Many thanks to all who nominated. We hope you had fun picking your favorites. Now it’s our panelists’ turn. While we’re waiting for them to plow through the lists and make up their minds, we’ll still be busy here at Cybils. Starting Friday, the full lists of nominees will trickle in from our organizers, all nicely alphabetized. I’ll post them …
Telling Fibs to everyone
One of our esteemed Poetry judges, Gregory K. from GottaBook, is perhaps best known as the inventor of the Fib poem, based on the Fibonacci mathematical sequence of 1,1,2,3,5,8,13…(basically, you keeping taking the last two numbers and adding them together to get the next in the sequence). Fibs are the subject of a feature story at the Poetry Foundation, which …
Fids and Kamily
If you’re like me and the very mention of "The Wiggles" makes you twitch, you’ve no doubt already discovered Stefan Shephard’s blog for children’s music, Zooglobble. He’s a Cybils fan too and has sent some traffic our way. He knows a thing or two about awards. He (and some other kids music writers) just concluded Fids and Kamily, a list …
REVIEW: Louisiana’s Song by Kerry Madden
If I post at Bildungsroman about a series, you can bet you’ll read the phrase, "Read the books in order," followed by a list of titles. Louisiana’s Song by Kerry Madden is the second book in a trilogy about a big family growing up in North Carolina. Unlike many middle books in trilogies, this book can stand on its own …
Hey, fence sitters, time to make up your minds!
Nominations close at midnight Chicago time on Wednesday, Nov. 21. I know some of you have been waiting until the 11th hour … well, that’s like any second now, okay? I won’t actually be up at midnight tomorrow, but I’ll delete any nominations that come in after deadline. I hate, hate, hate being a grouch, it really doesn’t suit my …
Snowflake auctions–tell us if you ended up bidding
Hey, who you calling a flake? For those who’ve been following the phenomenon of Robert’s Snow, the auction begins today. Jules and Eisha have the round-up of all the different artists who donated their talents to decorating a snowflake, with links to the bloggers who profiled them. There’s also a list on this blog (right column, scroll down a bit), …
REVIEW: Laika by Nick Abadzis
Former teacher, radio DJ, theatre manager, and general jack-of-all-trades David Elzey (maybe that should be "David-of-all-trades") describes his blog, the excelsior file, as "children’s literature, reviews, thoughts, commentary, and whatever else fits the bill." His blog is definitely eclectic. You’ll find contributions to Poetry Friday, comments on picture books, interviews, and sneak peeks at graphic novels, such as his recent …
More fame for the 7-Imp duo
In my other life, I’m the freelance editor for the Poetry Foundation’s children’s Web page. It’s my great pleasure to announce that two of Cybils’ organizers, Jules and Eisha, have an article suggesting which poems to sneak into your kid’s lunch box. Besides the usual holidays, you’ll find poems for losing a tooth, pop quizzes, fights with best friends … …
REVIEW: Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems
Have you met Pam Coughlin, better known as MotherReader? If not, you’re missing one of the funniest, most over-the-top writers in the kidlit blogging world. A librarian and Mommy from Virginia, her annual 48-hour book challenge keeps scores of bloggers bleary-eyed while reading and reviewing — and then reading each others’ reviews. In September, she asks everyone for their favorite …
A note to publishers
First, we’d like to thank all the publishers who have sent review copies so far. Books are streaming in to our panelists, who aren’t wasting a precious second of their all-too-brief reading period. Some of the smaller publishers have said they cannot make review copies available, so panelists are hunting down copies in local libraries. That’s cool. Thanks for letting …