Good Stuff

Kidlitosphere—and maybe even the whole Blogosphere—is really hopping! Here are a few fun things you might want to take a look at...

—The Cybils finalists have been posted! Children's books (and apps) from 2011 in nearly a dozen categories have been selected by teams of dedicated Kidlitosphere judges. (My only complaint so far: What happened to Franny Billingsley's Chime?) These annotated lists make a fantastic resource for finding books you may have missed last year.

—Betsy Bird has posted "Announcing the 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing: Children's Books 2011" at the NY Public Library blog. Another excellent reference.

—Yonmei of Feminist SF—The Blog! has some things to say about the Mary Sue trope. She is riffing on a great post from Adventures of Comic Book Girl. (A "Mary Sue" is a female main character in SFF who is considered too powerful, too attractive, too etc.)

—The 2011 Comment Challenge began yesterday! I still say you should sign up. Your goal? To post 5 comments a day for 21 days, with check-ins on Thursdays. Here's the sign-up at MotherReader. Lee Wind of I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? is the co-host.

—As for how the Newbery/Caldecott race is shaping up, Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes has a cool analysis.

—Or check out Jonathan Hunt's starry survey at SLJ's Heavy Medal blog.

Update: Chachic is hosting a Queen's Thief Week at her blog, Chachic's Book Nook, the week of January 22. I am a huge fan of Megan Whalen Turner's series and pretty much think everyone else should be, too. So if you haven't already read the books, this is a good chance to jump in. (The series consists of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings. So far.) Read more about the event at Chachic's site!