#cybilsawards

We love a themed book list and bet you do, too! We started curating lists of CYBILS-nominated books last year and had so much fun we're making it a thing. From November - February, enjoy weekly posts with lists built from the books our judges are reading

Jimmy Matejek-Morris’s My Ex-Imaginary Friend (2021)

Jimmy Matejek-Morris’s My Ex-Imaginary Friend (2021) creatively explores the deliberate silences and painful experiences of invisibility that comprise one young boy’s childhood. Ten-year-old Jack has a part-walrus, part-human imaginary friend named George. The first-person narrative shifts between their point-of-view, which brings their shared experiences of abandonment and shared feelings of…

Eden Royce’s Root Magic (2021)

Eden Royce’s Root Magic (2021) brilliantly balances some of my favorite things: smart social commentary, beautiful writing, and horror. The horror in this middle grade novel is as much a result of the racism that haunts the text as it is the ghouls. Set in rural South Carolina during the 1960s, Royce brings Gullah Geechee language and culture to life for readers. The spiritual practices present…

I served as a Cybils Awards round one judge for the second time this year! In 2018 I served on the Easy Reader/Early Chapter Book committee and this year I served on the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction committee. It turns out middle grade novels are WAY LONGER than easy readers! Of course, I knew that going in! It was a pleasure to work with amazing bloggers putting together a list of…

I’m excited to announce I am participating in the Cybils Awards again this year. This time as a Round One Judge in the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category!

Cybils Awards Mission

The Cybils Awards aims to recognize the children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and popular appeal. If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to…

Boys and Their Best Beasts

Big Foot and Little Foot and Axel and Beast are two new series for confident young readers comfortable with early chapter books. Both series introduce emotionally engaging boy protagonists and their beastly besties.

Written by Adrian C. Bott and illustrated by Andy Isaac, the first installment in the Axel and Beast series, The Grabbem Getaway, is a fast-paced book that introduces readers to Axel…

Terry Lynn Johnson’s Lost!

Terry Lynn Johnson’s Lost! is the first book in the Survivor Diaries series. Two recently introduced children vacationing with their families at a resort in Costa Rica get lost in the rainforest. They survive through will, wit, and a little luck.

In the first chapter, one of the two protagonists, Carter, a young African American boy, is interviewed by a reporter about surviving being lost in the…

Selznick’s Baby Monkey, Private Eye

Baby Monkey, Private Eye is a delightful book. The story is by Brian Selznick and David Serlin, and Selznick is responsible for the clever atmospheric illustrations that play a central role in the text’s unfolding. Baby Monkey is an adorable pint-size sleuth who quickly solves any case he is asked to crack by a series of unusual characters that includes astronauts and clowns.

The text consists of…