Liz Burns, formal Cybil-ite and School Library Journal blogger at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy, gave the Cybils an awesome plug in her official SLJ overview of the Kidlitosphere Conference in Minneapolis this past weekend. KidLitCon 2010 was a blast–I can vouch for that personally–and Liz and I both participated in a panel on Cybils and the …
REVIEW
Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom
Middle Grade Fiction Round 1 judge Sandra Stiles is a familiar face around the Cybils. Her blog, The Musings of a Book Addict, includes book reviews ranging from children's books to adult books, as well as thoughts on writing from a middle school teacher and aspiring writer. Apparently Sandra found the title and cover of today's featured book just as …
Cybils International
The Cybils have always been an international award. From our first year, our criteria have specified that books published in English anywhere in the world during the eligibility year were eligible. We have had at least one finalist published outside the U.S. that I know of. In 2007 the UK edition of Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher and published by Hodder …
Results of the Cybils Challenge, Part 2: Madigan Reads
Today's featured Cybils Challenger is Madigan McGillicuddy of Madigan Reads, who lists her own slate of Cybils nominees–definitely more than a few contenders on it, if we're to hazard a guess. She also provided an excellent eleventh-hour list of potential picture book nominees for anyone who was still trying to figure out who to nominate. Her kidlit blog faves include …
REVIEW
After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
The featured review for today comes from one of our Round 1 judges for Young Adult Fiction, Ami Jones of the fabulously-named blog Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian. On her blog, she faithfully relates the most wise and venerable opinions of "three extremely intelligent turtles currently supervising a public library in southern NM." This includes reviews of a wide …
YA Novel Contest, 2nd Edition
Hey folks, just a quick public service announcement. The same contest that launched me on the path to fame and fortune has started up again. The YA Novel Discovery Contest gets underway November 1st. It's free to enter, and the five finalists win a consult with literary agent Regina Brooks. Further details, plus my blithering, overly long testimonial, here. –Anne …
Results of the Cybils Challenge, Part 1: Charlotte’s Library
Well, golly. We got three entries for the Cybils challenge, and thought they were all awesome, so, um–we're featuring all three entries on the blog. Today we'll check out the first entry we received, from SFF Round 1 judge Charlotte Taylor of Charlotte's Library. In her post, Charlotte gave a bunch of excellent suggestions for MG Sci-Fi nominees, but it's …
REVIEW
Bugs and Bugsicles by Amy S. Hansen
How can you resist that title? Shirley Duke of the Simply Science blog found the book just as enjoyable as the title implied. Shirley, a teacher and children's writer, is one of our Round I judges for Nonfiction and Information Picture Books, and her blog explores a wide range of books that can be used in classroom science lessons. Her …
Quick snapshot
We have 1,289 nominated books this year. More than half — 59% — have been read by at least one panelist so far. About a third have been read by two or more panelists. Way to go, panelists! –Anne Levy, Cybils admin.
REVIEW
Calamity Jack, by Hale, Hale and Hale
Nicola Manning of Back to Books is definitely a Cybils regular in the Graphic Novels category–and we love her reviews here at the Cybils blog because she provides such a thoughtful and in-depth look at nominated titles. Nicola reads widely, compiles lots of booklists and has an impressive set of completed reading challenges to her name–just check her blog for …