My Head Is Full of Books: 2014 National Book Award YA Finalists

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, October 23, 2014

2014 National Book Award YA Finalists

The National Book Award organization announced its finalists on October 16th. Here are the finalists for the Young Adult Literature category:

NBA 2014 Young People's Literature List

Finalists:

Eliot Schrefer, Threatened (Scholastic Press)
Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
(Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan Publishers)
John Corey Whaley, Noggin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster)
Deborah Wiles, Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy, Book Two (Scholastic Press)
Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Group (USA))

I have read three of the five books (highlighted in yellow) and hope to have a peek at the other two soon. I always push AWARD books for two reasons: 1)someone else has done their homework and has determined that the book is worthy of praise and worthy of my time as a reader. 2)Usually I agree with the selection committee finding the books well-written, engaging, full of complex characters and colorful descriptions. When I read AWARD books I usually feel like I have grown, that my life has changed in a small way.

Congratulations to the authors. My deepest hope is that your books will find their way into the hands of readers everywhere!