ALA Youth Media Awards announced this morning

Every year, the American Library Association (ALA) gives awards for a variety of literature, including their Youth Media Awards that cover books whose target audiences range from preschoolers through teens.

The Printz Award is "an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature," and there are traditionally several Printz Honor books as well. Books considered for the 2009 award were published in the United States in 2008.

2009 Printz Award winner

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

2009 Printz Honor books

The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation volume 2: Kingdom on the waves by M. T. Anderson

Nation by Terry Pratchett

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

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Previous Printz Award winners in the PRHS library collection include Looking for Alaska by John Green, Monster by Walter Dean Myers, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and How I live now by Meg Rosoff.

The ALA also gives out the Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature ("children" being under the age of 14 in this case). Although I haven't read it quite yet, word on the street is that this year's winner is definitely closer to the upper limit of the regulations.

2009 Newbery Medal winner
The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman

2009 Newbery Honor books
The underneath by Kathi Appelt
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
Savvy by Ingrid Law
The surrender tree: poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom by Margarita Engle

The PRHS library has a number of recent Newbery award and honor winners in the collection, such as Good masters! Sweet ladies! Voices from a Medieval village by Laura Amy Schlitz, Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, and Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata.

Full lists and/or links to all the Youth Media Awards will be posted at the ALA YMA site.

Book review: The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Liesel Meminger lives in Nazi Germany. Her little brother just died, her mother has left her, and she is now living on a street named after Heaven with her foster parents. She discovers that she cannot resist books and learning to read and becomes the book thief, stealing books as needed. As life unfolds around her with all its turmoil and grief (it is wartime and bombs are falling and people are dying, after all), she finds that joy can be found in the most unexpected of places.

Oh, and the entire book is narrated by Death. You know, the guy with a sickle and a long hooded robe.

I have been reading novels about the Second World War for half my life, and this book comes out on top. I have not stopped raving about it to friends and family since I read it back in November (like I forced friends to read Twilight before that). Liesel is someone that almost anyone can relate to, and Rudy is the best friend you wish you had. The book recently won a Printz Honor for being an outstanding book for young adults.

Yes, I loved this book. 5 stars out of 5.

Watch a trailer for The Book Thief (like a movie trailer but for a book - seriously!)

Read a review.

An interview with the author.

Teen literature awards announced

The Newbery Medal and the Printz Award recipients were announced recently at the American Library Association (ALA) mid-winter conference in Seattle.

**Note: previous winners listed link to their record in the PRHS online catalogue.


The Newbery Medal

From the ALA site: "The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." It has been awarded annually since 1922.

Previous winners include The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994), Holes by Louis Sachar (1999), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963), and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (1985).

2007 Newbery Medal recipient:
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

2007 Newbery Honor recipients:
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Rules by Cynthia Lord


The Printz Award

The Michael L. Printz award is, according to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), "an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association." It has been awarded annually since the year 2000.

Previous winners include A Step from Heaven by An Na (2005) and Kit's Wilderness by David Almond (2001).

2007 Printz Award recipient:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (this is the first graphic novel ever to win the Printz award)

2007 Printz Honor recipients:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (one of my all-time favourite books)