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 …

REVIEW: Changes: A Child’s First Poetry Collection

Changes: A Child’s First Poetry Collection, by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke, is a poetic celebration of changing seasons by a classic children’s poet. Round 1 Poetry judge Carol Wilcox, a mom and educator who blogs at Carol’s Corner, reviewed it recently and said: “The poems are lovely, and gentle, and cyclical, and comforting. A perfect lap book …

REVIEW: Paper Hearts

Clementine Bojangles, aka Madeline Rudawski, is a Cybils returnee and Round 1 judge this year for YA Fiction, but on her blog Hey, Library Girl! she reviews a wide variety of books for young readers, and she writes about movies and pop culture, too. Last month she reviewed Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott, a novel in verse that tells the …

REVIEW: The Death of the Hat

Today’s book review comes to us from YA Nonfiction Round 2 judge Adrienne Gillespie of the blog Books and Bassets (don’t miss the cute photos!). A 4th grade teacher and former librarian from Portland, OR, Adrienne reviewed Poetry nominee The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Chris …

Poetry Category Description

Poetry is an ever flowing river of words.  From words that rhyme, words that shape emotions on all different topics to poetic forms, thePoetry category is home to an uber stew of entries. These books willappeal to the very young, middle grade and/or young adults. Plus this year Poetry includes nominations of novels in verse.   What belongs in Poetry? Consider …

2015 Poetry Judges

Round 1 Nancy Bo Flood The Pirate Tree   Irene Latham @irene_latham Live Your Poem   Jone Rush MacCulloch @JoneMac53 Check It Out   Margaret Simon @MargaretGSimon Reflections on the Teche   Tricia Stohr-Hunt @missrumphius The Miss Rumphius Effect   Carol Wilcox @carwilc Carol W’s Corner   Sylvia Vardell @SylviaVardell Poetry For Children   Round 2 Linda Baie @LBaie Teacher …