Cybils Reading Challenge 2022

Yes -- it's that time again! Well, it was that time months ago but it's been a rough year. 

<<Somehow I am absolutely failing to copy over any of the Cybils images. Huh. Pretend I have a pretty picture of the Cybils Star and some books here, until I figure myself out.>>

I'm making a giant page of all the finalists in all the 2022 Cybils categories. I hope to read them all, but lately I've been terrible at finishing so no guarantees. If anyone else wants to read along, feel free to leave your direction in the comments and I'll come over to cheer you along. 

To make counting easier, I also have a Listchallenges list of the finalists. So far I've read 54/97!

By the way, when rank these here, I use very different criteria than the judges do. My blog is for my personal favorites, and I don't really worry my pretty head over what kids would think, except occasionally to remember when my kids were young and picture myself sharing a book with them. But the whole purpose of the Cybils is to find books that work for both adults and kids -- sometimes I when I'm a judge my favorite doesn't even make my proposed shortlist. I mean, for picture books, usually sharing them or wanting to share them is part of the fun, but for books aimed at actual readers, often what I want is very different from what a fifth grader really wants. So far warning! 

The links in my category list here take you to the Cybils pages; you have to scroll to see my progress. But from those pages you can buy many of these excellent books, and you toss a tip to the Cybils program. I'm also putting in the month I plan to order the books from the library, which sometimes have a correlation as to when I read them.

• Board Books / Fiction Picture Books (August) 
• Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books  (March)
• Nonfiction 
• Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction (April)
• Middle Grade Fiction (May)
• Poetry (June) 
• Graphic Novels  (March)
• Young Adult Fiction  (July)
• Young Adult Speculative Nonfiction (September)
  
  

Board Books / Fiction Picture Books (August)

Board Books:

1. 10 Little Tractors (10 Little Vehicles), Annie Bailey, illustrated by Jeff Harter
2. Animals Move (Big, Little Concepts, 3), Jane Whittingham
3. Be My Neighbor?, illustrated by Suzy Ultman
4. Hello, World! Garden Time, Jill McDonald. Fun, aimed at toddlers more than babies.
5. Look Twice: An Interactive Board Book Full of Surprises!, Ferri, Giuliano
6. Odd Birds: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Flock, Laura Gehl, illustrated by Gareth Lucas
7. The Hair Book, Yvette, LaTonya, illustrated by Jones, Amanda Jane

Fiction Picture Books:

1. Apple and Magnolia, Laura Gehl, illustrated by Patricia Metola
2. Farmhouse, Sophie Blackall
3. Finding Fire, Logan S. Kline
4. How to Party Like a Snail, Naseem Hrab, illustrated by Kelly Collier
5. Knight Owl, Christopher Denise
6. Nigel and the Moon, Eady, Antwan, illustrated by Zhang, Gracey
7. Out of a Jar, Deborah Marcero

Young Readers (March)

Easy Readers: (kcls)

1. Cornbread & Poppy (Cornbread and Poppy, 1), Matthew Cordell
2. Gigi and Ojiji (I Can Read Level 3), Melissa Iwai
3. Reina Ramos Works It Out (I Can Read Level 2), Emma Otheguy, illustrated by Andrés Landazábal
4. Tiny Tales: A Feast for Friends (I Can Read Comics Level 3), Steph Waldo
5. Ty’s Travels: Lab Magic (My First I Can Read), Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Niña Mata
6. World of Reading: Mother Bruce Ballet Bruce: Level 1, Higgins, Ryan, illustrated by Higgins, Ryan

These were all fun books. There's a big range here, from few sentences and simple situations to full pages of text with separate chapters, but all are great options for kids learning that reading is something they can do to. My favorite was Cornbread and Poppy; I can imagine taking turns reading a page with my kids when they were five or seven. The mix of imagination and reality in Ty's world would also be fun to share, and exploring comics together with a slug and a snail would be fun. Bruce, Reina and Gigi are also solid choices.

Early Chapter Books: (kcls)

1. Book Buddies: Marco Polo Brave Explorer, Cynthia Lord, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin
2. Crimson Twill: Witch in the City, Kallie George, illustrated by Birgitta Sif
3. Frank and the Bad Surprise (Frank and the Puppy, 1), Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Jon Lau
4. Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants, Dawn Quigley, illustrated by Tara Audibert
5. Leave It to Plum!, Matt Phelan
6. Little Olympians 4: Artemis, the Archer Goddess, By A.I. Newton, Illustrated by Anjan Sarkar
7. The Weird Sisters: A Note, a Goat, and a Casserole (Weird Sisters Detective Agency, 1), Mark David Smith, illustrated by Kari Rust

Nonfiction

I'm not commenting on any nonfiction books because I helped pick the finalists. I will just say that I was delighted to get a chance to read them all.

Elementary Nonfiction:

1. A Perfect Fit: How Lena “Lane” Bryant Changed the Shape of Fashion by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
2. Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, illustrated by Daniel Minter
3. Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill by Matt Lilley, Illustrated by Dan Tavis
4. If the World Were 100 Animals: A Visual Guide to Earth’s Amazing Creatures by Miranda Smith, illustrated by Aaron Cushley
5. Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth
6. Marcel’s Masterpiece: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art by Jeff Mack
7. The Gardener of Alcatraz: A True Story by Emma Bland Smith, illustrated by Jenn Ely

Middle Grade Nonfiction:

1. Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington
2. Citizen She! A Global Campaign for Women’s Voting Rights by Caroline Stevan Illustrated by Elina Braslina
3. Crash from Outer Space: Unraveling the Mystery of Flying Saucers, Alien Beings, and Roswell (Scholastic Focus) by Candace Fleming
4. Fossil Hunter: How Mary Anning Changed the Science of Prehistoric Life by Cheryl Blackford
5. The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws, and Other Weird Bits by Rachel Poliquin, illustrated by Clayton Hanmer

High School Nonfiction:

1. American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the South (Medical Fiascoes) by Gail Jarrow
2. Disability Visibility (Adapted for Young Adults): 17 First-Person Stories for Today by Alice Wong (Editor)
3. Picturing a Nation: The Great Depression’s Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself by Martin W. Sandler
4. Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon
5. The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield

Elementary/Middle-grade Speculative Fiction (April)

1. Children of the Quicksands, Efua Traore
2. Eden’s Everdark, Karen Strong
3. Fenris & Mott, Greg van Eekhout 
4. Freddie vs. the Family Curse, Tracy Badua
5. The Clackity, Lora Senf
6. The Marvellers (Marvellerverse, 1), Dhonielle Clayton, illustrated by Khadijah Khatib
7. The Mirrorwood, Deva Fagan

Middle Grade Fiction (May)

1. Air: A Novel, Monica Roe
2. Attack of the Black Rectangles, A. S. King
3. Freewater, Amina Luqman-Dawson
4. Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone, Tae Keller
5. Thirst, Varsha Bajaj
6. Wishing Upon the Same Stars, Jacquetta Nammar Feldman
7. Yonder, Ali Standish

Poetry / Novels In Verse (June)

Poetry:

1. At the Pond, David Elliott, illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford
2. Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play among Figures of Speech, Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones
3. My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.: Our Story. Our Way., Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
4. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith
5. Zoobilations!: Animal Poems and Paintings, Douglas Florian

Novels In Verse:

1. African Town, Charles Waters and Irene Latham
2. Odder, Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Charles Santoso
3. Singing with Elephants, Margarita Engle
4. The Hope of Elephants, Amanda Rawson Hill
5. Wave, Diana Farid, illustrated by Kris Goto

Graphic Novels (March)

Elementary / Middle Grade: 

1. Invisible: A Graphic Novel, Christina Diaz Gonzalez, illustrated by Gabriela Epstein 
2. Little Monarchs, Jonathan Case
3. Squire, Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, illustrated by Sara Alfageeh
4. Swim Team, Johnnie Christmas
5. The Flamingo: A Graphic Novel Chapter Book, Guojing
6. The Woman in the Woods, Edited by Ashwin, Kate; McDonald, Kel; Pete, Alina
7. Wingbearer (Wingbearer, 1), Liu, Marjorie, illustrated by Issakhanian, Teny

Young Adult: 

1. Across a Field of Starlight: (A Graphic Novel), Blue Delliquanti
2. Huda F Are You?, Huda Fahmy
3. M Is for Monster, Talia Dutton
4. Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American, Laura Gao
5. Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting, Kindra Neely
6. The Greatest Thing, Sarah Winifred Searle
7. Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice, Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile

Young Adult Fiction (July)

1. All My Rage: A Novel, Sabaa Tabir
2. Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl, Joya Goffney
3. I Must Betray You, Ruta Sepetys
4. Man o’ War, Cory McCarthy
5. On the Subject of Unmentionable Things, Julia Walton
6. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, Jen Ferguson
7. This Is Why They Hate Us, Aaron H. Aceves

Young Adult Speculative Fiction (Sept)

1. A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger
2. From Dust, a Flame, Rebecca Podos
3. How To Succeed in Witchcraft, Aislinn Brophy
4. Little Thieves, Margaret Owen
5. See You Yesterday, Rachel Lynn Solomon
6. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Axie Oh
7. The Weight of Blood, Tiffany D. Jackson