It’s Tuesday again!I am very grateful to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for planning and hosting Top Ten Tuesday.  Some day, I will get around to posting a list on the official theme again, but the public nomination period for the Cybils Awards is already nearly half over, and can’t really think about anything else. Head over to the link-up, though, for lots of lists of books with great fall covers!

One of the things I love about the Cybils Awards is that anyone can nominate their favorite book in each category, whether or not they are book professionals.  (My own daughter was extremely excited to be old enough to nominate a few of her personal favorites for the first time this year.)  One of the scary things about the Cybils Awards is that if no one nominates a book, it can’t be considered, no matter how good it is. 

I’ve listed below some books that I’ve read and feel deserve to be nominated.  But – especially in the category where I’m a panelist, Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction (which means fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, dystopia, etc.) – there are four times as many books that I haven’t read yet and hope that you will nominate so that I can read them. If you also have more books that you love than you can nominate, please share your favorites in the comments!

[Updated 10/12 to reflect the current status of nominations and my own reading.]

Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction

• Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi
• The Chaos Curse. Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond Book 3. by Sayantani DasGupta
• Charlie Hernández & the Castle of Bones by Ryan Calejo
• The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown

Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor. Viking, 2020. ISBN 978-0593113523. Read from library copy.

• Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
• If We Were Giants by Dave Matthews and Clete Barrett Smith
• Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor
• Into the Tall, Tall Grass by Loriel Ryon
• Mask: the League of Secret Heroes Book Two by Kate Hannigan
• Mixture of Mischief by Anna Meriano

• Mulan: Before the Sword by Grace Lin
• Muse Squad by Chantel Acevedo
• The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis
• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

• Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
• Starfell: Willow Moss and the Lost Day by Dominque Valente
• Thunder Run by Daniel José Older
• The Thief Knot by Kate Milford

Middle Grade

• Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet
• Indian No More by Charlene Willing Mcmanis and Traci Sorell.

• One Last Shot by John David Anderson 
• Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian
• Keep it Together, Keiko Carter! by Debbi Michiko Florence
• Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

Teen Speculative Fiction

• Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
• Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
• Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland