Back to Books is an apt moniker for today's featured blog, which is the online home of Nicola Manning, one of our Round I panelists for the Graphic Novels category. She hails from the Niagara Region of Canada and blogs about numerous topics, but she focuses primarily on books, especially those she reads with her nine-year-old son. In her review …
REVIEW
Absolutely Wild by Dennis Webster
Tricia Stohr-Hunt, blogger at The Miss Rumphius Effect, is well-known around the Cybils–she's been a Round I panelist for Non-Fiction Picture Books, and this year she's a Round I panelist for the Poetry category. Since she's a teacher herself (of Education!), she frequently blogs about topics of interest to teachers such as thematic booklists, but besides that, she's a true …
REVIEW
Down, Down, Down by Steve Jenkins
Between the two of them, Bill and Karen of the blog Literate Lives constitute one of our Round I panelists for the Non-Fiction Picture Books category. Both of them are teachers who review all sorts of books that can be used in the classroom and with kids, and earlier this year they reviewed one of our Cybils NFPB nominees. Down, …
REVIEW
Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
Our featured review for today comes from Fantasy and Science Fiction panelist Angie Thompson, who blogs at Angieville and is a round I judge for the YA division of the SFF category. She's also been a Graphic Novels panelist for the Cybils, and on her blog, she writes about YA novels, fantasy, urban fantasy, and news of interest to fellow …
REVIEW
The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman
Sharon Hrycewicz of Bend in the Road says of becoming a children's librarian that coming to work in the library for the first time felt like "coming home." This year, she's one of our panelists for the Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books category, but on her blog she writes about all kinds of realistic fiction for kids, including Middle …
Introducing Sheila Ruth, Fantasy and Science Fiction Category
Today we meet Sheila Ruth, organizer for the Fantasy and Sci-Fi category, with a bio that comes courtesy of her son David: Sheila Ruth has loved books for a long time, and has been involved with them in many different ways. She is the president of a publishing company known as Imaginator Press, and of a book lovers' site called …
Introducing Sarah Stevenson, Cybils Blog Editor
Today we meet Sarah Stevenson, Editor for the Cybils blog: I'm a freelance writer, fiction writer and artist, as well as co-founder (with writer and Cybils SFF panelist Tanita S. Davis) of the YA literature blog Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog, founded in 2005. I also help out with the group blog Guys Lit Wire and participate in online literary …
Introducing Kelly Fineman, Poetry Category
Today we meet Kelly Fineman, organizer of the Poetry category: Dear Madam, It is with some trepidation that I respond to your request for a biography of Mrs Kelly Fineman, as one is not often asked for such details about the life of another–and in such a public forum! Mrs Fineman is, I believe, an authoress, and I know her …
2009 Nominations
Young Adult Fiction
While nominations are open in all categories, we're also featuring a few genres at a time over the first few days — Eds. You'll find no dragons or magic, robots or vampires here. Just real people, in the real world, in real situations. In a good YA novel teens will find themselves and discover their world. A great YA novel …
2009 Nominations
Middle Grade Fiction
While nominations are open in all categories, we're also featuring a few genres at a time over the first few days — Eds. The middle grade years are those with the most potential to turn a child into a reader for life. It's often the books you read between the ages of 8-12 that you remember long into adulthood as …