I've never met David Elzey at Guys Lit Wire, but he must be one hunk of a blogger. Every year, and I mean every year, I break up fights among my (all-female) organizers over him. I saw him first! You had him last year! MEOW. Then there was the year two organizers duked it out while a third went behind their backs to nab him.

So, is this the George Clooney of book geeks? Who is this guy?

Well, he happens to run one of the few group blogs that caters primarily to what teen boys read. He writes spellbinding essays on how to write for boys. And he writes reviews of books that are page-turners (pixel turners?) all by themselves.

Feynman
by Jim Ottaviani
First Second Books

Elzey's take on Feynman, a graphic novel for teens, gets in your face about why it really shouldn't be as captivating a book as it is. It's about a physicist, for Einstein's sake. And then he heartily piles on what's so amazing about the Manhattan Project member who went on to solve the mystery of why the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded and who apparently could crack safes and play some mean Brazilian drums:

The joy of reading about the life of physicist Richard Feynman, in any format, is that he was the original out-of-the-box thinker. He retained his child-like sense of wonder and his desire to figure things out and applied them to science the same way that artists and writers apply them to their craft. Following the unconventional and peripatetic life of an unconventional thinker provides an fascinating example of the rewards that come from following your dreams in any field. That Feynman had a sense of humor to match his sense of wonder is a bonus, and despite his preference for research over lecturing he was nonetheless brilliant showman.

Read the rest here.

It's back to book reviews! Today we're beginning a series by Round 2 judges, and all of them will be for titles on our short lists. Please note: these reviews were posted before the finalists came out and are taken from the bloggers' archives. We don't allow Round 2 judges to post new reviews of finalists in their genre during the six-week judging period. That way we preserve the secrecy, suspense and overall credibility of the awards (I hope).

Enough of the disclaimer stuff. Onto the review:

The Shattering
by Karen Healey
Little, Brown

We're starting in my favorite genre, teen fantasy and science fiction. Sam Musher over at Parenthetical took an in-depth look at Karen Healey's The Shattering. Healey made our short list last year with Guardian of the Dead. This one's also set in New Zealand in contemporary times.

The protagonist, Keri, is devastated by her older brother's suicide. Then she learns of other suicides by teenage boys over the span of a decade. She teams up with two friends to solve the strange deaths before another can occur.

Sam sums up what makes Healey's books so appealing (caution, mild spoilers):

... believable, flawed friendships between fully realized characters; sensitive handling of sex (and the lack thereof); a stunning sense of place. The magic felt a bit less organic here than in Guardian and required more suspension of disbelief for some reason; I kept waiting for a twist, that it wasn’t what the kids thought, but nope — it pretty much was, and was an idea we’ve all seen before, and therefore had something of a “Buffy monster-of-the-week” feel, like with established characters all of this could have happened in 50 minutes on TV.

Read the rest here.

Author reactions are still trickling in as they get word they made the Cybils finals. Here's the original post on that. Add to that Stephanie Perkins typing a giant Eeeeep! after learning Anna and the French Kiss was shortlisted in Young Adult Fiction:

Oh, man! This is the biggest honor that Anna has received, and I couldn't be more over-the-moon.

And believe it or not, an author left  a comment here too. I think this is a first for us. Here's Tim Egan, whose Dodsworth in Rome is on our Easy Readers short list:

I'm so thrilled to have Dodsworth as a Cybil's finalist! Thank you so, so much! What a great way to start the new year!!!

I'll post more as I find them.

*Hat tip to Catherine Nichols for the title of this post, which I blatantly stole.

Our panelists had the Herculean task of winnowing down a long list of nominees to this year's batch of finalists. We asked them to fight for their favorites and some of the discussions became the online equivalent of sparring matches. Very, very polite sparring matches, I'm sure, given that we're mostly introverts and aggression isn't quite our thing.

But it's still pretty bruising if you were hoping to push a book to the top and it failed to build a consensus or you were flatly outvoted. Whatever the reason, many panelists couldn't let these books go. I asked that if anyone blogged about titles that deserved a last, Cybils-led hurrah, to let me know. I have listed all of the blogs below.

I hope you'll browse the links and find a few more gems that had at least one vocal supporter, even if it wasn't enough to put them over the top for Cybils.

Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books

The Cath in the Hat picked Nick Bruel's Bad Kitty Meets the Baby and several others at a post with links to her original reviews.

Fantasy/Science Fiction

Charlotte's Library gives us four tween fantasy and science fiction choices she would've loved to have seen on our short list.

Over at Confessions of a Bibliovere there are two choices that didn't make the final cut for teen fantasy.

Fiction Picture Books

We were lucky to have two judges from 5 Minutes for Books, but they did one post for their runners-up. Scroll down for Dawn's picks for Fiction Picture Books.

Graphic Novels

Guerilla Librarian recommends Ozma of Oz, an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novels.

Everead tapped Around the World by Matt Phelan and posted a review.

Middle Grade Fiction

Sharp Read provides links to his Top Ten for last year, many of which made our finals.   

And here's that link again for 5 Minutes for Books to get Jennifer's picks in this genre.

Nonfiction Picture Books

Jean Little Library usually does a batch reviews of Cybils nominees at one go, so she emailed me to point out specific titles from two posts. In this first post, scroll down to An Edible Alphabet for her pick for also-ran. In this one, her review of The Guardian Team is at the top.

I am a sentimental fool. I just am. I refuse to cry at funerals because I think I should be all stoic, even when my heart is breaking. But when I hear the words "thank you," I start to sob all over myself. It's embarrassing. Who does this to be thanked? Not me. I do it to fill up the free months between July and March.

Anyway. I asked my organizers for feedback from around the Internet from authors and publishers as they got the news they'd made the Cybils finals. I wasn't even through the third or fourth tweet when the waterworks began.

Take this blog post from the only author of a born-digital, self-published book to ever make our shortlists:

There's something about this whole thing that makes me feel rather giddy and punky—like I'm getting away with something I'm not supposed to. :) No matter what happens, I feel like Angelfall has already won just by making it to the finalist list against all odds.  --Susan Ee, Angelfall

Consider that accepting such titles was a total experiment for us this year and you realize just how long Susan's odds were. I like that Cybils plays against type and considers books that wouldn't get a second glance elsewhere.

Many posts and tweets were like Carmen Deedy's, who thanked us, the person who nominated The Cheshire Cheese Cat (in tween fantasy) and even one of her reviewers.

The folks in book publishing weren't back from their holiday break when we posted our finalists, so Peachtree Publishing didn't tweet their good news until Wednesday that they'd nabbed three spots on the short lists. Not to be outdone, Little, Brown squeezed into a single tweet the titles of their four finalists.

My favorite tweets are the ones that clearly indicate the author had no idea to expect a big surprise to start his or her new year. Something like this one from Stephanie Perkins:

I'm thrilled to wake up in the new year and discover that ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS is a Cybils award finalist!

Lisa Yee's another one we caught napping on New Year's Day. She calls her blog post "The Cybils, the Dreamers and Me" which Muppet lovers like me instantly recognize. Okay, so Kermit sang about rainbows. It's pretty much the same thing, right?

Then there's Mo Willems, who seems pleased no matter how many times he finds himself on our short lists:

Hey, looks like Elephant & Piggie's I BROKE MY TRUNK! is a Cybils' finalist: http://ow.ly/8fCXL Thanks web-savvy-kids-books-enthusiasts!

What's nice about Mo's support is that he really seems to get us. Web savvy. Check. Book enthusiasts. Check!

I just started reading Holly Black's Red Glove as a Round 2 judge and was pleased to see her gracious reaction, typical of many authors:

I am so excited to be on the Cybils shortlist for sf/f, especially because I LOVE all the other books on it.

Now, if that doesn't make an overlord all ferklempt, what does? There are many, many more of course: Geoff Herbach tweeted he was "psyched" and surprised to see his Stupid Fast shortlisted in YA fiction. Rae Carson says "holy wow" and thanks panelists for voting for Girl of Fire and Thorns in teen fantasy.

So. Now you know why we all do this. We do it for kids and teens and their teachers, librarians and parents. We don't necessarily do it for the authors, since there were more than 1,200 of them this year and we can't make them all happy. But when we do ... wow. What fun.

And who doesn't love a good cry?

This was the year the Kindle caught Fire, the Nook fought for its niche, Borders went belly up and ebooks overtook their dead tree cousins for good. But for us here at Cybils, it was another year of reading, blogging and more reading. Whether on paper or in pixels, we found plenty of stories worth sharing with the world.

By now, you're probably inundated with "best books of the year" list. Well, here's ours. Kid friendly, blogger approved. Out of 1,289 nominated books, the ones in the links below rose to the top after fierce discussions and numerous rounds of vote-taking and yet more debate.

Enjoy!

--Anne Levy, Cybils admin.

Click on the links for the 2011 Finalists:

Book Apps

Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books

Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)

Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)

Fiction Picture Books

Graphic Novels

Middle Grade Fiction

Nonfiction for Middle Grade & Young Adult

Nonfiction Picture Books

Poetry

Young Adult Fiction

... because we intend to ring 2012 in with a bang. Yep, it's our very own Cybils tradition of rousing you from your New Year's celebrations with the publication of our short lists. Tune in at one minute past the stroke of midnight (Mountain time). That's 2:01 am Eastern and 11:01 pm Pacific.

On behalf of all of us here at the Cybils Awards, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year, full of lots of great books and the time to read them all in.

--Anne Levy, Cybils Admin.

I post our numbers just about every year, and every year somebody gets mad at me. Apparently, I don't include enough disclaimers because I assume facts speak for themselves. So I have included some important reminders this time for the sake of clarity.

Total eligible books nominated: 1,289

Disclaimer: Yours wasn't eligible because a) it came out in the wrong year or b) you didn't write one.

Books read by at least one panelist: 1,284 or 99 percent.

Disclaimer: Yes, we read your book. It didn't make the short list because we don't like your looks.

Books read by at least 2 panelists: 1,262 or 98 percent.

Disclaimer: Yes, we read your book. I swear.

Unread books: 5

Disclaimer: Will you stop? It wasn't yours. Honestly.

Panelists with the most books read:

Rebecca Reid and Debbie Nance with 260 apiece.

Disclaimer: They're in fiction picture books, which are shorter than novels. Still more books than many people read in a lifetime.

Panelist with the most pages read:

Hallie Tibbets, with 48,665 pages read

Disclaimer: Page counts reflect the total pages in the book and not the point where Hallie got disgusted and tossed the darn thing across the room.  

Remember to check back tomorrow night after midnight my time (because I am the center of the universe, of course) for our finalists. That's 2:01 am Eastern and 11:01 pm Pacific.

See you then!

--Anne Levy, Cybils admin.

The lists of finalists are streaming in from our panels and I'm as thrilled as ever. Some exciting stuff awaits you at 12:01 am Mountain Time (2:01 am Eastern, 11:01 am Pacific) on January 1st. There's a good mix of familiar authors and new discoveries, plus at least one self-published title in the mix.

Hints? Spoilers?

Keep dreaming.

See you in a few days!

-Anne

We at Cybils hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and there were lots of books under your tree or magically appearing in your Nook/Kindle/iPad or whatever. Welcome back!

Today's review is of a book that's kind of a downer, so don't read on if you don't like books about Bad Things That Happen. That's a heckuva lot of YA books, by the way, so I feel pretty confident you're still reading.

Mockingbirds, The
by Daisy Whitney
Little, Brown

I won't give away what bad things happen in The Mockingbirds (which I haven't read) but instead will point you to Ten Cent Notes, written by Jordyn Turney. While she starts off with plot summary, as many bloggers do, she pulls back to look at the book's broader themes of the search for justice and how well the author keeps the story moving along. A sample:

It's about being brave and tough when those are the last things you feel like you can be. The supporting cast of this book - Alex's older sister, her roommates, key members of the Mockingbirds, and even Carter himself - are all amazingly well-written. Each character is there for a reason and each character, even the most minor, have distinct personalities that make them stand out. The cast of characters here is fairly large, but it's written in the most manageable way possible and the dynamics that exist between certain characters, such as Alex and her roommates, add additional layers and depth to the story.

The boldface is hers. Read the rest here.

I met Maureen Kearney at Kidlit Con in September and was relieved to find another 'Zonie (short for Arizonan) shivering in what Seattle calls early autumn. Maureen is another Cybils veteran and this year is judging in teen Science Fiction & Fantasy. Her regular gig is at Confessions of a Bibliovore, where she's been doing some brief roundups of the books she's reading for us.

I've included two here, from October and November, to give you a last-minute chance to pick out a few great reads for the fantasy lover in your household. Which, if you're like me, is the person reading this.

Don't forget to come back to our site and click on the Amazon ad above if you're going to place an order. We get a wee, itty-bitty commission from anything you buy after clicking through us.

Happy Reading!

 

I was a kid when New York City had its big blackout in the 1970s. Stories of looting gave the Big Apple a big, black eye for decades. By the time a power outage hit again a few years ago, the city had returned to a more civilized, neighbor-helping-neighbor kind of place.

Blackout
by John Rocco
Hyperion

Natalia Ortega-Brown reviews a picture book called "Blackout" that captures a kid's-eye-view of the more recent night the lights went out. Ortega-Brown should know -- she's an ESL teacher in the South Bronx and blogs at "A Picture Book a Day." She says "Blackout" is one of her favorite books of the year:

It captures perfectly what it felt like to be in New York City during the last big blackout. It was a block party! The sense of family extended beyond the walls of the apartments to include whole neighborhoods. We were almost sad when the lights came back on...

Read the rest here.   

The Brown Bookshelf is one of those blogs that I'd long hoped would send us a judge or two. It's a group blog with a strong point of view and is written with verve and conviction. It's main goal is to showcase the many quality books for children and teens by African American authors and illustrators.

This year, we're thrilled to have Paula Chase Hyman joining us, even if we did wallop her with 180 nominations in the Young Adult category. We'll probably have to send in rescue teams to all our YA judges if they don't emerge from under the piles of dead trees by January 1st.

Clean
by Amy Reed
Simon Pulse

Hyman reviewed Amy Reed's "Clean" recently, about teens recovering from drug addiction and gave the book high marks for its realistic depictions of family dysfunction.

An excerpt:

There’s a constant debate when it comes to YA fiction about the absence of parents and how unrealistic it is when parents are in absentia. I think the reality is, parents are often somewhat absent during a child’s teen years, not physically but maybe psychologically. A parent can see their kid every day and still not necessarily know what he or she is going through because teens begin processing for themselves and sharing what they want as much as they hide what they want. This is represented well in Clean.

Read the rest here.      

Would you believe that "Harold and the Purple Crayon" is out in a book app for iPad? Yes, of course you would. And it's just as good as you'd imagine it to be. Mary Ann Scheuer  of Great Kid Books is our very first organizer in this brand-new category, and she had a lot of fun with that legendary purple crayon.

Scheuer is a pioneer in this genre and has been helping parents and educators find the best apps to nencourage imagination and reading. In reviewing "Harold," she notes how the app updates the classic story:

Harold's journey is animated, but in a way that stays very true to the simplicity of the original story. You follow Harold through his imaginary world, seeing the dragon roar or the ship sailing. But most of the details of this world are still left to the child's imagination.

Read the rest here. 

I've been lucky enough to work with writing coach extraordinaire Bruce McAllister. But before he became the go-to guy for struggling writers, he was a precocious teen who thought he knew everything. Or at least, more than his English teacher, who kept force-feeding him exercises in finding symbolism in works of Lit-rah-toor. He decided to ask the Great Authors himself if they intended all that symbolic stuff or just what.

And they answered, by the score. John Updike, Jack Kerouac, Ray Bradbury and many others took the time to write back, believe it or not.

Behold, the long-forgotten results, newly rediscovered by the Paris Review, no less. His survey is starting to go viral and I'm late to the party (I've been sitting on this only a few days, but that's far too long in Internetland), but here's BoingBoing and The Guardian.

Enjoy.

Another roundup of fiction picture books for you all. Honestly, this is such a huge category that it's nice to have a bunch of quickie reviews. Today's come from Dawn Mooney at My Thoughts Exactly. This is Dawn's third year with us, all of them on fiction picture books. She's pretty excited to be back and we're just as happy to have her.

On Fridays, Dawn posts five reviews, which she calls her "Friday Five" for, um, kinda obvious reasons.

Pig Kahuna
by Jennifer Sattler
Bloomsbury USA

This particular batch of Cybils nominees include "Pig Kahuna," which Dawn describes as stinking adorable. Hee. There's also "Follow Me," described as soft and lovely. Just a few little tidbits to start your day.

Read them all here.

Many thanks to Apps organizer Mary Ann Scheuer for mentioning us during her interview with NPR's "Here & Now." The show also links to us on their site. If you're coming from NPR, welcome! Browse last year's finalists and winners and this year's nominations (listed by genre in the sidebar). Join us Jan. 1st for this year's announcement of finalists.

Here's that link again.