Elementary/Middle-Grade | Young Adult Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction Accidental Demons Clare Edge HarperCollins Nominated by: Joy McCullough Bernadette Crowley – Ber for short – has grown up a proud member of a family of blood witches who trace their roots back to Ireland. Ber’s extra strong magic was always an asset until her recent …
Future Tense
With the dawn of a new year upon us, what better time to introduce a collection of books that explore the future. These books are about the future. And some of them are tense (read: big, heavy subjects). True stories and (science) fictional tales. Subjects rooted in the last century, and some in dimensions beyond ours. Good guys and bad …
A Tapestry of Tales: Folklore from Around the World #CYBILS2024 Book List
What we love about this year’s collection of nominated and submitted folklore is the rich diversity of the cultures represented. [See list below]. Readers are immersed in Legends that are centuries old but freshly told. Tales with magic to capture the imagination. Stories where natural and unexplained worlds collide. through stories told visually in graphic novels and picture books, …
Meet the #CYBILS2024 Speculative Fiction Teams
Spells, and space rockets, and zombies, oh my! This is the category for books with talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, paranormal abilities, alternate universes, and horror, including books where magic is obvious, not-so-obvious. Some stories may be set here on Earth, but they’re pushing the boundaries of daily life into what is almost certainly impossible or improbable … for now. There …
#CYBILS Book Playlist: CEMETERY BOYS by Aiden Thomas
CEMETERY BOYS By Aiden Thomas Swoon Reads Young Adult Contemporary, Family, Folklore, LGBTQ+, Romance, Urban Fantasy Winner – Young Adult Speculative Fiction 2020 CYBILS Awards The Book Deeply steeped in Latinx culture and folklore, Cemetery Boys weaves magic, identity, and family birthright into a compelling coming of age story. When his family bans him from performing the ritual that would …
Book Reviews: #CYBILS2023 YA Speculative Fiction FInalists
What “binds” all of these books together? Besides being for young adults? and speculative fiction? with amazing cover art? Well, we could tell you, but you are such a savvy, discerning reader, we know you’ll find the answer. This much we’ll share: the word “original” was used by multiple judges across multiple books; and two titles made a fantasy lover out of …
Book Reviews: #CYBILS2023 EMG Speculative Fiction Finalists
A quick recap for those who are just now discovering our review series … excerpts of judges reviews. Their own opinions (not their panels). Did not necessarily judge this category. 2023 WINNER The Grace of Wild Things Heather Fawcett Balzer + Bray Nominated by: marsenault13 Deb @ The Book Search – This one’s a charmer. The whole story is just …
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! 💞 THANK YOU 💞 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 …
The IN be-TWEEN | #CYBILS2023 Reviews 01.17.24
We won’t keep you … there are a lot of fascinating, I-want-to-read-that books on the list. Including a novel in verse!! One thing we will also want to point out is that several reviewers recommended listening to the audio editions … and not just fiction! Summaries excerpted from Goodreads. Click the book cover to go to see more details. Middle-Grade …
#CYBILS2023 The Ones That Got Away: Middle-Grade Edition
Remember when we said our judges read more than 1,240 books for the 2023 CYBILS Awards? Well, more than 350 of those books were written for the middle-grade audience. As you might expect, there were some books that judges crossed their fingers and toes for in hopes *that book* making the finalist list – that weren’t on those lists. HOWEVER. …