REVIEW: Come In, Zip!

Come In, Zip

Welcome to our first blogger review of the 2020 Cybils season! Starting off in the Easy Readers category, nominated title Come In, Zip! (The Adventures of Zip) by David Milgrim is great for kids who are just beginning to read: Zip and his mom are from outer space. And Zip can do magical things. Off he goes in a spaceship. …

2020 Cybils: Publisher and Author Submissions Open

Dear publishers and authors, The public has weighed in, nominating favorite titles, and we hope that some of yours were among them. If not, never fear, now is your turn! Between now and October 25, publishers and authors may submit your own eligible titles for consideration, up to 10% of your books published in 2020, rounded. (If you published fewer …

Last Call for 2020 Nominations

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TODAY is the last day you (yes,YOU!) can nominate a book for the 2020 Cybils cycle.  You have until midnight (PDT) today to get them in. Need an idea? Check out our padlets or our Twitter feed for ideas that our chairs would love to see nominated! Here’s the link to the nomination post again. Go forth and nominate! Time …

2020 Cybils Nominations: And… GO!

The 2020 Cybils nominations are open and ready for you! Some quick reminders: First off, be sure to check out our category descriptions. If you don’t know where the book should go, please read through the descriptions to help you decide. If you’re still not quite sure, make your best guess, and we can straighten things out behind the scenes. …

2020 Cybils Nominations: Ready… Set…

The 2020 Cybils season starts tomorrow! The public nominations open at midnight Pacific time on Thursday, October 1. So, jot down your first (and second and third) choice in all the categories and be prepared to go!  Be sure to follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads) to get up-to-date information (and for nomination ideas if yours are …

2020 Category Description: Young Adult Speculative Fiction

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Speculative Fiction takes us to realms of the imagination: places and times and realities where the rules of life may be different than our own and where the impossible and improbable become real. But good science fiction and fantasy does more than that: it asks, “What if?” It makes us think. It holds up a mirror to our own society …

2020 Category Description: Young Adult Fiction

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The world as it was and is. Not as it could, or would, or should be. Send the dystopias and space operas, the fairies and angels, the blood-suckers, zombies, and alternate realities to Speculative Fiction. In YA Fiction we are looking for realistic fiction, be it contemporary or historical, funny or mysterious, romantic or adventurous, including novels in verse.  We …

2020 Category Description: Nonfiction

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Oftentimes we can say that the truth is stranger than fiction. Children and students of all ages are curious about a variety of subjects and we can feed their thirst by providing outstanding nonfiction titles. Whether their interests lie in learning about someone’s life, history, math, science, current events, social justice, activism, journalism, and so much more there is a …

2020 Category Description: Graphic Novels

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A picture is indeed worth a thousand words! It’s no wonder that Graphic Novels remain a favorite for young readers year over year. In fact recent data shows 2019 sales just crossed the 1B sales showing a strong 11% increase in sales of Graphic novels year over year.  Graphic Novels are not just for reluctant readers. Young readers need a …

2020 Category Description: Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction

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It never fails to amaze me how every year brings such a wild and wonderful assortment of middle grade speculative fiction books! Along with spells and space rockets, this is the category for books with talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, and paranormal abilities, and all the other books that might not have obvious magic on every page, and which are set …