New Year's Eve and Cybils 2008

My husband, son and I spent a wonderful New Year's Eve together! We tried a new restaurant in Virginia Beach, Steinhilber's. I had the best pecan crusted salmon with raspberry sauce that I've ever had in my life! Then we went to the theater and saw Valkyrie. My son is a huge history buff and he had been plotting to get us to go. Of course, it was rather depressing for New Year's Eve, but we learned about a part of history fairly unknown. Finally, we spent the night in a hotel on the oceanfront. It was cold outside, especially since the weather has been unseasonably warm lately. We rang in the new year watching the ball drop on TV! The next morning we drank coffee watching the waves roll in on a gloriously beautiful day.

On New Year's Day, the third annual Cybils finalists were announced. Cybils stands for the Children's and Young Adult Blogger's Literary Award. The purpose of the award (from the website) is two-fold:

• Reward the children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators – let’s not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and “kid appeal.” What’s that mean? If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussel sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we’re thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We’re yummy and nutritious.
  
• Foster a sense of community among bloggers who write about children’s and YA literature, highlight our best reviewers (and shamelessly promote their blogs) and provide a forum for the similarly obsessed.

Check the FAQ's on how books are nominated and how panelists are chosen to read and select the finalists. The winners will be announced on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14th.

If you read my previous post, you know that I try to read all of the books that might be chosen as the Newbery before it is selected. I would love to do the same with the Cybils. I have read most of the finalists in the Easy Reader, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, and Middle Grade Fiction categories. I haven't done so well with Graphic Novels, Nonfiction Middle Grade/YA and Nonfiction Picture Books, Poetry and Young Adult Novels. With the three books I still need for the Newbery (and I haven't even looked at the Mock Prinz winners yet), I don't think I will be able to read all of the Cybils finalists before the announcement of the winners in February. But, I will try my best!

Happy New Year!