It’s Book Awards Season: Don’t Miss the #CybilsAwards
For more than 15 years, the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards (aka Cybils Awards) has championed the idea that books for young people can have high literary value AND be great to read. For this year’s awards cycle …
- Readers of all stripes nominated books in their favorite categories (Oct 2019).
- A panel of volunteers read the nominees (3 titles shy of 1050 this year!).
- On 1 January 2020, the shortlists were announced.
- A new group of volunteers is reading the finalists.
- On 14 February 2020 the winners will be announced.
This year, I am also a Round 2 judge for the Easy Reader and Early Chapter Books category. New and developing readers are probably one of my favorite reading audiences. That moment when they realize they are reading? Magical.
2019 Easy Reader Finalists
There are four finalists in this category. The books are “built” for readers who have some practice with reading, but are still building their skills.
Read about why the panelists love these books on the Cybils Awards blog. There is a blurb for each book.

2019 Early Chapter Book Finalists
Each of the five finalists are chapter books designed for kids ready for longer books, but not quite ready for full-length novels and little to no illustration.
Round 1 panelists explained why liked these titles as contenders in this series of blurbs.

You many not need to mark your calendar for 14 February, but I hope you’ll remember to come back on 15 February! That is when I will post my book reviews for each of the finalists.
Please visit the website to peruse the full nomination lists. Every book on these lists was recommended by someone who thinks that
- a child or teen would love the book; and
- the book is so good it is award-worthy.
There isn’t much higher praise – or a more sure bet – than a reader’s recommendation.