Middle Grade: Creepy Crawly Crime (Joey Fly, Private Eye) by Aaron Reynolds Henry Holt Nominated by: Cynthia Leitich Smith Written in classic Thirties’ private-eye style, this crime noir mystery has Joey Fly and his sidekick Sammy Stingtail searching all over Bugville looking for a missing diamond pencil case. With an eccentric cast of insect and arachnid characters that are sure …
2009 Finalists: Poetry
African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways written by Avis Harley with photographs by Deborah Noyes Candlewick Press Nominated by: Becky In this collection of 18 poems, each accompanied by a gorgeous photograph of the subject, Harley takes the form of the acrostic to new heights. The poems are deftly created and move well beyond the single-word acrostic to include phrases, …
Miss Rumphius Profile
A nice profile of Cybils judge Patricia Stohr-Hunt from her employer, the University of Richmond. Cybils gets a mention too. I think she’s the first of our bloggers to be banned in China. Go, Patricia!
REVIEW
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck
A very merry Cybils Christmas and…er…Writerly Winter Solstice to you all! We've queued up this appropriately seasonal post for you and scheduled it to go up; meanwhile, we're probably still nestled all snug in our beds (at least, those of us on the West Coast), visions of tasty holiday treats and a lazy day on the couch dancing in our …
REVIEW: Spot the Plot: A Riddle Book of Book Riddles
The Miss Rumphius Effect is a fixture of the kidlitosphere. It's where Tricia Stohr-Hunt blogs about poetry and non-fiction for young readers and maintains an impressive array of thematic book lists–check out her list of books about snow and snowflakes for some wintry (but heartwarming) seasonal reads. Tricia, a round I panelist for Poetry, reviewed Cybils nominee Spot the Plot: …
Cybils Appreciation from a Well-Loved Author
In the course of today's blog reading, I was pleased to come across a post in which repeat Cybils honoree (and Newbury Honor recipient) Shannon Hale expressed her appreciation for the Cybils. She said: "I've mentioned before my affection for the Cybil Awards, given out by the children's and YA book bloggers. As national and newpaper review space is diminishing, I think book …
Merry Christmas, Cybilians everywhere
I want to express my profound appreciation to our organizers and first-round judges who'll still be reading and debating books over the course of Christmas break. You make Cybils happen — and you keep coming back with brilliant, unpredictable and fascinating short lists year after year. Things will be quiet on the blog this week, but we'll be roaring back …
REVIEW
Sacred Mountain: Everest by Christine Taylor-Butler
Biblio File is the blog of Middle Grade/YA Non-Fiction panelist Jennie Rothschild, a children's librarian at a public library who loves to read and review both children's and YA books. On her post entitled "Why I Blog," she noted that she values the conversation and sense of community in the kidlitosphere–something I think we can all relate to. In a …
Advertise for a good cause
Our ads are a main source of revenue for Cybils, and the money goes toward a lovely prize for our winners. The BlogAds people have included us in a major book promotion featuring some of the most prominent book blogs. Woot! So, if you want to reach the book-buying hordes, the BlogAds Book Hive would help us and help you. …
REVIEW
What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?
Susan Thomsen, our category organizer for MG/YA Non-Fiction, posts about a dizzying array of book-related topics on her blog, Chicken Spaghetti, where she's been posting since 2005. Recently, she reviewed a Non-Fiction/Information Picture Book nominee that's bound to come in handy during these wintry holiday days when kids are on vacation from school and looking for something to do. What …