Today’s featured review is from Brandy Painter, Round 1 judge in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. She is a homeschooling mom and English teacher who blogs at Random Musings of a Bibliophile. She reviews realistic and speculative fiction for middle grade and young adult readers, and earlier this year she reviewed Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom by David Neilsen. …
REVIEW: You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
History in verse! What a cool idea. Today’s nominee from the Poetry category uses just such an innovative concept. You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford, is a nonfiction poetry title with some amazingly dynamic scratchboard illustrations by the author’s son. The review (and interview!) comes from Round 1 Poetry judge (and …
REVIEW: This Land is Our Land
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving (Happy Turkey Day, everyone!), it seems like a good time to post a review of a Nonfiction YA nominee that looks at our American history, in appreciation of the multitudes who came before us and have contributed invaluably to where we are now. That nominee is This Land Is Our Land: A History of American Immigration …
REVIEW: All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook
Karen Yingling is our Middle Grade Fiction Category Chair this year, as well as a Round 1 judge, middle school librarian, reviewer for SLJ and YA Books Central, and, of course, blogger at Ms. Yingling Reads. Earlier this year, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction nominee All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor, a family story with …
REVIEW: Bera the One-Headed Troll
Today’s featured reviewer is Round 1 Graphic Novels judge and first-time Cybils participant Benedict Hutchinson, who blogs at A Goblin Reviews Graphic Novels. (Plus–PSST!–he is the son of our very own EMSF category organizer!) As a Round 2 judge in Graphic Novels, I’m looking forward to seeing what he and the rest of the panel pick for us. One of …
REVIEW: An Incomplete Book of Awesome Things
There are some really neat board books nominated in our brand-new Board Books category, and today’s featured review looks at one that is sure to spark fun discussion between kids and parents: An Incomplete Book of Awesome Things by Wee Society. The review is from Kate Unger, Round 1 judge in Fiction Picture Books/Board Books and blogger at Mom’s Radius. …
REVIEW: The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde
What a mouthful of a title–and this hilarious book (the third in a series) promises much more than a mouthful of satisfaction. Today’s featured blog reviewer, Sondra Eklund, wrote about The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, earlier this year and gave it a stellar review. Sondra is …
REVIEW: Salt to the Sea
Today’s featured review is from Round 1 YA Fiction panelist Kelly Hager, an avid reader from Baltimore who blogs at KellyVision (tagline: “That’s what she read.”). Earlier this year, she read and reviewed YA Fiction nominee Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray. This novel, also set in WWII, got a thumbs up from …
REVIEW: Dark Energy
I am proud to note that today’s featured review comes from my co-blogger over at Finding Wonderland, YA author Tanita S. Davis, who is a Cybils veteran and Round 1 YASF panelist. Just last week she reviewed YA Speculative Fiction nominee Dark Energy by Robison Wells, which sounds like an intriguing sci-fi adventure with aliens and a biracial main character: …
REVIEW: Moo: A Novel
Cybils veteran Adrienne Gillespie is a Round 2 judge this year in our new Audiobooks category, but this former librarian from Portland, OR reviews a wide variety of children’s and YA books on her blog Books and Bassets. Recently she reviewed verse novel Moo by Sharon Creech, a nominee in the Poetry category. According to the review: “This is a …