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10/1/11

The nominations for the Cybils are open (and--when is an animal story fantasy?)

Head over to the Cybils now to nominate your favorite books from the past year!
  1. published in the US or Canada only.
  2. published Oct. 16, 2010 to Oct. 15, 2011;
  3. widely available for public sale. Titles available only from book clubs or publisher websites are not eligible, for example, as we cannot obtain copies easily.
  4. aimed at the youth market up to age 18. Books marketed to adult readers that may also appeal to teens are not eligible.
Here's a question I have-- when is a book with sentient animals acting as Persons and effecting the course of human events fantasy? The Cheshire Cheese Cat, which I just reviewed, has been nominated in straight middle grade; I think it's fantasy. After all, one of the mice knows how to read. Charlotte's Web--fantasy? (spiders who read) Black Beauty--not fantasy? (none of the horses knows how to read) Thoughts????
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5 comments:

  1. Monica EdingerOctober 1, 2011 at 9:13 AM

    My bad. I've been thinking about CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT in terms of Newbery and was focusing on age and content not genre. You are absolutely right.

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  2. bfavOctober 1, 2011 at 12:17 PM

    talking mice = fantasy. I can't decide which book to nominate.

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  3. Natalie AguirreOctober 1, 2011 at 4:00 PM

    What about THE WHITE ASSASSIN by Hilary Wagner (second book in the series) or The Familiars Secrets of the Crown by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson (also second book in series).

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  4. CharlotteOctober 1, 2011 at 4:45 PM

    I'd count those two as fantasy two, Natalie, but The Incredible Journey, for instance, in which, I think, the animals talk to each other wouldn't be, in my mind...

    I think its a fuzzy line--The Underneath, for instance, ended up in straight middle grade when it was nominated a few years ago.

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  5. Ms. YinglingOctober 3, 2011 at 5:22 AM

    When the animals talk, wear clothes or do anything that they don't normally do (read, set up furniture in their homes), then it's fantasy. Charlotte's Web would be, I think.

    ReplyDelete