Readerbuzz is the blog of Debbie Nance, who is a primary school librarian and mom, but also a panelist for this year's Non-Fiction Picture Books category. She posts excellent booklists in the form of the Sunday Salon, puts together interesting themed reading challenges at her other blog, and has a great link list. She's also known for her succinct and …
A Cybilian defends the Newbery Medal
I'm sorry this snuck by me, but I just noticed it yesterday. Erica Perl, who'll be judging in Fiction Picture Books, has a post up at Slate.com from Friday. She takes on the naysayers picking on the Newbery Medal, defending its lofty, if sometimes quirky, choices. Cybils was founded in part to get away from the idea that a great …
REVIEW
A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg
Melissa at Book Nut describes her blog as "[t]he assorted book reviews (and other mostly book-related things) of a Stay-Home Mom with Four Daughters who has an Avid Love of Reading but is cursed with a Bad Memory." Her reviews are down-to-earth and intelligent with an honest personal angle, and she also poses reading challenges, like the upcoming Well-Seasoned Reader …
About The Cybils Awards
Our purpose is two-fold: Reward the children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators, let’s not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and “kid appeal.” What’s that mean? If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussel sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we’re thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We’re yummy and nutritious. Foster …
REVIEW
Goose and Duck by Jean Craighead George
You may know her as Andi or you may know her as Cloudscome, but either way you'll arrive at A Wrung Sponge, where you'll find a multitude of blog posts about multicultural children's books, poetry, gardening, knitting–and, best of all, original poems and photographs. (Yes, Cloudscome is a regular at Poetry Friday!) Earlier this month, she reviewed the Easy Reader …
REVIEW
How to Ditch Your Fairy
Tirzah Price, also known as The Compulsive Reader, is one of our panelists this year for Fantasy and Science Fiction–a daunting but rewarding quest indeed! At her blog, she reviews YA books of all genres, as well as posting book news, hosting contests, and featuring favorite books. Recently, she reviewed the latest novel by Justine Larbalestier, author of the Magic …
A big, fat shout-out with pom-poms and megaphones to our panelists
Three holiday cheers for our panelists, who're busily plowing through the 840+ nominated books on our 2008 list. Sheila Ruth built a fabulous, behind-the-scenes database that shows 89% of the titles have gotten at least one read. Since that number doesn't include the non-fiction picture book folks, it's probably closer to 100%, or just about. I've promised publishers, authors and …
REVIEW
Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
Fiction Picture Books panelist Cheryl Rainfield is a writer of teen fiction and a collector of all sorts of useful resources about children's and YA books–links, author websites, themed booklists for picture books and teen books, and more. She shares her love of books on her blog, which also includes in-depth reviews. One of her Cybils nominee reviews looked at …
REVIEW
Magic Trixie by Jill Thompson
Paula Willey is "the pink-haired librarian who reads all the kid books." She's a children's/YA book enthusiast and mother of two who blogs at Pink Me, recommending titles for all ages from baby books to YA novels, and compiling booklists of extra-special good ones. She's also part of the nominations panel for the Graphic Novels category this year. Paula posted …
REVIEW
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
I've always thought that Bookshelves of Doom was an enviably great name for a blog. Well, it's also an enviably great blog featuring book news, reviews, and other fun stuff by librarian and clever book-related t-shirt creator Leila Roy. (If you're looking for a literary gift idea that isn't a book, check out her Etsy shop for shirts with slogans …