Anticipation....

There's a very special day coming up, and I wanted to drum up a little buzz--I'm talking about New Year's Day, yes, but it also happens to be CYBILS SHORTLIST DAY, a red-letter day around the kidlitosphere. January 1st is when all 10 Cybils Award categories announce their shortlists to the world. These shortlists are an invaluable tool for parents, librarians, and booksellers who are interested in the grassroots blogging world's favorite titles of the year. Personally, I find them amazing for gift-giving as well as for my own reading enjoyment.

Of course, after that comes the Round 2 judging process, when a second slate of judges in each category picks a winner (heh heh...sorry) to receive the 2015 Cybils Award. Those will be announced on Valentine's Day. Tanita and I are excited to be serving together on the Round 2 panel for YA Spec Fic--we read a lot of the same stuff, but we also encounter plenty of different books in our reading explorations, so it will be a lot of fun to booktalk the same titles this time. I suspect you might see a few tandem reviews in the future...

Anyway, go to the Cybils site on Friday to check out the shortlists! And you can always peruse a selection of nominated titles reviewed on the Cybils blog by hardworking volunteers.