Book Awards!

Each year, the American Library Association's many librarians read, choose, and share the best books of the past year for kids and teens at the ALA Youth Media Awards, and this year the list is absolutely full of wonderful titles.

Here are some of the awards (descriptions from the youth media awards website) nearest and dearest to our teen-book-lovin' hearts, with links to and summaries from our library catalog.  Enjoy!

"The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature."

Winner:
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.  A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah.

Honors:
And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard.  Sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, seventeen-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, and begins to heal. 

The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley.  Uprooted from Chicago to rural Ireland, Maggie searches for her place in the country she now calls home before enduring a tragedy that sends her on a pilgrimmage to fulfill her uncle's request. 

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith.  Austin Szerba narrates the end of humanity as he and his best friend Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant, unstoppable bugs and uncover the secrets of a decades-old experiment gone terribly wrong.

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. Rose and her parents have been going to Awago Beach since she was a little girl. It's her summer getaway, her refuge. Her friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had, completing her summer family. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and Rose and Windy have gotten tangled up in a tragedy-in-the-making in the small town of Awago Beach. It's a summer of secrets and heartache, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.

"The Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values."

Winner:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

Honors:
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

*How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Hadley Hooper. The National Book Award, Newbery Honor and multiple Coretta Scott King Honor-winning poet reflects on her childhood in the 1950s and her development as an artist and young woman through 50 illuminating poems that consider such influences as the Civil Rights Movement, the "Red Scare" atomic bomb era and the Feminist Movement. (Summary from Baker & Taylor website)

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon. When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

"The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Sharon M. Draper is the recipient of the 2015 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring her significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens for 'Tears of a Tiger'; 'Forged by Fire'; 'Darkness Before Dawn'; 'The Battle of Jericho'; 'November Blues' and 'Copper Sun.'"

"The Pura Belpré (Author) Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."

Winner: 
I Lived on Butterfly Hill, written by Marjorie Agosín, illustrated by Lee White.  When her beloved country, Chile, is taken over by a militaristic, sadistic government, Celeste is sent to America for her safety and her parents must go into hiding before they "disappear."

Honor: *Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes, written by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Raúl Colón.  Juan Felipe Herrera celebrates the lives of 20 Hispanic people who up to now have been in the shadows to many despite their significant contributions to American society. These poignant biographical sketches succinctly present the essence of each hero’s life and legacy to the future generations of their culture.

"The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences."

Teen Winner:
Girls Like Us by Gail Giles.  Graduating from their school's special education program, Quincy and Biddy are placed together in their first independent apartment and discover unexpected things they have in common in the face of past challenges and a harrowing trauma.

Middle School Winner: 
RAIN REIGN by Ann M. Martin.  Struggling with Asperger's, Rose shares a bond with her beloved dog, but when the dog goes missing during a storm, Rose is forced to confront the limits of her comfort levels, even if it means leaving her routines in order to search for her pet.


"Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience."  *Note: YOU can nominate books for this award here!*

Winner:
*This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D, illustrated by Kristyna Litten. A picture book illustrating a Pride parade. The endmatter serves as a primer on LGBT history and culture and explains the references made in the story. (Summary from Baker & Taylor website)

Honors:
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, written and photographed by Susan Kuklin.  Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender , and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. (see Printz award)

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino, pictures by Isabell Malenfant.  A young boy faces adversity from classmates when he wears an orange dress at school.


"The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature."

Winner:
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero.  Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy's pregnancy, friend Sebastian's coming out, her father's meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

Finalists:
The Carnival at Bray  by Jessie Ann Foley.  (see Printz award)

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E.K. Johnston. In an alternate world where industrialization has caused many species of carbon-eating dragons to thrive, Owen, a slayer being trained by his famous father and aunt, and Siobahn, his bard, face a dragon infestation near their small town in Canada.

The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos.  Written as a college admission essay, eighteen-year-old Harry Jones recounts a childhood defined by the hideous scars he hid behind, and how forming a band brought self-confidence, friendship, and his first kiss.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton.  Born with bird wings, Ava Lavender is well aware that love has long made fools of her family. When pious Nathaniel Sorrows mistakes her bird wings for angel wings, 16-year-old Ava faces the man's growing obsession, which comes to a head with the rain and feathers that fly through the air during a nighttime summer solstice celebration.

"The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18)..."

Winner:
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen.  Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at "pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here," Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise-meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya's journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.

Finalists:
*Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw.  "In this focused, intelligent, and most of all hilarious memoir, Shane Burcaw recalls both the normal and deeply unique experiences he has endured living with spinal muscular atrophy. With a sharp wit, Burcaw is self-deprecating but never defeatist, even in the face of his terminal condition. His anecdotal essays are thought-provoking, and his whip-smart style puts him in a league with some of today’s best humorists. In his eminently readable and relatable memoir, Burcaw’s positive attitude is inspirational without being the least bit cloying." (Summary from Morris Award site)

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming.  When Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew into the Russian Revolution. Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia's peasants and urban workers--and their eventual uprising--Fleming offers up a fascinating portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photographs and compelling primary-source material that brings it all to life.

Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and Won! by Emily Arnold McCully.  Tarbell was the catalyst for exposing the truth behind corruption and unfair business practices. She investigated and published works about the Standard Oil Trust for McClures Magazine that informed the world of shady business dealings and skyrocketed her into the public eye. She wrote inspiring and engaging biographies on public figures, her most notable on Abraham Lincoln. Although largely forgotten as the country forged into the 20th century, her writing of the truth lives on.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin.  Presents an account of the 1944 civil rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago explosion.

"The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18."

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia.

Bingo's Run by James A. Levine.

Confessions by Kanae Minato.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

Lock In by John Scalzi.

The Martian by Andy Weir.

*The Terrorist's Son: a Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles.

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta.

Wolf in the White Van by John Darnielle.

"The Newbery Medal is awarded annually...to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

Winner: 

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.  (see Coretta award)

Honors: 

El Deafo by Cece Bell.  Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! 

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  (see Coretta award)

*Some books are on order, and not yet available through Glendale Public Library.

Lovetorn

Imagine you are fifteen-years-old and have been engaged since you were a child of three.  That is the situation of Shalini, the main character in Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani.  All of her life Shalini has loved her fiance and best friend, Vikram.  She knows that someday they will marry--their parents arranged it when they were toddlers, after all--but her whole life is turned upside down when her father gets a lucrative job in the United States and transplants his family from Bangalore, India to Los Angeles, California.  Culture shock is a given. While Shalini's younger sister starts fitting in immediately, Shalini has a harder time, though not as hard a time as her mother, who falls into a deep depression.  Everything is different and Shalini is adrift.  Her best clothes from India are nothing but a laughingstock in America.  (I actually winced reading the description of the outfits she and her sister wear on her first day of high school:  "a blouse and skirt that had been sewn together, banded at the waist with a belt.  The shirt had an eyelet collar, pearl buttons down the front, and long sleeves. The skirts came down below our knees.  We were both wearing skin-colored panty hose, through which, if you looked closely enough, you could see the hair on our legs, flattened against our skin.  Our shoes, bought just for the trip, were identical, black leather with small heels, silber buckles on the front.") Oh, dear.  Yes, things do not go well for Shalini at first in her L.A. high school.  In one particularly cruel moment, a girl from the popular clique dresses as Shalini, in full mockery, for Halloween.  This novel really nails culture shock and bigotry.  But as time goes by, Shalini begins to adjust, and then her world is again turned upside down--when she begins to develop feelings for a boy other than Vikram.

This is a very good choice for a multicultural novel.  The reader gets a good sense of Indian culture.  I enjoyed it though I do have to say that one of the drawbacks is the fact that Shalini is such a good girl.  I certainly didn't expect her to go hog wild, but it goes without saying that main characters who take risks are a more interesting read than main characters who are obedient, well-behaved young women. It would have been unrealistic for Shalini to turn into a juvenile delinquent, and the changes she makes in herself as she adjusts to her new life in America, are certainly "rebellious" by her culture's standards, but they are not overly   rebellious by American standards.  So, parts of this novel could have been a little more active, but over all, the conflict Shalini faces between her Indian life and engagement and her new American life with its possibilities for romantic exploration, is an intriguing one.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Today's highlighted book for the Banned Books Week is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Karen wrote about this National Book Award winning book in 2007. The novel was pulled from a classroom this year after a parent deemed it offensive for mentioning masturbation. Currently it is still out of the classroom.

The novel focuses on Junior who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation for an all white school where the only other Indian is the school's mascot. Both humorous and poignant this title was both a bestseller and an award winning novel.

Our library has the capability to have patrons write reviews of books and here's what some of the reviews have stated:

"This book had me both simultaneously laughing and crying."
"Highly recommended for anyone who has a soul."
" I can't stop talking about this book to my friends and how much it made me think, reflect and ponder. "

And really that last statement is what we all want books to do to us, right? When we love a book, we want to discuss it, think about it, and give it to others!

Flight

I’m a reading fiend these days. (Okay, I am a reading find everyday). No sooner had I finished Taken by Edward Bloor, than I raced through Flight by Sherman Alexie. It’s not that surprising that I read the book so quickly, considering it’s less than 200 pages, and the narrator, a teenage boy, talks fast and bluntly. The voice reminded me of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in some ways—another Indian teenager speaking in first person about his life—but this kid, known as “Zits” for the terrible acne he suffers, is much angrier, much less hopeful about his life, much bleaker in his outlook in general. And he has little reason not to be this way.

Zits has been bounced from one foster family to another, from one group home to another, and from one juvenile jail cell to another. He’s angry and he’s got a violent streak and the adults in his life have constantly let him down. He’s the perfect mark for a jailhouse friend who calls himself “Justice.” Justice feeds on the anger and the rage. Justice quickly becomes Zits’s best friend, takes him to the abandoned building where they squat for awhile, and trains Zits to shoot. When he can handle a weapon, Zits goes into a bank, armed with a paint gun and a real gun, and opens fire. But a security guard returns fire, hitting Zits in the back of the head. In the moment Zits falls to the floor, knowing he’s dead, he suddenly careens through space and time, “flying” without control or will into another person’s body. As time goes on, Zits winds up in series of other people’s bodies, experiencing their emotions, remembering their memories and living their lives. In the course of these travels, he learns much about violence, war, guilt and humanity.

This book was published for adults and the author has said that the reason Flight is adult rather than teen is due to the violence of the story and the fact that Zits ends up in adult bodies most of the time. I was curious to see whether or not I agreed with his assessment and I did not. (Yes, I dare to disagree with the author!) In the end, I see what Alexie was getting at, but honestly, given the breadth of subject matter, issues, and violence in teen novels, I don’t see any reason why this book couldn’t be considered teen. If anything, it’s on the border between the two age groups, just like teens themselves are on the border between childhood and adulthood. Yes, there is violence, but it isn’t gratuitous. Yes, Zits winds up in adult bodies. But he is always partially himself within those bodies, and the story is told in his voice, in language that feels very“teen.” So, this book may be technically “adult” but it has considerable teen appeal. Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) gives out Alex awards each year. This is a list of adult titles with big teen appeal. I was surprised that Flight didn’t make the cut. Then I realized that it wound up on YALSA’s Best Books for Teens list instead. See, even YALSA thinks it’s teen, Mr. Alexie.

But let’s not quibble about age designations. Let’s talk about what a good book this was. Though it's harder to love Zits than it is to love Junior (of The Absolutely True Diary), I did love Zits by the story’s end. Zits is compelling, and his story is compelling. Alexie has a way of making the reader keep turning the pages. I also really enjoyed the supernatural or mystical aspect of the story--who wouldn't be interested in the concept of riding shotgun in another person's consciousness--and I loved that Zits wound up in both Indian bodies and white bodies, as well as finding himself in historical eras that really tested his blossoming sense of morality. I kept wondering: Which body would Zits inhabit next? What would he learn from each “flight” into another human’s consciousness? Why was this happening to him? Was he in Purgatory? Hell? And would Zits ever have a chance to undo the damage he had done, to others and to his own life?

Touching Snow

I just finished Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin. This book has a fabulous opening sentence: "The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone. Anyone will do." With an opening like that, you have to keep reading. Our narrator, thirteen-year-old Haitian-American Karina, is used to getting "beat-ups" from her step-father, "the Daddy." In fact she's come to accept that beat-ups are just a part of life, like her fainting spells and her alienation at her junior high school. But when the Daddy nearly kills Karina's older sister, Karina must find a way to save her sisters and herself from the Daddy's brutal rage.

Karina was a wonderful narrator, a tough and gutsy girl who never loses her humor despite her grim family life. The characters were the heart of this novel, especially Karina, but also her sisters and the first true friend Karina makes, a troubled though priveleged girl who works at the local community center. The author made everyone come alive, as well as giving an honest (if not very sympathetic) portrayal of an exhausted mother whose love for her children is eclipsed by her perception that survival means forgiving her abusive husband.

This book sounds like an incredible downer but it's much more than a catalogue of abuse. Nor is it a problem novel with an easy solution. The author shows how even people with their hearts in the right place can make the wrong decisions---for instance, the man who runs the community center thinks the Daddy is being wrongly accused of abuse and helps the Daddy avoid being jailed for his crime. (Karina, in fact, is expected to take the blame for her sister's injuries. ) It takes until the end of the book to understand what the author meant by the first line, and the journey inbetween is definitely worth the read.