Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Terry Doherty has to step down as our Fiction Picture Books chair. We will miss her terribly, and wish her all the best.
In her stead, Deb Nance has graciously volunteered to step up and fill Terry’s shoes this season. Here’s a bit about her:
Fiction picture books are Deb Nance’s world. She’s had many huge moments in the children’s book world since she started spontaneously reading at age two. She’s been a teacher and a librarian near Houston, Texas since 1977. She’s been blogging at Readerbuzz since 2008. She was chosen as an onsite correspondent for Armchair BEA in 2016. She was asked to be the moderator for the Five Funny Guys panel at TweenReads in 2015. Her school was asked to host Jon Klassen the year he won the Caldecott. She won a grant to build five Little Free Libraries for children’s books. She’s been an author escort for the Children’s Reading Tent at the Texas Book Festival many, many times. She’s over halfway through reading the 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. And she’s been a judge for the Cybils in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008, serving as a panelist for nonfiction picture books, easy readers, early chapter books, and, yes, fiction picture books. This is the Grand Canyon of moments in the children’s book world for Deb, serving as the Category Chair for the Cybils 2016 Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards Fiction Picture Books.
When she’s not reading, she’s a happy mom to two grownup reader sons and a happy nana to a just-learning-to-love-reading one-year-old granddaughter, and she’s always busy happily obsessing about what to read next.