Today’s Cybils judge of the day is Sherry Early, blogger at Semicolon since October of 2003. According to her blog, Sherry is a "a 40-something homeschool teacher, foolish Christian, conservative Republican, bookreading fanatic, happily married, mother of eight." She is also the originator of the Saturday Review of Books series (in which dozens of people each link to their favorite …
Meet Greg Fishbone
Greg Fishbone makes stuff up at his blog, which, dontcha know it, is titled I Make Stuff Up! But he doesn’t, really. He coins witty terms and then defines them with true trivia, factoids and news items. Check out this take called ‘Eternal Dog,’ which he defines as "a supreme being worshipped by dyslexics" before telling us about a type …
Meet Andi
Today we meet Andi, aka cloudscome, of A Wrung Sponge. Andi writes about the books she’s reading, parenting, gardening, and cooking at her fabulous blog. Oh, and she’s also a librarian. Kelly at Big A little a sent Andi an interview so we can get to know her better. Kelly: Hi Andi! It’s nice to talk to you. How long …
Meet Leila Roy
Continuing in our plan of introducing you to more of the bloggers behind the Cybils, today we bring you Leila Roy, the force behind the irreverent and well-informed Bookshelves of Doom. Don’t know what we mean by irreverent? Check out this recent post about serving patrons in the library. Leila has been blogging since August of 2004. She was a …
What Our Nominating Committee Members Learned
HI All! This is Jen, from Jen Robinson’s Book Page. Since there are more than 80 bloggers directly involved in the Cybils (five judges and five nominating committee members for each of the eight categories, plus organizers), it can be a bit hard to keep up with what they’re all posting about the Cybils. I thought that I would bring …
Meet Gregory K.
Howdy,folks! Kelly here from Big A little a and The Edge of the Forest. While we’re sitting around waiting for the judges to work their magic, we thought we’d introduce you to some of the bloggers behind The Cybils. Today’s guest is Gregory K., who blogs at Gotta Book. He’s serving as a judge for the Poetry award, a fitting …
Welcome, Orlandoans. Orlandites? Orlandoers. Whatever!
Many thanks to the Orlando Sentinel’s parenting blog for their shout out to us, and a big welcome to Orlando-area parents reading us for the first time. Scroll down to see finalists in all eight categories. Leave us a comment if you’re outraged or thrilled or curious how we picked that book.
Finalists: Fantasy and Science Fiction
One of the most complex and broad of all the categories, Fantasy and Science Fiction received 87 nominations. Shiela Ruth headed the busy panel that winnowed them down to five: Ptolemy’s Gateby Jonathan StroudHyperion: Miramax Magician John Mandrake (a.k.a. Nathaniel), rebel commoner Kitty, and wise-cracking, sarcastic djinni Bartimaeus are drawn together in spite of their differences to battle a powerful …
Graphic Novels Finalists
Although a manageable 35 titles were nominated in this category, organizers decided to split it by age group to level the playing field for books pitched to little kids. So there are 10 finalists: Ages 12 and under Amelia Rules, vol. 3: Superheroes by Jimmy GownleyRenaissance PressThis book has a great cast of characters and bright, colorful art that uses …
Finalists: Non-fiction (Middle Grade and YA)
The Top Five, from a long list of 40: Escape! written by Sid FleischmanGreenwillow Freedom Walkerswritten by Russell FreedmanHoliday House Immersed in Versewritten by Alan WolfLark Books Isaac Newtonwritten by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Boris KulikovViking Juvenile Team Moonwritten by Catherine ThimmeshHoughton Mifflin