You can do an armchair tour of almost the entire USA, reading books nominated for the 2010 Cybils. Here are a few in which the setting is vivid and memorable:
Alabama: Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham. Semicolon review here. Gee’s Bend is a small town tucked into a bend in the Alabama River, and ten year old Ludelphia has never been outside her little town until she must leave to find help for her beloved mama.
Alaska: Blessing’s Bead by Debbie Dahl Edwardson. “How glorious it is when summer comes again! Glorious to be out on the open water of the summer sea in the night-long sun, watching the bright ocean drift by, dreamlike, on the smooth dark water. Watching the grassy tundra roll past us, nearly close enough to touch, thick with the smell of sunshine and earth and greenery.”
A Place for Delta by Melissa Walker. “Joseph looked out the window and saw mountains that he could not have imagined–huge jagged peaks, harsh gray stretches of bare rock, enormous rivers of ice cutting theri way to the sea–but no trees, roads or signs of life.”
California: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. “The green prickly house was surrounded by a dried out but neatly trimmed lawn. To one side of the house was a rectangular concrete slab with a roof over it. A carport, she said. Just no car. On the other side, a baby palm tree sloped toward the sun.” Semicolon review here. Three girls go to visit their mother in Oakland during the summer of 1968.
The Fizzy Whiz Kid by Maiya Williams. “My mom dropped me off at the principal’s office, where I met Principal Lang. He led me out of the main building and past bunch of long, rectangular buildings called ‘bungalows.’ Each one held two classrooms.” When Mitch Mathis moves to Hollywood and Cecil B. DeMille Elementary School, he does what he must to become part of the Hollywood scene.
Colorado: Finding My Place by Traci L. Jones. Semicolon review here. Tiphanie Jayne Baker is the one who’s “finding her place†at a nearly all-white high school in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado in the 1970’s.
Connecticut: Canterwood Crest: Elite Ambition by Jessica Burkhart. “Paul eased the car up the winding driveway and passed rows of dark-railed fences that kept bay, black, gray and other beautiful horses from roaming free. Even though I’d only been away fro a week during fall brak, the beauty of the campus almost made me press my nose to the glass. I wanted to take in every inch of the gorgeous Connecticut campus.”
Florida: Turtle in Paradise by Jenifer L. Holm. Semicolon review here. Take one eleven year girl named Turtle with eyes as “gray as soot†who sees things exactly as they are. Plunk her down in Key West, Florida with her Aunt Minnie the Diaper Gang and a bunch of Conch (adj. native or resident of the Florida Keys) relatives and Conch cousins with nicknames like Pork Chop and Too Bad and Slow Poke.
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon. “It had just finished raining. Grass slimed my ankles and calves. Crickets chirruped. Then a water moccasin slithered by fast like a streak of black lightning, making me jump. As I groped for my balance, the tree branches began to move all at once with the force of an angry parent’s switch, and the fear of getting caught or worse, of my mama waking up and finding me gone steadied me.” A fictional account of an adventure in the life of a young Zora Hurston.
Hawaii: Gaff by Shan Correa. “I took Honey up the hill to the back of the house. It’s shady there, with a little lawn and a grove of bamboo and octopus trees and woodrose vines back behind. Ferns and ohia trees hang onto the lava rock behind that.” Semicolon review here. I was rooting for Paul and his family to find the perfect way out of the cockfighting business and into a better way of making a living. The detailed descriptions of life in Hawaii and the occasional taste of pidgin English gave the book a regional flavor that was lots of fun.
Illinois: The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malloy. Semicolon review here. In Chicago you can see the Thorne Rooms at the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute. The Rooms are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks.
Kansas: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Reviewed by Melissa at Book Nut. Manifest, Kansas.
The Chestnut King by N.D. Wilson. Reviewed at books4yourkids.com. Magical adventures in Kansas.
Kentucky: To Come and Go Like Magic by Katie Pickard Fawcett. Semicolon review here. Twelve year old Chileda Sue Mahoney of Mercy Hill, Kentucky is growing up in the heart of Appalachia in the 1970′s, but she longs to travel, to come and go like magic.
Dream of Night by Heather Henson. “Shiloh has seen real horses, of course. In fields along the side of the road. But she’s never seen anything like this. A streak of black, like a dark shadow flying over the grass.” Semicolon review here. On a Kentucky horse farm, a child and an abused racehorse both learn to trust again.
Louisiana: The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little. “The sprawling giant oaks and tall, straight cypresses gathered me inside like a mother hen hugging her chicks. Nudging the boat forward, I liked to imagine I was in the middle of my own private forest.” Semicolon review here. Livie travels through Cajun country in her pirogue in the swamps and bayous of Louisiana.
Maine: Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord. “Lifting the seaglass up to my eye, I watch the whole world change: The far and near islands, the lobster boats in the bay, the summer cottages ringing the shore, even Mrs. Ellis’s tiny American and Maine flags flapping in the wind beside her wharf turn hazy, cobalt blue.” Semicolon review here. Eleven year old Tess Brooks and her five year old sister Libby are excited about welcoming a foster brother into their family’s life on a small island off the coast of Maine.
Maryland: Wildfire Run by Dee Garretson. “Agent Erickson motioned at the hikers and slowed the car as the road narrowed. ‘Camp David is located in a national park, so even outside the fence we are surrounded by woods.'” Camp David, the presidential retreat in the woods of Maryland, is the only place where Luke, the president’s son, can almost be normal. Then, disaster strikes, and nothing is normal.
Massachusetts: Pies and Prejudice by Heather Vogel Frederick. “Mud season in New England is a total pain. It happens when winter’s not quite over and spring’s not quite here, and it’s cold and wet and drizzly and the snow is melting and slushy and the ground turns to sludge.”
The Devil’s Door: A Salem Witchcraft Story by Paul Thompson.
Montana: As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins. (YA FIction) Reviewed by Ami at Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian.
Nevada: Jump by Elisa Carbone. (YA fiction) Semicolon review here. Critter, an escapee from a mental hospital, and P.K., a runaway who just wants to avoid being sent to boarding school, find themselves hitchhiking across country to Nevada and then to California to find a place where they can share their mutual passion–-rock-climbing.
New Jersey: Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst. (YA fantasy) Reviewed at Bookshelves of Doom.
New Mexico: Tortilla Sun by Jennifer Cervantes. Semicolon review here.
When Molly Was a Harvey Girl by Frances M. Wood. “She wanted to shut out what remained of the light. But even dimmed, the New Mexico sun was inexorable. It pushed through the cracks between Molly’s fingers. It filled her closed eyes with its brightness. It forced tears down her cheeks.”
New York: Rocky Road by Rose Kent. “Outside the evergreen trees blurred like a green kaleidoscope. Then we passed what had to be the hundredth deer-crossing sign as we headed north on Interstate 87, this dreary highway that was sending us deeper into the New York section of Antarctica. Hail was smacking the windshield like frozen turds, and the chain pulling the U-Haul was groaning like it had a stomach bug.”
North Carolina: The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee Frazier. “The streets were no longer lined with high-rises and businesses but houses—old houses with pointy roofs and porches and lots of gingerbread-type decorations painted in colors like light blue, yellow, and mint green.”
Ohio: What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb. “When Mo Stepped out of her house, the summer air was tangy and sweet, a mix of city smells from up on Paradise and country perfume from down in that Green Kingdom.”
Nuts by Kacy Cook. “It was a warm, sunny day, so I decided to take a walk. I told Mom where I was going and headed toward the ravine near our house, where I thought I might see some different kinds of birds. I took along my life list.”
Oregon: It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder. “I’d never been anywhere outside the state of Oregon. Grandma calls me a native Oregonian, like it’s something to be proud of. What’s there to be proud of? The fact that I own three different hooded coats, because it’s the best way to be ready when the sky decides to open up and pour?”
Storm Mountain by Tom Birdseye. “Primeval forests were just the beginning, she knew. The Storm Mountain Wilderness was also chockfull of deep canyons, roaring rivers, precarious boulder fields, towering cliffs, wild animals, and of course, its namesake, the treacherous Storm Mountain itself.”
Tennessee: Somebody Everybody Listens To by Suzanne Supplee. (YA fiction) Semicolon review here.
Texas: Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs.“We lived in the farthest trailer from FunJungle, right on the edge of the wilderness; white-tailed deer wandered past our home every day. A herd of six was grazing by the front steps as I returned, but they scattered at the sight of me.”
Keeper by Kathi Appelt. Reviewed by Abby the Librarian.
Virginia: Closed for the Season by Mary Dowling Hahn. “Rolling hills stretched away toward the mountains. Cows lay in the shade chewing their cuds, looking thoughtful. Now and then a dog barked. The air smelled of honeysuckle and cut grass and diesel fumes.” Semicolon review here.
Washington: The Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson. Semicolon review here.
Seaglass Summer by Anjali Banerjee.
West Virginia: Finding Family by Tonya Bolden. “Then I noticed a rack of picture postcards. Most were scenes from Charleston. Capitol Street. Kanawha Street. The depot across the Kanawha River. Those were the ones I liked the most.”
Wisconsin: I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson. “The state of Wisconsin was wide open compared to the East Coast. I liked how everything seemed to be precisely built and organized from the neat rows of houses to the parking lots and malls. Even the trees seemed to be perfectly spaced.”
Wyoming: Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell. (YA Fiction) “The sky was a light blue. There were white puffy clouds in it. The only noise I could hear was the wind in the tops of the trees way above us. They were everywhere, the trees, and inside the woods there was green light filtering through the leaves.”
Faithful by Janet Fox. (YA FIction) Reviewed by My Friend Amy.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Semicolon thoughts here.
Exposure by Mal Peet. Soccer and celebrity in South America. Semicolon review here.
