By: Linda Salzman,
on 10/2/2008
The Third Annual Cybil Awards (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards)are now open for nominations.
GO NOMINATE your favorite nonfiction picture book and nonfiction middle grade or young adult book.
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 10/1/2008
Nominations for the third annual Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (the Cybils) will be open Wednesday, October 1st through Wednesday, October 15th. The goal of the Cybils team (some 100 bloggers) is to highlight books that are high in both literary quality and kid appeal. The Cybils were founded by Anne Boles Levy and Kelly Herold.
The Cybils lists, from long lists to short lists to the lists of winners, offer a wonderful resource to anyone looking for high-quality, kid-friendly books. The Cybils team has worked hard to balance democracy (anyone can nominate titles) with quality control (two rounds of panel judging by people who focus on children's books every day). We do this work because we consider it vital to get great books into the hands of children and young adults.
How Can You Participate?
We think that the Cybils nominations will be of interest to parents, teachers, librarians, writers, and teens. If you have a blog or an email list or belong to a newsgroup that serves one of these populations, and you feel that your readers would be interested, please consider distributing this announcement (you are welcome to copy it). The Cybils team would very much appreciate your help in spreading the word. And if you, or the children that you know, have any titles to suggest, we would love to see your nominations at the Cybils blog, starting on Wednesday.
This year, awards will be given in nine categories (Easy Readers, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Poetry, Young Adult Novels). Anyone can nominate books in these categories (one nomination per person per category). Nominated titles must be published between January 1st and October 15th of this year, and the books must be in English (or bilingual, where one of the languages is English).
To nominate titles, visit the Cybils blog between October 1st and 15th. A separate post will be available for each category - simply nominate by commenting on those individual posts. If you are not sure which category to choose for a particular book, a questions thread will also be available.
Between October 16th and January 1st, Cybils panelists (children's and young adult bloggers) will winnow the nominations down to a 5-7 book short list for each category. A second set of panelists will then select the winning titles for the different categories. The winners will be announced on February 14th, 2009.
Thanks for your help, and stay tuned for further news!
Source: Jen Robinson
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 2/13/2008
Not only am I serving as a judge for the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship and for the Cybils Fiction Picture Book Award (winner announced tomorrow!), now I've been asked to judge the Massachusetts School Library Association's Annual Bookmark Contest. Anyone else want to put my discernment skills to the test? Because they are becoming razor sharp with all this practice.
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By: Mitali Perkins,
on 1/2/2008
I'm excited to be one of the judges in the 2007 Cybils picture book category. Here are the nominees:
2007 Fiction Picture Books Finalists
Pssst!
by Adam Rex
Harcourt Children's Books
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
Pssst! is a funny, light-hearted fantasy that uses snappy text and surreal post-modern oil-and-acrylic illustrations to tell the tale of a girl who visits a zoo with crafty animals who all want something from her. This results in a surprise ending and one of the year's most unforgettable illustrated double-page spreads. -- Cheryl Rainfield
Go to Bed, Monster!
written by Natasha Wing; illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz
Harcourt Children's Books
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
A sleepless girl creates a playful monster to keep her company one evening with surprising results. Kantorovitz's oil paint and pastel illustrations, made to look like crayon drawings, capture the immediacy and creative range of a child's imagination. -- Annie Teich, Crazy for Kids' Books
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County
written by Janice N. Harrington; illustrated by Shelley Jackson
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
A sassy, young farm girl, living with her Big Mama, transforms herself from chicken-chaser extraordinaire to fender-of-the-fowl in this spirited read-aloud, whose energetic mixed-media collage illustrations provide much for observant eyes to take in.
-- Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Leaves
by David Ezra Stein
Putnam Juvenile
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
In this engaging poem of a picture book with spare text and shimmering earth-tone paintings, David Ezra Stein captures the wonder of the changing seasons as seen through the perspective of a wide-eyed bear. -- Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Four Feet, Two Sandals
written by Karen Lynn William & Khadra Mohammad; illustrated by Doug Chayka
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
Two girls in a refugee camp in Pakistan share a pair of sandals that begins a friendship in this poignant story of courage. When hope of a better life comes for one girl, they must both find a way to still share their sandals and their hearts. -- Marcie Flinchum Atkins, World of Words
Knuffle Bunny Too
by Mo Willems
Hyperion
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
In this sequel to Knuffle Bunny, the photography, the cartooning, and the drama is all kicked up a notch as Trixie and her dad have to set things right in the early morning hours. Fantastic in its capture of subtleties of expression, the dynamics of families, and the mind of a child. -- Pamela Coughlan, MotherReader
The Incredible Book-Eating Boy
by Oliver Jeffers
Philomel
Buy From Amazon | Buy from BookSense
Oliver Jeffers has crafted a visually-stunning, humorous story about a young boy who loves books so much he eats them -- until he discovers that the greatest power comes from reading them. Jeffers' innovative illustrations, cleverly superimposed on pages from various books, merge with an inviting storyline that continues right into the book's back cover. -- Cheryl Rainfield
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By: Mitali Perkins,
on 9/26/2007
The names and (more importantly) the blogs of the 2007 Cybils panelists are up for your purview. I'm judging in the fiction picture book category -- can't wait. Here's our team, organized by Jules of the indefatigable 7-imp dynamic duo:
Nominating Panel:
Julie Danielson (Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast)
Marcie Flinchum Atkins (World of Words)
Annie Teich (Crazy for Kids Books)
Cheryl Rainfield
Pam Coughlan MotherReader
Judging Panel:
Mitali Perkins (Mitali's Fire Escape)
Nikki Tate (Work in Progress)
Gail Wilson (Through the Studio Door)
Barbara Johansen Newman (Cats and Jammers Studio)
Stacey Shubitz (Two Writing Teachers)
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 3/30/2007
Editor Daryl Grabarek, who attended my Books Between Cultures presentation at ALA's convention in New Orleans, invited me to write an article for School Library Journal's Curriculum Connections spring 2007 issue that would be loosely based on that talk. Here it is: No Place Like Home: Books Can Create a Strong Sense of Place.
Cybils Middle Grade folks will no doubt recognize most of the titles I laud -- we were in the throes of the nominating process when I wrote the article.
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 2/14/2007
Since I served on the nominating panel for the middle grade fiction category, I'm dancing a cyber jig out on the Fire Escape because A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz won! Hooray! For the rest of the winners, visit the Cybils site, and if you can afford it, buy, buy, buy the books (donate them to your library) to display the power of viral blog buzz ... Read the rest of this post
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By: Gina MarySol Ruiz,
on 2/14/2007
It was an honor and a pleasure to be on the Cybil's nominating panel for graphic novels. I met great people, learned a lot and read great and fascinating books.
I was excited to see that my favorite for the 13-up Graphic Novel, American Born Chinese was a winner!
Check out the rest of the winners here.
Congratulations to all the winners!
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 2/13/2007
the new issue of the edge of the forest went live (with a review of my Rickshaw Girl to boot) ...
the Children's Book Council and USBBY announced their list of 39 outstanding international books published in 2006, narrowing the choices from a field of 250 books ...
dozens of kid lit peeps had a blast in the bar nine (bar me and Jen Robinson, who were partying on the other coast in a more sedate venue; pix of my whirlwind California Dreamin' book tour to come with my mother in gorgeous array painting alpanas) ...
hordes of other book folk (and some of the ones hobnobbing at bar nine, of course) attended the SCBWI conference in New York ...
cynsations went down right when Cynthia Leitich Smith's new novel Tantalize (Candlewick) was scheduled for release, and she's blogging at hubby's site (they come in handy, don't they? hubbies and their sites) ...
the literate world continued to wait in breathless anticipation for the announcement of the Cybils awards (TBA TOMORROW!) ...
Read the rest of this post
By: Gina MarySol Ruiz,
on 2/13/2007
Only one more day people to the first annual Cybil awards. I'm dying to see what books in each category win. I am particularly interested in the category that I was a panelist on...the Graphic Novel category. I have a favorite, my fingers are crossed, breath held in anticipation...BE TOMORROW ALREADY!
Watch for the announcements tomorrow here: The Cybils
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 2/6/2007
Speaking of book awards like the Cybils (winners TBA on 2/14), I want to let everybody know that Rickshaw Girl has won a prize, too. Yes, I'm thrilled to announce that my newest book has just secured the...
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 1/3/2007
Here's my peeve about writing for middle schoolers (ages 10-14): when it comes to library budgets, review space, and award competitions, our books have to compete with hefty (thematically and word-count-wise) reads targeted for high schoolers. You gotta wonder if adult gatekeepers favor older YA novels because they read more like adult literature, as evidenced by the interesting discussion on author Justine Labarlestier's blog (source: Chicken Spaghetti) and the adbooks listerv.
Exceptions abound of course, but there's a big difference between an eleven-year-old and a seventeen-year-old when it comes to literary appetite, maturity, and attention span. I thought the books nominated for the Cybils in the middle reader category, for example, were perfect for most 8-12 year olds. But in the YA category, it seems odd that Hattie Big Sky (classified by School Library Journal as a middle school read) has to compete with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (which Booklist considers appropriate for grades 10-12) and The Book Thief, which is causing some of the fuss in the YA vs. adult lit debate.
By: Mitali Perkins,
on 1/2/2007
Our job as a nominating committee is done, and the lists of possible Cybil winners have been narrowed to five finalists in each category. Congratulations to the final five middle grade novels, and many thanks to all the authors who were nominated -- I've been reveling in good reads over the holidays thanks to you!
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Thanks for posting the announcement, Mitali! I think that we're going to have some really great lists of nominees this year, thanks to people like you helping to spread the word.