Last fall, a consortium of bookbloggers specializing in children’s and YA literature banded together to establish the Cybil, honoring the best books in nine distinct categories for adolescent and pre-adolescent readers while “striking a balance between the highbrow Newberys… and the populist Quill awards.” The first round of winners was announced this morning, including Gene Yang‘s National Book Award-nominated graphic novel American Born Chinese.
If you’re wondering who Cybil is in the pantheon of young people’s literature, in the manner of the mystery genre’s Edgar (Allan Poe) or science fiction’s Hugo (Gernsback), the secret is that it’s not really named after a person; it’s the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards.