A bit of exciting news! (Plus: Books for a cause!)

So it feels like I've been waiting FOREVER to tell you all about this, but a quick check of my inbox confirms that it's only been a week!  (Well, a week is forever in internet time.)

This summer, I saw a post on MotherReader about judging for the Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards).  I knew it was a longshot that they'd want me to judge--I'm just now coming up on my first blogaversary* and still have a relatively small blog.  But what with moving all the way across the state to a new place and leaving off having a job and all, I've been trying to get myself to just "go for it" when I hear about something that sounds like fun**.
 
And somehow, not only did I make the cut, I got my first choice--YA Fiction!  The first thing I did when panelists were announced was make a new folder in my Google Reader just to keep up with all of the awesome, new-to-me blogs of my fellow judges.  I am so excited to work with them to choose from what I'm sure will be a pretty fantastic group of books--I'm a second round judge, which means that the first round judges will have already done the heroic work of checking out ALL the books nominated in our category and creating a short list of finalists.  I'll read those, and along with the rest of the second round judges, I'll get to help choose the winner of the 2012 Cybil Award for Young Adult Fiction.  (I am also super jazzed to see what some of the other categories come up with, especially Science Fiction/Fantasy YA!) 

I will update further when nominations open, but for now, PLEASE start thinking about your nominations!  Each person can only nominate one book per category, and the books must have been published between Oct. 16, 2011 and Oct. 15, 2012. 

And while I have your attention:  You may remember the rave review I posted yesterday for Tiffany Schmidt's upcoming Send Me A Sign.  Well, it turns out that not only is Tiffany a pretty fantastic author, she's also a pretty fantastic person.  During the month of September, she's making donations to two charities in memory of a former student.  For every person who sends her proof of a pre-order, she'll donate $1 to The Sunshine Kids and The Dear Jack Foundation.  You can read more here, and pre-orders are available from the Doylestown Bookshop (where they will be signed!  That's where mine is coming from!) as well as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie Bound.  If you're thinking about buying a copy anyway, do it today and support some great organizations!


*Stay tuned for that next week!

**So far: hosted a party for the season 7 premiere of Doctor Who, thrown myself into a pub trivia team, and attended a board game night.  Clearly "going for it" is working for me.