The CYBILS are judged by book bloggers. They have a really extensive process; this article is really interesting. The finalists were announced January 1st, so that was a pretty awesome way to start the new year! The winner in each category will be announced February 14th.

First, it was named a Bookstagang Best Book of the Year! Bookstagang is a big group of picture book reviewers on Instagram. The judges read basically all of the children’s books for the year, so it’s a big honor!

On the same day, COPY THAT, COPY CAT appeared on Betsy Bird’s Great Board Books list! She’s a big time librarian blogger who does a series of best of the year lists—one for each day of December. I’ve read her blog for a long time, so I was very excited to discover Copy Cat there on the first day! (I may have squealed a bit.) And then I was shocked to find it on the second day’s list too, for Picture Book Readalouds!

Here’s Betsy’s review:

Given all that, I decided to google myself and discovered COPY CAT on a holiday gift guide by Reading Rockets! So that capped off a very exciting two days!

It’s a little funny that COPY THAT, COPY CAT is on so many board book lists. It’s technically a board book in form, but not in content. Real board books are shorter and designed for babies or toddlers. COPY CAT is a 32-page picture book designed for ages 4-8. It just happens to have thicker pages because of the die-cuts and flaps. It is sturdy enough for toddlers though, and we tried to make it work for a wide range of ages. It’s pretty cool that it’s getting recognition, since it would have been easy for it to fall between the cracks!

That was already enough to make a great book launch!

Then my mom came home with a rocket balloon to celebrate my “launch.” And that was enough for me to declare the world’s smallest book launch party a huge success!

And then the morning of my launch, I woke up to a living room full of decorations! I was soooo surprised! My mom stayed up all night working on them.

Later my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came by for cat ears and cookies, to make it a real party. (The cat theme is especially fun since I’m also a “Kat”.)

I couldn’t have had a better book launch even if I was healthy enough to go to a hundred bookstores. I’m so grateful to my family for making it so special!!

First is the official activity guide put together by Barefoot Books. It has discussion questions and a design your own animal-inspired invention activity, which includes a worksheet. It’s more educator-oriented, but can be used at home too. With younger kids, try designing the invention as a group!

The second uses music and movement to introduce the word “biomimicry.”

Ask the Planet by The Missoula Coyote Choir & Friends is an album created by the Biomimicry Institute. Sung by a children’s choir and some celebrities, it features songs for kids about biomimicry and nature. They’re all fun, but my favorite is “What’s Biomimicry.” It’s super catchy—if you listen to it, you’ll always remember that “bio(s)” means “life” and “mimicry” means “imitate”!

I’ve added motions—thanks to my nephew and his friends for testing them!

The Biomimicry Institute also has a Teacher’s Guide with activities for the whole album as part of their AskNature educational resources: https://asknature.org/resource/ask-the-planet-cd-and-teaching-guides/

“What’s Biomimicry” on Spotify

Next up? Hands-on activities to explore all of the science concepts in Copy That, Copy Cat. Coming soon!

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