Printz Award Announced

This morning the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award winner and honorees were announced. Given by the Young Adult Library Services Association, YALSA, every year since the year 2000, the Printz award is awarded to the book that “exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.”

Here is the winner:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (not yet available in the Chester County Library System)

It is the story of seventeen year old Taylor Markham, abandoned by her mother when she was eleven, who is trying to put together the clues about her past as she leads the other students in her dorm in a territory war.

The Honorees:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The kingdom on waves by M.T. Anderson

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

To find out more about the Printz award and the honorees see the YALSA award webpage!

Teen Top 10 Books

YALSA's 2008 Teens' Top Ten
The vote is in! More than 8,000 teens voted on this year's winners. The 2008 Teens' Top Ten is:

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

About the Teens' Top Ten*

Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted in April during National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year during Teen Read Week.

*This list is taken directly from the YALSA Website (also know as Young Adult Library Services Association)

YALSA Best Books For Young Adults 2008

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet

American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly

The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel by Brian Selznick

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Award Winning Books

Why not read some award winning books? On June 30th 2008 five authors were honored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Every year one author is awarded the Michael L. Printz Award. This is an award given for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.

The biggest honor of the evening went to Geraldine McCaughrean for her psychological thriller The White Darkness.

Four other books were presented Printz Honor Awards. They represent a variety of genres and formats. Here they are:

Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet by Elizabeth Knox

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill


You can find out more about any of these titles or hear the acceptance speeches given by the authors by visiting the YALSA website at http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/Printz.cfm