Sheila Ruth learned to read peering at the pages of Analog Science Fact & Fiction and F&SF magazines over her father’s shoulder. By fourth grade she was reading the stories of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Andre Norton, and Robert Heinlein (except for a few naughty ones her parents wouldn’t let her read). In fifth grade, a teacher put a …
Introducing Gina Ruiz, Social Media Guru
Gina fell in love with books very early on. Once she discovered the local library, it was all over. By the time she'd reached 6th grade the local librarian knew her so well, she'd have a stack almost as tall as the quiet girl that would come in every day and leave almost stumbling over with her pile of books. …
Introducing Liz Jones, Graphic Novels Category
Liz Jones is a fan of visual storytelling who began accumulating picture books for her children at least a decade before they were born. She'd never read a graphic novel before volunteering with the Cybils back in 2007, as graphics are in short supply in her area. She was awestruck at the range and depth of the genre when the …
Introducing Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist
As a child, Jen Robinson pretty much always had a book in her hand. Yes, even when she was swimming out to a raft in the middle of a lake (holding the book up high with one hand). Yes, even when she was climbing trees (with three younger brothers and sisters, she had to take quiet spots where she could …
Introducing Anastasia Suen, Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books Category
Learning how to read was magic for me. It opened up a new world – one where I could go anywhere and do anything. When I grew up, I helped others enter this magic world – I taught Kindergarten ESL and first grade, and helped children learn how to read. Now I recommend great books for this magic stage on …
Cybils 2010 Bling for Your Blog
We're back! And we're all very excited about this year's awards–the books…the bloggers…the fame and fortune…oh, wait. Maybe we do it for the love. And, okay, getting to read a ton of awesome books is a great side benefit. Whatever your reason for loving the Cybils, we want YOU to help us by showing your love. That's right, we've got …
Presenting a Cybil Award Fund Drive
Fortunately for you, unlike those aggravatingly long pledge breaks on NPR and PBS, there aren't annoying ringing phones…but we ARE going to ask you for your generous donations. Look over there on the right-hand side of this page, and you'll find a PayPal "donate" button. Whatever you can manage to slip us, from one dollar to a hundred, we'll happily …
Out of the Mouths of Cybils Authors
If you haven't yet heard of the Blog Blast Tours organized by Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray (who also happened to be a Round II Judge this past year for MG/YA Non-Fiction), then you're missing out–this twice-yearly week-long event involves some truly excellent bloggers from around the kidlitosphere AND features a wide and fascinating range of authors and illustrators. Just …
Belated Congratulations to ALA Committee Cybil-ians
Call them Cybil-ians, call them Cybil-ites–either way, we are proud to announce that some prominent upcoming ALA award committees (announced in May) include Cybils folks. Which awards, you ask? Well, on the 2012 Newbery Committee are Middle Grade Fiction Round II Judge Stacy Dillon of Welcome to My Tweendom, and Fantasy/Sci-Fi Round I Judge Eva Mitnick of Eva's Book Addiction. …
Behind the Cybils Poetry Scenes
If you're wondering what it takes to pick a fantastic finalist list like the one we had this year for Poetry, take a side trip over to panelist Bruce Black's Wordswimmer blog and check out his roundtable interview with the illustrious blogging and poetry-appreciating panelists: Kristy Dempsey, Kelly Fineman, Sylvia Vardell, and Tricia Stohr-Hunt. As Sylvia put it, "[poets] use …