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 …
Updating our FAQs
I'm going to update our FAQs again soon and would appreciate knowing your nagging questions about Cybils. I'm especially interested in hearing from authors and publishing professionals, as I sense these two groups are having the most trouble understanding what the heck we're up to. I'm worried our communications haven't always been clear and we've fallen back into thinking everyone …
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 …
REVIEW
The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton
SimplyScience is an indispensable blog for any teacher looking for great kids' books to incorporate into classroom science curriculum–Shirley Smith Duke not only reviews books but also provides suggestions for lessons and activities to accompany each one. Shirley is a Round II Judge this year for Non-Fiction Picture Books. Today's featured review is Shirley's post about The Day-Glo Brothers, written …
The Inside Scoop on Nominees, Part I
Welcome to the first installment of a three-part series of posts we're calling The Inside Scoop. Aren't you curious what the category organizers thought about this year's crop of Cybils nominees? I know I am, so I asked them to provide a quick blurb about the process so far: their impressions of the group of nominated titles, anything that stood …
REVIEW: Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey
Tasha Saecker, who blogs at Kids Lit, is not only a Round II Judge in Fantasy and Science Fiction, but was also the category organizer last year. Her blog is a familiar fixture to many of us kidlitosphere "old-timers," who enjoy reading her impressions of kids' and YA books from the perspective of a longtime children's librarian and public library …
Jone Is Famous!
Our category organizer for Non-Fiction Picture Books, Jone MacCulloch, is famous–you might have caught sight of her several days ago in the Publisher's Weekly Picture of the Day on PW Daily. The occasion was a Barnes & Noble event for Lisa Schroeder's newest YA novel. Schroeder's book Far From You was a Cybils YA nominee this year; the picture also …