Junior High Non-fiction 1919 The Year That Changed America (Amazon, IndieBound) by Martin W. Sandler Bloomsbury USA Nominated by: Jennifer Naughton One hundred years ago, a momentous year full of extraordinary events would change America forever. Many issues at the forefront of American society following the end of World War I manifested themselves through several events: the Great Molasses Flood, …
2019 Finalists: Fiction Picture Books and Board Books
Fiction Picture Books A Stone Sat Still: (Environmental and Nature Picture Book for Kids, Perspective Book for Preschool and Kindergarten, Award Winning Illustrator) (Amazon, IndieBound) by Brendan Wenzel Chronicle Books Nominated by: Heidi G. In A Stone Sat Still by Brenden Wenzel, the soft lyrical text examines a wide array of different animal’s perspectives (it was a home, a whole …
2019 Finalists: Elementary/Middle Grade Non-Fiction
Elementary Non-Fiction Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial (Amazon, IndieBound) by Linda Booth Sweeney, illustrated by Shawn Fields Tilbury House Nominated by: Dr. Cheryl S. Vanatti Even as a young boy, Daniel Chester French liked to make stuff- drawings ofthe birds in the New Hampshire farm he grew up in, a lion made of snow that frightened …
2019 Finalists: Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction
Cog (Amazon, IndieBound) by Greg van Eekhout, illustrated by Beatrice Blue HarperCollins Nominated by: Violet Cog uses the voice of a robot with artificial intelligence, who looks like a brown-skinned, 12 year old boy, to raise questions about what makes us human. Learning from making mistakes? Our connections with others? After Cog saves a dog from being run over, he …
2019 Finalists: Poetry
Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems (Amazon, IndieBound) by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Beatriz Gutierrez Hernandez Henry Holt Nominated by: Katy Manck Backed by research, good storytelling and poetic craft, these short snippets of history from 1491 until now with multiple Latinx narrators weave a powerful chronicle, poem by poem. Anastasia Suen, …
2019 Finalists: Middle-Grade Fiction
Maybe He Just Likes You (Amazon, IndieBound) by Barbara Dee Aladdin Nominated by: Joanna Marple Starting middle school can be tough and scary for anyone. For Mila especially so, things are tough at home so school should be her safe place. That is not the case. It starts with an unwanted hug by a classmate and continues and escalates. She …
2019 Finalists: Young Adult Speculative Fiction
Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle) (Amazon, IndieBound) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers Nominated by: Rebecca J. Allen Six cadets are brought together by circumstance. A rescued girl joins their crew; she’s powerful, mysterious, and over 200 years old. When the group uncovers a massive conspiracy, it takes all of their skills to …
Finalists Announced Tomorrow!
It’s our favorite day of the year (granted, it’s the first day, so it’s easy to be our favorite!): the day which we get to reveal the results of all our hard work and share with you our 2019 Cybils Finalists! Stay tuned to this space (and our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) at 9 a.m. PST for the big reveal. …
REVIEW: Dig
A. S. King’s Dig (Amazon, IndieBound) was originally nominated in Young Adult Fiction, but has since found a home in Young Adult Speculative Fiction. Before it was moved, Young Adult Fiction panelist Kara, who blogs at Great Imaginations, reviewed it: One thing I do have to mention though is that this is my first A.S. King novel, and it won’t be …
REVIEW: Cracking the Bell
Today we’re featuring the Young Adult Fiction nominee Cracking the Bell (Amazon, IndieBound). Young Adult Fiction chair Gary Anderson, who blogs at What’s Not Wrong, wrote: As Isaiah considers the life-or-death implications of continuing to play football after suffering concussions, Cracking the Bell honors those attitudes while leading young readers to consider how and when to move on and how to …