Okay, that was a somewhat sorry attempt at a pro-wrestling-style preamble to get you ramped up for some exciting book-related events over the coming weeks–not the least of which is this week's Banned Books Week. So many of our fantabulous panelists, judges and organizers will be putting up posts (or already have) in conjunction with this important event that I can't possibly list them all, but I'll mention a couple here: First, don't miss the turtle-riffic posts from Ami Jones, one of our Round I YA Fiction judges, on her blog Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian. As it turns out, turtles have strong opinions on what you should and shouldn't read.
Second, some of the thoughtful contributors at Guys Lit Wire have blurbed their personal favorite challenged or banned books, here–including Poetry category organizer Kelly Fineman, Round II Graphic Novels judge David Elzey, and beloved former Cybil-ite Lee Wind.
Banned Books Week isn't the only book-related event to have us ready to rumble–er, read–this month. In fact, the whole month of October is National Book Month, and October 17-23 is YALSA's Teen Read Week (this year's theme: Books with Beat @ your library).
Don't forget about all these great initiatives as you obsess over which books you're going to nominate for the Cybils (yeah, we know you're already thinking about it!). We're thrilled to be able to bring so many great kids' and YA books to a wider audience, but we're far from the only ones doing wonderful work. So check out some of the links above, and go forth and read!
–Sarah Stevenson, blog editor