CYBILS Finalists!!

I am thrilled to have just finished up my second year serving as a judge for the Cybils awards. Yesterday on New Year's Day, the finalists for all the categories were announced. Congratulations to all the judges for all their hard work narrowing down to their short lists!

As part of my reading list this year, I would like to try to take the wealth and knowledge of my fellow judges and incorporate these short listed books into my 2014 TBR schedule. To keep track of them, I wrote them out here. As I read the books and used the apps, I will highlight them. I have also noted (more for my personal record) which titles I have purchased them for my library's collection.



Book Apps

1) Disney Animated
2) Endless Alphabet
3) MirrorWorld
4) To This Day
5) Wee You Things



Fiction Picture Books

1) Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett

2) If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano
3) Journey by Aaron Becker
4) Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown
5) Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier
6) Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller
7) The Bear's Song by Benjamin Chaud

Nonfiction for Elementary and Middle Grades

1) Anubis Speaks! A Guide to the Afterlife by the Egyptian God of the Dead by Vicky Alvear Shecter
     **in my cart to be purchased
2) Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss
3) How Big Were Dinosaurs by Lita Judge
4) Locomotive by Brian Floca
5) Look Up: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate
6) The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman and LeUyen Pham
7) Volcano Rising by Elizabeth Rusch

Easy Readers

1) A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems
2) Joe and Sparky Go to School by Jamie Michalak
3) Love is in the Air by Jonathon Fenske
4) Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes
5) The Meanest Birthday Girl by Josh Schneider
6) Urgency Emergency! Big Bad Wolf by Dosh Archer

Early Chapter Books

1) Dragonbreath #9: The Case of the Toxic Mutants by Ursula Vernon
2) Home Sweet Horror by James Preller
3) Kelsey Green, Reading Queen by Claudia Mills
4) Lulu and the Dog from the Sea by Hilary McKay
5) The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle
6) Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat by Anna Branford

Poetry

1) Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer

2) Forest Has a Song: Poems by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
3) Poems to Learn by Heart by Caroline Kennedy 
4) Pug: And Other Animal Poems by Valerie Worth
5) The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses by Lisa Wheeler
6) What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms and Blessings by Joyce Sidman
7) When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders by J. Patrick Lewis

Graphic Novels: Elementary and Middle Grades

1) Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton by Matt Phelan

2) Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch 
3) March Book 1 by John Lewis

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
4) Monster on the Hill by Rob Harrell

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party by Nathan Hale

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
6) Squish #5: Game On! by Jennifer L. Holm
7) The Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

Speculative Fiction: Elementary and Middle Grades

1) Jinx by Sage Blackwood

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
2) Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
3) Rose by Holly Webb

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
4) Sidekicked by John David Anderson

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
6) True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
7) The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blakemore

      **purchased this title for my library's collection

Middle Grade Fiction

1) Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein 

     **purchased this title for my library's collection
2) Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz, based on a true story by Ruth and Jack Gruener

     **purchased this title for my library's collection
3) Serafina's Promise by Ann E. Brug

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
4) The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. by Greg Pincus
5) Ultra by David Carroll

Young Adult Graphic Novels

1) Bad Machinery by John Allison

2) Boxers & Saints Boxed Set by Gene Luen Yang

       **purchased this title for my library's collection
3) Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue Deconnick
4) Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff

       **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) Templar by Jordan Mechner

       **purchased this title for my library's collection
6) Uzumaki Deluxe Edition by Juni Ito
7) War Brothers: The Graphic Novel by Sharon McKay

Young Adult Nonfiction--This is the Category I am a Judge For

1) Breakfast on Mars and 37 Other Delectable Essays by Brad Wolfe

2) Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II by Martin W. Sandler

    **purchased this title for my library's collection
3) The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became the Possible...on Schindler's List by Leon Leyson
4) The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne by Catherine Reef

  **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) "The President Has Been Shot!" The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson

   **purchased this title for my library's collection

Young Adult Speculative Fiction 

1) Conjured by Sara Beth Durst

     **in my cart to be purchased
2) Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

      **purchased this title for my library's collection

      **I also own a personal copy as well

3) Pantomime (Strange Chemistry) by Laura Lam
4) Shadows by Robin McKinley

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
6) The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
7) William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher

      **purchased this title for my library's collection 

Young Adult Fiction

1) Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roberts
2) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
3) Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepety's

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
4) Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
5) Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian 

      **purchased this title for my library's collection
6) Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Megan Medina


My Progress:

Read: 22/77
Apps: 1/5

Purchased: 30 titles 

About the purchasing notes: I purchase tween (fourth grade) through teen (high school) materials at my library hence the obvious skewing towards the upper end of the spectrum. I used to work at a library in which I did purchased everything from birth through high school plus the parenting and teacher collections so some of the picture books and early readers I did purchase for my old library but the ones referenced above are my current library only. 

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Anyone care to join me on this endeavor? Let me know in the comments section if you do. Also, be sure to let me know which titles on the list you are excited about too.