The 2016 Cybils nominations are now live! Some quick reminders: First off, be sure to check out our category descriptions. If you don’t know where the book should go, please read through the descriptions to help you decide. If you’re still not quite sure, make your best guess, and we can straighten things out behind the scenes. Take a minute to check out our …
Nominations Open Tomorrow!
So, I’ve had an incredibly busy month, and this has definitely snuck up on me this year! Hopefully, you’re MUCH better prepared for when the Cybils nomination form goes live at midnight pacific time on October 1. Hopefully, you’ve been thinking about which books are your favorites, which ones you want nominated, and have backups for all of them! I’m in …
Category Description: YA Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction takes us to realms of the imagination: places and times and realities where the rules of life may be different than our own and where the impossible and improbable become real. But good science fiction and fantasy does more than that: it asks, “What if?” It makes us think. It holds up a mirror to our own society …
Category Description: Young Adult Fiction
The world as it was and is. Not as it could, or would, or should be. Send the dystopias and space operas, the fairies and angels, the blood-suckers, zombies, and alternate realities to Seculative Fiction. In YA Fiction we are looking for realistic fiction, be it contemporary or historical, funny or mysterious, romantic or adventurous. We want the real world …
Category Description: MG/YA Non-Fiction
Novels may get all the glory, but we know that truth is stranger than fiction any day of the week. We’re currently in a golden age of nonfiction. Forget the dry stuff we read in school to help with our homework–today’s authors understand how important a great nonfiction piece of writing is to both the students and teachers, both for …
Category Description: Audiobooks
The world of audiobooks is a rich landscape full of amazing productions with rich narrations, beautiful sound effects, and the ability to bring a book to life without ever having to see the words. Whether it is a single narrator, a duo, or an ensemble, an audiobook has the ability to sweep readers away on a magical ride. As listeners, we can use them …
Category Description: Graphic Novels
When I ask my college students if they’ve ever read a graphic novel of them, most of them look confused. You mean superhero comics? Well, yes– of course! But there’s more. There are always a few whose faces light up as they tell me about having read Watchmen, or Maus, or more recent stories like Smile or War Brothers. Using …
Category Description: Poetry
Poetry is an ever flowing river of words. From words that rhyme, words that shape emotions on all different topics to poetic forms, the Poetry category is home to an uber stew of entries. These books will appeal to the very young, middle grade and/or young adults. Poetry includes nominations of novels in verse. What belongs in Poetry? Consider …
Category Description: Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
This past year has seen another excellent crop of wonderfully inventive speculative fiction books for kids! Along with the expected spells and space rockets and aliens, this is the category for books with talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, and paranormal abilities, and all the other books that might not have obvious magic on every page, and which are set here on Earth, but which push past …
Category Description: Middle Grade Fiction
Middle grade fiction encompasses a wide range of stories that do not have magical elements and are geared toward the 8 to 12 year old age group. These stories could be mysteries, histories, humor, sports, adventure and other tales set in the real world. Middle Grade readers’ tastes and reading abilities can vary widely, and getting them a book that …