Yes friends, we are launching a new feature on the CYBILS Awards blog! Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing some of the books our Category Chairs hope to see nominated this year.
It complements the work that our Early Call judges finding and reading all the books. The best part? You might find a book you didn’t know about and can read along, too!
Introducing: Sondra Eklund, YA Speculative Fiction Chair
Sondra has been part of nearly every CYBILS Awards over these past 18 years. She did step away when she was on the 2019 Newbery Selection Committee. Since 2021 she has served on the committee for the Mathical Book Prize, combining her love of children’s books with her love of math.
As the youth materials selector for her entire public library system, she reads voraciously, but has to be more selective in reviewing books, focusing on those that are truly special.
SONDY’S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY PICKS
You’ll find these books on our 2023 CYBILS Eligible shelf, but just in case you want to add them to your TBR, click the cover or button to go to Goodreads. Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments, too!
There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years, humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.
In the immediate aftermath of the events of Winterkeep, Bitterblue and her entourage begin the journey back to Monsea with the only copies of the formulas for the zilphium weapon. Bitterblue must decide what she will do with her world-shaping power. But before they've even made it halfway home, storms drive their ship off course, wrecking them in the ice far north of the Royal Continent. The survivors must make a harrowing trek across the ice in order to make it back to Monsea.
There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity that inhabits the ancient hot spring. This time trouble comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger, requiring a desperate rescue attempt from his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, and art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.
Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.
Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.
SONDY’S OTHER NOMINATION NODS
Like many chairs, Sondy reads widely – including books not in her category. These are a few of the books she hopes to see these books nominated in October. You’ll find them on our Eligible in 2023 Goodreads Idea Board.
Red (18) and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident.
Perry Firekeeper-Birch was ready for her Summer of Slack but instead, she’s working to pay back her Auntie Daunis for repairs to the Jeep. During a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl,” an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives. Everything changes and Perry knows she has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe.
Got Recommendations?
We’d love to know about them! We’re not using the padlet Idea Boards this year. Instead, we’re gathering readers’ recommendations and ideas via Goodreads. Here’s how you recommend a book. [desktop, IOS, Android]