Award Winners Announced!

Award Winners Announced!

Am I a book-dork or what? My first thought when I woke up this morning was to check my Google Reader feeds to see if anyone had leaked any of the Printz/Newbery winners yet. (Last year, I found out about Shannon Hale’s Newbery Honor from her very cute blog entry about the phone call from the Newbery Committee).

Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Fiction:

• American Born Chinese by Gene Yang (already have this on hold – will read as soon as it comes in!)

Printz Honor Books:

• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (see my review here)

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson (I guess I have to actually finish this one now!)

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Why did this not win?)

• Surrender by Sonya Hartnett (will get this from work tonight – curious as to why I haven’t heard much about it before)

Newbery Medal

• Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Newbery Honor Books

• Rules by Cynthia Lord (also won the Schneider Family Book Award)

• Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (my review here)

• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm (checked out already, will read today!)

Margaret A. Edwards Award (for lifetime achievement in young adult literature):

• Lois Lowry (author of The Giver, Gathering Blue, Number the Stars, etc…)

And, now that my “To-be-Read” list has gotten even longer – I think I should go read a little before work!

P.S. please let me know if any of the links don't work -- I was a little bit rushed.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I have this plan to read all the books that have won Printz awards or honors between now and January so that when the awards are announced in January, I'll only have to read 5 books to be "caught up" (or really only 4 because I'm absolutely, positively sure that The Book Thief will be one of them)

Laurie Halse Anderson won a Printz honor for Speak in 2000 (the first year the Printz was awarded). Speak is the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman, dealing with a traumatic event that happened to her the summer before (I won't tell you what the traumatic experience is because I think not knowing makes the book just a little bit better -- and if you really want to know -- there's always Google).

Anderson adds just enough humor to keep the novel from being too dark and depressing, (I loved the way the school mascot kept changing), and she creates a very real character in Melinda.

My only slight complaint about the book isn't even about the book itself. I listened to it on cassette, and while the reader was very good, it was confusing at times hearing the voice of a character who more or less, doesn't speak. I think that distinction is probably a lot more clear, and more powerful, on paper.