May has a lot of “holidays”: Mother’s Day, May Day, Star Wars Day, Cinco de Mayo (and that’s just the first week!). But it’s also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and I thought we’d celebrate by highlighting (in a non-comprehensive list) some of the great books we’ve had by and about the AAPI experience. Watercress by Andrea Wang, …
#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: Turn Up the Music
Welcome to the Cybils Awards off-season! We’ve had so much great response to our booklists that we are going run themed lists twice a month, made up of past Cybils nominees, finalists and winners. If you’d like to participate, email us a themed list of your favorite books to blogeditor@cybils.com. If you need help thinking of books check out our …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Celebrating the Black Experience for Younger Readers
Before we wrap things up completely and move off into the post-season, I wanted to give a shout-out to the books celebrating the Black Experience on the younger end of the reading age. We’ll be quiet for a bit, but then we’ll pick up with backlist lists. If you have any good theme suggestions, let us know! Baby Young, Gifted, …
The 2021 Cybils Winners!
As we wrap up another year, we sit back and marvel at how many people are willing to step up and participate, to help out, to find and read all the books, and to make decisions that pick books we feel are excellent, and yet kid-friendly. We are grateful for everyone’s support and help and are glad we have come …
2021 Winners Announced TOMORROW!
Just a quick reminder that the winners of the 2021 Cybils will be announced tomorrow, February 14, 2022 at 9 a.m. PST. Be here! We’re excited about this year’s winners!
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Celebrating the Black Experience, YA Edition
It’s Black History Month, and I thought it would be good to highlight all the wonderful books we have celebrating all aspects of Black Life. I’m sure I didn’t catch them all, but these are definitely worth checking out! I was going to do them all, but there are so many (yay!) we needed to split them up. Stay tuned. …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Princesses and Fairy Tales!
We did a non-fiction heavy list last week, so I thought we’d give fantasy some love. I’ve noticed a huge number of princess and fairy tale books as I’ve gone through the lists, and thought they’d be fun to highlight! Besides, who doesn’t love a good fairy tale retelling or a princess story? Goldilocks and the Three Engineersby Sue …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Non-Traditional Sports
Everyone knows books about the “traditional” sports: basketball, baseball, football, and soccer. But what about the sports that aren’t as big a deal to the general public. They are important to those who participate in them, and they can serve as backdrops for some pretty amazing stories. Why We Flyby Kimberly Jones and Gilly SegalSourcebooks Fire “Why We Fly …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Snow!
It is snowing and cold today, as I put this together, and as I was scrolling through the lists of nominated books, I noticed a handful of snowy and wintery books. It seemed a good day to feature them! The Snow Dancerby Addie Boswell, illustrated by Mercè LópezTwo Lions “I loved this story of making your own way and …
#CybilsAwards Book lists: The Ones That Got Away
Every year, our round-one panelists read lots of books, debate, whittle down, and pick what they think — collectively — is the best, most kid-friendly books of the nominations. However, since it’s a collective decision, it means individual judges’ personal favorites are bound to not make it to the finalist list. It’s just the way a collective decision goes. However, …