My Final Cybils Reading List

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!

Picture book finalists (Cybils)

I've read three of the seven Fiction Picture Book finalists for the Cybils.  All three of them are wonderful books (of course), but reading them together, I was struck by how different from one another they are, and how difficult the job of choosing one winner would be.

Leaves by David Ezra Stein (Putnam's, 2007)

For the littlest picture book readers (and listeners) on up; about the seasons of a bear's first year.  Spare text and expressive art, created with bamboo pen and a warm palette of watercolors.  This one feels timeless.

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, 2007)

Eating was a common medieval metaphor for reading.  This boy, however, literally consumes his books.  He could be forgiven for taking a bite of this one's creamy, krafty matte pages.  I love the art, which was created with paint, pencil and Letraset "on pages from old books that libraries were getting rid of, the artist found, or people were throwing out."

Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Doug Chayka (Eerdmans, 2007)

This book is dedicated to Zanib, a refugee girl who asked for a book about children like her (read more about how it came to be written at the author's website).  The girls who share the sandals in this story are living in a refugee camp outside of Peshawar, but the themes of friendship and separation are universal.

[Okay, I also read Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion, 2007).  You probably have (too).  And did you hear it won a Caldecott Honor?  Of course you did.  So you don't need me to tell you how good it is, although I will if you want.]

How does one choose a winner from among these books?  Hmm, maybe I need to take a closer look at the judging criteria for the Cybils.

My Newbery Pick [updated to add: It won!]

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!  Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Robert Byrd (Candlewick, 2007).

2007 Cybils: Finalists II and another reading list

More Cybils!  Finalists in the remaining four categories were posted on the Cybils blog this morning.  My plan is to read and review at least one new (to me) book from each category before the winners are announced on February 14.  Unfortunately, some of the books I picked last week aren't available at the public library yet (I know! I've placed a purchase suggestion), so I may have to make some last-minute substitutions.

Here's the rest of my Cybils reading list:

Young Adult Fiction.  I just finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown; 2007).  I'm making it count, even if I have to read it again.  It's that good.

Nonfiction Picture Books.  We read all the egg books.  Last year's winner in this category, An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long (Chronicle, 2006) is a family favorite.  This year I'm going with Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg by Mia Posada (Millbrook, 2007).

Graphic Novels.  I'm new to graphic novels, so I'll start with a finalist in the elementary and middle grade group:  The Courageous Princess (I'm so predictable) by Rod Espinosa (Dark Horse, 2007).

Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction.  I love this category of book and am already familiar with a few of the short-listed titles.  I really want to see Smart-opedia by Eve Drobot (Maple Tree, 2007); I think Leo's going to like that one, too.

Now, if only the library held any of these (they do have Part-Time Indian), I would be all set!  Thanks again to the panelists who had the enviable job of reading all of the nominated titles, and the difficult one of narrowing them down to these short lists.  I'm looking forward to reading my way through them.