Our teen book spotlight this week is focused on books that are an award winner!!! This past week the ALA Youth Media Awards were held which is basically the Oscars for books! Held every year at the end of January, books win a variety of awards that range from the best book of the year to the best debut novel by a debut author; there is even an award given to the best audiobook. We are taking a look at some of the past winners from a variety of awards. We have realistic fiction all the way to fantasy and nonfiction. Reading award winners gives you an opportunity to read an amazing story that may be outside of your comfort zone, but you know you are in for one of the best. These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #yaawardwinner (there are also tags available for each specific award; take a look for them at the bottom of the detailed record of each title or just ask for assistance at your library) as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
Dig. by A.S. King (Printz Award Winner)--Gottfried and Marla Hemmings made millions selling the family potato farm to land developers, but refuse to pass on that wealth to their children and grandchildren. In the town they helped create, five teens struggle with racial hatred, drugs, poverty, and domestic violence that stem from the Hemmings' privileged, hateful family tree.
Vincent & Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman (YALSA Nonfiction Award Winner)--Drawing on the hundreds of letters exchanged between Vincent Van Gogh and his younger brother, Theo, author Heiligman presents an intimate portrait of the profound devotion and friendship shared between the two. Vowing as teens to “be companions in the search for meaning in life and meaning in art,” the two kept that pledge to the end. With extensive quotations pulled from their correspondence combined with black-and-white reproductions of Vincent's work, this celebration of brotherhood is a tender exploration into the tragically short lives of the Van Gogh brothers.
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (Printz Award Winner)--Marin hasn't spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she's tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that's been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
Truce by Jim Murphy (Edwards Award Winner)--Author Murphy provides a "poignant and sometimes graphic introduction" to the chain of events that sparked World War I, but Murphy doesn't leave the reader depressed for long. Instead, he focuses on what some call a miracle -- the spontaneous truce that broke out on Christmas Day of 1914 when soldiers on opposing sides of the Western Front defied their commanders and stopped fighting in order to visit, exchange gifts and sing carols. Drawing on letters, diaries, recollections of soldiers and archival photographs, Murphy presents a highly researched account of the Christmas Truce.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Morris Award Winner)--It has been 40 years since the treaty between humans and dragons ended the terrible war, but in that time the treaty line has been toed time and again by both parties. Now the dragons send ambassadors to the human kingdom who can fold themselves down into human shape, although many people are still uncomfortable in their presence. Seraphina, a beautifully gifted singer, is invited to sit in the court of Prince Lucian Kiggs just when Prince Rufus is found murdered, his head bitten off, dragon style. All in the court are asked to participate in the investigation, which puts Seraphina's secret in danger of discovery—she is a half-breed, human and dragon.
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (Printz and Morris Award Winner)--Seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter narrates as the town, Lily, Arkansas, breaks into celebration over the reappearance of the long-believed extinct Lazarus woodpecker, sparking media frenzy that borders absurdity. Meanwhile, Cullen's younger brother has inexplicably disappeared. The second storyline is told in third person by Benton Sage, a teenage missionary who has lost his faith and comes to Lily, Arkansas in search of meaning.