If you haven't visited Jen Robinson's Book Page, the blog of our utterly wonderful Cybils Literacy Evangelist and generally indispensable source of information Jen Robinson, then you're missing out on one of the best resources in the kidlitosphere. She's a great friend, an excellent reviewer, and a tireless advocate for children's and YA books. Last summer she reviewed a copy …
REVIEW
Dinosaur Hunt (Max Spaniel) by David Catrow
Mary Ann Scheuer of the blog Great Kid Books is well-known in the kidlit blogging world for her well-organized, neatly categorized reviews of books and for regular participation in Nonfiction Monday as well as other events. As a librarian, her goal in blogging is to help parents find great books for their kids. Mary Ann is also a Round II …
REVIEW
How to Say Goodbye in Robot
Today's featured review comes from one of our Round II judges for Young Adult Fiction, Kelly Jensen, who blogs at STACKED. She's a librarian in Illinois with a lit background who especially enjoys reading teen literature. At STACKED, she and her co-bloggers strive to review books for readers as well as to draw in non-readers. One of her favorite reads …
REVIEW
Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Abby Johnson, aka Abby the Librarian, is a Round I judge for Middle Grade Fiction this year, though she's been part of the Cybils before. As a public librarian who blogs, she focuses on book reviews, children's library programming, and other library and kidlit items of interest. One of the 2009 Middle Grade Fiction finalists was nicely spotlighted on Abby's …
REVIEW
The Book That Eats People
Although Bethany Gatto's blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian is a fairly new blog on the kidlit block, it's clear that she's got a sense of fun and the requisite love of reading that we like to see around here. She also blogs about the different and innovative ways she uses technology in the library. Bethany's a Cybils Round II Judge …
The Inside Scoop on Nominees, Part II
Last week we took a closer look at a few of the Cybils categories to find out a little more about the nominees, from the category organizers' perspectives. What stood out? Was there a gaggle of zombies or a flock of vampires? Was the decision about finalists particularly difficult or were there standouts? Today, we take a look at Graphic …
REVIEW
The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination
Our finalist review today comes courtesy of Cybils veteran and poet extraordinaire Elaine Magliaro, who blogs at Wild Rose Reader. Elaine is also one of the intrepid Blue Rose Girls, who have provided their insightful insider perspectives on children's lit and publishing since the early days of the kidlitosphere. Back in November, Elaine wrote a review of Cybils Poetry finalist …
Cybils Printable Flyer
Flyers, flyers, come get yer flyers! Just click on the link under the "Welcome" menu that says "2009 Finalists (Printer Friendly)" or simply click on the image at right to download a two-page flyer that's got an overview of the Cybils contest on the front and a full list of finalists on the back. Please feel free to print and …
Cybils Authors Clean Up at ALA Awards
You've no doubt already read about the winners of this year's ALA literary awards–the Caldecott, the Newbery, the Printz. What you may not know is that many of the titles honored by the American Library Association are also Cybils nominees or finalists, prompting an extra W00T or two around here. Among the Cybils books honored are the following: Mare's War, …
REVIEW
The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner
Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray is practically a celebrity in the kidlit blogging world, not just for organizing the Summer and Winter Blog Blast Tours of top-quality author interviews but also for her thought-provoking blog posts about a variety of literary topics. Colleen is also a reviewer for Bookslut, and her column last month looked at several non-fiction titles including …