REVIEW
One Thousand Tracings, by Lita Judge

Chris Barton = Non Fiction. He’s a writer–of Non-fiction, bien sur–and has been blogging about writing and all things Non Fiction at Bartography since June of 2005. So when we put together our nominating and judging panels for the 2007 Cybils, we went knocking at his (virtual) door. Non-fiction needed Chris, and thank goodness for us he joined the team.

Meet Erin McIntosh

We rely heavily on word-of-blog to spread the Cybils gospel, and few have been more enthusiastic than Erin Marie McIntosh from Miss Erin, one of only three teens among our volunteers. She was one of our inaugural members, serving on last year’s Fantasy/Science Fiction panel, and she’s back this time on Middle Grade fiction. Today’s she’s the featured interview at …

REVIEW
Pssst! by Adam Rex

It’s rare that an author gets Cybils nominations in back-to-back years, rarer still that they show up twice in the same year. In fact, there’s only one: the singular Adam Rex. Last year, he made the short list for his poetry collection, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, which he also illustrated. This year, Rex makes two separate finals, in Fantasy/Science Fiction …

REVIEW: Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat

Perhaps few kidlit bloggers have penned more words about their passion than Betsy Bird, better known as Fuse #8. Her popular blog moved to the School Library Journal‘s website earlier this year, where she’s kept up a torrent of reviews, news and witty commentary. Her search for a Palestinian perspective on the Middle East led her to Tasting the Sky, …

Go say ‘hi’ to Camille

Camille Powell from BookMoot is today’s interviewee over at 7-Imp. Her blog’s about to turn four. Wow.  She’s lending her expertise to the nonfiction MG/YA judges this year. Cool interview tidbit: she’s a quilter, and is learning to knit socks. Check it out.

CYBILS books on the notable lists

Over at ALA and YALSA the lists have gone up. Best Books for Young Adults, Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Great Graphic Novels for Teens and the Children’s Notable Books have been announced and, unsurprisingly, a number of CYBILS nominees are on the lists. Some of them are even on multiple lists, reflecting their category-bending status. –Kelly Fineman, Poetry organizer …

More sexy widgets!

Okay, so only one person commented on my SmartLinks post (Thanks, cloudscome!). But a number of you signed up for a SmartLinks widget, and they’re returning the love. Meet Fraser, their programmer. Here’s his blog again. Ain’t he cute? I love geeks (yeah, okay, so I’m old enough to be his crazy auntie). And he worked his tush off to …

Tracking the impact

Here at the Cybils, we like to think that we’re doing more than just giving out awards. We believe we’re making a difference by connecting readers with books, and by helping people to find some of the best new children’s and young adult books out there. We know we’re having an impact: by the way word spreads through the blogosphere, …

REVIEW: Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Kelly Herold was moved enough to read Robot Dreams twice, which she admits is odd, because there aren’t any actual words in the book. Our Cybils director and co-founder took to heart this story of a dog and a robot who start out as friends until one is forced to desert the other. Varon’s treatment of friendship–and its painful loss–is …

A peek behind the scenes

Maybe you’d like to join us next year at Cybils. Perhaps you’re already volunteering, but curious how the other panels went. Or maybe you want to relive the moment when it all came together and your finalists were, well, finalized. Several of our bloggers have been generous about sharing their experiences and insights this Cybils season. Stacy DeKeyser gives us …