I was fortunate to participate in selecting the finalists last fall, along with my fellow poetry judges, Carol Wilcox (Carol’s Corner), Nancy Bo Flood (The Pirate Tree), Tricia Stohr-Hunt (The Miss Rumphius Effect), Irene Latham (Live Your Poem), and Margaret Simon (Reflections on the Teche).What fun to pore over all the nominated poetry from 2015 and whittle down to a handful of books. Our final choices?
The 2015 Poetry Finalists (you'll find complete annotations for these books here)
Flutter and Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems / Poemas de Animales by Julie Paschkis (Henry Holt)
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton (Dial Books)
House Arrest by K.A. Holt (Chronicle Books)
National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! by J. Patrick Lewis (National Geographic Children’s Books)
Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes by Deborah Ruddell (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Earlier this year, another group of judges read and discussed these books and chose ONE as the winner for 2015. I'll post that info on Sunday, as soon as it's public. You can also check at the Cybils site here for that info. This year, we were also able to consider novels in verse, so I'm very happy that this form was included this year. (And there's even talk of creating a separate category for novels in verse which I think would be wonderful!)
All 2015 Nominations for the Cybils Award for Poetry
Anyone can nominate a book for consideration and this year there were 47 poetry titles nominated (the most ever!). Here’s that complete list, fyi:
Novels in verse
1. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
2. A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High
3. Audacity by Melanie Crowder
4. Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose
5. Dating Down by Stefanie Lyons
6. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings by Margarita Engle
7. Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton
8. House Arrest by K.A. Holt
9. My Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson
10. Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott
11. Red Butterfly by A.L. Sonnichsen
12. Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen
13. The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl & Random Boy by Marie Jaskulka
Collections
1. A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the Very Young by Michael Rosen
2. A Spectacular Selection of Sea Critters: Concrete Poems by Betsy Franco
3. After the Bell Rings: Poems About After-School Time by Carol Diggory Shields
4. An Ambush of Tigers: Collective Nouns by Betsy R. Rosenthal
5. Bigfoot is Missing! by J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt
6. Changes: A Child's First Poetry Collection by Charlotte Zolotow
7. Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling
8. Feeding the Flying Fanellis: And Other Poems from a Circus Chef by Kate Hosford
9. Flutter and Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems by Julie Paschkis
10. Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown
11. Hypnotize a Tiger: Poems by Calef Brown
12. Orangutanka: A Story in Poems by Margarita Engle
13. Poems in the Attic by Nikki Grimes
14. Presidential Misadventures: Poems That Poke by Bob Raczka
15. Random Body Parts: Gross Anatomy Riddles in Verse by Leslie Bulion
16. Sail Away by Langston Hughes
17. Salsa: Un poema para cocinar / A Cooking Poem by Jorge Argueta
18. Sing a Season Song by Jane Yolen
19. Sleepy Snoozy Cozy Coozy by Judy Young
20. Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by Danielle Daniel
21. The Maine Coon's Haiku: And Other Poems for Cat Lovers by Michael J. Rosen
22. The Popcorn Astronauts by Deborah Ruddell
23. The Sky Painter by Margarita Engle
24. Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman
25. Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale by Lee Wardlaw
Anthologies
1. A Pirate's Mother Goose by Nancy I. Sanders
2. Amazing Places edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins
3. Beastly Verse illustrated by JooHee Yoon
4. Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte
5. Jumping Off Library Shelves edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins
6. Monster Goose Nursery Rhymes by Henry, Josh, and Harrison Herz
7. National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! edited by J. Patrick Lewis
8. Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes edited by Elizabeth Hammill
9. The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects edited by Paul B. Janeczko
Congratulations to all the poets, illustrators, editors, and publishers who produced these wonderful works of poetry!
ALL Cybils Award Winners for Poetry (2006-2015)
Here are ALL the poetry winners (including an update with the 2015 winner):
2015 Flutter and Hum / Aleteo y Zumbido: Animal Poems / Poemas de Animales by Julie Paschkis (Henry Holt)
2014 Voices from the March on Washington by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press)
2014 Voices from the March on Washington by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press)
2013 Forest Has a Song: Poems by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater (Clarion Books)
2010 Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer (Penguin Young Readers)
2009 Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
2008 Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye (HarperCollins)
2008 Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye (HarperCollins)
2007 This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin)
2006 Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow
by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin)
2006 Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow
by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin)
Ten years of Cybils! Woohoo!
And just for you for Valentine's Day, you'll find my previous post about "love" poetry for kids here.
Now head on over to Kimberley's place for the Poetry Friday gathering at Written Reflections.
Anxious to see which book will win this year! I, too, am happy about the inclusion of verse novels.
ReplyDeleteThese are such wonderful books. My son is reading HOUSE ARREST today, and I cannot wait to talk with him about it. I find it difficult to compare verse novels with poetry collections! xo
ReplyDeleteCan't even imagine how the second round panel will choose a winner out of this terrific group of books! IMPOSSIBLE choice!
ReplyDeleteSo many great books! Thanks for this round-up, Sylvia, and looking forward to Sunday's announcement. (10 years? Wow.) Happy Valentine-y Weekend!
ReplyDeleteI can answer Carol--it was done with great deliberation and much discussion. The round two judges made a great team! Our final choice is sure to please! And no, you can't have me whisper the winner in your ear! ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt seems so long ago now that we were judging and we still don't know the winner. What a difficult decision! Thanks for the rundown on all the past winners. I think I have all of them in my collection. Looking forward to Sunday.
ReplyDeleteEager to learn who wins, but I must admit I still wish the verse novels had their own category - it was so difficult last year year, choosing between a poetry anthology and a book like 'Brown Girl Dreaming!'
ReplyDeleteThanks, y'all, for coming by and chatting about the Cybils with me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that mixing poetry anthologies and novels in verse adds new challenges, but I'm glad verse novels are getting considered at all-- they used to slip through the cracks. And I know there is strong interest in creating TWO separate Cybils categories-- one for poetry collections/anthologies and one for verse novels! Wouldn't that be great?!
All I can do is echo Diane's comment. It's been a great time of discussing the seven books of poetry sent to us, but not easy choosing. Thanks for this round-up, Sylvia. I could find it on the Cybils' site I know, but it's great to see it all together. Your lists are so important and useful.
ReplyDeleteAll GREAT finalists. How ever will they choose a winner?!?! Yes, two categories would probably make the job easier!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all of the finalists!! I wasn't aware of Paper Hearts--just put it on request :).
ReplyDeleteA great list of finalists! Looking forward to the results, but congratulations are due to all.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's Sunday and the winner has been announced, I'm happy to see which books were nominated and which were the finalists. What a line up. Well done, Julie Paschkis! Flutter and Hum/Aleteo Y Zumbido is a gorgeous book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and kind words. So glad to promote the Cybils award and the great poetry that was published last year! Here's to a new year of poetry wonderfulness!
ReplyDeleteThank you for compiling the winner and nominated books, Sylvia. Looks like I have some reading to do!
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