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1/1/15

It was sad that we could only have seven books on our Cybils shortlist

My eleven-year old was a bit sore at me last week--he felt that I should have been a stronger advocate for the books he wanted to see on the Cybils shortlist.   His own nominee--The Last Wild, by Piers Torday--wasn't there, and nor were two books he'd recently devoured in single sittings--Space Case, by Stuart Gibbs, and The Night Gardener, by Jonathan Auxier.  It's true that seeing your kid absolutely love a book to pieces does make you feel fondly toward it (unless it's a wretchedly awful book, in which case you start wondering where you went wrong), but it was also true that we only had places for seven books, and we had 155 from which to chose.  (It is like picking just one kitten at the animal shelter....)

So the book I myself nominated, Dark Lord-School's Out, by Jamie Thomson (so funny) isn't on the shortlist either.  Sigh.    And I wouldn't have minded Space Case myself, or another sci fi one, Ambassador, by William Alexander, which I liked lots, and anyone looking for a great book to give a nine year old girl should consider The Orphan and the Mouse, by Martha Freeman (but you might have trouble because of the cover, and there's a difficult Mouse Death right at the beginning) and The Whispering Skull  and The Magic Thief: Home, and Jinx's Magic and The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw were all great series continuations and Ninja Librarians was so much fun and I could go on and on..............

We had to make hard choices.  

But in any event, Space Case, Ambassador, and Dark Lord-School's Out are all 2014 personal favorites of mine.  And I just want to wave them a little bit at readers, because I think they deserve it....



And the eleven-year old would like me to do the same for The Last Wild and The Night Gardener.




And now I'm already starting to think about next year!!!!  Will we reach 200 nominated books???? Will it be even harder to pick just seven?????   Please do think about joining the fun--although it is true that there are more people who want to be panelists than there are slots, newcomers are welcomed and encouraged!  The call for panelists will go out in mid-August, 2015.
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8 comments:

  1. BeckyJanuary 1, 2015 at 6:02 PM

    I must admit I was quite sad that The Night Gardener didn't make the list. It was my favorite book of the year!!!

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  2. catJanuary 1, 2015 at 8:50 PM

    The Night Gardener was fabulous. I am also sad that it wasn't shortlisted. Alas.

    I am eagerly awaiting the third Jinx's Magic book - and I need to remember to reserve my copy of the latest Magic Thief book from the library. My reading has gone a little down hill as the seasons changed. Hoping to pick that back up soon!

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  3. CharlotteJanuary 1, 2015 at 9:40 PM

    Night Gardener wasn't one I personally loved, but I am certainly ready to agree that it has lots going for it! There just wasn't room for everything....

    Good luck with the reading, Cat! I just got given an ACR of Jinx's Fire, which is a happy thing!

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    1. catJanuary 3, 2015 at 9:43 AM

      GAH! Jealous of the Jinx ARC! I hope it's wonderful!! Looking forward to it coming out. I read the first two from the library, so when all three are out, I'd like to try and find a box set of them. My reading of these books was timely, as I found them in the library right after we had to say goodbye to our own Jinx (dog) this summer. :(

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  4. BrendaJanuary 2, 2015 at 11:40 AM

    I was sad that The Night Gardener didn't make it as well, I can't imagine narrowing down the speculative fiction list to seven. Yikes.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 4, 2015 at 8:47 AM

    It must have been very hard to decide. It's great of you to highlight some of the books that nearly made it.

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  6. UnknownJanuary 7, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    My 10 year old son and I liked Space Case a good bit as well. I'm not sure I looked at the shortlist for this category, so I'm going to do that now!

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  7. CarolineJanuary 15, 2015 at 12:23 PM

    I've heard really good things about The Night Gardener, as well!
    This was my first year as a Round 1 panelist (for the easy readers and early chapter books), and, wow, I *loved* the experience (and just posted a round-up of ones that I wish we could have included on our shortlist, too!).

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