Twas the night before the Cybils shortlist announcements!

Happy New Year, everyone! But more importantly, New Years Day is one of the Kidlit world's most important holidays, with the announcement of the Cybils Awards finalists! I was the Fantasy & Science Fiction Chair, and a judge in the Fantasy/Science Fiction: Teen category, as I have been most years. There were 205 books nominated in Fantasy/Science Fiction: Teen and 151 nominated in Fantasy/Science Fiction: Middle/Elementary, and narrowing each of those down to seven finalists was not an easy task. There were so many excellent books this year! But in the end each group selected an outstanding shortlist of finalists, and I can't wait to share them with the world! Tune in tomorrow, January 1, at www.cybils.com for the announcement!

Between reading Cybils nominees and my Cybils administrative tasks, I haven't had much time to post recently. Starting next week, I'm going to start posting about some of the terrific Cybils books I've been reading!