Easy Reader / Short Chapter Panel

As I have mentioned a time or two, one of my favorite things about fall is the launch of the Cybils.

Just a little over a month ago, we opened the 2012 season asking for volunteers who might want to be on one of the two panels for each category.

Now we can share who comprise those panels!

Today, I am going to celebrate and introduce the Easy Reader / Short Illustrated Chapter Book panelists. Over the next week, I’ll be sharing posts with the biographies of the other panels and the lists of their panelists, too.

UPDATED to add 5 Minutes for Books Twitter

ROUND ONE

These seven panelists will read all of the nominated books and then select three to five finalists in each of our two subcategories; easy reader and short/illustrated chapter book. As you can see from their “day jobs” these are folks who spend a lot of time transforming emerging readers into confident ones.

Jeff Barger, teacher
NC Teacher Stuff
I work as a second grade teacher in North Carolina. My goal with this blog is to provide teachers with useful resources.

Katie Fitzgerald, librarian
Secrets & Sharing Soda and @sharingsoda
My name is Katie, I’m in my late 20’s, and I’m the children’s librarian at a busy urban branch library. I have always loved children’s books, and I read them for fun, as well as for professional reasons.

Mandy Goldfuss, librarian, parent
A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
My name is Mandy and I’m a mother of three, sometime librarian, mostly stay-at-home mom who loves to read and make lists.

Teri Lesesne, teacher
Professor Nana and LS5385 and @professornana
I am a professor of children’s and YA literature in the Library Science Department of Sam Houston State University. I teach classes in literature for children, tweens, and teens.

Colby Sharp, teacher, parent
sharpread and Nerdy Book Club, as well as @colbysharp and @nerdybookclub
I am a husband, father of three (all under the age of 5), and a fourth grade teacher. After following and reading some really great blogs about reading and teaching reading, I thought it was time to start blogging as a way to reflect on my journey as a teacher of readers.

Amanda Snow, parent
A Patchwork of Books and @ApatchworkofBks
It’s obvious I love books. I love them so much that I surround myself with books every day and always have. I work with books at the bookstore, I work with them for my blog, I read books to my son, and I loooooove to buy them for other people.

Katherine Sokolowski, teacher, parent
Read, Write, Reflect and @katsok
I teach fifth grade and have been teaching for the past 14 years. I love reading and writing in my classroom. I am using this as a space to reflect on my teaching and hope you will join in.

Round 2

In January 2013 (which isn’t that far away!) five judges will read the finalists for easy reader and short, illustrated chapter to pick the Cybils winner for our category. This panel will have lots of perspectives to add to the discussion … and hard choices to make, too!

Julie Azzam, teacher, parent
Instantly Interruptible
I’m a mother of two young children and an ardent fan of children’s literature, especially picture books. I have a PhD in literature and teach at the college level. I started this blog as a way to keep track of all the wonderful books I read with my children, and to have fun with the daily craziness that comes with raising children.

Stacey Loscalzo, teacher, parent, writer/author
Stacey Loscalzo.com and @staceyloscalzo
An experienced reading specialist and speech language pathologist, Stacey Loscalzo is today’s go-to authority for those who wish to instill a lifelong love of reading in their children. The mother of two young daughters, Stacey knows that reading aloud with children puts them on the path to long-term educational success.

Catherine Nichols, author/writer
The Cath in the Hat and @thecathinthehat
I write and edit children’s books for a living. When I was first learning to read–many, many moons ago–the books in my classroom were all of the Dick and Jane variety. Luckily, at home we had well-thumbed copies of The Cat in the Hat, Little Bear, Are You My Mother, and Danny and the Dinosaur. School taught me how to read. Dr. Seuss and company taught me to love reading.

Nancy Talan, parent
5 Minutes for Books and Life With My Boys and Books and @5M4B
Nancy grew up surrounded by books, maxing out her library’s summer reading program within the first few weeks and challenging the librarians to find her new books to read. She is a baseball and soccer mom, works full-time testing software, is on the PTO board at her son’s school and is on the committee of his Cub Scout pack.

Zoe Toft, parent
Playing by the Book and @playbythebook
I’m a mum of two young girls (referred to here as M [7] and J [4]) and we really love words and we really love to make stuff.

As I mentioned, we’ll be featuring each of the Category Chairs and her panelists next week. If you can’t wait, head on over to the Cybils blog today. Explore the bloggers, add new friends to your reader, and cheer them on. While you’re their, add a comment to give a warm welcome our Easy Reader / Short Illustrated Chapter group.