It’s Friday, so of course it’s time for poetry! The Poetry category brings us our featured finalist review today: When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstad. Round 1 judge Sondra Eklund, who blogs at Sonderbooks, reviewed this title last year and wrote: “Here’s a lovely book that goes through the seasons …
REVIEW: The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
I have to admit, I was drawn to the title of this book right away–I attended Emerson Elementary (AN Emerson Elementary, anyway!). The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan is today’s featured finalist in the Poetry category. The review was written by blogger Katharine Manning, a Round 2 Poetry judge as well as a mom, reader, and …
REVIEW: Fresh Delicious
Our featured finalist review for today comes from Round 1 Poetry judge Carol Wilcox, a reading coach and literacy intervention teacher (and Cybils veteran) who blogs at Carol’s Corner. A couple of months ago, she reviewed Poetry finalist title Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmers’ Market by Irene Latham, illustrated by Mique Moriuchi: “I was talking with a group of …
REVIEW: Booked
Kwame Alexander earned a lot of praise for his novel-in-verse Crossover, and its follow-up, Booked, is a Cybils nominee this year in the Poetry category. For a thoughtful review of today’s featured title, check out the Goodreads review by Round 1 judge Linda Baie, a retired teacher and lit coach who blogs at TeacherDance: “I love the voice of this …
REVIEW: You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen
History in verse! What a cool idea. Today’s nominee from the Poetry category uses just such an innovative concept. You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford, is a nonfiction poetry title with some amazingly dynamic scratchboard illustrations by the author’s son. The review (and interview!) comes from Round 1 Poetry judge (and …
REVIEW: Moo: A Novel
Cybils veteran Adrienne Gillespie is a Round 2 judge this year in our new Audiobooks category, but this former librarian from Portland, OR reviews a wide variety of children’s and YA books on her blog Books and Bassets. Recently she reviewed verse novel Moo by Sharon Creech, a nominee in the Poetry category. According to the review: “This is a …
Cybils 2016 Poetry Judges
Round 1 Joy Acey Poetry for Kids Carol WilcoxCarol W’s Corner@carwilc Linda BaieTeacher Dance@LBaie Sylvia VardellPoetry for Children@SylviaVardell Kortney GarrisonOne Deep Drawer@onedeepdrawer Jone Rush MacCullochCheck It Out@JoneMac53 Tricia Stohr-HuntThe Miss Rumphius Effect@missrumphius Round 2 Margaret SimonReflections on the Teche@MargaretGSimon Diane MayrKurious Kitty’s Kurio Kabinet@terseverser Katharine ManningKid Book List@SuperKate Amy UptainHope Is the Word@HopetheWordBlog Nancy Bo FloodThe Pirate Tree@nancyboflood
Interview with Julie Paschkis
First off, congrats! We adored Flutter and Hum. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?I started to learn Spanish when I was illustrating Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People which was written by Monica Brown. I illustrated that book with words and pictures and I fell in love with Spanish. …
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: Flutter and Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems / Poemas de Animales
Today’s featured review is from the blog Rosemary’s Reading Circle, the online home of Round 2 Poetry judge Rosemary Marotta. Rosemary is a lifelong book lover, having worked in libraries, in bookstores, and at Scholastic Book Clubs, and her blog is devoted to helping parents and others find great children’s books. A few months ago, she reviewed Poetry finalist Flutter …