Thanks to FPB Round I Judge Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes, today we found out that some of our very own panelist bloggers are part of the group of stellar nominees for the 2009 Edublog Awards, which honor the best education blogs on the web. The "Eddies" have been around for six years, which makes them more venerable than …
REVIEW
Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life
Librarian Debbie Nance–one of our Round I judges for Non-Fiction Picture Books–blogs at readerbuzz, where she frequently writes about not only picture books but YA and adult fiction, graphic novels, and various bookish thoughts. She also keeps lists of useful book blogs and library blogs. Debbie recently reviewed Cybils NFPB nominee Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life, …
Give a Little Cybils Love
Somewhere in between organizing the Kidlitcon, heading up the Fiction Picture Books category, blogging at her own site, and posting to the Booklights blog at PBS Parents, the indefatigable Mother Reader–aka Pam Coughlan–somehow found time this year to add a new installment to her fantastic series of Ways to Give a Book posts. If you're looking for holiday gift ideas, …
REVIEW
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
Round I YA judge Tirzah Price is also known by her blog name, The Compulsive Reader. She's a seasoned Cybils veteran who posts literary news, updates, and reviews of YA books of all genres, interspersed with plenty of fun stuff like polls and contests. She is also part of the YA lit group blog Teen Tuesday. Earlier this year, she …
REVIEW
Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian
Round I poetry judge Sylvia Vardell is well loved around the kidlitosphere for her blog Poetry for Children, but you might not know that besides an avid fan of children's poetry, she's also a professor and an author! She's written or co-written a number of books about children's poetry for librarians and teachers, and she's the editor of Bookbird, a …
REVIEW
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz
Sarah Mulhern of The Reading Zone is definitely a Cybils regular. She is a 6th grade language arts teacher who posts consistently thoughtful and varied reviews of the books she places in her classroom library. She also blogs about writing, teaching, and her classroom…and occasionally monarch butterflies. As a Round I judge for the Middle Grade Fiction category this year, …
REVIEW
A closer look at Claudette Colvin
By now, most of the hardcore bibliophiles know exactly who won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. I think Alicia at LibrariYAn was first out of the gate with a review after the awards announcement. Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice profiles the teenager who preceded the late, great Rosa Parks in refusing to give up her …
Cybils non-fiction list flexes some muscle
Thanks to Susan for an excellent post on the awesome might of the non-fiction list for tween and teen readers this year. She lists all her panelists' reviews so far but first points out how the books are already attracting attention: Two of the five finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature were nonfiction titles: Claudette Colvin: Twice …
REVIEW
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell
We may be well past Halloween, but is there ever a bad time for a good ghost story? Nettle of the cleverly named The Muse, Amused–a Round I panelist for MG/YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi–reviews not only ghost stories but a whole array of YA books at her blog. The ghost story in question for today, though, is Cybils FSF nominee …
Some insights from a panelist …
Hat tip to Sheila for passing along a link to some fascinating musings from a panelist with the middle grade Science Fiction/Fantasy list. Critique de Mr. Chompchomp notes the reliance of Fantasy authors on magic doodads (trivia note: dubbed "Macguffins" by none other than Alfred Hitchcock). He spots a trend toward one item in particular: But there is a general …