Today’s featured blog review looks at Young Adult Speculative Fiction finalist They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. The review is from Round 2 judge C. Lee McKenzie, a writer and former teacher of Linguistics and Inter-cultural Communication at San Jose State University. In her Goodreads review, she said: Another reason I fell into this book was the …
REVIEW: Piecing Me Together
We’ve come back around to the Young Adult Fiction category for today’s finalist review, which comes courtesy of Round 2 judge Dahlia Adler. Dahlia is a YA/NA author, editor, and a blogger for B&N Teens. A while back, she posted a Goodreads review of YA Fiction finalist Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson: I love Renee Watson’s contemp YAs; I …
REVIEW: Bull
Our featured blog review for this Friday was written by Round 2 judge Rosemary Kiladitis, a children’s and YA librarian who blogs at Mom Read It. During this past year she looked at Poetry finalist Bull by David Elliott, a reimagining of the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. According to Rosemary’s review: There are inevitable Hamilton comparisons to be …
REVIEW: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
Today’s blog review features Middle Grade Fiction finalist The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Round 2 judge Greg Pattridge reviewed this one a while back–Greg is a teacher, mentor and writer from Colorado who reviews middle grade books at his blog, Always in the Middle. The story is both heartwarming and funny, but most of all it …
REVIEW: Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights
Cybils veteran and Round 1 judge Louise Capizzo of The Nonfiction Detectives brings us our featured blog review of the day–she’s Youth Services Manager at a library in Maine and has served on a number of awards committees, including ours! One of her reviews looked at Senior High Nonfiction finalist Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights: From the …
REVIEW: Creepy Pair of Underwear!
Our featured blog review for today looks at Fiction Picture Books finalist Creepy Pair of Underwear! written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. A few months ago, Round 1 judge Jennifer Dieleman reviewed this book on her blog, picturebooks4learning: I teach younger children, so I tend to stay away from books that will give them nightmares. I love …
REVIEW: Spirit Hunters
Round 1 Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction judge Katy Kramp is a public librarian who blogs at A Library Mama, and she brings us our featured review of the day. A couple of months ago she reviewed finalist title Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh: Here’s a super-creepy book by We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh for those who want to …
REVIEW: Soupy Leaves Home
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day! For an excellent look at the history of King’s time period, check out the March graphic novel series by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell. (March, Book 3 was one of our winners in last year’s contest.) The featured finalist review of the day also looks at a YA graphic novel: …
REVIEW: Shark Lady
The category of the day today is Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction, and the featured blogger is Jen Naughton, a writer and homeschool educator who blogs at Geek Reads Kids. Recently, she reviewed Elementary Nonfiction finalist Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist, written by Jess Keating and illustrated by Marta Alvarez Miguens: I’d …
REVIEW: We Need More Nuts! (Penguin Young Readers, Level 2)
Cybils category chair Jennifer Wharton blogged about today’s featured title back in October on her blog Jean Little Library, where she writes book reviews of titles for all ages as well as posting about the library life. We Need More Nuts! (Penguin Young Readers, Level 2) by Jonathan Fenske is a finalist this year in the Easy Readers category: Fenske’s …