Curious Garden, The by Peter Brown Little, Brown Nominated by: Eric Carpenter When a little boy discovers a near-dying garden atop the buildings in his drab city, he quickly learns the changes that can occur under the caring hands of one dedicated person. This magical tale–coupled with beautiful illustrations–enables children to see just how much they, too, are capable of. …
2009 Finalists: Graphic Novels
Middle Grade: Creepy Crawly Crime (Joey Fly, Private Eye) by Aaron Reynolds Henry Holt Nominated by: Cynthia Leitich Smith Written in classic Thirties’ private-eye style, this crime noir mystery has Joey Fly and his sidekick Sammy Stingtail searching all over Bugville looking for a missing diamond pencil case. With an eccentric cast of insect and arachnid characters that are sure …
2009 Finalists: Poetry
African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways written by Avis Harley with photographs by Deborah Noyes Candlewick Press Nominated by: Becky In this collection of 18 poems, each accompanied by a gorgeous photograph of the subject, Harley takes the form of the acrostic to new heights. The poems are deftly created and move well beyond the single-word acrostic to include phrases, …
Miss Rumphius Profile
A nice profile of Cybils judge Patricia Stohr-Hunt from her employer, the University of Richmond. Cybils gets a mention too. I think she’s the first of our bloggers to be banned in China. Go, Patricia!
REVIEW
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
A very merry Cybils Christmas and…er…Writerly Winter Solstice to you all! We've queued up this appropriately seasonal post for you and scheduled it to go up; meanwhile, we're probably still nestled all snug in our beds (at least, those of us on the West Coast), visions of tasty holiday treats and a lazy day on the couch dancing in our …
REVIEW: Spot the Plot: A Riddle Book of Book Riddles
The Miss Rumphius Effect is a fixture of the kidlitosphere. It's where Tricia Stohr-Hunt blogs about poetry and non-fiction for young readers and maintains an impressive array of thematic book lists–check out her list of books about snow and snowflakes for some wintry (but heartwarming) seasonal reads. Tricia, a round I panelist for Poetry, reviewed Cybils nominee Spot the Plot: …
Cybils Appreciation from a Well-Loved Author
In the course of today's blog reading, I was pleased to come across a post in which repeat Cybils honoree (and Newbury Honor recipient) Shannon Hale expressed her appreciation for the Cybils. She said: "I've mentioned before my affection for the Cybil Awards, given out by the children's and YA book bloggers. As national and newpaper review space is diminishing, I think book …
Merry Christmas, Cybilians everywhere
I want to express my profound appreciation to our organizers and first-round judges who'll still be reading and debating books over the course of Christmas break. You make Cybils happen — and you keep coming back with brilliant, unpredictable and fascinating short lists year after year. Things will be quiet on the blog this week, but we'll be roaring back …
REVIEW
Sacred Mountain: Everest by Christine Taylor-Butler
Biblio File is the blog of Middle Grade/YA Non-Fiction panelist Jennie Rothschild, a children's librarian at a public library who loves to read and review both children's and YA books. On her post entitled "Why I Blog," she noted that she values the conversation and sense of community in the kidlitosphere–something I think we can all relate to. In a …
Advertise for a good cause
Our ads are a main source of revenue for Cybils, and the money goes toward a lovely prize for our winners. The BlogAds people have included us in a major book promotion featuring some of the most prominent book blogs. Woot! So, if you want to reach the book-buying hordes, the BlogAds Book Hive would help us and help you. …