More Book Awards

Other book awards announced this week are:

The Margaret A. Edwards Award is awarded to both an author and their body of works for lasting contribution to young adult literature. This year, the honored author is Laurie Halse Anderson, who was honored for her books Catalyst, Fever 1793, and Speak. Each of these books portrays a teen struggling to cope with overwhelming circumstances in their lives.

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award is given to a previously unpublished young adult author whose first book demonstrates excellence in literature. This is a new award given for the first time in 2009. The award this year goes to Elizabeth C. Bunce for A Curse Dark as Gold, a retelling of the fairy tale Rumpilstiltskin. During the Industrial Revolution, following her father's death, Charlotte struggles to keep her family's woolen mill in business, despite a large mortgage, but when a man capable of spinning straw into gold appears on the scene she must decide if his help is worth the price.

Book Awards

Yesterday the American Library Association announced the 2009 winners of several awards for young adult books. I will be posting the winners of these awards over the next few days. Here are the 2009 winners of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature:

Michael L. Printz Award Book


Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta

In a suspenseful tale, Taylor struggles to overcome a difficult past as she leads her fellow boarding school students in their secret war against the Townies and the Cadets.




Printz Honor Books:

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
• Nation, by Terry Pratchett
• Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

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