And here they are, this year's Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Finalists!!!
- Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B.B. Alston
- Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls (Cece Rios #1) by Kaela Rivera
- Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom by Sangu Mandanna
- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
- Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland
- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
- The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu
Here are the blurbs for each of these, over at the Cybils website (where you can find all the other category's short-lists).
This is the most diverse group of EMG SF Cybils finalists ever, and it turned out that way just because these were the books the seven 1st round panelists agreed (after much struggle, gnashing of teeth, wailing etc, because there were So Many really good books that we loved) best fit the two criteria of literary merit and kid appeal.
Thanks so much to the first round team, and good luck to the second round folks who have to pick just one of these to be the winner!
And please do consider applying to be a panelist yourself next year! look for the announcement next August! If you're interested, feel free to ask my questions and feel free to start reading now! There are lots of great books published and publishing between Oct 16 2021 and Oct15 2022, and it will be just as hard/rewarding to pick just seven next year!
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Yay! It's a fantastic list (I loved both KIKI and AMARI)! Thank you and the rest of the Cybils crew for all the work you do!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read these!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Charlotte! I was a little nervous when I signed up to be a Cybils judge because I was really not reading much last year. But now we've got a fresh year and I am hyped to go through all these :D (I was pleased to have had already read one, at least.)
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