#Cybils2022 Young Adult Fiction

  All My Rage: A Novel Sabaa Tabir Razorbill Nominated by: Anne@HeadFullofBooks Noor’s uncle saved her from a natural disaster when she was a child…and won’t let her forget it. She finds solace in planning her escape. Salahudin struggles with his parents’ health conditions and decisions. The responsibility of the motel Sal’s mother ran now falls on his shoulders after …

#Cybils2022 Finalists!

Cybils Awards

Before we unveil our outstanding finalists, we want to give out a huge thank you to all our panelists who read more than a thousand books. We had 1045 read by at least 1 panelist and 1010 read by two. There was great discussion and deliberation, and they came up with some amazing shortlists. We also want to thank the …

SONNY’S BRIDGE by Barry Wittenstein #CYBILS 📚🎶

sonnys bridge-nonfiction finalist

SONNY’S BRIDGE:JAZZ LEGEND SONNY ROLLINS FINDS HIS GROOVE by Barry Wittensteinillustrated by Keith Mallett   Charlesbridge Publishing Finalist – Elementary/Middle-Grade Nonfiction2019 CYBILS Awards The Book Elementary/Middle-GradeBiography, Black History, Music, Nonfiction   Sonny’s Bridge is a tribute to the prolific jazz musician Sonny Rollins. Sonny was born in the vibrant times of jazz music. As a kid, Sonny played the saxophone and …

DEAR JUSTYCE by Nic Stone #CYBILS 📚🎶

Welcome to the inaugural CYBILS Awards Book Playlist. If you love listening to music as you read, these posts are for you! Each post pairs a curated Spotify playlist with one CYBILS Awards finalist or winner. If you have a playlist request, be sure to drop us a line at cybilsawards [at] gmail [dot] com. DEAR JUSTYCE: A NOVEL (Dear Martin …

#BannedBookWeek Spotlight Post

banned book week playlist

We recently welcomed Riya Fernando to our Volunteer Team, and are so glad to have her on board. When she offered to create a book playlist for Banned Book Week built around THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas (2017 YA Fiction Finalist), our answer was an emphatic “Absolutely!” Make sure to celebrate this week by reading your favorite books …

#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List Summer: It’s a Wrap

Last week we posted our last Backlist Book List for 2021. We hope you have had as much fun exploring the curated lists as we had in creating them! Nine lists: 6 read-alike lists, 3 themed lists.  Ten years of nominations, finalists, and winners. 154 recommended books for readers toddler to teen. What made them particularly fun was discovering books …

#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: So You Want To Learn Magic

SFF witches Coming of Age

Charlotte Taylor, Chair for our Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category, has conjured this week’s Backlist Book List. And dare we say it? It’s magical. There. We said it. If you know a young reader who dreams of spells and wishes for magic skills, this is the book list for you. Meet Eva Evergreen!  We’ll let Kristin Harvey, who blogs at …

#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List: Verse Novels

verse novels YA

We’re turning over the Backlist Book List reigns to Gary Anderson, who chairs the Young Adult Fiction category.  He has some recommendations for verse novels that, like Cybils 2020 Finalist Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, deal with tough contemporary societal issues. As Gary explains: This is not poetry for the butterflies and sunflowers set but tough …

#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: Pivoting Pandemic Reads

science books fo kids

It’s either emblematic of the COVID-19 pandemic or the most over-used word of 2020. Either way, we couldn’t resist using it for this week’s Backlist Book List! We promise it is more riveting than pivoting. Laurie Halse Anderson’s award-winning book Fever 1793 was published in 2000, six years before the Cybils Awards launched. It is a historical fiction novel about …