In Darkness by Nick Lake was announced this morning as the winner of the 2013 Michael L. Printz Award.
The Honor books were:
Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Dodger by Terry Pratchett
The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna
It’s award season. You’ve heard of the Oscars and the Golden Globes for movies and TV. Then you’ve got the Grammys, the People’s Choice Awards, even the MTV Music Awards for music. But did you know there is an award for the best Young Adult book?
It’s called the Michael L. Printz Award. It “honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit, each year. In addition, the Printz Committee names up to four honor books, which also represent the best writing in young adult literature. The awards announcement is made at the ALA Midwinter Meeting”* which is this weekend. On Monday morning, January 28, there is a news conference broadcast over the web, announcing all of the ALA award books.
So, who is this Michael Printz? He was a school librarian in Topeka, Kansas and was involved with YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). He had a passion for books and reading.
Past winners of this award have included Looking for Alaska by John Green (we love him!!) and Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Who’ll win this year?
Come back to this blog on January 28th, 2013 and we’ll announce it when it happens!
*from http://www.ala.org/yalsa/printz
– by Michael Perry
Fall from Grace
Sawyer has his whole life planned out. Not by him, but by his parents and his girlfriend Zoë. He’s trying to figure out what he want to do, what he wants to be, and just who he really is. Grace, on the other hand, is spontaneous and a little cray. What Grace wants to do, Grace does. She has a plan to become famous. A plan to get rich. And a plan to have fun. When Grace walks into Sawyer’s life, he finds himself on a wild journey starting with stealing a mock UN treaty, then a math test until finally he’s planning an art theft from a museum! What? What’s happened to him? How did he get here? Told from Sawyer’s point of view, this fast-paced story will have you turning pages until you hit the ending from out of the blue.
–Posted by Michael Perry
If you weren’t able to make it to Carnegie Hall this past Tuesday–or Central Library, either, where we streamed the event–you can click on the picture of John Green below to see a YouTube video of his and brother Hank’s “An Evening of Awesome.”
As soon as the video begins, click where it says SKIP TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW! Or, if those words don’t appear, drag yourself forward 35 minutes and 10 seconds.
“Why won’t a book tour make a stop in my hometown?” Ever asked that question? Well, read this! Several YA authors are hosting a contest – everyone gets to put in whatever city they most want us to go to, and whatever town has the most votes, will get an exclusive tour stop from all five of us!
And that’s not all – they’re also hosting another contest where, if you help them spread the word, they’ll give you ten signed books, all the books that the authors have published so far!
You can find the full details of the project by clicking here or on the YA2U poster, and you can also go ahead and enter your hometown (Indianapolis, right?) for the win and help spread the word. There’s also lots of cool features on the site, including downloadable posters (consider putting them up in your school or library! [ask first, duh] More votes = a better chance for you to win!) and other tips on how to win.
TL;DR: you could win a tour stop in your hometown from five award-winning and best-selling YA authors or ten signed books direct from the authors! Sounds fun, yes?
