Welcome to the first installment of a three-part series of posts we're calling The Inside Scoop. Aren't you curious what the category organizers thought about this year's crop of Cybils nominees? I know I am, so I asked them to provide a quick blurb about the process so far: their impressions of the group of nominated titles, anything that stood …
REVIEW: Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey
Tasha Saecker, who blogs at Kids Lit, is not only a Round II Judge in Fantasy and Science Fiction, but was also the category organizer last year. Her blog is a familiar fixture to many of us kidlitosphere "old-timers," who enjoy reading her impressions of kids' and YA books from the perspective of a longtime children's librarian and public library …
Jone Is Famous!
Our category organizer for Non-Fiction Picture Books, Jone MacCulloch, is famous–you might have caught sight of her several days ago in the Publisher's Weekly Picture of the Day on PW Daily. The occasion was a Barnes & Noble event for Lisa Schroeder's newest YA novel. Schroeder's book Far From You was a Cybils YA nominee this year; the picture also …
REVIEW
Good Dog, Aggie by Lorie Ries
If you're over a certain age, the title Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs brings back memories of the unforgettably-illustrated children's classic, but it also happens to be the blog of Amanda Blau, one of our Round II Judges for the Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books category. Amanda is a children's librarian in the Chicago area who posts reviews …
Another Cybils Panelist Gets Award Love–W00t!
Longtime Cybil-ite Tanita Davis, who is one of our Sci-Fi and Fantasy panelists this year, has received some serious props for her YA novel Mare's War (which was a Cybils YA Fiction nominee). Namely, she's one of only five nominees for an NAACP Image Award in Youth/Teen Literature (in excellent company along with a few other Cybils nominees, we can't …
REVIEW
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook
We're getting back to posting reviews here on the Cybils blog, while the judges are busy poring over the lists of finalists–but just so you know, we're ONLY posting reviews that were written prior to the judging period. Today's finalist review comes from GN Round I panelist Nicola at Back to Books. Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalist The Secret Science …
The Best of the Best: A Cybils List-tacular
During the nominations reading period, hundreds of books were devoured and discussed by our faithful panels of Round I judges, so that we could bring you the fabulous list of Cybils finalists. In the process, a lot of our panelists generated their own lists of favorite books from 2009–not predictions, DEFINITELY not hints, and probably not prophecies, but certainly a …
Celebrating Jon Scieszka
We would be remiss if we didn't join the chorus of thanks to our first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Jon Scieszka, as he finishes out his last day at the post. Tomorrow a new ambassador is announced, but today, the kidlitosphere thanks him for his superhuman efforts on behalf of young readers everywhere. Check out the the roundup …
A fascinating discussion …
… is going on at the blog Black-Eyed Susan's about race, publishing and Cybils. I'm at work (night shift again, alas) but will post more on this — plus other reactions to the Cybils short lists from around the Web. Perhaps it will lead to a better understanding of the role race plays in what books we, as readers and …
2009 Finalists: A terrific, heavenly, so good, not bad list
–A note from Anne Levy, Cybils Administrator: I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad problem assembling this year’s Cybils finalists. Most of our first-round judges decided to sign their summaries for the short-listed titles. That meant inserting links to their blogs. And that meant meandering through their recent posts, catching up with old friends, making some new discoveries…and …