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Cybils Picture Book Nominations. If I read the book, it's in italics.

Taken from the Cybils blog. If its in italics, I read it. Going thru these lists always makes me wonder, how did I not read all these great books? Do I have enough time to read them now?

100 Cupboards
written by N.D. Wilson
Random House
Buy from Amazon Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Alchemyst, The
written by Michael Scott
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
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Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon
written by Rick Yancey
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
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Araminta Spookie 3: Frognapped
written by Angie Sage
HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books
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Betrayed: A House of Night Novel
written by PC Cast
St. Martin's Griffin
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Billy Hooten: Owlboy
written by Tom Sniegoski
Random House/Yearling
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Black Book of Secrets, The
written by F.E. Higgins
Feiwel & Friends
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Book of a Thousand Days
written by Shannon Hale
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
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Call to Shakabaz, The
written by Amy Wachspress
Woza Books
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Chaos King, The
written by Laura Ruby
HarperCollins/Eos
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Children of the 23rd Century: The Secret of the Lost Planet
written by Mel Hogan
Athena Press Ltd (UK)
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Choices
written by Deborah Lynn Jacobs
Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press
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City of Bones
written by Cassandra Clare
Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry
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Cobra King Of Kathmandu, The
written by P. B. Kerr
Scholastic/Orchard Books
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Cupid
written by Julius Lester
Harcourt Children's Books
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Darkwing
written by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins/Eos
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Defect
written by Will Weaver
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Dragon Slippers
written by Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
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Dragonhaven
written by Robin McKinley
Penguin/Putnam Juvenile
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Dragon's Keep
written by Janet Lee Carey
Harcourt Children's Books
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Dreamquake
written by Elizabeth Knox
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Eclipse
written by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers
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Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
written by Lynne Jonell
Henry Holt and Co.
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Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness
written by Kaza Kingsley
Firelight Press
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Extras
written by Scott Westerfeld
Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse
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Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
written by Brandon Mull
Shadow Mountain
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Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
written by Laini Taylor
Penguin/Putnam Juvenile
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Fathom Five: The Unwritten Books
written by James Bow
Dundurn/Boardwalk Books
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First Light
written by Rebecca Stead
Random House/Wendy Lamb Books
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Flora Segunda
written by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Harcourt Children's Books
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Fred & Anthony's Escape from the Netherworld
written by Esile Arevamirp
Disney/Hyperion
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Ghost in Allie's Pool, The
written by Sari Bodi
Brown Barn Books
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Giving Up the Ghost
written by Sheri Sinykin
Peachtree Publishers
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Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, The
written by Lloyd Alexander
Henry Holt and Co
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Gray/Guardians
written by Kathy Porter
BookSurge Publishing
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
written by J. K. Rowling
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books
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Hungry Ghosts
written by Sally Heinrich
Lothian Publishing (may be an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia)
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In the Serpent's Coils (Hallowmere)
written by Tiffany Trent
Mirrorstone
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Incarceron
written by Catherine Fisher
Hachette Livre UK/Hodder Children's Books (UK)
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Into the Wild
written by Sarah Beth Durst
Penguin/Razorbill
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Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale
written by Holly Black
Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry
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Jackie Tempo and the Emperor's Seal
written by Suzanne M Litrel
iUniverse
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Jinx
written by Meg Cabot
HarperCollins
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Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger
written by Lee E. Fodi
Brown Books Publishing Group
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Lady Friday (The Keys to the Kingdom)
written by Garth Nix
Scholastic Press
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Land of the Silver Apples, The
written by Nancy Farmer
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
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Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want
written by Obert Skye
Shadow Mountain
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Little (Grrl) Lost
written by Charles de Lint
Penguin/Viking
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Magic and Other Misdemeanors (The Sisters Grimm)
written by Michael Buckley
Abrams/Amulet
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Marigold and the Feather of Hope
written by J. H. Sweet
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
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New Policeman, The
written by Kate Thompson
HarperCollins
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Night Tourist, The
written by Katherine Marsh
Disney/Hyperion
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Nightwalker: The Warlocks of Talverdin
written by K. V. Johansen
Orca Book Publishers
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Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands)
written by Meg Burden
Brown Barn Books
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Once Upon a Crime (The Sisters Grimm)
written by Michael Buckley
Abrams/Amulet
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Penguins of Doom, The (From the Desk of Septina Nash)
written by Greg R. Fishbone
Blooming Tree Press
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Platinum
written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
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Powers
written by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harcourt Children's Books
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Prom Dates from Hell
written by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
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Pyre
written by James McCann
Simply Read Books
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Quest for the Elfin Elixir
written by Ami Blackford
Red Cygnet Press
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Red Spikes
written by Margo Lanagan
Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers
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Repossessed
written by A. M. Jenkins
HarperCollins
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Return to Zandria
written by Christine Norris
LBF Books/Lachesis Publishing
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Secret of Grim Hill, The
written by Linda DeMeulemeester
Lobster Press
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Secret Zoo, The
written by Bryan Chick
Second Wish Press
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Seeing Redd (The Looking Glass Wars)
written by Frank Beddor
Penguin/Dial
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Seems, The: The Glitch in Sleep
written by John Hulme
Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
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Senrid
written by Sherwood Smith
YA Angst
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Sensitive
written by Nina Wright
Flux
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Seventh Chair, The
written by Ann Keffer
iUniverse
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Silenced, The
written by James Devita
HarperCollins/Eos
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Silver World
written by Cliff McNish
Lerner Publishing/Carolrhoda Books
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Skin Hunger
written by Kathleen Duey
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum
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Skulduggery Pleasant
written by Derek Landy
HarperCollins
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Standard Hero Behavior
written by John David Anderson
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Books
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Swan Maiden, The
written by Heather Tomlinson
Henry Holt
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Tantalize
written by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Candlewick
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Tattoo
written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
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Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
written by R. L. LaFevers
Houghton Mifflin
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Thief Queen's Daughter, The
written by Elizabeth Haydon
Tor/Starscape
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Through the Eyes of a Raptor
written by Julie Hahnke
iUniverse
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Titan's Curse, The
written by Rick Riordan
Disney/Miramax
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To Catch a Mermaid
written by Suzanne Selfors
Little, Brown Young Readers
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True Meaning of Smekday, The
written by Adam Rex
Disney/Hyperion
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Two Moon Princess
written by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Tanglewood Press
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Un Lun Dun
written by China Mieville
Random House/Del Rey
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Verdigris Deep (Well Witched in the U.S.)
written by Frances Hardinge
Macmillan Children's Books (UK)
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Warrior's Daughter, The
written by Holly Bennett
Orca Book Publishers
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What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy
written by Gregory Maguire
Candlewick
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Wicked Lovely
written by Melissa Marr
HarperCollins
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Wildwood Dancing
written by Juliet Marillier
Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers
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Woolies and Worms
written by Stephen MacNeil
Cobblestone Publishing/Cricket Magazine Group
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Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage
written by Alma Alexander
HarperCollins/Eos
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Deogratias: A Tale Of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen. Copy donated by publisher, First Second; Cybils long list. Graphic Novel.

One of my Best Books of 2006.

The Plot: A historical note at the front explains that Deogratias is set in late 1994, early 1995, in Rwanda, and gives background about the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority of Rwanda. This is a work of fiction; it is the story of Deogratias, a teenage boy who is a Hutu; and two teenage sisters who are Tutsi, Apollinaria and Benina. It begins after the Rwandan Genocide (800,00 to 1,000,000 dead); and has characters from all sides, the Hutus, the Tutsis, the observers, those who acted and those who did not.

The Good: A must read. Stassen accomplishes much with few pages (less than 80!) and few words. He tells of life before and after the Genocide; he includes the various factions and entities present, from the UN peacekeeping force to the Rwandan Patriotic Front to the Interahamwe. The brevity helps; too many words would drown this story. The simplicity emphasizes the horror.

Deogratias is told in flashbacks; at first it is a bit confusing (what is happening when?) but it quickly becomes apparent that Deogratias's appearance lets the reader know whether the setting is the present (1995), with Deogratias dressed in rags, or the past (1994), with his clothes fresh and clean and whole. And, of course, the change in his dress is not just because time has passed; the battered outward appearance reflects Deogratias's emotional and psychological damage.*

There is a mounting sense of dread in this book; Deogratias is alive, obviously affected by the events that unfolded, but just how badly he has been injured is not known until the last pages. How did he get to where he is? And why is he so shattered, when he was not part of the ethnic group that was targeted for extermination? And what happened to those two sisters? With each page, there are glimpses of just how bad it will get, and little bits of hope to hang onto.

What happens to a person who lives thru such horror? What is moral? And of course -- what would you do?

This is an incredible chilling and powerful story; not only because it is about such a horrific time, but also because Deogratias's personal story is so tragic. What would someone do, at that time, in that place?

You will remember these people and this story for a long time.

*For some reason, lately, when I've been reading graphic novels one of the questions I've asked myself is, "did this have to be told in a GN format?" Why use pictures instead of words? Deogratias is one of those books that would not have worked half so well without the illustrations; something would have been lost if only words had been used.

Links:
The film Hotel Rwanda, based on true events.
Reading YA: Readers Rant review.
Bookslut In Training review, from column Kids At War.
Words, words, words review.
Chasing Ray loved this book, also, and like me wonders, where are the awards for this book?

The Rwandan Genocide happened over a decade ago. What about events going on today?
Here are links about what you can do about Darfur:
Save Darfur;
Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop;
Human Rights Watch: Darfur;
UNICEF.
Darfur Eyewitness (from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).