The poetry category ends up being home to quite a mix of entries, but it’s important to note that not every book that contains a poem belongs here. WHAT BELONGS IN THE POETRY CATEGORY: Poetry collections of all sorts, whether for toddlers, school-aged kids or teens. What’s a poetry collection? It could be an anthology of poems by a variety …
2010 Nominations
Middle Grade Fiction
Some of the most dearly loved children's books of all time fall into the Middle Grade Fiction category: Ramona, Harriet the Spy, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Bridge to Terabithia… The middle grade years represent a golden time for readers. It's the time when you figure out what you like, what makes you laugh and …
2010 Nominations: Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books
When children learn to read, they start with very simple “easy readers” and move up to early chapter books. Easy readers are the small 6″x9″ books with short simple sentences. Easy readers have 8-64 pages, a large typeface with lots of white space on the page, and are fully illustrated in color. This includes easy readers illustrated like comics (also …
A note to publishers
This morning, I sent out an email to all the publisher contacts in our database. If you didn't receive that email, please contact Sheila Ruth, sruth at WandsAndWorlds dot com, to make sure I have the correct contact information for your company. (This also applies to self-publishers, if you have an eligible book this year.) For those who didn't get …
On your mark, get set …
Reminder: Nominations open just after midnight tonight. Yes, tonight. That's October 1st, right? So at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you can click on our nomination form (which will be posted then, I promise) and nominate away. The rules: One book per genre per person. Have two young adult books you love? Get a best friend, co-worker or random stranger to …
Cybils 2.0: Join Us on Social Media
As you've probably already noticed, our organizing staff–particularly our Social Media Guru, Gina Ruiz–has been hard at work trying to make the Cybils more active in the social media realm. Our Cybils Twitter and Facebook accounts have already enjoyed a major boost in the past few weeks, but you can help us continue to spread the word. If you're not …
Are Yooouuu Ready to Rrrrread?
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 …
A word for our sponsors
We have two ads on our blog now in our center column, which I'm not about to take for granted. I watched ad revenue dry up last year and never recuperate. One of the ads is from the independent publishing firm run by our own Sheila Ruth. She's rightly very proud of the "Ratha" series so please give her ad …
Wear Your Love of Kidlit on Your Sleeve
…or at least, your love of the Cybils. That's right, we've got 2010 Cybils bling ready to go in our Cafe Press store, featuring our nifty new autumnal color scheme. T-shirts? We have a plethora. Coffee mugs? Yes indeedy. We've got some random doodads like magnets, buttons and mouse pads. And, Round 1 panelists take note: we've even got a …
The 2010 Young Adult Fiction Panel
This may be the last panel we have to announce, but it most certainly is not the least! Realistic young adult fiction, historical and contemporary, is what these bloggers will be evaluating, discussing, tweeting about and, if need be, fighting over in the weeks and months to come. Panel Organizer: Jackie Parker, Interactive Reader [TW] Panelists (Round I Judges): Cherylynne …