This third week of April has been marked with April showers and plenty of warmth. This week’s Spine Poetry fits the bill perfectly:

“Spring,
Weather,
Coming on Strong,
Sooner or Later.”

Enjoy this weather and tune in for next week’s rendition!

This week’s Spine Poetry is nothing short of a home run!

“I Live for This!
Opening Day,
Peanuts and Crackerjack,
The Game,
Baseball.”

Hopefully your Opening Day predictions come true! Let’s go!

To kick off National Poetry Month, here’s a treat: Spine Poetry! A form of “found” poetry, the titles of these books are the pieces that create unique poems.

“Poetry in Person,
Bluestones and Salt Hay,
Sugar and Sand,
Honey and Salt,
The Beauty of Living!”

You can find these books in our catalog by clicking on the stanza. Be on the look out for next week’s spine poetry!

From EpicReads: “Let us set the scene: You just got to book club. You have your book with you, obviously. That’s the most important thing. But what’s the second most important thing, the thing you’re looking for the second you walk through the door?

Book club snacks. That’s right.

We don’t know about you, but we love when books make us hungry. That’s a sign of good writing, and frankly, reading while snacking is one of our favorite pastimes!

Without further ado, check out some books that pair perfectly with book club snacks!”

For full book descriptions, check out the list here.

 

On Monday, January 24, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, digital media, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience, taking place virtually from Chicago.

A list of the 2022 award winners and honor selections from the Young Adult category follows:

Newbery Honor Book: A Snake Falls to Earth, written by Darcie Little Badger

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: Me (Moth), written by Amber McBride

• Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books: Home Is Not a Country, written by Safia Elhillo; Revolution in Our Time, written by Kekla Magoon; The People Remember, written by Ibi Zoboi

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults: Firekeeper’s Daughter, written by Angeline Boulley

• Printz Honor Books: Concrete Rose, written by Angie Thomas; Last Night at the Telegraph Club, written by Malinda Lo; Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, written by Kekla Magoon; Starfish, written by Lisa Fipps

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience: Words in My Hands, written and illustrated by Asphyxia

• Schneider Family Honor Book: A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome, written by Ariel Henley

Odyssey Award for the best audiobooks produced for young adults: When You Look Like Us, written by Pamela N. Harris and narrated by Preston Butler III

• Odyssey Honor Audiobook: Perfectly Parvin, written by Olivia Abtahi and narrated by Mitra Jouhari

Pura Belpré Awards honoring Latinx writers and illustrators whose young adult books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience: How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, written by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

• Belpré Young Adult Author Honor Books: Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, written by Jonny Garza Villa; Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet, written by Laekan Zea Kemp; Where I Belong, written by Marcia Argueta Mickelson

Robert F. Sibert Honor Book: Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, written by Steve Sheinkin

Stonewall Book Award given annually to English-language young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience: Last Night at the Telegraph Club, written by Malinda Lo

• Stonewall Honor Book: The Darkness Outside Us, written by Eliot Schrefer

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens: Firekeeper’s Daughter, written by Angeline Boulley

• Morris Award Finalists: Ace of Spades, written by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé; Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things, written by Margie Fuston; Me (Moth), written by Amber McBride;  What Beauty There Is, written by Cory Anderson

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: Ambushed!: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield, written by Gail Jarrow

• Finalists: Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, written by Brandy Colbert; From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement, written by Paula Yoo; In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months and Years after the 9/11 Attacks, written and illustrated by Don Brown; The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life, written by Amy Butler Greenfield

American Indian Youth Literature Awards, which were established to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians and Alaska Natives: Apple (Skin to the Core), written by Eric Gansworth [Onondaga]

• Honor Books: Elatsoe, by Darcie Little Badger [Lipan Apache Tribe]; Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley [Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians]; Hunting by Stars, by Cherie Dimaline [Métis Nation of Ontario]; Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present, by Adrienne Keene [Cherokee Nation]; Soldiers Unknown, by Chag Lowry [Yurok, Maidu and Achumawi]

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, which promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit: Last Night at the Telegraph Club, written by Malinda Lo

• Youth Literature honor title: We Are Not Free, written by Traci Chee

The Sydney Taylor Book Award, presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience: The City Beautiful, by Aden Polydoros 

• Young Adult honors: The Last Words We Said, by Leah Scheier; Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero, by E. Lockhart, illustrated by Manuel Preitano; and The Summer of Lost Letters, by Hannah Reynolds

TIME Magazine recently published a list of 100 books they consider to be the best young adult books of all time, spanning from the 1800s to recent years. How many have you read?

Curious about how these particular books were selected? Check out this article detailing the process.

2021 ALA YMA Young Adult Award and Honor Books

The American Library Association (ALA) recently announced the 2021 Youth Media Award winners at its annual midwinter conference. These awards, including the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Book Awards, encourage original and creative work in the field of children’s and young adult literature and media.

Awards specifically for young adult books include:

• the Michael L. Printz Award (given to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature)
• the William C. Morris Award (which honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens)
• the Alex Awards (given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18)
• the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction (which honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults).

Other awards – such as the Pura Belpré Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and more – are awarded to multiple categories of books including young adult titles.

To find out more about each award presented and this year’s award winners, click here!