Round 1 Sherry Early Semicolon @semicolonblog Kristen Harvey The Book Monsters @bookgoil Brandy Painter Random Musings of a Bibliophile @brandymuses Charlotte Taylor Charlotte’s Library @charlotteslib Brenda Tjaden Log Cabin Library @logcabinlibrary Round 2 Mark Buxton Say What? Nicole Brinkley YA Interrobang @nebrinkley Heidi Grange Geo Librarian @geolibrarian Rosemary Kiladitis MomReadIt @roesolo Tasha Saecker Waking Brain Cells @tashrow
List Fun: Ghost Stories for All Ages
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, stories that feature these ethereal characters are a creepy delight for readers of all ages. These ten books, selected from past Cybils nominees/finalists/winners, highlight the best tales about ghosts. Some of the ghosts are friends, others are foes; some stories are pretty funny while others are downright terrifying. There’s something for every reader! …
Interivew with Nova Ren Suma
First off, congrats! We loved The Walls Around Us. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?Thank you so much! I just want to say how incredibly honored I am that The Walls Around Us was chosen for a Cybil this year. Knowing these awards are selected by bloggers who read and support …
Interview with Joel Ross
First off, congrats! We adored The Fog Diver. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?It’s the same old story you’ve heard a hundred times: I was trying to write about pirate raccoons. I wasn’t making much progress though, until I went for a walk one morning in a misty field. The fog …
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: The Fog Diver
Today’s featured review comes from the blog Log Cabin Library, which is the online home of Round 1 judge Brenda Tjaden, on the panel this year for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction. Brenda is a speech language pathologist by day, as well as an aspiring novelist with a particular interest in middle grade books. A few months ago, she reviewed EMSF …
REVIEW: Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin Trilogy)
Longtime Cybils veteran Sondra Eklund brings us our review today–she’s a Fiction Picture Books judge this year, but reads (and reviews) widely at her blog Sonderbooks. A while back, she reviewed YA Speculative Fiction finalist Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin Trilogy #3) by Robin LaFevers. This trilogy about assassin nuns in medieval Brittany concluded with a bang, as Sondra notes …
REVIEW: Castle Hangnail
Our featured blog review for this Monday is Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction finalist Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon, who is well known for her Dragonbreath series of graphic novels. This review from last spring comes from Stephanie Whelan, a New York Public Librarian who blogs at Views from the Tesseract. Stephanie, one of our Round 1 judges this year, has …
REVIEW: Bone Gap
The featured blog review of the day is YA Speculative Fiction nominee Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, reviewed by Round 1 judge Maureen Eichner. Maureen is a library assistant in the Indianapolis area who blogs at By Singing Light, where she focuses on middle grade and YA books, especially sci-fi and fantasy. In her review of Bone Gap earlier this …
REVIEW: Bayou Magic
Our featured review for today was written by Katy Kramp, who is a public librarian and Round 1 judge for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction this year. She blogs at alibrarymama, and features books that span the age range from board books all the way to adult. A few months ago she reviewed Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes, a magical …