Somewhere in between organizing the Kidlitcon, heading up the Fiction Picture Books category, blogging at her own site, and posting to the Booklights blog at PBS Parents, the indefatigable Mother Reader–aka Pam Coughlan–somehow found time this year to add a new installment to her fantastic series of Ways to Give a Book posts. If you're looking for holiday gift ideas, …
REVIEW
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
Round I YA judge Tirzah Price is also known by her blog name, The Compulsive Reader. She's a seasoned Cybils veteran who posts literary news, updates, and reviews of YA books of all genres, interspersed with plenty of fun stuff like polls and contests. She is also part of the YA lit group blog Teen Tuesday. Earlier this year, she …
REVIEW
Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian
Round I poetry judge Sylvia Vardell is well loved around the kidlitosphere for her blog Poetry for Children, but you might not know that besides an avid fan of children's poetry, she's also a professor and an author! She's written or co-written a number of books about children's poetry for librarians and teachers, and she's the editor of Bookbird, a …
REVIEW
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz
Sarah Mulhern of The Reading Zone is definitely a Cybils regular. She is a 6th grade language arts teacher who posts consistently thoughtful and varied reviews of the books she places in her classroom library. She also blogs about writing, teaching, and her classroom…and occasionally monarch butterflies. As a Round I judge for the Middle Grade Fiction category this year, …
REVIEW
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell
We may be well past Halloween, but is there ever a bad time for a good ghost story? Nettle of the cleverly named The Muse, Amused–a Round I panelist for MG/YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi–reviews not only ghost stories but a whole array of YA books at her blog. The ghost story in question for today, though, is Cybils FSF nominee …
REVIEW
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Travis Jonker of the blog 100 Scope Notes is definitely a familiar face around the Cybils, and this year he's a Round I panelist for Fiction Picture Books. His blog covers news and reviews from the world of children's literature, from the perspective of an elementary school librarian. He also reviews for School Library Journal. There was just no way …
REVIEW
Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians
Mama Librarian (aka Maggi Idzikowski), one of our Round I panelists for Graphic Novels this year, has a fun and unique ratings system for the books she reviews on her site. Not only does she look at Illustrations and Personages, but she moves beyond those to consider Wordsmithing, Mesmerizitude, and just plain Awesomeness. One of our Cybils-nominated titles that got …
REVIEW
Alice’s Shooting Star by Tim Kennemore
The Jean Little Library is the personal library of Jennifer Wharton, a youth services librarian at a small public library in Wisconsin. Jennifer is one of our panelists this year for Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books, and she blogs not only at Check It Out @MML but also provides insightful book reviews and other helpful resources via her blog …
This Just In! Cybils Nominee Wins National Book Award
The National Book Award winners were announced tonight, and we were proud as could be to see that one of our Cybils nominees for MG/YA Non-Fiction, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose, was the winner for Young People's Literature. Colvin herself–who was jailed as a teenager in 1955 for not giving up her seat to a white woman …
REVIEW
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Sarah Woodard of Sarah's Random Musings is our featured blogger for today, and if you're a fan of YA book reviews and interviews with authors, you'll definitely want to cruise by her virtual home. Sarah is an aspiring writer and high school student in Washington State, and some of her favorite YA authors include John Green, Meg Cabot, and Melina …