2011 Cybils Finalists

The Cybils Finalists have been announced!

There are great books on these lists, and I’m not just saying that because I helped make the one for Middle Grade Fiction. (Speaking of which, if you followed the link from there to Points West to here, Hi! Thanks for coming by!) I was happy to see that one of my very favorite apps – The Monster at the End of this Book – is a finalist in Book Apps.

Winners to be announced on February 14th. I can hardly wait!

CYBILS!

Cybils Round 1 Judge A while back, the call went out for judges for this year’s Cybils. Since this blog has clearly shifted from being a craft blog to more of a kidlit blog, I went ahead and threw my hat in the ring.

I’m a first round judge for Middle Grade Fiction, along with these fantastic bloggers:

Colby Sharp at Sharp Read 
Jennifer Donovan at 5 Minutes for Books 
Karen Yingling at Ms. Yingling Reads 
Cheryl Vanati at Reading Rumpus
Grier Jewell at Fizzwhizzing Flushbunker
and
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin at Middle Grade Mafioso .

Now, I love kids’ fiction, as you can tell by looking through my reviews. (Good thing, too, what with the being a Children’s Librarian. It’s a lot easier to make book recommendations when you read a lot of books!) I’ve read a few of this year’s nominees already, but I have stacks of books coming my way via the library’s holds system.

I’ve been spacing out my reviews on this blog, posting kids’ books on Tuesdays and YA books on Thursdays. With so many books coming in, if I keep that up, I’ll end up with once-weekly reviews scheduled through the end of next year. That seems… excessive. So, those of you on the other side of the screen, what do you think? Should I start posting them more often? (And, no, I don’t see myself posting a review for every single nominee. There just aren’t that many hours in the day.)

This does also mean that the Challenges I signed up for back at the beginning of the year are on hold. I’ve read seven of my original 12 titles for the Debut Author Challenge, with one more of those currently in the TBR-for-Cybils queue. I hit my 12 titles (and then some) for the E-Book Challenge back in April. The Off the Shelf Challenge, sadly, has suffered this year. I’ve read one book from my Challenge List. Whoops. I don’t see myself making up any ground there before December.