The nomination period for this year’s CYBILS Awards opens on October 1st and closes October 15th. Anyone can nominate their favorites in more than ten categories from picture books to Young Adult (One nomination per category). After you nominate its time to sit back and let the judges dig into the list of books. Winners are announced February 14, 2018.
I always prepare a short list to be ready just in case my first choice is already nominated. The books must have been published from October 16, 2016- October 15, 2017. Here are my favorites in the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category I hope get nominated (In Random Order):
MIDDLE GRADE SPECULATIVE FICTION
THE WIZARD’S DOG by Eric Kahn Gale
JED AND THE JUNKYARD WAR by Steven Bohls
THE BLAZING BRIDGE by Carter Roy
STORY THIEVES—SECRET ORIGINS by James Riley
FELIX Yz by Lisa Bunker
A BABYSITTER”S GUIDE TO MONSTER HUNTING by Joe Ballarini
BEYOND THE DOORS by David Nielsen
What an impressive body of work! Get your list together and nominate your favorite. You can even use one of mine! Have a great weekend.
Always in the Middle... 
Loved seeing your list, Greg. Have a great weekend!
Yes, I love your list. I share some of your choices. Do books in series do well in the Cybils?
Not sure about all the categories, but last year GHOST won in the MG Fiction category, and it is the first of a four book series. The second one, PATINA, is out now.
Good, I have nominated books in a series before and have noticed they are passed over. Thought maybe they don’t get much attention.
thank you, Greg, for stirring up interest in the Cybils! I’m the category organizer for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, and so I’m chiming in the series question. We consider books in series-es with just as much attention as any other book, but the question of whether the book can stand alone is an important one. Last year, When the Sea Turned to Silver, third of a linked, but not direct series, was a finalist. The year before, the 6th Wings of Fire book was a finalist, but that was the start of a new series in the same world. So a book in a series certainly has the potential to be a finalist if you can hand it to a kid and they will love it without caring that it’s not the first book. This isn’t the case for many second or third books, but it certainly so for many others. So do go ahead and nominate a series book if it is one you love,
This is not a genre I read, although I have read A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting. I loved that one. I’m sure you know what you’re talking about. I will try to knock a couple of these off one of these days. If you say they’re good, they must be.