With the new year upon us, it’s time to reflect on 2009! Here are some of this year’s award winners...
(unless otherwise indicated, all book descriptions are taken from
NoveList Plus)
Michael L. Printz award ~ for excellence in Young Adult (YA) literature (one of my favourite awards...the books that have won have ALWAYS been amazing reads)
- Winner! Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Abandoned by her drug-addicted mother at the age of eleven, high school student Taylor Markham struggles with her identity and family history at a boarding school in Australia.
“This roller coaster ride of a novel grabs you from the first sentence and doesn’t let go. You may not be sure where the ride will take you, but every detail—from the complexities of the dual narrative to the pangs of first love—is pitch perfect,” said Printz Award Committee Chair Mary Arnold.
Honor Books:
- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, volume 2 by M.T. Andersen
When he and his tutor escape to British-occupied Boston, Octavian learns of Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom to slaves who join the counterrevolutionary forces.
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Sophomore Frankie starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, but when he refuses to talk about the all-male secret society that he and his friends belong to, Frankie infiltrates the society in order to enliven their mediocre pranks.
- Nation by Terry Pratchett
After a devastating tsunami destroys all that they have ever known, Mau, an island boy, and Daphne, an aristocratic English girl, together with a small band of refugees, set about rebuilding their community and all the things that are important in their lives.
- Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
A young woman who has endured unspeakable cruelties is magically granted a safe haven apart from the real world and allowed to raise her two daughters in this alternate reality, until the barrier between her world and the real one begins to break down.
~~~~~
Teens Top 10 ~ teens nominate & choose their favourites; from the Young Adult Library Association
Paper Towns by John Green
One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
The final volume in the
Twilight series.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Sixteen-year-old Clary continues trying to make sense of the swiftly changing events and relationships in her life as she becomes further involved with the Shadowhunters and their pursuit of demons and discovers some terrifying truths about her parents, her brother Jace, and her boyfriend Simon. Book 2 in the Mortal Instruments series.
Identical by Ellen Hopkins
Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge and a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn them and their family apart.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Playing off the theme of The Jungle Book, Gaiman spins a clever and inventive tale about a young boy who is adopted by the occupants of a graveyard after being orphaned by the death of his parents. Likable for all ages, this is a hard-to-categorize, commanding tale.
Wake by Lisa McMann
Ever since she was eight years old, high school student Janie Hannagan has been uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams, but it is not until she befriends an elderly nursing home patient and becomes involved with an enigmatic fellow-student that she discovers her true power.
Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Zoey's life at vampyre training school takes a turn for the worse as she loses most of her group of friends and all three of her potential boyfriends and the High Priestess Neferet plans a war on humans that Zoey knows is wrong.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
(see description above)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.
~~~
White Pine award ~ from the Ontario Library Association - Canadian YA fiction
Winner! Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.
~~~
2009 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults ~ chosen by YALSA committee
Baby by Joseph Monninger
Fifteen-year-old Baby's last chance at foster care is with the Potters, and while she likes them and enjoys learning to race their sled dogs, she feels she should go back on the streets with her boyfriend if she cannot find the mother who has deserted her again.
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
In 1981, the height of Ireland's "Troubles," eighteen-year-old Fergus is distracted from his upcoming A-level exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for Sinn Fein, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog.
The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees
Sophomore Frankie finally finds the courage to ask his long-term friend, Rebecca, to the Homecoming dance, which ultimately leads to a face-off between a tough senior whose family owns most of their small, New Mexico town, and Frankie's soccer-star olderbrother and his gang-member friends.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
(see description above)
It's Complicated: The American Teenager by Robin Bowman
Presents a collection of interviews and photographs of American teenagers in which they describe their lives.
Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Pena
Sixteen-year-old Danny searches for his identity amidst the confusion of being half-Mexican and half-white while spending a summer with his cousin and new friends on the baseball fields and back alleys of San Diego County, California.
Nation by Terry Pratchett
(see description above)
Skim words by Mariko Tamaki ; drawings by Jillian Tamaki [graphic novel]
Presents the whole gamut of tortured teen life--friends, love, depression, suicide, and cliques--through the eyes of Skim, a.k.a. Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a would-be Wiccan goth at a girls' academy in Toronto during the 1990s.
Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher
In 1940s Chicago, fifteen-year-old Ruby hopes to escape poverty by becoming a taxi dancer in a nightclub, but the work has unforeseen dangers and hiding the truth from her family and friends becomes increasingly difficult.
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Conner
Twelve-year-old Addie tries to cope with her mother's erratic behavior and being separated from her beloved stepfather and half-sisters when she and her mother go to live in a small trailer by the railroad tracks on the outskirts of Schenectady, New York.
Young Adult Canadian Book Award ~ from the Canadian Library Association
- Winner! Chanda's Wars by Allan Stratton
Chandra Kabelo, a teenaged African girl, must save her younger siblings after they are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers in General Mandiki's rebel army.
Margaret A. Edwards ~ for lifetime achievement in YA literature
- Winner! Laurie Halse Anderson ~ author of Speak, Catalyst, Wintergirls, and many more
Giller Prize ~ best in Canadian adult fiction
- Winner! The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre
From an award-winning writer and one of Canada’s foremost broadcast journalists, comes a deeply wise and moving novel that explores the guilty minds and spiritual evasions of Catholic priests. Father Duncan MacAskill has spent most of his priesthood as the “Exorcist” — an enforcer employed by his bishop to discipline wayward priests and suppress potential scandal. He knows all the devious ways that lonely priests persuade themselves that their needs trump their vows, but he’s about to be sorely tested himself. While sequestered by his bishop in a small rural parish to avoid an impending public controversy, Duncan must confront the consequences of past cover-ups and the suppression of his own human needs. Pushed to the breaking point by loneliness, tragedy and sudden self-knowledge, Duncan discovers how hidden obsessions and guilty secrets either find their way to the light of understanding, or poison any chance we have for love and spiritual peace. (exerpt used from amazon.ca)
Governor General Awards ~ for Canadian Literature, Fiction category
- Winner! The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London. But when her debilitating tuberculosis means exile, she and her devoted lady's maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt. It is Sally who describes, with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, the odd menage marshalled by the resourceful Omar, which travels down the Nile to a new life in Luxor.
Many of these books are available here in the library @ Rez. If you don't see one you're looking for, ask me!
