Our featured review for today comes from the blog Tween You & Me, and Middle Grade Fiction Round 1 judge Pamela Groseclose. She’s a Youth Services Associate for a library in Missouri, and she’s got the library in her veins: her parents met in a library and went on their first date shortly after they were kicked out for being …
REVIEW: Blue on Blue
Today’s featured review comes from Round 1 Fiction Picture Books judge Sandy Brehl, who blogs at Unpacking the POWER of Picture Books. She’s an Education Outreach presenter and writer, so her blog has a number of well-thought-out book lists on topics like Math Picture Books and Graphic Novels. She also posts reviews to Goodreads, and that’s where she reviewed today’s …
REVIEW: Dayshaun’s Gift
Charlotte Taylor is one of our indispensable category organizers at the Cybils–she’s in charge of Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, as well as being one of the Round 1 judges this year. Her blog, Charlotte’s Library, is devoted primarily to reviews of sci-fi and fantasy for children and teens, and on Timeslip Tuesdays she specifically looks at time travel …
REVIEW: Detective Gordon: The First Case
Juliana Lee brings us our featured review today; she’s a Round 1 judge for Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books this year, and she blogs at Crafting Stories, where she talks about writing and reading children’s books, especially picture books. She’s a retired teacher as well as a writer and avid reader, so it’s no surprise that her blog includes …
REVIEW: Denton Little’s Death Date
Today’s review features a nominee from the YA Speculative Fiction category: Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin. It was reviewed earlier this year by Allie Jones of In Bed With Books, a Cybils regular and Round 1 judge this year in YASF. She is a technical writer and self-confessed nerd who reviews books from a variety of genres. About …
REVIEW: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Many of us know and love Cybils veteran Leila Roy from her long-running blog Bookshelves of Doom, or from her reviews as a columnist for Kirkus. This year she’s lending her expertise as a Round 1 judge for YA Fiction, and back in February she reviewed YA Fiction nominee Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda for her Kirkus column. This …
Indie Next Revisit & Rediscover and the Cybils
I was going through my feed reader the other day, and I noticed a press release from the American Bookseller’s Association announcing their new Revisit & Rediscover initiative, highlighting older (called backlist in the industry) titles. They describe it as this: Each quarter, the Kids’ Indie Next List will highlight three backlist titles each, plus bookseller blurbs, for picture book, middle …
REVIEW: Another Kind of Hurricane
The recent news about Hurricane Patricia has got me thinking about the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Ten years out, there were several good books published about that event this year including Middle Grade Fiction nominee Another Kind of Hurricane by Tamara Ellis Smith. Our review comes from first round Middle Grade Fiction judge Debbie, who blogs as The Booksearch. She …
REVIEW: Leo: A Ghost Story
With Halloween coming up fast, today’s book review features another ghost story–this one for younger readers, as a nominee in the Fiction Picture Books category. The review of Leo: A Ghost Story by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Christian Robinson comes to us from Benji Martin, a round 2 Fiction Picture Books judge hailing from Alabama and blogging at Tales …
REVIEW: Took: A Ghost Story
As we creep closer to Halloween, it seems only fitting that we take a look at a ghost story from the Elementary and Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction category. (And isn’t that cover art SUPER creepy? Yipes.) Today’s review of Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn is brought to you by Round 1 judge Mark Buxton, aka sixth-grade language arts …