Welcome to the Cybils Awards off-season! We’ve had so much great response to our booklists that we are going run themed lists twice a month, made up of past Cybils nominees, finalists and winners. If you’d like to participate, email us a themed list of your favorite books to blogeditor@cybils.com. If you need help thinking of books check out our …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Celebrating the Black Experience for Younger Readers
Before we wrap things up completely and move off into the post-season, I wanted to give a shout-out to the books celebrating the Black Experience on the younger end of the reading age. We’ll be quiet for a bit, but then we’ll pick up with backlist lists. If you have any good theme suggestions, let us know! Baby Young, Gifted, …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Celebrating the Black Experience, YA Edition
It’s Black History Month, and I thought it would be good to highlight all the wonderful books we have celebrating all aspects of Black Life. I’m sure I didn’t catch them all, but these are definitely worth checking out! I was going to do them all, but there are so many (yay!) we needed to split them up. Stay tuned. …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Princesses and Fairy Tales!
We did a non-fiction heavy list last week, so I thought we’d give fantasy some love. I’ve noticed a huge number of princess and fairy tale books as I’ve gone through the lists, and thought they’d be fun to highlight! Besides, who doesn’t love a good fairy tale retelling or a princess story? Goldilocks and the Three Engineersby Sue …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Non-Traditional Sports
Everyone knows books about the “traditional” sports: basketball, baseball, football, and soccer. But what about the sports that aren’t as big a deal to the general public. They are important to those who participate in them, and they can serve as backdrops for some pretty amazing stories. Why We Flyby Kimberly Jones and Gilly SegalSourcebooks Fire “Why We Fly …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Snow!
It is snowing and cold today, as I put this together, and as I was scrolling through the lists of nominated books, I noticed a handful of snowy and wintery books. It seemed a good day to feature them! The Snow Dancerby Addie Boswell, illustrated by Mercè LópezTwo Lions “I loved this story of making your own way and …
#CybilsAwards Book lists: The Ones That Got Away
Every year, our round-one panelists read lots of books, debate, whittle down, and pick what they think — collectively — is the best, most kid-friendly books of the nominations. However, since it’s a collective decision, it means individual judges’ personal favorites are bound to not make it to the finalist list. It’s just the way a collective decision goes. However, …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Space
This week, the Sunday before finalists are announced (check back on January first), let’s celebrate everything SPACE! Astronauts, astronomers, stars, night sky, our own plant hurtling through space, current and future space travel… there’s SO much out there! Beyond: Discoveries from the Outer Reaches of Space by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Sija HongMillbrook Press Hello, Earth!: Poems to Our Planet …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Spies, Secret Agents, and Other Adventure Books
There are so many good books nominated this year, it’s been fun coming up with lists! We’ve been noticing, as we have gone through the lists, that there are a number of books about spies and secret agents, some non-fiction, but many of them “just” for fun. I mean, no we can’t all be Bond or Alex Rider, but who …
#CybilsAwards Book Lists: Dinosaurs and Dragons!
Ah, two timeless animals, one real, but has mythical status; the other mythical, but we wish were real. Dragons: the beasts from mythology, large, fire-breathing, flying monsters that we love to imagine as both terrifying and benevolent and that appeal to all kids, no matter age, size, or gender. And Dinosaurs: the beasts from Earth’s past, large, fire-breathing, flying monsters …