Cybils Non-Fiction Young Adult Winner

I had the privilege to be a  Cybils judge for the  Non-Fiction, Middle Grade/ Young Adult, category. I read seven great non fiction books and after discussions with the rest of the judges, the winner is....Ta ra tan tan tan.... 

The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing
by Suzanne Jurmain
Houghton Mifflin

Review written by Susan Thomsen

"As a reader, you can cheer for the doctors and celebrate their findings," one judge said about this well-researched and documented book by Suzanne Jurmain. Set in Cuba in the early twentieth century, The Secret of the Yellow Death tells the story of an ace team of U.S. Army doctors headed by Walter Reed. Along with Cuban physician Carlos Finlay and many brave volunteers, Reed worked to find the cause of yellow fever and methods to prevent its spread. "It's not easy to make science and medicine come alive for any audience, especially middle graders, and this text really worked," another judge remarked. The panel cited an interactive design and fine use of photographs, in addition to the suspenseful narrative.

Congratulations to Suzanne Jurmain for writing this fantastic book. The finalists for the non-fiction category are:

The Dark Game: True Spy Stories, 

by Paul Janeczko
Candlewick Press

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe
by Loree Griffin Burns
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot
by Sy Montgomery
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook
by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter
Flash Point

Under a Red Sky: Memoir of a Childhood in Communist Romania
by Haya Leah Molnar
Farrar, Straus & Giroux

An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
by Elaine Marie Alphin
Carolrhoda Books 


To see the complete list of winners of the 2010 Cybils Awards visit http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/winners/ 

The 2010 Nonfiction (MG/YA) Panel
Panel Organizer: Susan Thomsen, Chicken Spaghetti

Panelists (Round I Judges):

Karen Ball, Mrs. B's Favorites

Sarah Mulhern Gross, The Reading Zone

David Judge, Adventures at Wilder Farm

Jessica Leader, Jessica Leader

Susan Thomsen, Chicken Spaghetti


Judges (Round II):

Edi Campbell, Crazy Quilts

René Colato Laínez, La Bloga

David Gutowski, Largehearted Boy

Colleen Mondor, Chasing Ray, Bookslut

Sandhya Nankani, Literary Safari, Sepia Mutiny