"I kept meaning to start a librarian blog," says YA nominating panelist Abby Johnson, of Abby (the) Librarian. "[A]nd then one day…I did. I started it as a way to join this great community of kid-lit loving librarians, teachers, authors, students, parents, etc." In addition to sharing information and insights about children’s library programs, she also posts book reviews that …

Travis Jonker, who blogs at 100 Scope Notes, is one of this year’s panelists for Fiction Picture Books. An elementary school librarian for the past three years, he posts children’s literature news and reviews, including old favorites as well as great new books; brief interviews with authors called "5 Questions;" and links of interest to children’s literature fans. In his …

Our Literacy Evangelist for the 2008 Cybils is well known around the kidlitosphere for her wonderfully comprehensive, informative, and intelligent blog about books for kids and young adults, Jen Robinson’s Book Page. Her book reviews are always thoughtful and thorough, and so we’re proud to kick off this year’s nominee reviews with her enthusiastic coverage of The Other Side of …

Kelly here, checking in with a review from Jen Robinson.  What can we say about Jen in a brief introduction?  Well, she runs an amazing blog (Jen Robinson’s Book Page), writes level-headed, intelligent reviews, and has a passion for childhood literacy.  She’s been with the Cybils from the beginning and we couldn’t think of surviving without her.  Jen is an …

Eisha here. Around here we’ve started referring to Steve Jenkins as "Mr. Cybils." His name crops up on three of our shortlisted titles: as illustrator of Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre (Non-fiction Picture Book) and of Animal Poems by Valerie Worth (Poetry), and as author/illustrator of Living Color (Non-fiction Picture Book). But Mr. Jenkins is no stranger to accolades. Since …

Sarah at Reading YA: Readers’ Rants has whipped our Graphics Novel list into shape as organizer, turning in a superb batch of finalists despite endless hassles locating wayward copies of books. As you might suspect from her blog’s title, she loves books pitched to teens, and recently read Into the Wild (from our fantasy short list) about Rapunzel’s daughter, Julie: …

Get your brand-new blogging trend right here: non-fiction Mondays. It’s the brainchild of Anastasia Suen and we thought we’d join the fun. Chris Barton’s the go-to guy for this genre, with a blog that revels in the variety and depth of the picture books out there on every conceivable topic. Plus, he’s got two of his own due out soon …

Chris Barton = Non Fiction. He’s a writer–of Non-fiction, bien sur–and has been blogging about writing and all things Non Fiction at Bartography since June of 2005. So when we put together our nominating and judging panels for the 2007 Cybils, we went knocking at his (virtual) door. Non-fiction needed Chris, and thank goodness for us he joined the team.

It’s rare that an author gets Cybils nominations in back-to-back years, rarer still that they show up twice in the same year. In fact, there’s only one: the singular Adam Rex. Last year, he made the short list for his poetry collection, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, which he also illustrated. This year, Rex makes two separate finals, in Fantasy/Science Fiction …

Perhaps few kidlit bloggers have penned more words about their passion than Betsy Bird, better known as Fuse #8. Her popular blog moved to the School Library Journal‘s website earlier this year, where she’s kept up a torrent of reviews, news and witty commentary. Her search for a Palestinian perspective on the Middle East led her to Tasting the Sky, …