A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams written by Jen Bryant illustrated by Melissa Sweet Eerdmans Books for Young ReadersThis biography follows “Willie Williams” from his days as a smart, athletic youngster to his later years as a physician. As readers see him aging, they also see the inexplicable pull of poetry in his life and the …
2008 Middle Grade Fiction Finalists
Alvin Howritten by Lenore LookSchwartz and Wade Books Alvin Ho is brave (as long as he has his Personal Disaster Kit), a gentleman (in training), a good friend (but NOT to girls), and an interesting kid (who doesn’t talk in public). It’s just that he’s allergic to everything: girls, substitute teachers, airplanes, escalators … and anything else that’s even remotely …
2008 Poetry Finalists
America at War illustrated by Stephen Alcorn edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins Simon & Schuster The poems in the anthology are not about war itself, but about the emotions related to warfare. The anthology is focused on the poetry of war, and the 54 poems inside the book are separated into eight sections, beginning with poems related to the Revolutionary …
A Cybilian defends the Newbery Medal
I'm sorry this snuck by me, but I just noticed it yesterday. Erica Perl, who'll be judging in Fiction Picture Books, has a post up at Slate.com from Friday. She takes on the naysayers picking on the Newbery Medal, defending its lofty, if sometimes quirky, choices. Cybils was founded in part to get away from the idea that a great …
About The Cybils Awards
Our purpose is two-fold: Reward the children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators, let’s not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and “kid appeal.” What’s that mean? If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussel sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we’re thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We’re yummy and nutritious. Foster …
A big, fat shout-out with pom-poms and megaphones to our panelists
Three holiday cheers for our panelists, who're busily plowing through the 840+ nominated books on our 2008 list. Sheila Ruth built a fabulous, behind-the-scenes database that shows 89% of the titles have gotten at least one read. Since that number doesn't include the non-fiction picture book folks, it's probably closer to 100%, or just about. I've promised publishers, authors and …
Blatant Appeal For Money (Sorry)
Hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and you're happily getting ready for the holidays, whichever holiday(s) you happen to celebrate. We hope you'll remember us here at Cybils when you do your shopping. Not that we need anything, of course. But you can help Cybils get a small commission whenever you shop at Amazon and now at your favorite independent …
Jen Robinson at Shelf Space
Jen Robinson is guest blogging at Foreword magazine's Shelf Space through the month of November. The most recent post talks about her role as literacy evangelist for the web's most popular (okay, only) kidlit awards. Here's a sample: I believe that the Cybils short lists (5 to 7 titles per category) are an amazing resource. Great titles, vetted by people …
Widgets!
Coming soon to a fashionable blog near you … Tracy Grand at JacketFlap has once again provided a terrific widget for us all. You'll see an example of it in the right sidebar (partway down). If you want one, here's the linky-loo so you can create your own. Pick genres and colors and the widget does the rest. Gorgeous. I …
Elections and Kids — Open Thread
Whether we elect the first African-American president or the first female vice president, today's a rather historic day, wouldn't you say? So let's take a break from Cybils judging and gab a bit about America's big day at the polls. What'd you tell your kids about it? In my household, my son told ME — in no uncertain terms. He …