Middle grade fiction encompasses a wide range of stories that do not have magical elements and are geared toward the 8 to 12 year old age group. These stories could be mysteries, histories, humor, sports, adventure and other tales set in the real world. Middle Grade readers’ tastes and reading abilities can vary widely, and getting them a book that …
Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction – Category Description
Inventive, wild, and wonderful–great speculative fiction for kids just keeps on coming! Along with the obvious wizards and aliens, this category includes books with talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, and paranormal abilities, and all the other books that might not have obvious magic or travel to distant planets, but which push past the boundaries of daily life into the realm of …
Elementary/Middle Grade Non-fiction – Category Description
Nonfiction is the perfect way to introduce elementary and middle grade kids to the amazing world around them from history and biography to art and nature. Science? Math? Animals? Sports? It’s all here and more besides! We’re looking for titles that are suitable for reading aloud or independently, including picture books and early chapters (nonfiction easy readers go to the easy reader category). We …
Fiction Picture Books – Category Description
The category of Fiction Picture Books would appear clearcut: books that are fictional with pictures. Oh, but that simplicity is deceptive. The category contains titles for toddlers and third graders, funny stories and moving tales, history and fantasy, traditions and diversity, elegance and silliness, education and entertainment. An amazing conceptual range for books with typically 32 to 48 pages. All these types of books …
Graphics – Category Description
This category is for the kid in all of us who pounced on the funny pages on Sunday mornings as soon as the paper arrived. However, graphic novels go way beyond Garfield and Superman, covering everything from wordless picture books appealing to the very young to intense, issue-based young adult novels–all of which tell their stories through serial artwork. We give …
Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books – Category Description
This category is all about books for beginning readers, covering an age range from preschool to grade 3. There are two subcategories: Easy readers use short sentences, large print and a controlled vocabulary to give brand-new readers opportunities to practice decoding and comprehending text. These books are usually illustrated in full color, with pictures on every page, and they are …
2014 Fiction Picture Book Judges
First Round Carrie Charley Brown Carrie On… Together! @carriebrowntx Travis Jonker 100 Scope Notes @100scopenotes Teri Lesesne Goddess of YA @ProfessorNana Carol Munro Just Write Words @CarolMunroJWW Kristen Remenar Kristen Remenar @RemenarReads Jen Robinson Jen Robinson’s Book Page @JensBookPage Jennifer Wharton Jean Little Library jeanlittlelibrary@gmail.com Second Round Myra Bacsal Gathering Books @GatheringBooks Julie Larios Books Around the Table Dawn …
And Now…
We’re almost ready to announce the panelists and judges for the 2014 Cybils. We just need to get a few more things in order, and we’ll be ready to announce them on Wednesday, September 17th, starting at 10 a.m., PDT. We’re very pleased with the people who have volunteered their time (definitely), money (maybe a little), and firstborn children (almost never) …
Meet the Organizers: Stephanie Charlefour, Young Adult Nonfiction
A lifelong reader, some of Stephanie’s most vivid memories from her childhood are centered around books–from volunteering in her middle school library, curling up with a great book on a rainy day and sharing books with her best friends at recess. Now as a tween and teen librarian, Stephanie gets to share her love of reading focusing on those in …
Meet the Organizers: Jackie Parker, Young Adult Fiction
Jackie fully believes that her ability to consume great quantities of literature in short periods of time was first fostered by the elementary school program “Book It” which promised a button and free Pizza Hut to those who read enough. It served her well in college, and then again, in 2006 during the inaugural year of the Cybils. Since then, …