Bad Witch Burning by Lewis, Jessica Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers Nominated by: Kim Baccellia An entrancing story of magic and the danger it can bring. Katrell’s can’t make enough to support her mom by talking to the dead to pay the bills she turns to raising the dead. The unforeseen side effects of this decision change her life. …
The 2021 Cybils Finalists!
We get to this point every year, where we’re revealing the finalists, and every year we say the same thing: we are supremely grateful for our volunteers who read tons and tons of books over the past two and a half months. It sounds trite, but we really do mean it! Without the people reading and logging and discussing and …
2021 Finalists: Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
by Ireland, Justina Balzer + Bray Nominated by: Darshana Khiani After a white mob kills her father and burns their home, Ophie and her mother leave the Jim Crow south of the 1920s for Pittsburgh and both find work at the huge home of a wealthy family. It is a house full of ghosts, and Ophie can see and communicate …
2021 Finalists: Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction
Elementary Nonfiction Bartali’s Bicycle: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy’s Secret Hero by Hoyt, Megan, illustrated by Bruno, Iacopo Quill Tree Books Nominated by: Julie Rowan-Zoch Gino Bartali won the Tour de France in 1938 and became an international hero, however he always insisted he was not a hero, simply a cyclist. However, in the years to come he …
2021 Finalist: Middle Grade Fiction
A Place to Hang the Moon by Albus, Kate Margaret Ferguson Books Nominated by: AGW It’s 1940 and Anne , Edmund and Will have just lost the only family they have. With no one left to take care of them they join hundreds of other kids in England evacuating from the war into the country side. The hope is …
2021 Finalists: Graphic Novels
Elementary/Middle Grade Borders by King, Thomas, illustrated by Donovan, Natasha Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Nominated by: Reshama Borders written by Thomas King and Illustrated by Natasha Donovan is a simple yet important story of identity, culture, survival, history and modern politics. It touches on how politics create problems for indigenous people like the blackfoot who have lived on …
2021 Finalists: Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books
Easy Reader Chicken Little and the Big Bad Wolf (The Real Chicken Little) by Wedelich, Sam, illustrated by Wedelich, Sam Scholastic Nominated by: Julie Williams Chicken Little may be called little but she’s the smartest, most scientific chicken in the barnyard. At first, she’s frightened of the big bad wolf, but when the other chickens in the barnyard choose flight …
2021 Finalists: Poetry
Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit by Smith, Colby Cedar Andrews McMeel Publishing Nominated by: Alyssa Colman Call me Athena is an enchanting verse novel in multiple voices that captures the reader into the tumultuous time period of the 1930s in Detroit as well as World War I. The different time periods and voices are woven together with lyrical and …
2021 Finalists: High School Nonfiction
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition by Treuer, Anton Levine Querido Nominated by: Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask: This candid, conversational, illuminating text invites readers to ask questions and question assumptions about Native American culture, history, and lived experience. …
Are You Ready?
I think we are! The big announcement of all our finalists is tomorrow, Janary 1, 2022 (which seems weird to write) at 9 a.m. PST! Hope to see you there! (We’re super excited, if you couldn’t tell.)