Melissa Wiley of Here in the Bonny Glen is amazing for so many reasons. She's been blogging since 2005, she's a homeschooling mother of a surprisingly large number of adorable children, she's a children's author in her own right, and she's the one who holds the honor of having coined the term "kidlitosphere." And she's a lovely person. No wonder …
REVIEW
Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age by Cheryl Bardoe
Carol Wilcox is a literacy coach and reading intervention teacher in Colorado who has been an enthusiastic Cybils participant for the past few years. On her blog Carol's Corner, she reviews a wide range of titles for children and adults, and regularly participates in Poetry Friday. This year she's a Round I judge for Nonfiction Picture Books. What better time …
REVIEW
Yummy by G. Neri
Longtime Cybils regular David Elzey blogs about children's literature at the excelsior file and about books for teen guys at Guys Lit Wire, but he's also a writer in his own right (er, no pun intended). This year he's a Round II judge on the Graphic Novels panel. This fall, David reviewed Graphic Novels nominee Yummy: The Last Days of …
Social Media Virtual Book Drive
Some wonderful news of holiday giving from our Social Media Guru Gina Ruiz: LATISM – Latinos in Social Media – is adopting a library, and they want your help in choosing a worthy recipient for their very first Virtual Book Drive. They've organized the book drive as a way for their members and supporters to unite nationally and work toward …
REVIEW
Who Said Coo? by Deborah Ruddell
Dawn Mooney is a Round I judge on our Fiction Picture Books panel this year, as well as a blogger on 5 Minutes for Books, a community of people who love books, reading, and sharing their reviews and opinions on literature for readers of all ages. Dawn is also a stay-at-home mom and former preschool teacher, so the FPB panel …
REVIEW
Boom by Mark Haddon
Karen Yingling, a middle school librarian, is new to the Cybils this year, but she's been blogging about books for MG and YA readers–especially boy readers–since 2006 at Ms. Yingling Reads. She reads voraciously (as proven by her "Voracious Reader" blog merit badge) and reviews lots of fantasy and sci-fi, with some realistic fiction and other genres thrown in here …
REVIEW
Extraordinary Ernie and Marvelous Maud by Frances Watts
Melissa Taylor is one of our Round I judges for Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books this year. She's also a teacher, a freelance writer, book editor-at-large for Colorado Parent magazine, a mom–and a blogger who posts reviews of kids' books ranging in age from board books to middle grade fiction. She blogs at Imagination Soup and Bookmarkable. This fall, …
Cybils Panelists and Nominees Rock the Winter Blog Blast Tour
If you've never heard of the Blog Blast Tours–Summer and Winter–you're missing out! It started in summer of 2007, organized by Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray, and has been going strong twice a year ever since. The Blog Blast Tours are a semi-annual week of in-depth interviews with authors and illustrators, with a particular focus on children's and YA authors. …
Cybils Nominees and Last Minute Shopping
Looking for last minute holiday gifts? The Cybils nomination lists are a great source of book ideas for the children and teens (and children's book loving adults!) in your life. To make your holiday shopping easier, I've done some housekeeping on the lists to make them easier to read. To help you make informed decisions, I've also added links to …
REVIEW
Spilling Ink by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer
Sarah Mulhern Gross is a 6th grade teacher who has blogged about books, reading and writing at The Reading Zone since 2007. She's also one of the brains behind the recent ARCs Float On campaign to get more books into classroom libraries. Sarah has spent a few years as a loyal Middle Grade Fiction judge, but this year she's lending …