CYBILS---YA Finalist Books

Lists, lists, lists!  A wonderful thing about the first of the year is all the book lists and award lists to peruse and pine over.  This one, a list of all the YA titles identified as finalists for the CYBILS award is nicely varied.  The folks over that School Library Journal annotated the list of YA books on the list.  Please, please take a look over at their site, which is much more detailed than mine. And find your way over to the actual CYBILS site for the complete list, which includes children's and middle grade books, as well.

CYBILS : Children and Young Adult Blogger's Literary Awards.

 School Library Journal for an annotated list of the CYBILS YA finalists.

2014 CYBILS Finalists:

YA Nonfiction:

• COE, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis. Zest Books. Oct. 2014. 
• THOMPSON, Laurie Ann. Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters. S. & S./Beyond Words. Sept. 2014.
• KUKLIN, Susan. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out. Candlewick. Feb. 2014.
• VAN WAGENEN, Maya. Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek. Dutton. 2014. 
• FLEMING, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia. Random/Schwartz and Wade. July 2014.*
• MITCHELL, Don. The Freedom Summer Murders. Scholastic. Apr. 2014. 
• SHEINKIN, Steve. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Roaring Brook. Jan. 2014. 

YA Graphic Novels:

•  DOCTOROW, Cory. In Real Life. First Second. Oct. 2014.
•  GILL, Joel Christian and Henry Louis Gates Jr. Strange Fruit, Volume I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History. Fulcrum. June 2014.
•  BROOKS, Max. The Harlem Hellfighters. illus.by Canaan White. Broadway. Apr. 2014.
•  YANG, Gene Luen. The Shadow Hero. First Second. July 2014.
•  CARROLL, Emily. Through the Woods. S. & S./Margaret K. McElderry Bks. July 2014. *
•  KOYCZAN, Shane. To the Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful. Annick Books. 2014.

YA Speculative Fiction

•  CYPESS, Leah. Death Sworn. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. Mar. 2014.
•  KING, A.S. Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future. Little, Brown. Oct. 2014. *
•  WHALEY, John Corey. Noggin. S. & S./Atheneum. Apr. 2014. *
•  DUNCAN, Alexandra. Salvage. HarperCollins/Greenwillow. Apr. 2014. 
•  DE LA PEÑA, Matt. The Living. Delacorte. 2013.
•  RUTKOSKI, Marie. The Winner’s Curse. Farrar. Mar. 2014.
•  HEALEY, Karen. While We Run. Little, Brown. May 2014.

Young Adult Fiction

• QUINTERO, Isabel. Gabi, a Girl in Pieces. Cinco Puntos. Oct. 2014.*
• GILES, Gail. Girls Like Us. Candlewick. May 2014.*
• NELSON, Jandy. I’ll Give You the Sun. Dial. Sept. 2014.*
• COLBERT, Brandy. Pointe. Putnam. Apr. 2014.
• REYNOLDS, Jason. When I Was the Greatest. S. & S./Atheneum. Jan. 2014.

Poetry (only YA or Middle Grade titles listed)

• WOODSON, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books. August 2014.*
• LEWIS, J. Patrick. Voices from the March on Washington. WordSong. Oct. 2014. 

My thoughts:

• I am shocked,  SHOCKED, that the graphic novel This One Summer is not on the list.  It seems to be on everyone's  list of favorite books for the year and is a strong contender for the Printz Award. I've only read Through the Woods on this graphic novels list, so maybe all these other books are SO good that This One Summer just got kicked off the list by virtue of the others being so fantastic. I don't know, but I'm thinking, in reality, this is big oversight.
• This award is for books published in 2014, which makes me wonder why The Living by Matt De La Pena, published in 2013 is on the list. It was released in November of 2013, so perhaps October is the cut-off. I don't know.  Anyone?
• One of the cool things about the CYBILS list is you don't see all the same books as other end-of-year-best-books lists.  There are many titles on this page that I haven't heard of before and I want to investigate further. I am most intrigued by Voices from the March on Washington because I am such a sucker for anything poetic and While We Run as it sounds like a book students would like.
• This is a great year for nonfiction. It doesn't surprise me at all that there are seven titles on this list. I just wish that Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind Environmental Headlines by Paul Fleischman was on the list.  Oh well, I still recommend it and think every teen should read it.
• * = books on the GKHS Mock Printz list.
• My favorite book on the whole list. In fact, my favorite YA book of the year: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I know, I know, this blogger keeps gushing about this book, but honestly, it is spectacular. Read it!
• CYBILS winners will be announced on February 14th, a good day for book love!

Your thoughts:

• Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
• Please!