I've signed with Regina Brooks of the Serendipity Literary Agency in Brooklyn, New York. Yay, me. I've taken a giant leap forward on the path to publication for my manuscript. There were any number of reasons why it made sense to sign with Ms. Brooks, not the least of which is that I read and enjoyed her book. I won't …
REVIEW
Poetrees by Douglas Florian
Emma Carbone, also known as the cleverly named Miss Print, is one of our Round II Fantasy & Sci-Fi YA judges this year, but she reads widely beyond just the speculative fiction category. She also blogs widely–namely for the New York Public Library, where she works, and the Why Libraries Project, to name a few examples. One of her recent …
Cybils Author Love–Plus a Print Mention!
Yeah, we know YOU guys love us. 🙂 But it's always a teeny bit extra special when we get author props here at the Cybils. And this past week or two, we've learned that a few authors have been saying some pretty nice stuff about us: Our Lady Jane Yolen posted about us in her Facebook status, saying: "Just found …
REVIEW
Project Seahorse by Pamela S. Turner
You may know Susan Thomsen because she's our category organizer for Middle Grade and YA Nonfiction, or you may know her because of her excellent blog about books and life (and sometimes chickens), Chicken Spaghetti. OR, you might have seen her yearly Mother of Booklists to End All Booklists, also known as the Big List of Lists of the Best …
REVIEW
The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood
Natasha Maw of Maw Books is in her second year as a Round I Judge on the Fiction Picture Books panel. Besides being an extremely prolific book blogger whose posts range from reviews and interviews to giveaways and even recipes, Natasha's list of accomplishments also includes being a photographer, a Master Gardener, and a mom to two young boys. Recently, …
Stumped About Nominations 2.0
Still wondering what to nominate? Why not give these worthy, not-yet-nominated books a chance at fame and glory? We've got a few more lists for those of you who are stumped, or who have been waiting until the end to put in your choices. Take a look: For some poetry nominees with potential, check out the blogs of panelist Laura …
REVIEW
White Cat by Holly Black
If you've been following the Cybils for a few years, you'll no doubt be familiar with returning Cybil-ite Leila Roy of Bookshelves of Doom, who is a Round I Judge for Science Fiction and Fantasy (YA). Besides her thoughtful and humorous book reviews, Leila also hosts The Big Read (sort of a virtual reading discussion group), contributes reviews to Guys …
Stumped About Nominations?
Are you sitting glumly in front of your computer, bummed out because the titles you wanted to nominate have already been nabbed by someone else? Never fear–there are still a plethora of great books that deserve a look, and some of our Cybils bloggers have been keeping an eye out for 'em. So if you're still figuring out who to …
REVIEW
National Geographic Readers: Ants by Melissa Stewart
Today's featured review comes from one of our new volunteers this year, Jeff Barger. Jeff, who blogs at NC Teacher Stuff, is a kindergarten teacher and one of our Round I Judges for Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books. On his blog, you'll find reviews of quality library books as well as a wealth of online instructional resources for teachers. …
Panelist FAQ
The Cybils have always been a grassroots effort, and we generally prefer to keep the rules simple. We think that panelists do their best work when not overburdened by complicated rules or rubrics. However, there are certain questions that come up about the judging, year after year, so we created a short panelist FAQ to address some of these. Q. …