It's Cybils Time!

It's Cybils time! Cybils are, of course, the awards given each year by bloggers for the best children and young adult titles. 

Tomorrow, just after midnight Pacific time, you may nominate your favorite books for the Cybils Award. A mobile-friendly form will be live at www.cybils.com. Nominations will be taken from October 1-15. There are ten categories:

Book Apps

Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books

Fantasy & Science Fiction

Fiction Picture Books

Graphic Novels

Middle Grade Fiction

Non-Fiction Picture Books

Non-Fiction: Middle Grade & Young Adult

Poetry

Young Adult Fiction

This year, publishers and self-published authors are asked to refrain from nominating their own books until after the public has an opportunity to nominate books. 

Happily, I will be serving as a judge for the Cybils for the fifth time. I spent a very, very busy fall last year, reading and reviewing almost 300 children's fiction picture books in two months. This year, I will be reading and reviewing for the children's nonfiction picture book panel.

What are you going to nominate?

¡Olé! ¡Vamos a Bloggiesta!

¡Olé! ¡Tiempo que Bloggiesta!

(Hurray! It's time for Bloggiesta!)

Llego tarde a la fiesta. 

Pero, por suerte, no me perdí todo.

(I'm late to the party. But, happily, I didn't miss the whole thing.)

Escribo Mi To-Do List.

(I write My To-Do List.)

(1)Voy a hacer 09 2012 Mini-Mensajes.

(I will do September 2012 Mini-Posts.)

(2) Voy a hacer Flashback Mini-Mensajes.

(I will do Flashback Mini-Posts.)

(3) Voy a hacer the Twitter Fiesta a noche.

(I will join the Twitter Party tonight 5-7 pm.)

Estoy en Twitter @debnance.

(I am at Twitter @debnance.)

¡Visite a saludar!

(Stop in and say hello!)

Top Ten Series I Haven't Finished

It would be easier for me to list the series I have finished!

Here's a crazy thing about me:

I only read the first book in a series!

Until I finally caved in a few years ago,

I'd never read past the first book in the Harry Potter series!

I'm not a series reader.

Here, then, are some of the many series I haven't finished.

(And, remember, don't be a hater. It's not nice.)

You'll be off to de-friend me now, I imagine,

but I barely made it through the first book.

There is some controversy as to whether this book is book one.

That aside, I've always intended on reading the other books, 

but I've never gotten around to it.

I question whether this is a real series anyway,

as the other Gone With the Wind books are by different authors.

I remain firm on this one: I'll never read a GWTW sequel.

I tried. I really did. 

I was off to the public library the next day

after I finished Wrinkle when I was ten.

The magic was not there for me, though,

and I returned it, sadly, unread.

Still undecided on continuing this series.

Loved book one,

but it was a tremendous investment of time.

I finally read book one a few years ago,

and that's it for me.

Nothing compels me to read any further.

I immediately put this on my list of of Best Reads Ever,

when I finally got around to reading it some years ago,

but I didn't read on.

I always have a fear that sequels won't live up to the original.

That often happens.

Another It-Can't-Get-Better-Than-This read.

I read this just so I could recommend it to children at my school library.

I've read a couple more in Spanish,

to challenge myself, but that's it.

I've heard the sequels were a little disappointing.

Who wants to read for ten hours if the book

is disappointing?!

I could go on and on.

How about you?

Am I the only one out there who doesn't read to the end of series?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?!

                 

               

What I Finished and/or Reviewed Last Week I got busy this week! I finished a ton of books! I reviewed a ton of books! (Patting self on back) Happiness Books: The Cure for Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and Happiness by Timothy Caulfield We get a lot of health information these days.  But what about the validity of that information?  What should we do and not do to be healthy?  more  100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It by David Niven Happiness. It’s what people say they want more than anything else in life...more The Ultimate Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra If you have read one Deepak Chopra book,  you will be familiar with the ideas in this book,  a book about finding happiness. He knows that we want to be...more  Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin  Your happiness starts at home.  All the great philosophers tell us this.  As does happiness guru Gretchen Rubin in her new book, Happier at Home...more Children's Books: Ten Tiny Toes written by Tod Tarpley and illustrated by Marc Brown Who could resist Ten Tiny Toes?  The cover alone, with an absolutely adorable baby nibbling on his toes,  will sell you on this book.  But there's more....more Nighttime Ninja written by Barbara DaCosta and illustrated by Ed Young It is nighttime. Everyone is asleep. Suddenly, a black figure appears. It is Nighttime Ninja.  He is on a secret mission, creeping through the house...more Being Frank written by Donna W. Earnhardt and illustrated by Andrea Castellani Children are always told to tell the truth.  But there are certain truths (how we look, how we act, what we are wearing)  that aren't always necessary...more The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell Who is the scariest monster of all?  When you are a group of scary monsters, and you can't decide among yourselves,  sometimes you have to build your own...more Joseph's Yard by Charles Keeping Trying to read all 1001 Children's Books  You Must Read Before You Grow Up can be a frustrating experience.  It doesn't sound like a hard challenge...more The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy '"I thought the afterlife would be drier than this," said Jo. "Or better lit," said Sefino. "We're not dead!" insisted Aunt Lily. No one spoke for a while...more Watership Down by Richard Adams When I think of wonderful books that I've read only once and  I thought I will probably never have time to read again,  Watership Down comes to the top of my list....more Nonfiction Books: Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray Who was D. B. Cooper?  Songs have been written about him. Stories told about him.  But who was this man, this man who hijacked a plane and bailed out...more

What I'm Reading Now Visit Sunny Chernobyl and Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places by Andrew Blackwell

What I Might Read Next I have no idea!

What are you reading today?!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Book Journey offers a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling BJ how many you visited.

A Girl Named Sue

The Field Museum

Chicago, Illinois

Summer 2012

For more wordless photos,

go to Wordless Wednesday.

Top Ten Bookish People I Want To Meet

I love children's book authors.

I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of them.

Do you recognize these children's book authors?

       

(Answers, from top left, clockwise:  Seymour Simon, Gail Gibbons,

Richard Peck, Esme Raji Codell)

Here are ten I wish I had met:

Dr. Seuss (Ted Geissel)

Author and illustrator (The Little House) 

Virginia Lee Burton

Amazing artist.

J. R. R. Tolkien

He looks so jolly with that pipe.

Illustrator Quentin Blake

E.B. White,

author of Charlotte's Web

and a brilliant essayist

Beverly Cleary,

author of Henry Huggins

and all the Beezus books,

shown here with the Beezus statue

I visited earlier this summer in Portland, Oregon

William Steig,

author and illustrator

of Shrek and 

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Robert McCloskey,

author and illustrator of

Make Way for Ducklings

and Homer Price

What bookish people would you like to meet?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.