We are concluding our series about the power of fREADom and the importance of book choice with a post from Melissa Fox. Her essay touches on each of the key elements of the fREADom concept. Melissa Fox has been part of the CYBILS Awards since its early days. In addition to being the Elementary/Middle-Grade Fiction chair, she is the Board …
D is for DISCOVERY | #fREADom guest post by Terry Doherty
Terry Doherty wears a few hats for the CYBILS Awards. She is the social media coordinator, she is the ‘librarian’ for our Goodreads shelves, and she is also the incoming president of our Board of Directors. Before volunteering more actively with the CYBILS, she was the creator and Executive Director of the Reading Tub, a nonprofit for family literacy. Some …
A is for AFFIRMATION | #fREADom guest post by Gary Anderson
Prior to joining the CYBILS Awards Board in 2023, Gary Anderson served as the YA Fiction chair, and was a judge in multiple categories [Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, YA Speculative Fiction, High School Nonfiction, and YA Fiction]. He is a retired high school English teacher, published author, and one-time “substitute librarian” at the high school where he once taught. …
E is for EMPATHY | #fREADom guest post by Tanita S. Davis
Tanita Davis is an award-winning author. She has written 8 novels for young readers, and her short fiction can be found in Hunger Mountain and Cicada magazines. She is currently the CYBILS Awards Board Vice President. When my book HAPPY FAMILIES was among the hundreds banned in 2023 by the Katy ISD, a public school district based in Katy, Texas, I wasn’t shocked. …
R is for RECOGNITION | #fREADom guest post by Charlotte Taylor
Charlotte Taylor is a CYBILS Awards board member, having recently served as Board President. She served as the Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction chair from 2009-2023, and this year is the chair for the High School Nonfiction category. Charlotte takes comfort in placing as many library holds as she can realistically read. If only her day job as a professional archaeologist, and …
What is fREADom?
fREADom is the belief that readers should have the opportunity to choose the books they read. It recognizes that a parent has the right to set boundaries for their own children, but not the youth population at large. The CYBILS Awards believes in the power of books, and we affirm the words of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, whose research showed how …
#KidsLoveNonfiction Campaign Begins Today
We will be announcing the 2021 Cybils Awards winners later today, but we could not let today go without supporting something near and dear to our hearts: Nonfiction for Young Readers. This morning, Mary Ann Cappiello, Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University, and Xenia Hadjioannou, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg campus of Penn …
#CybilsAwards Backlist Book List for #SharkWeek 🦈
First let’s mark our calendar: July 11, 2021. Shark Week. Less than two weeks away. You probably already know that #SharkWeek was created by the Discovery channel, but did you know … Caged in Fear, the first Shark Week episode, premiered on 17 July 1988? Sometimes Shark Week is in August, not July? From 2005-2011 shark lovers could purchase DVD …
Backlist Book List: #STEM + #DiverseBooks For Young Creators
In 2019, Frankie Sparks and the Class Pet by Megan Frazer Blakemore won the Cybils Award in the Early Chapter Book. In selecting Frankie Sparks as a finalist, the panelists said: … This promising first book in a series will have children learning about animals, design thinking, and emotional intelligence while turning the pages to meet the new pet. …
#Cybils Awards Backlist Book List: Voices for Social Change
Civil Rights. Voting Rights. Individual Rights. Human Rights. These are some of the many issues in our society where people are moved beyond voicing opinions to “doing something” to influence change. Sadly, while they may seem “new” to our children’s consciousness, these ills are not new to us. For better or worse, since 2016, nearly 100 Cybils-nominated books have centered …