Year after year, it never ceases to amaze us how the Cybils Awards manages to come together. From the people who volunteer as chairs to the panelists who spend so much of their fall reading, to the judges who thoughtfully deliberate to choose a winner. It was especially challenging this year, with the pandemic, and we are especially grateful for …
The BIG Day is Nearly Here!
Get ready! The announcement for the 2020 Cybils Finalists are TOMORROW, Feburary 14th at 9 a.m PST. We’re super excited to share it all with you!
2020 Cybils Finalists: The Ones that Got Away
One of the things that makes a first-round panelist’s job so hard is the act of working with everyone to narrow down the list to five to seven books. When you have nearly 100 books on the list (or more sometimes!) that means, inevitably, really great books were not going to make the shortlist. We’d like to take a minute …
Twitter 2020 Cybils Finalists Roud-Up!
It’s been a little more than a week since we announced our finalists for 2020 Cybils and we love to see the Twitter celebration! And since y’all might have missed it, we thought we’d share some of our favorites here! We're honored to share that THE STORY OF CIVIL WAR HERO ROBERT SMALLS is a @CybilsAwards 2020 finalist in the …
2020 Finalists: Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books
Easy Readers: Cat Has a Plan (Ready-to-Reads) (Amazon, IndieBound) by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Fred Blunt Simon Spotlight Nominated by: Cathy Ballou Mealey Cat Has a Plan written by Laura Gehl and illustrated by Fred Blunt was chosen by our panelists for its witty humor and delightful illustrations. The short easy sentence structure and word repetition along with colorful retro …
2020 Finalists: Middle-Grade Nonfiction
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team (Amazon, IndieBound) by Christina Soontornvat Candlewick Press Nominated by: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Even though the title gives away the ending of this nail-biting narrative nonfiction, this true story set in Thailand will keep you on the edge of your seat from the time the soccer team realizes they …
2020 Finalists: Young Adult Fiction
Clap When You Land (Amazon, IndieBound) by Elizabeth Acevedo Quill Tree Books Nominated by: Stephanie @ Love.Life.Read When flight 587 crashes, two girls’ lives are changed forever. Clap When You Land explores what it means to be family and what it means to grieve a person you didn’t completely know. The poetry of this book allows Yahaira and Camino’s voices …
2020 Finalists: High School Nonfiction
All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto (Amazon, IndieBound) by George M. Johnson Farrar, Straus & Giroux Nominated by: Patricia Tilton After reading Johnson’s memoir twice, I remain impressed with his willingness to share his life with readers who so rarely get to see representations of Black queerness encouragingly and lovingly portrayed. Johnson revisits difficult childhood memories, from having his teeth shattered …
2020 Finalists: Middle-Grade Fiction
Echo Mountain (Amazon, IndieBound) by Lauren Wolk Dutton Books for Young Readers Nominated by: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz The Great Depression impacts twelve-year-old Ellie and her family. Losing everything forces them to move from town to the wilds of Echo Mountain. Her father, a tailor by trade, must now learn a new life and become a rugged “mountain man.” Her mother …
2020 Finalists: Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction
A Wish in the Dark (Amazon, IndieBound) by Christina Soontornvat Candlewick Press Nominated by: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz In this mix of magic and Thai culture, with inspiration from Les Miserables, orphaned Pong escapes the prison where he was born with the help of his friend Somkit, who doesn’t make it out. Pong is now a fugitive from the government, …