The 4-1-1 on the 2024 CYBILS Awards

A few weeks ago, we shared three goals that our Board set for its 2024 agenda. In this post we identified several that relate to changes in our award.Β  With the 2024 CYBILS Awards season starting soon, we want to share more detail about several ofΒ  those changes. Objective: Improve book access and reading volume issuesΒ  Year in and year …

Book Reviews: #CYBILS2023 Easy Reader Finalists

Today for your reading enjoyment we’ve got … 2023 WINNER Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends: Ready-to-Read Graphics Level 1 Kaz Windness, illustrated by Kaz Windness Simon Spotlight Nominated by: Kate Talbot Kirsten @ Goodreads – This is a wonderful story with colorful illustrations and panels that are sometimes put in the middle of another large panel, straying from the classic …

Announcing the 2023 CYBILS Awards Winners

Before we say “congratulations,” we want to shout out a big thanks to everyone who helped make the 2023 CYBILS Awards another great year! πŸ’ž THANK YOU πŸ’žΒ  We can’t say enough about our judges … who can’t say enough about the great books you sent us for consideration. We were thrilled to have many books with positive representation that …

CYBILS 2023 Easy Reader & Early Chapter Book Finalists

Easy Readers Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other StoriesJarvisCandlewick PressNominated by: Linda Baie Bear and Bird are the best of friends. So best of friends, in fact, that they would rather make the other happy than always tell the truth. Is it wrong to lie to your friends? What if your lie is to protect their feelings? Bear and …

Announcing the 2023 CYBILS Awards Finalists

We may not be the first to wish you a Happy New Year, but we are very excited to be the first to tell you about the 2023 CYBILS Awards finalists! Our judges read more than 1,240 books across nine categories and three audiences. In some categories – like Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, and Poetry – judges were reading all the …

2023 CYBILS Judges: Books for New Readers Panels

Easy readers are designed for kids to build vocabulary (e.g., “sight words”) and practice their reading. They are leveled, with controlled vocabularies. They are commonly parts of series with reading-related titles, such as β€œStep into Reading” or β€œI Can Read” and they can usually be identified by their large type, simple sentence structure, and colorful illustrations on every page. Compared …

Now Read This! #Cybils2021 Needs You

As we mentioned in our last post, what powers the CYBILS Awards is a passion to engage kids and teens with amazing books that have just the right balance of literary merit and kid appeal. By extension, that means igniting the spark that creates a love of reading. Easy Readers and Early Chapter books are the stories that bring the …

#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: Dino-might

cybils awards dinosaur books

Does anyone else remember that one-word exclamation from a 1970s show called Good Times? Here’s a little trivia for you: Jimmie Walker, the character who used that phrase, also used it in a series of Panasonic commercials for, wait for it … cassettes and 8-track tapes. [Source: Wikipedia] So, as you’ve probably already guessed, our “din-o-might” is a bit different …

#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: #BatterUp

baseball books kids teens

In a little less than a week, baseball fans will be celebrating the 91st Midsummer Classic, also known as Major League Baseball’s 2021Β  All-Star Game. Last year, because of the pandemic, this annual event didn’t happen. But this year, well … we’re ready! To help get ready for the big game, let’s have some fun with a little trivia. ⚾ …

REVIEW: What About Worms!?

What About Worms!?

Our featured blog review today takes a closer look at Easy Readers finalist What About Worms!? (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!) by Ryan T. Higgins and Mo Willems: Too funny! Tiger is just what I’ve come to expect from Ryan T. Higgins. Tiger isn’t grumpy like Ryan’s other character Bruce. Instead, he’s a little bit of a mess especially when …