A middle aged, middle school librarian from the Midwest, I’ve been blogging since 2006 at Ms. Yingling Reads. When first hired at my school, I vowed to read every hard cover fiction book in the library so that it’s easier to get the right book for the right child at the right time. It was sad when I finished because …
Meet the Organizers: Liz Jones, Graphics
Liz Jones has been involved with the Cybils since 2007… and always with graphics! Her blog hasn’t been updated much due to a freshly minted art studio, Liz Jones Arts which opened during the Cybils period last year. This has turned out to be a whole new way to get kids interested in graphics.. even when the local schools don’t carry them, …
Meet the Organizers: Pam Coughlan, Fiction Picture Books
Continuing with the Cybils as category organizer for Fiction Picture Books, Pam Coughlan writes the blog MotherReader and administers the website KidLitosphere Central. With two teenage girls headed into adventures in high school and (gulp) college, she appreciates the honest beauty and simplicity of picture books more than ever. She has worked in public libraries in northern Virginia giving readers …
Meet the Organizers: Charlotte Taylor, Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
Charlotte Taylor has been fan of fantasy since she started reading round about the age of two (Lowly Worm is still a favorite hero). When not reading (mostly middle grade speculative fiction, but other things too), she is a professional archaeologist, mother of two boys, president of her local library’s Friends group, and co-renovator with her husband (ethnomusicologist and Irish piper) of an old and …
Meet the Organizers: Jennifer Wharton, Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
Jennifer has been involved with Cybils since 2009 and is excited to be chairing the Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction category for the third year. When not obsessively reading and blogging at one of her many blogs, including Jean Little Library, she is the head of the youth services department for the Matheson Memorial Library in Elkhorn, WI. She has always enjoyed nonfiction for children but became …
Meet the Organizers Katie Fitzgerald, Easy Readers/Beginning Chapter books
Children’s librarian turned stay-at-home mom Katie Fitzgerald has been blogging at Story Time Secrets since 2011 and contributing to The Library Adventure since 2013. She served on the Cybils panel for Easy Readers and Short Chapter Books in 2011 and 2012, and she is thrilled to be the organizer for that category this year. Katie lives in the Maryland suburbs …
Meet the Organizers: Cathy Potter, Book Apps
Cathy Potter has served as a CYBILS panelist for the past three years and is thrilled to be chairing the Book Apps category this year. Cathy is K-5 school librarian at Falmouth Elementary School in Maine and enjoys finding innovative ways to use iPads with her students. If you walk into Cathy’s library you’re likely to find her recommending her …
Meet the Organizers: Melissa Fox, Blog Editor
An avid reader for as long as she can remember, Melissa’s true claim to fame is having read the highest total number of pages in the fourth grade. (Second only to her best friend.) Ever since then, she’s had her nose stuck in a book (it really doesn’t matter what the genre is), often letting mundane things such as homework …
Meet the Organizers: Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist and Social Media Guru
Jen Robinson is always on the lookout for great books. Although she has a PhD in engineering and co-owns a small software firm, her true passion lies in helping parents, teachers, and librarians to connect kids with books. She reviews books, ranging from picture books to YA, on her blog, Jen Robinson’s Book Page, where she also shares tips for …
Meet the Organizers: Sheila Ruth: Publisher Liason
Sheila Ruth is happy to have found her tribe in the Cybils. Where else can she geek out about children’s literature with other people who get it? She has been with the Cybils since the beginning, and has worn several different hats over the years: Category Chair, Publisher Liaison, and developer of the Cybils database, but her favorite part is …