Congrats to Travis Jonkers of 100 Scope Notes and John Schumaker of Mr. Schu Reads for winning a berth on an ALA judging committee. Travis moves up from judging Fiction Picture Books with us to the fancy-shmancy Caldecotts this coming year and John, a former Graphic Novel judge, goes over to the Newberys. Full announcement is here. Naturally, we take …
Some Cybils love
From indie author Susan Ee, who wrote "Angelfall," the first digital-born book to make our finalists.
A few more
Author reactions are still trickling in as they get word they made the Cybils finals. Here's the original post on that. Add to that Stephanie Perkins typing a giant Eeeeep! after learning Anna and the French Kiss was shortlisted in Young Adult Fiction: Oh, man! This is the biggest honor that Anna has received, and I couldn't be more over-the-moon. …
Stuff that makes me cry
I am a sentimental fool. I just am. I refuse to cry at funerals because I think I should be all stoic, even when my heart is breaking. But when I hear the words "thank you," I start to sob all over myself. It's embarrassing. Who does this to be thanked? Not me. I do it to fill up the …
Typos and bad links
I just fixed a huge batch of bad links due to coding problems. I don't know html and my live-in computer expert found an actual paying job and stuck me with doing this by myself. Wah. I apologize for the aggravation, especially to bloggers who saw their blog names linked to the wrong URL or none at all. If you …
Building a Better Book Blog
As of this writing, the Cybils judging panels are nearly complete, with just Young Adult Fiction and Science Fiction/Fantasy still up in the air. Many of you have already gotten a "can't wait to work with you email" from an organizer. Many more have or are about to get a "thanks for playing" email instead. Which, by the way, made …
Back to the apps!
Keep those questions coming, folks. Today, a judging applicant emailed about the book apps category. She wanted to know if she'd have to buy the apps under consideration. Well, gosh no, I thought — but then I don't know how these things work, exactly. Our wonderful, completely on-top-of-things book app organizer, Mary Ann Scheuer, put the question to the other …
Updating our FAQs
I'm going to update our FAQs again soon and would appreciate knowing your nagging questions about Cybils. I'm especially interested in hearing from authors and publishing professionals, as I sense these two groups are having the most trouble understanding what the heck we're up to. I'm worried our communications haven't always been clear and we've fallen back into thinking everyone …
A fascinating discussion …
… is going on at the blog Black-Eyed Susan's about race, publishing and Cybils. I'm at work (night shift again, alas) but will post more on this — plus other reactions to the Cybils short lists from around the Web. Perhaps it will lead to a better understanding of the role race plays in what books we, as readers and …
Cybils Appreciation from a Well-Loved Author
In the course of today's blog reading, I was pleased to come across a post in which repeat Cybils honoree (and Newbury Honor recipient) Shannon Hale expressed her appreciation for the Cybils. She said: "I've mentioned before my affection for the Cybil Awards, given out by the children's and YA book bloggers. As national and newpaper review space is diminishing, I think book …