Review: Brimsby’s Hats

One of my favorite things about Fiction Picture Book panelist Dawn’s blog, My Thoughts Exactly, is her Friday Five roundup. Most Friday, she features a list of 5 books (or things) she’s been reading (and loving). And during Cybils season, those roundups are usually of the books she’s reading. She highlighted Fiction Picture Book finalist Brimsby’s Hats, by Andrew Prahin. Dawn …

Review: Harlem Hellfighters

For those in the U.S.: Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I was thinking that we’d feature something to do with the Civil Rights movement today. I found several books among our nominees that would fit, including YA Nonfiction finalist The Freedom Summer Murders, by Don Mitchell; Fiction Picture Book Nominee Knock Knock, by Daniel Beaty and Bryan Collier; but …

Review: The Meaning of Maggie

Middle Grade Fiction panelist Jennifer is not only a long-time, hard-working panelist, but is also the managing editor of 5 minutes for Books, which highlights everything from picture books through adult fiction. Over the summer, she reviewed Middle Grade Fiction finalist The Meaning of Maggie, by Megan Jean Sovern, writing: The Meaning of Maggie is a fun heartfelt book. I love …

Cybils Flyers

Our wonderful media guru, Sarah Stevenson, has worked her magic and provided a printer-friendly flyer listing all of this year’s Cybils finalists. You can find it here.  Feel free to print it off, hand it out, pass it around, and generally get the word out. You can also find lists of our past finalists (and winners) in the books section of …

Review: Boys of Blur

Today’s featured review is of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist Boys of Blur by N. D. Wilson. It was featured on quite a few blogs, but I think EMFSF panelist Brandy, blogging over at Random Musings of a Bibliophile said it best: The imagery and descriptiveness of the book are pretty much perfect. As I read, I felt like I …

Review: Firefly July

Today’s review of the day comes from Poetry panelist Kelly, who blogs at Writing and Ruminating. Back during National Poetry month, she reviewed Poetry finalist Firefly July by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Kelly wrote: Most of the poems fall into the “imagist” category: full of clear, sharp language, and conveying a clear snapshot description of the poem’s …

2014 Finalists: Things That are Being Said, Part 2

Wernick & Pratt (@WernickPratt): Hats off to Bryan Collier and @The_Pigeon, whose books were named @cybils Finalists!http://t.co/8slBJ0tY0y Jennifer Morris (@jenmorris80): Steve and Wessley Cybils Finalists: Steve and Wessley’s first book, The Ice Cream Shop is a finalist in the Cybils. Jennifer also wrote a blog post about it! Laura Cecil Agency (@LCecilLitAgency): Congratulations to @Alexmilway whose Pigsticks & Harold has …

Review: Feathers: Not Just For Flying

Today’s review comes from Carol, a round one Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction panelist, who blogs at Carol’s Corner. She reviewed finalist Feathers: Not Just for Flying, by Melissa Stewart, writing: Great for a lesson on birds, animal adaptations, metaphor, or capturing information on illustrations! Or just plain reading and enjoying! Read the rest of the review here.

Review: The Chicken Squad

You’ve missed the reviews, haven’t you? Well, for the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting books from the finalists. Today’s review of  Easy Reader/Beginning Chapter Book finalist The Chicken Squad: The First Misadventure, by Doreen Cronin and Kevin Cornell comes from panelist Maggi, who has blogged at Mama Librarian.  She writes: This early chapter book has perfect tone for a mystery, …

2014 Finalists: The Ones that Got Away

Every year, our panelists read hundreds of books (generally). Which means, every year, when they as a group narrow the books down to finalists, there are some that don’t make the cut. Here are some posts by panelists highlighting great books in their categories that didn’t quite make the cut. Kim at Si, Se Puede highlights some of her favorite …