{"id":8979,"date":"2012-02-14T08:53:46","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T14:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=8979"},"modified":"2012-02-14T08:53:46","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T14:53:46","slug":"in-which-the-cybils-are-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2012\/20120214-8979.htm","title":{"rendered":"In Which the Cybils are Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I had a blast participating in Amy’s Armchair Cybils<\/a> this year. I set out<\/a> to read one book nominated in each Cybils category.<\/p>\n

I failed.<\/p>\n

But I got close–and had a grand deal of fun in the process.<\/p>\n

Book Apps<\/b>
\nI realized a little late that one needs to have some sort of e-ish reader or smart phone or whatever to read these. Since I do not, I refrained.<\/p>\n

Fiction Picture Books<\/b>
\nI read two finalists<\/a>–one of which (Me…Jane<\/i>) became the winner. It wasn’t my pick of the two I read, but I’m certainly not displeased with the results.<\/p>\n

Nonfiction Picture Books<\/b>
\nI read a whopping four of the six finalists<\/a>–and was thrilled to see that my pick for winner made winner. Congratulations to Carlyn Beccia, author of I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat<\/i>, for writing a remarkably readable mini-history of strange cures.<\/p>\n

Easy Readers<\/b>
\nI read two easy reader finalists<\/a> and was officially unimpressed. I hope that the winner, I Broke My Trunk!<\/i> by Mo Willems, was significantly better than the two I read.<\/p>\n

Early Chapter Books<\/b>
\nI have Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie<\/i> sitting on my nightstand but have not yet read it. Oh well, since Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus!<\/i> ended up as the winner. I still might read Like Pickle Juice<\/i>, though, just because I have it.<\/p>\n

Poetry<\/b>
\nI was somewhat limited in my options since I chose to only get books from my library–and because my library had few of the poetry books. As a result, I ended up reading none. However, the book I most wanted<\/i> to read ended up as the winner: Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto<\/i>. I might just recommend that my library get a copy.<\/p>\n

Graphic Novels<\/b>
\nI read finalist Level Up<\/i>, which I was rather stunned to find that I enjoyed. I really prefer text to pictures, so I didn’t expect to like any graphic novel. The winner ended up being Zita the Space Girl<\/i> by Ben Hatke. I didn’t have Zita<\/i> out of the library, but now I’m trying to decide whether I want to read the other finalist I do<\/b> have out of the library.<\/p>\n

Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction<\/b>
\nI read Breadcrumbs<\/i> by Anne Ursu (and quoted from it<\/a>). I really recommend it–and intend to review it in full at some point, if I can get to it. The winner, however, was The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale<\/i>. Amy has spoken highly enough of this one that I really will have to get my hands on a copy.<\/p>\n

Middle Grade Fiction<\/b>
\nI finished The Friendship Doll<\/i> just last night. (I was rather behind after my decidedly unsuccessful attempt<\/a> to read a Cybils middle-grade fiction nominee.) I enjoyed The Friendship Doll<\/i> although I’m not sure if I was enthralled with it. I’ll have to think more on that one. The winner was Nerd Camp<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Young Adult Nonfiction<\/b>
\nI read two finalists, Amelia Lost<\/i> by Candace Fleming and Unraveling Freedom<\/i> by Ann Bausum. I enjoyed reading both, although I felt Unraveling Freedom<\/i> was a bit propagandish. I am ecstatic to see that the well-written, informative Amelia Lost<\/i> won the award. <\/p>\n

Graphic Novels<\/b>
\nWhat? The Graphic Novels were separated into Middle Grade and YA? I didn’t catch that. See above for what I read. The winner in this category was Anya’s Ghost<\/i> by Vera Brosgol.<\/p>\n

YA Fantasy and Science Fiction<\/b>
\nI read two–one of which was my first-ever (and possibly last-ever) “demon” fiction. Misfit<\/i> by Jon Skovron was interesting, to say the least. It feature a half-demoness, half-human whose uncle is, um, Dagon. Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I guess. The story itself was written well. But I really couldn’t be comfortable with the subject matter. The other book, Blood Red Road<\/i> by Moira Young, was absolutely wonderful. This is the kind of epic that is bound to spawn sequels (possibly even movies, GAG!) I am delighted to see that Blood Red Road<\/i> won the award.<\/p>\n

Young Adult Fiction<\/b>
\nHaving read a fair number of nominees (The Fitzosbornes in Exile<\/i><\/a>, The Big Crunch<\/i><\/a>, The Summer I learned to Fly<\/i><\/a>, and Paper Covers Rock<\/i><\/a>), I didn’t prioritize getting to finalist. Which is why Between Shades of Gray<\/i> is still sitting on my nightstand. I did not read the winner, Stupid Fast<\/i> by Geoff Herbach.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/b><\/p>\n

I had a great deal of fun participating in Amy’s Armchair Cybils<\/a> this year–and really hope she runs the same challenge next year. I’ve officially decided I’d probably be a very frustrated first-rounder, but I have really enjoyed immersing myself in the finalists over this past week (Yes, I checked all of the finalists I mentioned in this post out of the library a mere ten days ago.)<\/p>\n

Please, run over to Armchair Cybils<\/a>Amy’s<\/a> to see what others are saying about this year’s Cybils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a blast participating in Amy’s Armchair Cybils this year. I set out to read one book nominated in each Cybils category. I failed. But I got close–and had a grand deal of fun in the process. Book Apps I realized a little late that one needs to have some sort of e-ish reader … Read more In Which the Cybils are Announced<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}