Cybils

Meet Jennifer Wharton, Our New Nonfiction Picture Books Chair

Jennifer is excited to be a first-time category chair for Nonfiction Picture Books. She has been on Cybils panels for three years and is looking forward to being in control. Mwa-ha-ha! When not obsessively reading and reviewing for one of her two blogs, Jean Little Library and Flying Off My Bookshelf she is the youth services librarian for the mid-sized public library in Elkhorn, WI. She has always enjoyed nonfiction for children but became especially interested in titles for younger children several years ago when she was restructuring the children's programming and now includes nonfiction in as many programs as possible, from early literacy storytimes to after school art programs. Jennifer sees nonfiction as an integral part of her personal mission to introduce children to the amazing world around them and foster a sense of wonder and delight.

Meet Liz Jones, Graphic Novels Chair

Liz Jones has participated in the Cybils graphics group one way or another since 2007.

For the past few years, a 90 hour work week put a damper on her posting at lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com -- but she's happy to be down off that schedule in 2012.

She's busily catching up on her reading, sending her college students off in search of great new titles in a genre most of them have never read (The horror!!!)...and is looking forward to blogging up a storm about this year's entries.

Find her on Twitter @lizjonesbooks.

Meet Karen Yingling, Our New Middle Grade Fiction Chair

A middle aged, middle school librarian from the Midwest, I've been blogging since 2006 at Ms. Yingling Reads. My students are impressed that I've read every hardcover fiction book in our school library, but it was really an evil plan to be allowed to read to my heart's content and be able to tell people to stop bugging me because I'm WORKING. I was on the Cybils' middle grade fiction panel in 2011, the middle grade science fiction/fantasy panel in 2010, and review for Young Adults Books Central. When I'm not reading, I'm coaching middle school cross country and planning travel based on books. Prince Edward Island is my next stop, since a phantom tollbooth has never been dropped into my living room!

Find me on Twitter @MsYingling. 

Meet Anne Levy, Cybils Overlord

Oh, I give up. I've called myself the Cybils Editor, Cybils Sherpa, Cybils Admin. It doesn't matter. Every year, more than 100 bloggers give up any semblence of free time to become my minion for several months. For the organizers, it's a full six months. So I may as well wear my "overlord" mantel with pride while I perfect my demonic laugh.

When not bending innocent book bloggers to my will, I work part time writing up news summaries for a radio newswire. It's got the three things I like most in a day job: it's fun, it's mindless and my co-workers are hilarious (sometimes unintentionally). Oh, and I just put the finishing touches on Draft #984 of a young adult fantasy novel, which has lately been mutating into three novels, but who's counting?

I blog right here at Cybils, a seasonal occurance that seriously bends the eligibility rules, but it's nice to be the overlord.

 

Meet Jackie Parker, Young Adult Fiction Organizer

1,091. That’s how many teen-written reviews Jackie read over the summer. Actually it's more, but we won't count the ones that were plagiarized. Of course, this was done in between Harry Potter parties, tie-dying, book bowls, copious amounts of slimy plaster, writing clubs, and making teenagers put petroleum jelly on their noses. Despite former panelist's opinions, she is not the Mistress of the Universe, nor has she had anything to do with DoDA, but she is, in addition to the YA Fiction Cybils organizer, co-host of the 5th Annual Kidlitosphere Conference in Seattle this fall. She looks forward to autumn for many reasons, but mostly for the resurgence of the Cybils. She blogs at Interactive Reader.

Meet Sheila Ruth, Fantasy & Science Fiction Organizer

Sheila is an empty-nester this year and is looking to fill those long, lonely hours with Cybils goodies, er goodness. She has never taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she does have a lifelong love of fantasy and science fiction, kindled at a young age by writers such as Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Norton and Tolkien, and rekindled by Rowling.

As a teen, Sheila dreamed of being an astronaut, but now she thinks it’s probably best she didn’t become one, since she doesn’t even like roller coasters. These days she prefers to take her spaceflights from the comfort of her sofa, and is glad to see a resurgence of science fiction in the YA arena. She blogs at Wands and Worlds.

Meet Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist

Jen Robinson divides her time between running around after her daughter, Baby Bookworm, and running her company, FabTime. FabTime is a small software firm that does reporting for companies that make computer chips. Baby Bookworm is a small person who cackles gleefully as she pulls the bookmarks out of books. When her responsibilities to Baby Bookworm and FabTime allow, Jen reads and reviews children's and young adult books. Jen has read aloud more than 1,000 books to Baby Bookworm so far in 2011.

Jen has been involved in the Cybils since the beginning. After putting in her dues organizing the Young Adult Fiction and Defense Against the Dark Arts, er, Middle Grade Nonfiction categories in the early years, she now acts as Cybils' Literacy Evangelist. This mostly means that she jumps up and down and tells people how great the Cybils are (a tough job, but someone has to do it). Jen blogs at Jen Robinson's Book Page.

Meet Liz Jones, Graphic Novels Organizer

Liz Jones has participated in the Cybils graphics group since she was knee high to a grasshopper, or at least, since about 2007. In this time, she has enjoyed blogging about the titles she reads at lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com, as well as spreading the word about the diversity and quality of graphics in her largely graphic-free locale by:

1)sharing them with her children's lit students at the University of Pittsburgh,

2) sharing them with her kid-clients during her work as a family based mental health therapist, and

3) handing them off to her evil minions three children, already rubbing their hands with gleeful anticipation of review copies to be shared with the minion community and its overlords their friends and school librarians.

Meet Kerry Millar, Middle Grade Fiction Organizer

It wouldn't be Fall without a lot of freshly sharpened pencils, my requisite new pair of school shoes, plenty of apple cider, homemade pie on Sunday and the Cybils. If I had to choose between my prize-winning apple pie and the Cybils, I'm not sure I could. I love pie a whole lot. Therefore, I love the Cybils a whole lot.

When I'm not making pie, I'm a teacher-librarian / bad dancer / Siamese wrangler / Terrier cuddler. Very little makes me happier than adding to the stack of library books that lives under my desk. I've been blogging about books for kids and teens at Shelf Elf for four years, and I'm happy to be back here again as category organizer for Middle Grade Fiction. In my house, there's always room for more pie, and always room for more books.

Meet Gina Ruiz, DoDA, er, Nonfiction MG/YA Organizer

Gina's been with the Cybils in one capacity or another since it started and thinks its a most wondrous thing.

Gina has spent four years as a graphic novel panelist, last year she dabbled in poetry and this year (gulp) she is teaching Defense of the Dark Arts - er, make that she's an organizer for the nonfiction MG/YA category. She's also lurking about on Twitter doing all things social media. @Cybils Tweets marked with a - GR are hers. You can also follow her at @ginaruiz if you're so inclined.

She reads a lot, blogs a lot (books, cooking, online journal), fiddles around in virtual worlds and is big on promoting multi-cultural literature. Her idea of a grand vacation is going to Book Expo America or visiting dusty bookshops in any city.  She speaks hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Nook and Spanglish. Most recently spotted at the zoo with her partners in bookish madness - Jasmine and Aiden. Her next big project is a blog (not up yet) about  the wonder of libraries that she's currently working on with a friend.

Editor's Note: The references to DoDA (from the Harry Potter series) are my fault. I can't seem to get an organizer to stick in this genre for the life of them. Er, me.