When the finalists for the Cybils awards were announced in January, I came up with a plan to read at least one finalist from each category before the winners were announced on Valentine's Day. That's tomorrow! So how did I do?

I commented on several of the Fiction Picture Book finalists in this post. Since then, Milly and I have discovered The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County. Pruck! We love it.

In Poetry, I read Good Masters! Sweet Ladies: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. I loved it and made a prediction about it here. Since then, I've also read Joyce Sidman's wonderful This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. It's my pick for the Cybil.

I read two finalists in Middle Grade Fiction (one of my favorite genres of children's literature): Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis. And I'm so glad I did.

I also read two finalists in Young Adult Fiction: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

And two in Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction: Who Was First? Discovering the Americas by Russell Freedman and The Wall by Peter Sis.

I didn't read anything from the three remaining categories, though. In my defense, I couldn't find the Nonfiction Picture Book and Graphic Novel I wanted to read at the library. I'm guilty as charged for Science Fiction and Fantasy, though. At least I know what I'm reading next!