Not only will we be featuring fantastic books every day, but fun bloggers too. Meet Loree Griffin Burns, a panelist for the Middle Grade/YA non-fiction list who proves that while this may be one of the smaller categories, it doesn’t lack for offbeat gems like Tales of the Cryptids: This meaty middle-grade non-fiction title takes readers on an adventure in …
REVIEW OF THE DAY
I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You
Who can forget our first loves, first heartbreaks, first zits or first snub by the popular kids or … wait, what was it we loved about high school? Sara’s Holds Shelf is where Sara Norman reviews YA novels, one of the Cybils’ most popular categories with more than 90 nominations as of this writing. Phew. She recently reviewed Ally Carter’s …
REVIEW OF THE DAY
Voices
I hope no one minds if I toot my own horn here. If you’re in the mood for fantasy (and given today’s realities, who isn’t?) check out my review at latimes.com of Ursula Le Guin’s Voices, her veiled critique of the illiterate know-nothings who imperil our libraries. Except my normally fabulous editors wouldn’t let me call such morons "know-nothings" let …
REVIEW OF THE DAY
Blackbeard, The Pirate King
Our entree today is Chicken Spaghetti, with a special order of poetry dished out by Susan: J. Patrick Lewis’s Blackbeard, the Pirate King wins the award for longest subtitle: "Several Yarns Detailing the Legends, Myths, and Real-Life Adventures of History’s Most Notorious Seaman." A pirate fan’s delight, needless to say. My second-grader and I loved the swashbuckling art. Read the …
We make the Orlando Sentinel!
A big shout-out for Jen Robinson, our YA organizer, for a mention in the Orlando Sentinel’s blog, Parent Place, today. Here’s what they had to say, plus they link to our press release.
The Cybils judges
Ever wonder what it takes to judge a literary award? Us too. Even as volunteers rolled in, we weren’t quite sure what to tell them. Some things we do know: Judging starts after the Top Five are announced on January 1; Judging ends, uh, at a date to be announced later, probably early February; Judges are expected to read all …
FAQs
You asked (griped, whined, hollered) — we heard. Here’s a few questions that have come my way: 1. Which books are eligible?Any children’s or YA book published in English in 2006, including translated and bilingual books. 2. How do I nominate a book? Type them into the comments section under each category. Categories are listed to your right, or scroll …
The nominating panels
You can feel safe knowing your lists of nominees will go to our trusty panelists, who will then have a good chuckle at your expense, toss your suggestions and vote for their best friends. Scared ya, didn’t I? The panelists are the finest group of unrepentent bookworms and kidlit fetishists to ever set their sticky fingers on a keyboard. What, …
Welcome to the Cybils
Just a friendly reminder from the Cybils team to nominate only one book per category. Thanks all.
Graphic Novels
From Babymouse to American Born Chinese, it’s been quite a year. Graphic Novels use both words and pictures to tell a story; and that story can be anything; superheroes, coming-of-age stories, historical fiction or non-fiction. Since a Graphic Novel can be just about anything — middle grade, young adult, funny, sad — what makes a great one? A great story; …