What sparked the idea for the book? Do you have cats? About five years ago we got our daughters two kittens. A year later, one of the cats died. My daughters were devastated. I was too, of course, but having grown up on a farm with lots of animals, I think I was more familiar with life and death. That …
Interview with Caroline Arnold
Do you have plans to keep chickens after learning about their care along with Room 6? A number of years ago, before I moved to Los Angeles, I lived in the country with my family and we kept a flock of chickens. Watching the children in Room 6 care for their chickens reminded me of this experience. Now that I …
Interview with Julie Kim
What was the inspiration for Where’s Halmoni? My inspiration was mainly my children. I wanted to give them something that mirrored their experience of being part of two cultures, old and new, and both familiar and unfamiliar. In what ways does Where’s Halmoni reflect your own life? After I finished making this book, I realized that I had encapsulated my own experience of …
Interview with Stephanie Burgis
Dragons and chocolate seem like an odd combination. How did you come up with the idea? Dragons and chocolate are two of my very favorite things in the world, so I just loved the idea of mixing them together! And of course it gave me a fabulous excuse to make myself a rich, strong dark hot chocolate EVERY DAY for …
Interview with Neal Shusterman
Congrats! We’d love to know: how did you come up with the idea for Scythe? After many years teen dystopia, I wanted to do something that flipped it upside down. Rather than a tale of a dystopian world, I thought “What would be the consequences of a truly perfect world?” A world without war, poverty, crime, or disease. A world …
The 2017 Cybils Winners
There’s really not much to say, here at the announcement of the winners, except a HUGE Thank You (!) to all our volunteers: chairs, panelists, and judges. We could NOT have done it without you! Board Books Changing Faces: Meet Happy Bear by Nathan Thoms, illustrated by Carles Ballesteros Harry N Abrams Nominated by: Charlotte Learning about facial expressions and …
CYBILS Winners TOMORROW!
Now that the excitement from the ALA Youth Media Awards have died down (we really are living in a super-fast news cycle!) (who are we kidding: we’re still excited!) we want to remind you that we’ll have yet ANOTHER reason to be excited about children’s literature: At 9:30 a.m. PST we’ll announce this year’s CYBILS winners!! You’ll want to come …
REVIEW: After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again)
Welcome to our last finalist review of the Cybils season before we announce the winning titles on Wednesday! (Be sure to visit the Cybils blog on Feb. 14th for the full list of 2017’s winners in each category.) Today’s featured finalist is from the Fiction Picture Books category: After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) by Dan …
REVIEW: Armstrong and Charlie
Today’s featured reviewer is Round 1 judge Sarah Sammis, a Cybils veteran who blogs about books for children, teens, and adults at Puss Reboots. A couple of months ago, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction finalist Armstrong and Charlie by Steven B. Frank, a historical fiction story set in Los Angeles: The plot takes place in two neighborhoods — Laurel Canyon …
REVIEW: Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
Elementary school librarian, School Library Journal reviewer, and Round 1 judge Heidi Grange wrote today’s featured blog review. She blogs at Geo Librarian, and a few months ago she reviewed Junior High Nonfiction finalist Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin: While the book focuses on football and the impact that the Carlisle Indian …