First off, congrats! We loved The Walls Around Us. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?Thank you so much! I just want to say how incredibly honored I am that The Walls Around Us was chosen for a Cybil this year. Knowing these awards are selected by bloggers who read and support …
Interview with Joel Ross
First off, congrats! We adored The Fog Diver. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?It’s the same old story you’ve heard a hundred times: I was trying to write about pirate raccoons. I wasn’t making much progress though, until I went for a walk one morning in a misty field. The fog …
The 2015 Cybils WINNERS!
Happy Cybils Day! As always, we want to thank all our judges for their reading, discussing, and ultimately deciding on our fantastic winners. And to our organizers who rose to the challenge of wrangling said judges, making sure everything ran smoothly, on top of everything else that was going on in life. (Life, it does get in the way of …
REVIEW: Infandous
Young Adult Fiction finalist title Infandous by Elana K. Arnold takes center stage in today’s featured blog review, which comes courtesy of Kirkus Reviewer and inveterate Cybil-ite Leila Roy. Leila, who blogs at Bookshelves of Doom, was a Round 1 judge this year in YA Fiction, and back in the spring she posted about Infandous for Kirkus and gave it …
REVIEW: Listen, Slowly
Round 1 judge Debbie Tanner of The Book Search is a former classroom teacher, current elementary school librarian, who created her site and blog as a way to help people find books that match the skills they want to teach. A few months ago she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction finalist Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai, the National Book Award-winning author …
REVIEW: Last Stop on Market Street
Today’s blog review features a title that’s gotten a lot of attention this year for being the Newbery Award winner: Fiction Picture Books finalist Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson. Our reviewer is Cybils veteran Mary Ann Scheuer of the blog Great Kid Books–this year she’s a Round 2 judge …
REVIEW: The Fog Diver
Today’s featured review comes from the blog Log Cabin Library, which is the online home of Round 1 judge Brenda Tjaden, on the panel this year for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. Brenda is a speech language pathologist by day, as well as an aspiring novelist with a particular interest in middle grade books. A few months ago, she reviewed EMSF …
REVIEW: Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin Trilogy)
Longtime Cybils veteran Sondra Eklund brings us our review today–she’s a Fiction Picture Books judge this year, but reads (and reviews) widely at her blog Sonderbooks. A while back, she reviewed YA Speculative Fiction finalist Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin Trilogy #3) by Robin LaFevers. This trilogy about assassin nuns in medieval Brittany concluded with a bang, as Sondra notes …
REVIEW: All the Rage
It seems a little strange to be co-managing this blog and not mention at least one post from my own blog, right? Well, let’s remedy that, and move on with our lives. I share a blog with wonderful fellow YA author (and Cybils judge) Tanita Davis called Finding Wonderland, where we blog about writing stuff as well as reviewing mostly …
REVIEW: The Blackthorn Key
Brandy Painter of the blog Random Musings of a Bibliophile brings us our review of today’s featured finalist: The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands. Brandy teaches grade school and high school literature and English in Tennessee, and keeps some fantastic YA and middle grade book lists (and links to reviews) on her blog. A few months ago, she reviewed The …