Our panelists have gotten to know the UPS and post office delivery folks pretty well by now; those boxes keep arriving packed with nominated books. Unfortunately, Santa’s got a lock on those same services this time of year, and anything stamped “Media Mail” is shunted to the back of the sled. We find ourselves in a dilemma: either we’re going …
REVIEW: Penguin by Polly Dunbar
Cheryl Rainfield, a member of the Fiction Picture Book nominating panel, is always looking for the good in children’s books. Cheryl keeps two sets of booklists on her site–one devoted to picture books and the other to Young Adult books–and one book blog. She’s a reviewing machine! Recently she considered Cybils-nominated picture book Penguin, by Polly Dunbar, and here’s her …
REVIEW: Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers
Traci, who blogs at Fields of Gold, is one of the youngest bloggers working for the Cybils. At just fifteen years old, Traci likes acting, singing, dancing, and reading. Good thing she likes to read. She’s serving on the nominating panel for one of our biggest categories–Fantasy/Science Fiction. Recently Traci read Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers, …
Fantasy and Science Fiction Announcement
The books nominated in the fantasy and science fiction category cover a wide range, from early chapter books all the way up to sophisticated young adult novels. Although the nominating committee is doing its best to judge each book on its own merits, in reality it’s difficult to compare books where simplicity is an art and a goal against those …
REVIEW: Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
K.T. Horning is a librarian and a children’s & young adult literature specialist. She blogs about LGBTQ books for kids and teens at Worth the Trip. She publishes detailed, thoughtful book reviews, and maintains links to external resources of particular interest to her target audience. K.T. is a member of the middle grade and young adult non-fiction nominating committe. In …
REVIEW: When Gorilla Goes Walking by Nikki Grimes
Cloudscome blogs over at A Wrung Sponge and is a poetry fanatic. A librarian and a regular Poetry Friday contributor, Cloudscome is also a dab hand at the haiku. Luckily for the Cybils, Cloudscome is serving as a judge on the Poetry Committee this year. Today, she shares her review of the 2007 Cybils nominated title, When Gorilla Goes Walking, …
Our authors love us!
As our reading period kicks into high gear, we’re excited for our authors (and don’t forget illustrators). They’re returning the love in the best way possible, by blogging about us and spreading the word. Karma Wilson loves us twice as much–for both her nominated picture books. Lisa Yee gives us a shout out. Eric Luper says we’re starting to "make …
Onward, ForeWord
The nice folks at ForeWord magazine, which caters to independent publishers, have been featuring many Cybils folks on their blog, Shelf Space. This month, it’s Liz Burns’ turn, and her first post is on how to make reading fun for kids, especially in light of the recent NEA finding that we’re reading less as a nation. She’s already garnering comments–go …
Picture this …
Look at this magnificent fountain pen: Is this not hot? Would this not look stunning with our Cybils logo stamped onto the clip? We can do it. We can offer our winning authors and illustrators a real award this year. All we need is money. Oh yeah, that. I got Cybils’ first bank statement yesterday, and we have $660 and …
REVIEW: Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet illustrated by Sonia Long
Mary Lee has featured some great Cybils-nominated titles on her blog A Year of Reading–for many of them, such as Graphic Novel nominee Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, she provides a teacher’s perspective on a book that could well spark newfound interest in a tried-and-true classic. "It is what the title says it is: Romeo and Juliet in manga. The …