Our Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category chair Charlotte Taylor wrote today’s featured review–she blogs at the long-running Charlotte’s Library, with a particular focus on sci-fi and fantasy books for children and teens. Some time ago, she reviewed finalist title A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge: It is both simple and complicated, and a really nice one to give to …
REVIEW: Beauty and the Beak
Round 1 judge Gary Anderson, who blogs at What’s Not Wrong?, was a Round 1 judge in this year’s contest and wrote up reviews of a wide range of nominees in the Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction category. One of his review posts looked at the finalist title Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald …
REVIEW: They Both Die at the End
Today’s featured blog review looks at Young Adult Speculative Fiction finalist They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. The review is from Round 2 judge C. Lee McKenzie, a writer and former teacher of Linguistics and Inter-cultural Communication at San Jose State University. In her Goodreads review, she said: Another reason I fell into this book was the …
REVIEW: Piecing Me Together
We’ve come back around to the Young Adult Fiction category for today’s finalist review, which comes courtesy of Round 2 judge Dahlia Adler. Dahlia is a YA/NA author, editor, and a blogger for B&N Teens. A while back, she posted a Goodreads review of YA Fiction finalist Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson: I love Renee Watson’s contemp YAs; I …
REVIEW: Bull
Our featured blog review for this Friday was written by Round 2 judge Rosemary Kiladitis, a children’s and YA librarian who blogs at Mom Read It. During this past year she looked at Poetry finalist Bull by David Elliott, a reimagining of the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. According to Rosemary’s review: There are inevitable Hamilton comparisons to be …
REVIEW: The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
Today’s blog review features Middle Grade Fiction finalist The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Round 2 judge Greg Pattridge reviewed this one a while back–Greg is a teacher, mentor and writer from Colorado who reviews middle grade books at his blog, Always in the Middle. The story is both heartwarming and funny, but most of all it …
REVIEW: Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights
Cybils veteran and Round 1 judge Louise Capizzo of The Nonfiction Detectives brings us our featured blog review of the day–she’s Youth Services Manager at a library in Maine and has served on a number of awards committees, including ours! One of her reviews looked at Senior High Nonfiction finalist Alice Paul and the Fight for Women’s Rights: From the …
2017 Cybils Reactions, Part 2
A few more reactions have come in over the weeks, and we’d like to highlight them. Yay for all the reactions! Picking up where we left of: Congrats to @GingerlyWrites #SueeAndTheShadow, which was just chosen as a 2017 @cybils finalist for “Elementary / Middle Grade Graphic Novels” https://t.co/bB8ceHZNGh — ABRAMS Kids (@abramskids) January 3, 2018 @cybils Belated huge thanks for …
REVIEW: Creepy Pair of Underwear!
Our featured blog review for today looks at Fiction Picture Books finalist Creepy Pair of Underwear! written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. A few months ago, Round 1 judge Jennifer Dieleman reviewed this book on her blog, picturebooks4learning: I teach younger children, so I tend to stay away from books that will give them nightmares. I love …
REVIEW: Spirit Hunters
Round 1 Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction judge Katy Kramp is a public librarian who blogs at A Library Mama, and she brings us our featured review of the day. A couple of months ago she reviewed finalist title Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh: Here’s a super-creepy book by We Need Diverse Books founder Ellen Oh for those who want to …