The Cybils are here!

In case you missed it, the shortlists for the Cybils were announced on January 1. You can check out the finalists in all the categories here. As I've mentioned before, I'm serving as a round 2 judge for the Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction category. If you check out that list of finalists, you'll know what my priority reads for the next month will be. What this means for the blog is that, though I've vowed to stay more current in terms of reviewing things immediately upon finishing them, I won't be posting reviews of any of the finalists until after our winner is announced - so look for those reviews in the second half of February. Good news for you - I've already read and reviewed two of the titles, Boys of Blur (which was actually the book I nominated in this category) and Nuts to You! Hit the links for my reviews of those books.

In other categories, I'm positively tickled that, in addition to my nomination in my own category, three of my other nominations made it to their respective shortlists: The Chicken Squad in Early Chapter Books, The Dumbest Idea Ever! in Graphic Novels for Early & Middle Grades, and I'll Give You the Sun in Young Adult Fiction. If you're looking for some ideas on how to parse out the great books published in 2014, the Cybils shortlists are not a bad place to start. As for me, I'll be busy devouring the finalists and deliberating with my fellow judges on what our winner will be! Look for the winner announcements on Valentine's Day!