore book, So Brave Young and Handsome, although I plan to do it soon.

Nor have I read Marilynne Robinson’s Home, although I really, really want to, and it’s in my library basket NOW.

C.J. Sansom, Revelation. 4th Matthew Shardlake mystery; his search for an old friend’s murderer leads him to Bedlam Hospital for the insane and also to Katherine Parr and the dark prophecies of the Book of Revelation. Due out in February, 2009.

Anne Perry, Execution Dock. The return of police superintendent William Monk; Victorian mystery. Due out in March, 2009.

For my U.S. Presidents Reading Project, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham sounds like a winner. But first I have to finish the George Washington bio I’m reading now and the John Adams biography by David McCullough that’s the next one on the list.

The Duggars: 20 and Counting!: Raising One of America’s Largest Families–How they Do It by Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar. I’ll admit that I’m curious. Aren’t you?

The Appeal by John Grisham. I’m always a sucker for a good Grisham thriller. All work and no play makes Sherry a dull reader.

We had a list of 129 books nominated for the Middle Grade FIction Cybil Award. Of the 129, I managed to read 93. We discussed and chose favorites and changed our minds and listed more favorites and eliminated titles for various and sundry reasons and finally came up with a list of five finalists. Although these are not all my favorites, they are all excellent children’s fiction from 2008. I can recommend them all, and I wish you happy reading in 2009.

Alvin Ho
written by Lenore Look
Schwartz and Wade Books

Alvin Ho is brave (as long as he has his Personal Disaster Kit), a gentleman (in training), a good friend (but NOT to girls), and an interesting kid (who doesn’t talk in public). It’s just that he’s allergic to everything: girls, substitute teachers, airplanes, escalators … and anything else that’s even remotely scary (like leaving the house). However, he loves explosions, his dog Lucy, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Aquaman, King V, and all the superheroes in the world. The illustrations are unique and flavorful, and so is the Ho family. A book that everyone — from the
struggling second-grade reader through to the adults who know that struggling second-grade reader — will fall in love with.

Diamond Willow
written by Helen Frost
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux

Helen Frost tells the story of Willow, a young girl living in a remote Alaskan town. When Willow gets her first chance to mush the family dogs, everything
changes. Told in a series of diamond-shaped poems, with sporadic prose every few chapters, Frost has woven a beautiful coming-of-age story fraught with realism and magic. Braiding the stories of Willow, her family, the dogs, and her family’s ancestors, the story is simple and
middle-grade students will easily connect with Willow and her family. The deeper themes of love, respect for nature, and being yourself are carved into the poems, just like the diamond willow stick can be carved.

Every Soul a Star
written by Wendy Mass
Little, Brown

Three middle school students are brought together along with thousands of eclipse-chasers to witness a rare full solar eclipse. Told in the three voices of Ally, Bree and Jack, the alternating narrations are beautifully written and increasingly weave together. Ally (short for Alpha) and her family own the Moon Shadow campground, and have been preparing for their eclipse-chasing guests for years. Bree’s parents have bought the Moon Shadow and are dragging
her from city life to try running a campground. Jack is along for the ride as his science teacher’s assistant in an amateur astronomy experiment they plan to run during the eclipse. Every Soul a
Star offers three humorous and insightful journeys of self-discovery mixed with an intriguing dose of astronomy lessons.

Shooting the Moon
written by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Atheneum

Both the characters and the setting are fully fleshed out and believable in this Vietnam era novel. Born and raised in a career army family, 12-year-old Jamie explores her changing feelings as her brother enlists in the army and is sent far away to fight. While offering no easy answers, this is a thought-provoking page-turner that will have lots of appeal for kids.

The London Eye Mystery
written by Siobhan Dowd
David Fickling Books

This story has Ted and Kat searching for a cousin who disappears from the London Eye Ferris wheel. The two siblings must work together to solve the mystery. What’s unique about this tale is how Ted’s Asberger’s doesn’t stand in the way of him being active in solving his cousin’s disappearance. The portrayal of Ted is a refreshing change from stereotypical characters in some books.

If you compare this list to the committee members’ individual favorites, you’ll see that we had a wide-ranging discussion and a lot of very good books from which to choose. I’d suggest you start with these five and then go on to the finalists in other categories and the committee favorites if you’re looking for some great children’s books from 2008.

Finalists in other categories:
Easy Readers
Fantasy and Science FIction
Fiction Picture Books
Nonfiction Picture Books
Poetry
Graphic Novels
Young Adult FIction

More Cybils Favorites:
Semicolon: 12 Best Children’s Fiction Books I Read in 2008
Semicolon: 12 Best Young Adult Fiction Books I Read in 2008
Melissa’s Book Nut list of Cybils favorites.
2009 ACPL Mock Newbery Nominees.
The Reading Zone: Best of Cybils
All of the Cybils Nominees with links to panelists’ reviews.