Anne the Editor here. Cybils must’ve had a record number of books that defied easy categorizing this year. How many graphics were needed before a novel became a graphic novel? At what point does a dramatization of a true story cross over to fiction?
But none stumped us more than a collection of 19 monologues and 2 dialogs set in 13th-century England. Was it for middle schoolers or young adults, a collection of verses or a poetic novel or something else?
We kicked it over to Poetry, where it made the short list. In my review, I noted that author Laura Amy Schlitz won last year’s Cybil for Middle Grade fiction; in crossing over to poetry, she retains her gift for strong characterization:
As the characters speak, they offer an unflinching view of their poverty, their superstitions and prejudices and the limited scope of their ambitions.
And, like any kids, they’re brightly optimistic, cheerful in their adversity, and full of imagination and daring.
We meet the Lord of the Manor’s nephew, who risks his life in a boar hunt; a glassblower’s apprentice determined to get it right; a shepherdess struggling to save her "sister" sheep, and many other charming, disarming and (mostly) guileless kids struggling to figure out their place in the local pecking order and how to bridge those awkward years until adulthood.
Read the rest here.