Although Gary was a military brat for a big chunk of my childhood, he finished growing up in Iowa (or maybe not at all). He became a high school English teacher in 1980 and retired from full-time teaching seven years ago. Most of that was spent at William Fremd High School in Palatine, Illinois (1987-2014) where Gary served as the …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Pam Margolis, YA Fiction/Speculative Fiction Co-Chair
Pam’s been an avid reader all of her life. In fact, she was probably in line for a book when they handed out map skills. Growing up she loved the classics but now that she’s a grown-up she has learned to love all genres of books, especially books for kids and teens. Her passion is helping kids find books containing …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Charlotte Taylor, Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
Charlotte Taylor has been a fan of fantasy all her life and spent her childhood rejecting her sisters’ importunings to come play in favor of peaceful reading. She still spends as much time as possible reading (mostly middle-grade speculative fiction, but other genres too, because she wants to read All the Things), but she is hampered by her day job …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Joelle Bagshaw, Middle Grade Fiction Chair
When she was 4-years-old Joella thought all stories about Cinderella were really about Cin-Joella and were telling her that she would one day grow up to become a princess and live happily ever after. Ever since Joella has loved to read and tends to find that Children’s Literature has the perfect blend of dreams and literary merit. Joella has worked …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Reshama Deshmukh, Graphic Novels Chair
Reshama has been a voracious reader from her earliest years. Born in India, where libraries were scarce, the only way she could lay her hands on the latest books was when her dad used to get her books when he returned from travel abroad. Book exhibitions also gave her an opportunity to get her hands on new and interesting books, …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Deb Nance, Fiction Picture Book Chair
Books are Deb Nance’s happy place. She has worked as a teacher and a librarian near Houston, Texas since 1977, and she’s been blogging at Readerbuzz for over twelve years. Deb Nance has been an onsite correspondent for BookExpo and she served as a moderator at TweenReads. She built and maintains six Little Free Libraries in her town. Deb has …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Bridget Wilson, Easy Reader and Early Chapter Book Chair
Bridget has been involved with Cybils since 2013. She’s served as a panelist (Poetry & Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction) and as a Category Chair (Poetry & Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books. Her day job as a youth services librarian gives her ample opportunity to both discover the best books for children and get them into the kids’ hands. Her current favorite easy …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Terry Doherty, Social Media Guru/Literary Evangelist
In 2001, Terry’s love of children’s literature was reignited because she was reading with her then infant daughter. That love cannot be extinguished. She’ll match any adult book you offer her with an even better one for kids and teens. Being part of the Cybils allows Terry to share her passion for reading and talk books with people who “get” …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Melissa Fox, Co-Blog Editor
Melissa has made time in her life for lots of “little” things: a bookseller at an independent bookstore, going back to get her MLIS degree, helping out with the parent organizations (well, the drama department) at the high school, and being a part of the Cybils! Even with all those small commitments, she still manages to find time to (kind-of, …
Meet the 2020 Organizers: Sarah Stevenson, Co-Blog Editor
Sarah Stevenson has been a part of the Cybils since its inaugural year in 2006. Besides helping with the blog, she’s also worked behind the scenes with the Cybils logo and flyers, and as a judge in various categories. She is very happy to be back again helping co-Blog Editor Melissa Fox bring you updates on the 2020 Cybils. Sarah …