2010 ALA Youth Media Awards

And The Winners Are...

• Newbery Award
• Michael L. Printz Award
• Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
• Coretta Scott King Award
• Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Alex Awards
• Margaret A. Edwards Award
• YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
• William C. Morris YA Debut Award
• Schneider Family Book Award
• Odyssey Awards

Each year the American Library Association (ALA) honors books and media for children and teens. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, ALA awards --- including the Newbery, Printz, Sibert and Coretta Scott King Book Awards --- guide parents, educators, librarians and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by committees composed of librarians and other literature and media experts, the awards encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.

The John Newbery Medal honors the author of the year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature. Presented every year since 1922, the Medal is named for 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery. Henrik Van Loon won the first Newbery Medal in 1922 for THE STORY OF MANKIND. Receiving the Newbery Medal virtually guarantees that the winning book will remain in print and on library and bookstore shelves for years to come.

The Michael L. Printz Award, established in 1999, honors excellence in literature written for young adults. The award-winning book may be fiction, nonfiction, poetry or an anthology and can be a work of joint authorship or editorship. Nominated books may have been previously published in another country, but must have been in the U.S. during the preceding year. The books must be designated by their publishers as either a young adult book or one published for ages 12 through 18. The award is named in honor of the late Michael L. Printz, longtime YALSA member and Topeka, Kansas, school librarian, known for discovering and promoting quality books for young adults.

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal was awarded for the first time in 2001 to Marc Aronson for SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND THE QUEST FOR EL DORADO. It is given to honor the authors, illustrators and/or photographers of the most distinguished informational book published for children in the preceding year. Informational books are defined as those written and illustrated to present, organize and interpret documentable factual material. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois.

The Coretta Scott King Award is given to an African American author and an African American illustrator for an outstandingly inspirational and educational contribution. The books promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream. The Award is further designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.

The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement is named in memory of distinguished and beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton. The award is presented annually and will be presented in even years (i.e. 2010, 2012, 2014…) to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.

In alternate years (i.e. 2011, 2013, 2015…), the award will honor a practitioner for substantial contributions through active engagement with youth using award-winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading-related activities/programs. The recipient may be a public librarian, academic librarian, school librarian (public or private), an educator (pre K-12 or any level therein, or higher education) or youth literature advocate whose vocation, work, volunteer service or ongoing promotion of books with and/or on behalf of youth is significant and sustained.

The Alex Awards are given to 10 books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing. The award is sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust and Booklist. Edwards was a young adult specialist for many years at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore. Her work is described in her book FAIR GARDEN AND THE SWARM OF BEASTS, and over the years she has served as an inspiration to librarians who serve young adults. The Alex Awards are named after Edwards, who was called “Alex” by her friends.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author's lifetime contribution in writing for young adults as well as a specific body of his or her work. The award is named in honor of the late Margaret A. Edwards, an administrator of young adult programs at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, for more than 30 years. Edwards brought young adult literature and library services to the attention of the library profession. She spent her professional life bringing books and young adults together, pioneering outreach services for teenagers and establishing a stringent training program designed for librarians beginning their work with adolescents.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, ALA’s newest award, celebrates the achievement of a previously unpublished author, or authors, who have made a strong literary debut in writing for young adult readers. The work cited illuminates the teen experience and enriches the lives of its readers through its excellence, demonstrated by compelling, high quality writing and/or illustration, the integrity of the work as a whole, and its proven or potential appeal to a wide range of teen readers. The award's namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults.

The Schneider Family Book Awards is donated by Dr. Katherine Schneider, and honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are presented for the best Teen, Middle School and Children’s Book.

The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production is presented to the producer of the best audiobook produced for youth available in English in the United States. The first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production was given in January 2008. Honor titles may also be selected. The award is jointly administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of ALA, and is sponsored by Booklist magazine.

2010 Newbery Winner

WHEN YOU REACH ME
Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
ISBN: 9780385737425
Ages 9-14
208 pages
July 2009

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By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:

I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.

I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.

The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.

2010 Newbery Honors

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice
Phillip Hoose
Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374313227
Ages 13-up
144 pages
January 2009

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On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.

THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
Jacqueline Kelly
Henry Holy Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780805088410
Ages 9-12
352 pages
May 2009

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Calpurnia Virginia Tate is 11 years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG
Rodman Philbrick
The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic
ISBN: 9780439668187
Ages 9-12
224 pages
January 2009

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Master storyteller Rodman Philbrick takes readers on a colorful journey as a young orphan named Homer P. Figg sets off to follow his only brother into the thick of the Civil War. Through a series of fascinating events, Homer's older brother has been illegally sold to the Union army. It is up to Homer to find him and save him. Along the way, he encounters many strange but real people of that era who will engage and educate young readers about our nation's past --- in one of the most decisive moments of American history.

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON
Grace Lin
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316114271
Ages 8-12
288 pages
July 2009

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In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.

2010 Michael L. Printz Winner

GOING BOVINE
Libba Bray
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780385733977
Ages 14-up
496 pages
September 2009

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All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school --- and life in general --- with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure --- if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

2010 Michael L. Printz Honors

CHARLES AND EMMA: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
Deborah Heiligman
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780805087215
Ages 13-up
272 pages
January 2009

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Charles Darwin published THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, his revolutionary tract on evolution and the fundamental ideas involved, in 1859. Nearly 150 years later, the theory of evolution continues to create tension between the scientific and religious communities. Challenges about teaching the theory of evolution in schools occur annually all over the country. This same debate raged within Darwin himself, and played an important part in his marriage: his wife, Emma, was quite religious, and her faith gave Charles a lot to think about as he worked on a theory that continues to spark intense debates.

Deborah Heiligman's new biography of Charles Darwin is a thought-provoking account of the man behind evolutionary theory: how his personal life affected his work and vice versa. The end result is an engaging exploration of history, science and religion for young readers.

THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST
Rick Yancey
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
ISBN: 9781416984481
Ages 14-up
448 pages

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“These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed.

But he is dead now and has been for more than 40 years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets.

The one who saved me...and the one who cursed me.”

So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?

PUNKZILLA
Adam Rapp
Candlewick Press
Fiction
ISBN: 9780763630317
Ages 14-up
256 pages
May 2009

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For a runaway boy who goes by the name "Punkzilla," kicking a meth habit and a life of petty crime in Portland, Oregon, is a prelude to a mission: reconnecting with his older brother, a gay man dying of cancer in Memphis. Against a backdrop of seedy motels, dicey bus stations and hitched rides, the desperate 14-year-old meets a colorful, sometimes dangerous cast of characters. And in letters to his sibling, he catalogs them all --- from an abusive stranger and a ghostly girl to a kind transsexual and an old woman with an oozing eye.

TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND
John Barnes
Viking Juvenile
ISBN: 9780670060818
Ages 14-up
480 pages
June 2009

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Wednesday, September 5, 1973: The first day of Karl Shoemaker’s senior year in stifling Lightsburg, Ohio. For years, Karl has been part of what he calls “the Madman Underground” --- a group of kids forced (for no apparent reason) to attend group therapy during school hours. Karl has decided that senior year is going to be different. He is going to get out of the Madman Underground for good. He is going to act --- and be --- Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. Karl has five after-school jobs, one dead father, one seriously unhinged drunk mother…and a huge attitude. Welcome to a gritty, uncensored rollercoaster ride, narrated by the singular Karl Shoemaker.

• Past Winners: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001

2010 Robert F. Sibert Winner

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
Tanya Lee Stone
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 9780763636111
Ages 10-up
144 pages
February 2009

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What does it take to be an astronaut? Excellence at flying, courage, intelligence, resistance to stress, top physical shape --- any checklist would include these. But when America created NASA in 1958, there was another unspoken rule: you had to be a man. Here is the tale of 13 women who proved that they were not only as tough as the toughest man but also brave enough to challenge the government. They were blocked by prejudice, jealousy, and the scrawled note of one of the most powerful men in Washington. But even though the Mercury 13 women did not make it into space, they did not lose, for their example empowered young women to take their place in the sky, piloting jets and commanding space capsules. ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is the story of 13 true pioneers of the space age.

2010 Robert F. Sibert Honors

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: Twice Toward Justice
Phillip Hoose
Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374313227
Ages 13-up
144 pages
January 2009

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On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors
written by Chris Barton
illustrated by Tony Persiani
Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 9781570916731
Ages 7-10
44 pages
July 2009

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Joe and Bob Switzer were very different brothers. Bob was a studious planner who wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Joe dreamed of making his fortune in show business and loved magic tricks and problem-solving. When an accident left Bob recovering in a darkened basement, the brothers began experimenting with ultraviolet light and fluorescent paints. Together they invented a whole new kind of color, one that glows with an extra-special intensity Day-Glo.

MOONSHOT: The Flight of Apollo 11
written and illustrated by Brian Floca
Richard Jackson Books/Atheneum
ISBN: 9781416950462
Ages 4-7
48 pages
April 2009

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Simply told, grandly shown, here is the flight of Apollo 11. Here for a new generation of readers and explorers are the steady astronauts, clicking themselves into gloves and helmets, strapping themselves into sideways seats. Here are their great machines in all their detail and monumentality, the ROAR of rockets, and the silence of the Moon. Here is a story of adventure and discovery --- a story of leaving and returning during the summer of 1969, and a story of home, seen whole, from far away.

• Past Winners: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003

2010 Coretta Scott King Author Winner

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, author of BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS

BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal
written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Carolrhoda Books
ISBN: 9780822567646
Ages 8-12
40 pages
November 2009

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Sitting tall in the saddle, with a wide-brimmed black hat and twin Colt pistols on his belt, Bass Reeves seemed bigger than life. As a U.S. Marshal --- and former slave who escaped to freedom in the Indian Territories --- Bass was cunning and fearless.

When a lawbreaker heard Bass Reeves had his warrant, he knew it was the end of the trail, because Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this in spite of whites who didn't like the notion of a black lawman.

For three decades, Bass was the most feared and respected lawman in the territories. He made more than 3,000 arrests, and though he was a crach shot and a quick draw, he only killed 14 men in the line of duty. BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS reveals the story of a remarkable African American hero of the Old West.

2010 Coretta Scott King Author Honor

MARE’S WAR
Tanita S. Davis
Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375857140
Ages 12-up
352 pages
June 2009

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Octavia and Tali are dreading the road trip their parents are forcing them to take with their grandmother over the summer. After all, Mare isn’t your typical grandmother. She drives a red sports car, wears stiletto shoes, flippy wigs and push-up bras, and insists that she’s too young to be called Grandma. But somewhere on the road, Octavia and Tali discover there’s more to Mare than what you see. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less-than-perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

Told in alternating chapters, half of which follow Mare through her experiences as a WAC member and half of which follow Mare and her granddaughters on the road in the present day, this novel introduces a larger-than-life character who will stay with readers long after they finish reading.

2010 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Winner

Charles R. Smith Jr., author of MY PEOPLE

MY PEOPLE
written by Langston Hughes
illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.
Ginee Seo Books/Atheneum
ISBN: 9781416935407
Ages 4-8
40 pages
January 2009

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Langston Hughes's spare yet eloquent tribute to his people has been cherished for generations. Now, acclaimed photographer Charles R. Smith Jr. interprets this beloved poem in vivid sepia photographs that capture the glory, the beauty and the soul of being a black American today.

2010 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS
written by Langston Hughes
illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Jump at the Sun/Disney-Hyperion
ISBN: 9780786818679
Ages 4-8
32 pages
January 2009

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Langston Hughes has long been acknowledged as the voice, and his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” the song, of the Harlem Renaissance. Although he was only 17 when he composed it, Hughes already had the insight to capture in words the strength and courage of black people in America.

Artist E.B. Lewis acts as interpreter and visionary, using watercolor to pay tribute to Hughes’s timeless poem, a poem that every child deserves to know.

2010 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award

Kekla Magoon, author of THE ROCK AND THE RIVER

THE ROCK AND THE RIVER
Kekla Magoon
Aladdin Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781416975823
Ages 9-14
304 pages
January 2009

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For 13-year-old Sam it's not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no apparent reason. And then it happens: Sam finds something that changes everything forever.

Sam has always had faith in his father, but when he finds literature about the Black Panthers under Stick's bed, he's not sure who to believe: his father or his best friend. Suddenly, nothing feels certain anymore.

Sam wants to believe that his father is right: You can effect change without using violence. But as time goes on, Sam grows weary of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer at the hands of racism in their own community. Sam beings to explore the Panthers with Stick, but soon he's involved in something far more serious --- and more dangerous --- than he could have ever predicted. Sam is faced with a difficult decision. Will he follow his father or his brother? His mind or his heart? The rock or the river?

2010 Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

Walter Dean Myers is the winner of the first Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Myers has redefined the image of African American youth. He has garnered major youth literary awards: five Coretta Scott King Awards, four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards and the first Michael L. Printz Award. He is a two-time Newbery Honor medalist, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a two-time Jane Addams Children’s Book Award winner and a five-time Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor recipient. Myers received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for “lifetime contribution to young adult literature” in 1994, and was named the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecturer.

Myers’s body of work is chiefly fiction and also includes biography, poetry, history and memoir. The community of Harlem and ongoing dialogues with today’s youth serve as his muse. He writes authentically in the voice of young people. He is best known for creating vivid, unflinching stories that speak candidly of the lives of teens. For four decades, his characters have wrestled with life-changing decisions (SCORPIONS), romance (AMIRI & ODETTE), family relationships (SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS and MOTOWN AND DIDI) and friendships (MOJO AND THE RUSSIANS). While his stories often incorporate humor, music, sports and adventure, they also address challenging themes such as incarceration (MONSTER) and war (FALLEN ANGELS and SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH).

Myers resides in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his wife Constance and is the father of three adult children. He often collaborates with his son, illustrator Christopher Myers (HARLEM, JAZZ and LOOKING LIKE ME). Myers received his B.A. degree from Empire State College, State University of New York.

• Past Winners: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001

The 2010 Alex Awards

THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
William Morrow
ISBN: 9780061730320
288 pages
September 2009

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William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger, and a place where hope and opportunity were hard to find. But William had read about windmills in a book called USING ENERGY, and he dreamed of building one that would bring electricity and water to his village and change his life and the lives of those around him. His neighbors may have mocked him and called him misala --- crazy --- but William was determined to show them what a little grit and ingenuity could do.

THE BRIDE’S FAREWELL
Meg Rosoff
Viking Adult
ISBN: 9780670020997
224 pages
August 2009

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In Meg Rosoff's fourth novel, a young woman in 1850s rural England runs away from home on horseback the day she's to marry her childhood sweetheart. Pell is from a poor preacher's family and she's watched her mother suffer for years under the burden of caring for an ever-increasing number of children. Pell yearns to escape the inevitable repetition of such a life.

She understands horses better than people and sets off for Salisbury Fair, where horse trading takes place, in the hope of finding work and buying herself some time. But as she rides farther away from home, Pell's feelings for her parents, her siblings and her fiancé surprise her with their strength and alter the course of her travels. And her journey leads her to find love where she least expects it.

EVERYTHING MATTERS!
Ron Currie, Jr.
Viking Adult
ISBN: 9780670020928
320 pages
June 2009

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In infancy, Junior Thibodeaux is encoded with a prophesy: a comet will obliterate life on Earth in 36 years. Alone in this knowledge, he comes of age in rural Maine grappling with the question: Does anything I do matter? While the voice that has accompanied him since conception appraises his choices, Junior's loved ones emerge with parallel stories. While our recognizable world is transformed into a bizarre nation at endgame, where government agents conspire in subterranean bunkers, preparing citizens for emigration from a doomed planet, Junior's final triumph confounds all expectation, building to an astonishing and deeply moving resolution.

THE GOOD SOLDIERS
David Finkel
Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374165734
304 pages
September 2009

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It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Baghdad, and almost every grueling step of the way.

What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: A Memoir
Diana Welch and Liz Welch, with Amanda Welch and Dan Welch
Harmony Books
ISBN: 9780307396044
352 pages
September 2009

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“Perfect is boring.”

Well, 1983 certainly wasn’t boring for the Welch family. Somehow, between their handsome father’s mysterious death, their glamorous soap-opera-star mother’s cancer diagnosis, and a phalanx of lawyers intent on bankruptcy proceedings, the four Welch siblings managed to handle each new heartbreaking misfortune in the same way they dealt with the unexpected arrival of the forgotten-about Chilean exchange student --- together.

All that changed with the death of their mother. While 19-year-old Amanda was legally on her own, the three younger siblings --- Liz, 16; Dan, 14; and Diana, eight --- were each dispatched to a different set of family friends. But they refused to forget her --- or let her go.

THE MAGICIANS
Lev Grossman
Viking Adult
ISBN: 9780670020553
416 pages
August 2009

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At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, THE MAGICIANS boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren't black and white, love and sex aren't simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.

MY ABANDONMENT
Peter Rock
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780151014149
240 pages
March 2009

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A 13-year-old girl and her father live in Forest Park, the enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon. There they inhabit an elaborate cave shelter, bathe in a nearby creek, store perishables at the water’s edge, use a makeshift septic system, tend a garden, even keep a library of sorts. Once a week, they go to the city to buy groceries and otherwise merge with the civilized world. But one small mistake allows a backcountry jogger to discover them, which derails their entire existence, ultimately provoking a deeper flight.

SOULLESS: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel
Gail Carriger
Orbit
ISBN: 9780316056632
384 pages
October 2009

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Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire --- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society?

STITCHES: A Memoir
David Small
W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393068573
336 pages
September 2009

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One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the 14-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.

In STITCHES, Small, the award-winning children’s illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama where David --- a highly anxious yet supremely talented child --- all too often became the unwitting object of his parents’ buried frustration and rage.

TUNNELING TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: Stories
Kevin Wilson
Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780061579028
March 2009

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Kevin Wilson's characters inhabit a world that moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined, the mundane and the fantastic. "Grand Stand-In" is narrated by an employee of a Nuclear Family Supplemental Provider --- a company that supplies "stand-ins" for families with deceased, ill, or just plain mean grandparents. And in "Blowing Up On the Spot," a young woman works sorting tiles at a Scrabble factory after her parents have spontaneously combusted. Southern gothic at its best, laced with humor and pathos, these wonderfully inventive stories explore the relationship between loss and death and the many ways we try to cope with both.

• Past Winners: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

The 2010 Margaret A. Edwards Award

Jim Murphy is the recipient of the 2010 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens for AN AMERICAN PLAGUE: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793; BLIZZARD! The Storm That Changed America; THE GREAT FIRE; THE LONG ROAD TO GETTYSBURG; and A YOUNG PATRIOT: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy. Murphy’s well-researched books bring history alive through multiple narratives involving young people. Primary sources, maps, photos, illustrations and dialogue reveal the drama of historical events, making Murphy’s books fast-paced reading of particular interest for young adults. The reader participates in the lives of these individuals and the events that shaped history.

AN AMERICAN PLAGUE tells the story of the devastating course of the yellow fever epidemic and highlights the heroic efforts of some, and the ignorance of others, to curb this disease that has yet to be eradicated. BLIZZARD! tells the chilling story of the three-day 1888 storm that crippled the East Coast. THE GREAT FIRE reveals the myriad events that led to the catastrophic fire that destroyed much of Chicago in 1871. THE LONG ROAD TO GETTYSBURG details perspectives of young soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and the events that culminated in the Gettysburg Address. A YOUNG PATRIOT follows 15-year-old Joseph Plumb Martin, from his enlistment through the many battles and hardships of the American Revolution.

Jim Murphy will be honored at the YALSA Edwards Award Luncheon and presented with a citation and cash prize of $2,000 during the 2010 ALA Annual Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. on June 28th.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

CHARLES AND EMMA: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
Deborah Heiligman
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780805087215
Ages 13-up
272 pages
January 2009

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Charles Darwin published THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, his revolutionary tract on evolution and the fundamental ideas involved, in 1859. Nearly 150 years later, the theory of evolution continues to create tension between the scientific and religious communities. Challenges about teaching the theory of evolution in schools occur annually all over the country. This same debate raged within Darwin himself, and played an important part in his marriage: his wife, Emma, was quite religious, and her faith gave Charles a lot to think about as he worked on a theory that continues to spark intense debates.

Deborah Heiligman's new biography of Charles Darwin is a thought-provoking account of the man behind evolutionary theory: how his personal life affected his work and vice versa. The end result is an engaging exploration of history, science and religion for young readers.

2010 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Winner

FLASH BURNOUT
L. K. Madigan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780547194899
Ages 12-up
336 pages
October 2009

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When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa’s long-lost meth-addicted mom. Blake’s participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Friend. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad’s birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).

2010 Schneider Family Picture Book Winner

DJANGO
Bonnie Christensen
Flash Point
ISBN: 9781596434226
Ages 5-9
32 pages
September 2009

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Born into a travelling gypsy family, young Django Reinhardt taught himself guitar at an early age. He was soon acclaimed as the "Gypsy Genius" and "Prodigy Boy," but one day his world changed completely when a fire claimed the use of his fretting hand. Folks said Django would never play again, but with passion and perseverance he was soon setting the world's concert stages ablaze.

2010 Schneider Family Middle School Award Winner

ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL
Nora Raleigh Baskin
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN: 9781416963783
Ages 10-14
208 pages
March 2009

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Jason Blake is an autistic 12-year-old living in a neurotypical world. Most days it's just a matter of time before something goes wrong. But Jason finds a glimmer of understanding when he comes across PhoenixBird, who posts stories to the same online site as he does.

Jason can be himself when he writes and he thinks that PhoenixBird --- her name is Rebecca --- could be his first real friend. But as desperate as Jason is to meet her, he's terrified that if they do meet, Rebecca will only see his autism and not who Jason really is.

2010 Schneider Family Teen Award Winner

MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD
Francisco X. Stork
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
ISBN: 9780545054744
Ages 12-up
320 pages
March 2009

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Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear --- part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify --- and he's always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm's mailroom in order to experience "the real world."

There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising co-worker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it's a picture he finds in a file -- a picture of a girl with half a face -- that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight.

2010 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Winner

LOUISE, THE ADVENTURES OF A CHICKEN
written by Kate DiCamillo
narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Live Oak Media
ISBN: 9781430106883
Ages 4-8
June 2009

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She longed for adventure. So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world. The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar. Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine…

She was brave. She was fearless. She was feathered. She was a chicken. A not-so-chicken chicken. Her name?

2010 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production Honors

IN THE BELLY OF THE BLOODHOUND: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber
written by L.A. Meyer
narrated by Katherine Kellgren
Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
ISBN: 9781593161422
Ages 12-up
October 2008

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Now that the King of England has called her a pirate and put a price on her head, Jacky Faber has no choice but to stay out of sight. Hoping for a safe hiding place, she returns to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston, but the calm doesn't last long. On a class field trip to Boston Harbor, the girls are abducted and forced into the hold of the Bloodhound, a ship bound for the slave markets on the Barbary Coast where they will be put up on the auction block and sold into Arab harems. Jacky wouldn't dream of going down without a fight, but the delicate Lawson Peabody girls are in over their heads. Although Jacky will use anything in her arsenal to help her well-heeled classmates, she isn't so certain they will find the strength and courage needed to survive. But if she can convince them to trade petticoats and propriety for her daring escape plan, the girls just might become their own rescuers.

PEACE, LOCOMOTION
written by Jacqueline Woodson
narrated by Dion Graham
Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 9781423397984
Ages 9-11
July 2009

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Twelve-year-old Lonnie is finally feeling at home with his foster family. But because he’s living apart from his little sister, Lili, he decides it’s his job to be the “rememberer” --- and write down everything that happens while they’re growing up. Lonnie’s musings are bittersweet; he’s happy that he and Lili have new families, but though his new family brings him joy, it also brings new worries. With a foster brother in the army, concepts like Peace have new meaning for Lonnie.

WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball
written by Kadir Nelson
narrated by Dion Graham
Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 9781423375364
Ages 8-up
January 2009

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The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.

Using an “Everyman” player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.

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