Stacy Ann Nyikos's Blog
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May.01.2013
The One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate middle grade
Let me say right off the bat that I really enjoyed this book. Really enjoyed it. There were some craft aspects I had my issues with, but the the emotional connection was so complete, it was impossible to walk away from the story unchanged...
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Apr.03.2013
The Book Review Club - Aliens on Vacation
Aliens on Vacation by Clete Barrett Smith middle grade
Perhaps it's the alien state of my house under demolition/renovation that made me identify so completely with the shock David experiences when his grandma's B&B turns out to be a hotel for...
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Feb.06.2013
Goblin Secrets William Alexander middle grade
It's been a while since I've really sunk by teeth into the craft of a book, partly because I listen to so many audio books and it really is a different experience. However, I read Goblin Secrets out loud to my eleven year-old. It was our evening...
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Jan.02.2013
The Mighty Miss Malone Christopher Paul Curtis Middle grade
After all the fiscal cliff diving the United States media has practiced in the last forty-eight or so hours, this book seems incredibly fitting to review. Christopher Paul Curtis revisits the height of the Great Depression in Indiana/...
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Nov.07.2012
Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein YA
I have the very distinct impression I may be coming a little late to the Code Name Verity fan club, it's that good. Nonetheless, I can't not write about this story either. It's that riveting. It's historical fiction solidly based in history. It's storyline is...
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Oct.02.2012
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka Adult
There is a dark truth about writers. When we read good stuff, we get itchy fingers. Yep, we are word thieves, looting others work for nuggets of amazingness. My fingers weren't just itching by the time I got done with The Buddha in the Attic, they...
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May.02.2012
Where Things Come Back John Corey Whaley YA
Where Things Come Back is the story of a seventeen year-old and how he and his community deal with the disappearance of his fifteen year-old brother. At the same time, a supposedly extinct woodpecker is sighted near the small Arkansas town of Lily...
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Apr.04.2012
Jefferson's Sons - A Founding Father's Secret Children Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Grades 6 - 9
Brubaker Bradley brings to life the story of the four children - Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston - that researchers have, after much prodding, historical research and DNA analysis,...
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Mar.07.2012
Waiting to Forget Sheila Kelly Welch middle grade
Because of the age of the protagonist, I've tagged this as middle grade, as did the publisher, namelos; however, it seems wise and fair to point out that this is the story of a current day child-survivor of abuse and neglect. This isn't a light...
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Feb.01.2012
The Apothecary Maile Meloy Young Adult
Something Cold War-ish must be in my reading water. I seem to be choosing books with a Cold War themes fairly regularly -- David Almond's The Fire-Eaters, which centers around the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cecil Castelucci's Rose Sees Red, which is set in the...
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Jan.05.2012
The War Horse Michael Morpurgo Middle grade
I'm coming a little late to the book review club this week. I fell into a small rip the time-space continuum descended and have been fighting my way back out ever since. Or, my kids started school on Tuesday and I have been a day behind the...
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Jan.05.2012
The War Horse Michael Morpurgo Middle grade
I'm coming a little late to the book review club this week. I fell into a small rip the time-space continuum descended and have been fighting my way back out ever since. Or, my kids started school on Tuesday and I have been a day behind the...
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Dec.07.2011
The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern Adult/YA Crossover
From the moment I began to listen to this story on audio until I finished, I couldn't classify it. A trip to Target - serious source searching - didn't help. The book was in the bestseller category with the other adult books, but toward the...
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Nov.28.2011
It's been a while since I've done one of these posts. Not that I haven't thought about what it means to be a writer every second of every minute of every day. It's an occupational hazard. However, this most recent revelation is just too defining to writerdom not to share.
You might be a...
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Nov.01.2011
Bad Island Doug TenNapel Graphic Novel
This one goes out to the one I love, Sophia. Sophia is my reluctant reader; although I say that with a big grain of salt. She has a hereditary convergence problem with her eyes, so small text is killer on her. Reading a book like, say, A Wrinkle in Time,...
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About Stacy
Writing an author bio is perhaps the single hardest writing task for me. I’ve long pondered – in lotus pose – why this might be the case. After my knees threatened to come apart at the seam, I relinquished said pose and I decided my troubles with describing...
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Causes Stacy Nyikos Supports
ASPCA, Humane Society, Wildlife Federation