Round 2 judge Adrienne Gillespie is a Cybils returnee, 6th grade teacher, and former school librarian who blogs at Books and Bassets. Over the summer, she reviewed Young Adult Fiction nominee Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All, a series of stories written from the viewpoint of Henry and his various wives by seven excellent YA authors: M. …
REVIEW: With My Hands: Poems About Making Things
Ready for some verse? Our featured blog review for today was written by Round 1 Poetry judge Carol Wilcox, a Cybils regular, educator and mom who blogs at Carol’s Corner. This past month, Carol posted a review of Poetry nominee With My Hands: Poems About Making Things written by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson: …
REVIEW: Boy Bites Bug
Our featured blog review for today comes courtesy of middle school librarian Brenda Kahn, a Round 1 judge for Middle Grade Fiction who blogs at Prose and Kahn. Middle Grade Fiction nominee Boy Bites Bug by Rebecca Petruck covers some serious topics like racism and privilege while also telling an entertaining story about friendship, wrestling, and bug-eating: The mixture of …
REVIEW: Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! BoooOOOOooooooOOOOOOoooo! Scared yet? No? Well, today’s featured review looks at an event that caused a lot of panic back in October of 1938–the radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. The book is called Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America, by Gail Jarrow, and …
REVIEW: Fake Blood
It’s almost Halloween! In the spirit (see what I did there?) of the spooky season, today’s featured blog review looks at YA Graphic Novels nominee Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner. Round 1 judge John Mutford reviewed this one earlier in the month on his blog The Book Mine Set: AJ is newly starting grade six. Internally, he compares himself unfavourably …
REVIEW: The Bear in My Bed
Our featured blog review for today comes from Round 1 Fiction Picture Books/Board Books judge Deb Nance, a librarian and avid reader from Texas who blogs at Readerbuzz. Earlier this month, she reviewed Board Books nominee The Bear in My Bed by Joyce Wan. In her review on Goodreads, she said, A little boy discovers that a bear has moved …
REVIEW: Dactyl Hill Squad
Today’s featured nominee is from the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category: Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older. Greg Pattridge, a Cybils veteran and Round 2 judge in Middle Grade Fiction, reviewed this book a couple of days ago on his blog, Always in the Middle: [T]his interesting new series combines fantasy and real life events for readers. It’s a …
REVIEW: The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat
We’re rapidly approaching Halloween, so here’s a nominee in the Elementary Nonfiction category that is relatively on topic: The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat written by Laurence Pringle and illustrated by Kate Garchinsky. Featured by Round 1 Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction judge Roberta Gibson on her Growing With Science blog, this should be an appealing title for readers aged …
REVIEW: Fish Are Not Afraid of Doctors (Maud the Koala)
Welcome to our first featured blogger book review of the 2018 Cybils season! Yay! If you’re new to Cybils, all you have to do to get our book review posts in your inbox is sign up for our Books newsletter (scroll down to the bottom of the blog and the signup window will pop up)–it’s that easy. Three times a …
Now accepting 2018 publisher/author submissions
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 2018, rounded. (If you published fewer …