A nice profile of Cybils judge Patricia Stohr-Hunt from her employer, the University of Richmond. Cybils gets a mention too. I think she’s the first of our bloggers to be banned in China. Go, Patricia!
Merry Christmas, Cybilians everywhere
I want to express my profound appreciation to our organizers and first-round judges who'll still be reading and debating books over the course of Christmas break. You make Cybils happen — and you keep coming back with brilliant, unpredictable and fascinating short lists year after year. Things will be quiet on the blog this week, but we'll be roaring back …
Advertise for a good cause
Our ads are a main source of revenue for Cybils, and the money goes toward a lovely prize for our winners. The BlogAds people have included us in a major book promotion featuring some of the most prominent book blogs. Woot! So, if you want to reach the book-buying hordes, the BlogAds Book Hive would help us and help you. …
REVIEW
A closer look at Claudette Colvin
By now, most of the hardcore bibliophiles know exactly who won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. I think Alicia at LibrariYAn was first out of the gate with a review after the awards announcement. Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice profiles the teenager who preceded the late, great Rosa Parks in refusing to give up her …
Cybils non-fiction list flexes some muscle
Thanks to Susan for an excellent post on the awesome might of the non-fiction list for tween and teen readers this year. She lists all her panelists' reviews so far but first points out how the books are already attracting attention: Two of the five finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature were nonfiction titles: Claudette Colvin: Twice …
Some insights from a panelist …
Hat tip to Sheila for passing along a link to some fascinating musings from a panelist with the middle grade Science Fiction/Fantasy list. Critique de Mr. Chompchomp notes the reliance of Fantasy authors on magic doodads (trivia note: dubbed "Macguffins" by none other than Alfred Hitchcock). He spots a trend toward one item in particular: But there is a general …
Annual Beg-For-Money Post
I look forward to this post every year about as much as I await the next 40-something birthday. I grit my teeth and suffer through it. I remind myself it could be worse — I could be getting another C-section. So *holds breath* here goes … Truthfully, Cybils has very few financial needs. For the last two years, we've bought …
The widgets are here! Look in sidebar —->
Look in the sidebar right next to this column. Scroll down just below the ads and genre list. What do you see? Our new widget! Yes, you too can have this glamorous widget for your website or blog. It shows off a different nominated title whenever you refresh the page — though you can customize it to show just your …
NaNoWriMo
More blurby goodness
Folks, give a nice shout-out or two for our next NaNoWriMo blurber: The Beast by Samantha Wheat For a hundred years Daniel has searched for a dream seer that will allow him to find the soul of his beloved. When Daniel finds a dream seer in the form of a teenage girl he believes his searching is over, until he …
Paneling in NYC
Okay, so paneling is not exactly a verb in a way that means "a group of kidlit obsessives who natter on to an audience of strangers." But paneling we did. Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 fame moderated a discussion on kidlit blogging and the Cybils awards at the NY Public Library on Saturday. The one with the lions, though the whole building's under …