Our featured review for today looks at Young Adult Fiction finalist Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo–specifically, the audiobook version: The audiobook production brings another level to this book, not just because Acevedo herself narrates half this book but because her writing begs to be performed. Her writing is magical and lyrical and her slam poetry background adds such …
REVIEW: How We Got to the Moon
Today’s blogger review features Middle Grade Nonfiction finalist How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco: John Rocco is an author-illustrator who wanted to create with this project a book he would have loved to read as a kid. He accomplished his goal in spades—creating a beautiful …
REVIEW: From the Desk of Zoe Washington
Middle Grade Fiction finalist title From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks is the subject of today’s featured review: From the Desk of Zoe Washington, a middle-grade novel by debut author Janae Marks, is a quick but impactful read. With themes of racism and wrongful conviction, it’s a timely read that’s as thought-provoking as it is engaging. Although …
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 …
REVIEW: When Stars Are Scattered
Today’s featured blogger review takes a closer look at Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels finalist When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, and Iman Geddy: This book just gobsmacked me. It’s a powerful tale of two brothers in a refugee camp. Born in Somalia at the onset of a civil war, Omar, the eldest, watched his father get killed. …
REVIEW: I Am Every Good Thing
In our featured blog review for today, read more about Fiction Picture Books finalist I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James: A love letter to African American boys about everything good they are and all of the great things they will become. It did not specifically name a race, but all of the gorgeous …
REVIEW: Rival Magic
Welcome to our first review of 2021! Happy New Year! Today’s blogger review looks at Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist Rival Magic by Deva Fagan: This is a fine example of the sort of middle grade fantasy that one reads in just about a single-sitting, with interesting, likeable main characters, lots of delightfully magical twists and turns, and twists in …
The 2020 Cybils Finalists!
It’s January 1st, our favorite day of the year! (And not just because 2020 is over!) We have gotten the nominations, read the books, debated, and chosen ones to be finalists! It’s time to Celebrate!! Now, because we know you’re curious, we have some stats for you. We had 987 books nominated across all categories (that’s fewer than years past, …
Our Favorite Day is Coming! Tomorrow!!
The 2020 Cybils Finalists will be announced tomorrow! We can’t wait! However, there is first some business to take care of. One of the things we at the CYBILS have taken seriously this year is representation. We had diversity training for the board, the chairs, and the judges because we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of what good …