This week’s book talks 4/30-5/4

Monday: The Problim Children by Natalie Lloyd

 

Tuesday: Bats: Learning to Fly (Science Comics) by Falynn Koch

Wednesday: Bette Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz

Thursday: Pele: The King of Soccer by Eddy Simon and Vincent Brascaglia

Friday: Life on Surtsey by Loree Griffin Burns

 

“The Walter”

January 20, 2016 (New York) – The We Need Diverse Books™ Walter Award Judges Committee has confirmed selections for the inaugural Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature – Young Adult Category. One winner and two honors have been named.

The Walter Dean Myers Award, also known as “The Walter,” is named for prolific children’s and young adult author Walter Dean Myers (1937 – 2014). Myers was a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature as well as a champion of diversity in children’s and YA books.

The winner of the first annual Walter award (2016) is the young adult novel All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.

The judges also selected two Walter honor books: Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings by Margarita Engle

and X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon.

The Judges Panel reviewed titles published during the 2015 calendar year by diverse authors whose work featured a diverse main character or addressed diversity in a meaningful way. In the case of author pairs (or author-illustrator pairs), at least one member of the pair must be from an underrepresented community. The books covered many genres and included both fiction and nonfiction works. The award’s mission is to honor the memory of Walter Dean Myers and his literary heritage, as well as celebrate diversity in teen literature.

Walter Award Judges Panel: Rita Painter, Rafe Pose, Edi Campbell, Mindy Rhiger, Todd Krueger, Adeeba Rana, Maria Gentle, Christine Taylor-Butler, Lessa Pelayo-Lozada, Dhonielle Clayton and Kathie Weinberg.

 

The National Book Award Longlist

Well, they’ve been announced and here are the nominees for YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE.

• Becky Albertalli, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• M.T. Anderson, Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad (Candlewick Press)
• Ali Benjamin, The Thing About Jellyfish (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Rae Carson, Walk on Earth a Stranger (Greenwillow/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Gary Paulsen, This Side of Wild: Mutts, Mares, and Laughing Dinosaurs (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
• Laura Ruby, Bone Gap (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Ilyasah Shabazz, with Kekla Magoon, X: A Novel (Candlewick Press)
• Steve Sheinkin, Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War (Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group)
• Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Noelle Stevenson, Nimona (HarperTeen/HarperCollins Children’s Books)

I’ve only read three of these so it looks as though I will have to make some adjustments to my “to read” pile…again.