{"id":1074,"date":"2008-01-03T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2008-01-03T06:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2008-01-03T00:03:41","modified_gmt":"2008-01-03T06:03:41","slug":"my-cybils-07-shortlist-retrospective-the-shortlist-that-rocks-and-what-it-was-painful-to-leave-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1074","title":{"rendered":"My Cybils ’07 Shortlist Retrospective: The Shortlist That Rocks and What It Was Painful to Leave Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

As many of you know, the shortlisted titles for several categories in the Cybils ’07<\/a><\/strong> were announced on January 1st. That included the category I organized and for which I served as a nominating panelist, Fiction Picture Books<\/a><\/strong>. I already posted<\/a><\/strong> a bit about how much fun it was to choose the seven shortlisted titles with my fellow panelists. I thought I’d go ahead and share my previous reviews of the shortlisted titles and share some of the titles I adored so mightily, yet which didn’t make the list. And then I promise to get back to regular ‘ol reviews here in the new year. <\/p>\n

I am really happy with the shortlisted titles in our category. Here they are. I look back at my ’07 reviews now and see that I managed to review all of them except one this year:<\/p>\n

* * * The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County<\/em> by Janice N. Harrington and illustrated by Shelley Jackson — Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my review from May of this year. Love that chicken-chasing queen. LOVE her. <\/p>\n

* * * Four Feet, Two Sandals<\/a><\/strong><\/em> — written by Karen Lynn Williams<\/a><\/strong> (who has her Master’s degree in Deaf Education — the sign language interpreter in me points that out and says “yes!”) and Khadra Mohammed and illustrated by Doug Chayka<\/a><\/strong>. Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers in August 2007. This is the one title of all the shortlisted ones that I didn’t manage to review this year. This is a pensive, poignant glimpse into the world of two Afghani girls in a refugee camp, a world we don’t often see (for more than two femtoseconds in a brief news clip) in contemporary American culture. We’re talkin’ the crowded, harsh landscape of refugee life in which used clothing from relief workers is a novelty and a thrill — yet also, in this story, comes to represent more than just sartorial bliss. <\/p>\n

* * * Go to Bed, Monster!<\/em> by Natasha Wing<\/a><\/strong> and illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz<\/a><\/strong> — Here’s my review<\/a><\/strong> from November of this year. Move over, Harold<\/a><\/strong>. Make way for Lucy and Monster. <\/p>\n

* * * The Incredible Book-Eating Boy<\/em> — Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my review from June of this year. How do I love Oliver Jeffers<\/a><\/strong>? Let me count the ways. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

* * * Knuffle Bunny Too<\/em> — Here’s<\/a><\/strong> 7-Imp’s co-review from August of this year — in which we pretty much couldn’t find a single weakness in the book (there’s also the Sunday in August in which we got a sneak-peek illustration from the book<\/a><\/strong>). It’s a bit odd to see a sequel on a shortlist, no? I mean, not to be unfair to the world’s sequels, but they usually don’t measure up. But, well, this is<\/em> Mo<\/a><\/strong> we’re talking about here. He pretty much shows us all how a sequel is done, yo. ‘Nuf said. <\/p>\n

* * * Leaves<\/em> by David Ezra Stein<\/a><\/strong> — Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my review from Sep-
tember of this year — as well as the pro-
tagonist bear in a November Sunday feature of David Ezra Stein<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

* * * Pssst!<\/em> by Adam Rex<\/a><\/strong> — Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my review from September of this year. And back in June we got a sneak-peek illustration of the book<\/a><\/strong> on a Sunday, a couple months before it came out. <\/p>\n

Which books did I think were casualties here?<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Okay, I suppose “casualties” is a bit harsh. Again, I’m happy with the shortlist. But, yes, it’d be somewhat different if I were Ruler of the Universe and could have shortlisted this category all by myself. Mwahahahahahaha<\/font> {world domination laugh}. But then, hey, wait: It would not have been half as fun, ’cause my fellow panelists were great. We’re all happy with the list, but compromise was necessary on everyone’s part at least once, I’d say, during our shortlist creation. So, I’ll re-word:<\/p>\n

Which titles would I shortlist if I were
Ruler of the Universe? Mwaha — Oh I’ll just shut it now<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

The NUMERO UNO title not on this shortlist that makes me ache in its absence is At Night<\/em> by Jonathan Bean<\/a><\/strong>. Oh the ever-so talented Jonathan Bean who had two nominated titles (the other being The Apple Pie That Papa Baked<\/em> by Lauren Thompson, reviewed here<\/a><\/strong> in September, along with a little Sunday Jonathan Bean feature<\/a><\/strong> on the same day). I wanted either one to make it, but especially the flawless, quiet wonder that is At Night<\/em> (reviewed here<\/a><\/strong> by Yours Truly in August of this year). <\/p>\n

Second title I really miss on the list is Emily Gravett’s<\/a><\/strong> Orange Pear Apple Bear<\/em> for being the most wonderful book for very, VERY young children to come along in a while. You could call it a book for babies, and it’s actually. not. boring. Here’s<\/a><\/strong> my review of it\/Ode to Emily Gravett from May of this year. <\/p>\n

Grumpy Bird<\/em>! O Grumpy Bird<\/em>, my sweet matutinal misanthrope! One of my top-five favorite titles from this year, but — again — I am not Ruler of the Universe. I reviewed this exceptional picture book by Jeremy Tankard<\/a><\/strong> here<\/a><\/strong> in May of this year (and here was our Sunday feature<\/a><\/strong>). And Kevin Henkes’<\/a><\/strong> A Good Day<\/em>, reviewed here<\/a><\/strong>. Two of the very best from this year. Hands down. <\/p>\n

I’d also have been happy with Fred Stays With Me!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Nancy Coffelt<\/a><\/strong> and illustrated by Tricia Tusa; The End<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by David LaRochelle<\/a><\/strong> and illustrated by Richard Egielski; and I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Kevin Sherry for its humor and for capturing so well the hubris and the great and powerful and optimistic ego of young children — and all with such simplicity. But have I mentioned that . . . <\/p>\n

I LOVE OUR SHORTLIST! YES, I’M USING THE IRRITATING MARQUEE TAG YET AGAIN TO SCREAM THIS!<\/strong><\/marquee><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you know, the shortlisted titles for several categories in the Cybils ’07 were announced on January 1st. That included the category I organized and for which I served as a nominating panelist, Fiction Picture Books. I already posted a bit about how much fun it was to choose the seven shortlisted titles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}