Today's featured review comes from one of our Round II judges for Young Adult Fiction, Kelly Jensen, who blogs at STACKED. She's a librarian in Illinois with a lit background who especially enjoys reading teen literature. At STACKED, she and her co-bloggers strive to review books for readers as well as to draw in non-readers. One of her favorite reads …

Although Bethany Gatto's blog Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian is a fairly new blog on the kidlit block, it's clear that she's got a sense of fun and the requisite love of reading that we like to see around here. She also blogs about the different and innovative ways she uses technology in the library. Bethany's a Cybils Round II Judge …

Last week we took a closer look at a few of the Cybils categories to find out a little more about the nominees, from the category organizers' perspectives. What stood out? Was there a gaggle of zombies or a flock of vampires? Was the decision about finalists particularly difficult or were there standouts? Today, we take a look at Graphic …

Our finalist review today comes courtesy of Cybils veteran and poet extraordinaire Elaine Magliaro, who blogs at Wild Rose Reader. Elaine is also one of the intrepid Blue Rose Girls, who have provided their insightful insider perspectives on children's lit and publishing since the early days of the kidlitosphere. Back in November, Elaine wrote a review of Cybils Poetry finalist …

Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray is practically a celebrity in the kidlit blogging world, not just for organizing the Summer and Winter Blog Blast Tours of top-quality author interviews but also for her thought-provoking blog posts about a variety of literary topics. Colleen is also a reviewer for Bookslut, and her column last month looked at several non-fiction titles including …

SimplyScience is an indispensable blog for any teacher looking for great kids' books to incorporate into classroom science curriculum–Shirley Smith Duke not only reviews books but also provides suggestions for lessons and activities to accompany each one. Shirley is a Round II Judge this year for Non-Fiction Picture Books. Today's featured review is Shirley's post about The Day-Glo Brothers, written …

Welcome to the first installment of a three-part series of posts we're calling The Inside Scoop. Aren't you curious what the category organizers thought about this year's crop of Cybils nominees? I know I am, so I asked them to provide a quick blurb about the process so far: their impressions of the group of nominated titles, anything that stood …

Tasha Saecker, who blogs at Kids Lit, is not only a Round II Judge in Fantasy and Science Fiction, but was also the category organizer last year. Her blog is a familiar fixture to many of us kidlitosphere "old-timers," who enjoy reading her impressions of kids' and YA books from the perspective of a longtime children's librarian and public library …

If you're over a certain age, the title Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs brings back memories of the unforgettably-illustrated children's classic, but it also happens to be the blog of Amanda Blau, one of our Round II Judges for the Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books category. Amanda is a children's librarian in the Chicago area who posts reviews …

We're getting back to posting reviews here on the Cybils blog, while the judges are busy poring over the lists of finalists–but just so you know, we're ONLY posting reviews that were written prior to the judging period. Today's finalist review comes from GN Round I panelist Nicola at Back to Books. Middle Grade Graphic Novel finalist The Secret Science …