Jen Webb writes at No Flying, No Tights, which features reviews of graphic novels for teens, and she’s judging this same genre for Cybils. A librarian in Lexington, Mass., she writes that her alternate career choice would be "rock star by day/superhero by night." She recently sent us answers to a few questions: Q. How long have you been blogging? …
Hey, we’re famous!
How do you know when you’ve arrived? We seen signs of it in how publishers respond to us. Take, for example, this contest from Chronicle Books. They’re giving away a gift basket of their best books from the past year. Scroll down and you’ll notice they list "Cybils finalist" along with the other honors for Tour America and An Egg …
Show me the money
I’d like to thank whoever ordered the gluten-free baking flour. I have a brother who’s allergic to wheat, so I empathize. And the person who bought an Epson printer for Christmas–I hope it’s treating you right. You rock. Hey, remember the sitcom "Soap"? It’s still tickling someone’s funny bone out there in Cybils land. But he or she can’t compare …
Welcome, librarians!
Many thanks to Liz for the great article in the School Library Journal e-newsletter about our awards. Our hits are through the roof! And a hearty welcome to SLJ subscribers landing here for the first time. Some quick links for you: Here’s the shortcut to our short lists. And here’s the index to our long lists, which many librarians are …
What are they up to?
Most awards competitions make you wait until their final announcement to discover the winner, leading to all sorts of speculation. Not us! We’re going to torture you first. The organizers have given status reports on our tippy-top-secret Yahoo! group, where we hold important discussions about books, make up new rules to contradict the old rules and snicker about what you’re …
Spreading the word
As the deliberations come to a close, I’m left wondering about an important part of the awards process. Since there are plenty of smart people in and about the kidlitosphere, perhaps one to one hundred of you can offer your advice. Here’s the question: How to get the word out? It’s as simple as that. We e-mailed the big bookblogs–the …
Meet Patty Cryan
Patty Cryan has been a bookseller since 1987, specializing in children’s books and graphic novels, as well as fantasy, science fiction, and horror titles for adults. She brings this experience to her position as a judge for the Cybils Fantasy and Science Fiction category. Patty was originally asked to be a judge on the Middle Grade Fiction committee, but graciously …
Meet Pam Coughlan
Today meet Pam Coughlan, a.k.a MotherReader! Pam writes great reviews and essays about kids books, making us laugh along the way. She’s serving as a judge for the Picture Book category, a genre she knows extremely well. Let’s find out more about MotherReader: Q: How long have you been blogging, Pam? A: Since January 23, 2006 Q: Why do you …
Meet Snow Wildsmith
Snow Wildsmith is a Youth Services Librarian and a judge in the Graphic Novel category. These judges are working double duty as they will be awarding two prizes–one for Graphic Novels intended for the 12 and under crowd, and one for Graphic Novels for teens. Snow blogs at Kiddie Lit and says she’s "a geek who likes comic books and …
Who do you think you are?
One question that has popped up here and there in response to the Cybils and the awards process is "who do you think you are? Mr. Bigstuff?" More specifically, people want to know what, exactly, makes kidlit bloggers qualified to judge children’s books. We’re not like those awarding the ALA prizes. Everyone knows who they are–librarians and other members of …