FINALISTS
The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor
Boots on the Ground by Elizabeth Partridge
The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
The Unwanted by Don Brown
WINNER
The Unwanted by Don Brown
Teen
2019 William C. Morris Award
FINALISTS
Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough
Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper
WINNER
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
2019 Alex Awards
The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark
The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir
Circe by Madeline Miller
Educated by Tara Westover
The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya
Green by Sam Graham-Felsen
Home After Dark by David Small
How Long Til Black Future Month by NK Jemisin
Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
2019 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize Shortlist
The Global Literature in Libraries Initiative has announced the shortlist for their inaugural Translated YA Book Prize. Works published within the last three years were considered for the prize that honors books in English translation for young adult readers. Here are the shortlisted titles:
Alpha by Bessora and Barroux
Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
Defying the Nazis: The Life of German Officer Wilm Hosenfeld by Hermann Vinke
La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono
Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali
My Brother’s Husband: Vol 1&2 by Gengoroh Tagame
Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais
Rasha by Muhammed Zafar Iqbal
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui
Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lovestam
Review: Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi
Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi (9780062698742)
This short story collection for teens contains writing from the best African-American writers for teens. The list of authors is awe inducing. One after another is a thrilling author to read, particularly in short story format. Each of the stories is a winning entry too. Some are lighthearted like the story by Jason Reynolds. Others are more serious, looking deeply at issues in the African-American community. Many of them deal with intersectionality, offering characters who are also LGBTQ or of different faiths. The array of stories speaks to the diversity of the African-American experience, often playing directly against stereotypes to look more closely at being a teen of color in America.
Incredible authors come together to create an anthology that is very impressive. The interplay of the stories as edited by Zoboi makes for a fascinating journey through the various facets and aspects of being an African-American teen. Teens of various levels of wealth and poverty, interests and hobbies appear in the anthology often interacting with one another in the stories. There is such richness in these stories, many of which could be used in classrooms to start discussions but all of them can be simply enjoyed by teen readers.
This is a must-read and must-have for all libraries serving teens. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Balzer + Bray.
Review: Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden
Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden (9781681198071)
Set in the 1880s, this novel explores the world if Essie, a young African-American woman who grew up with a neglectful mother and was rescued from poverty and prostitution by a kindly cleaning woman. Determined to keep learning even though she left school at an early age, Essie continued to read everything she could get her hands on. While working at a boarding house, Essie meets Dorcas Vashon, a wealthy African-American woman who sees potential in Essie and offers her a way to transform her life. Taught etiquette and new manners by Dorcas over several grueling months, Essie becomes Victoria and takes on the persona of Dorcas’ niece. As Victoria enters the social elite in Washington, D.C. she must hold to the lie that she is living until she can’t manage it any longer.
Bolden captures a period in American history that is rarely seen in books, much less teen novels. It is the period after Restoration gave African-Americans new rights but before the Jim Crow laws came stripped them away. It is a dazzling time to be a member of society and Bolden gives us details about the books, the manners and the dresses that make up that world. The setting of Washington, D. C. society is beautifully depicted as well.
Essie/Victoria makes for a wonderful set of eyes to view this world through. While she is taken with her new lifestyle and the opportunities it brings, Essie wrestles with the lies she must tell to keep it that way. Her strength of character is particularly evident when she is pressed such as learning etiquette and at the end of the book when she must make a moral decision. It is then that Essie fully steps into her own.
A fascinating look at a neglected piece of American history. Appropriate for ages 12-16.
Reviewed from ARC provided by Bloomsbury.
2018 Best Teen Books!
This was a great year for books for teens, particularly those written by diverse authors about diverse characters. Here are the 20 books that I loved the most:
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton (9781484728499)
A mesmerizing first novel from an incredible new talent. – My Review
Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough (9780735232112)
A necessary and vital call to action, this book shows that women have stood up all the way through history and their voices will not be ignored. – My Review
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (9781250170972)
What an amazing read this is! It is a world that no one has seen before, a world anchored by Black Lives Matter that will echo for fans of Black Panther. – My Review
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (9780525552963)
Come fall in love with Darius and Iran at the same time in this amazing debut novel. – My Review
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (9780062570604)
A wild and bloody book with a fierce protagonist who sears the page. – My Review
Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi (9781534408968)
Beautifully written, awkward in the best way and entirely empowering and accepting, this novel is a warm hug for readers struggling with anxiety. – My Review
Fresh Ink edited by Lamar Giles (9781524766283)
Strong writing, great stories and a call to action will make this collection a popular one. – My Review
Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake (9781328778239)
Fierce and angry, this novel about sexual assault and the power of survivors. – My Review
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (9781250147905)
A great read, this blend of fairy tale and horror is completely intoxicating. – My Review
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (9780062795328)
Lee has a wonderful wit and humor in her writing. She tells this new tale with the same dance of sarcasm, historical detail and charm as her first book. – My Review
Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lita Judge (9781626725003)
This verse novel is pure wonderment. – My Review
The Place Between Breaths by An Na (9781481422253)
Masterfully written, this is a harrowing depiction of mental illness in a family. – My Review
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (9780062662804)
One of the best verse novels I have ever read, this one deserves a standing ovation. – My Review
Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith (9781534422209)
A deep book hidden in farts, horniness and space, this is one incredible teen novel. – My Review
Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton (9780525580966)
Each of Dayton’s stories is an ethical question wrapped in a taut and fascinating plot in a shared world. – My Review
The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding (9781510727663)
A joy of an LGBT read that will give you all the feels. – My Review
Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno (9780062493644)
This is one of those books that you fall for hard. It sweeps in with poetic language that invites readers to explore the island of By-the-Sea, breathe in the magic, taste beautifully-named ice cream flavors and linger in the autumnal graveyard for awhile. – My Review
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman (9780062671158)
No matter whether they are fantasy or contemporary fiction, these stories are each tantalizing and rich. – My Review
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi (9780062866561)
A fierce heroine faces racism alongside romance in this gripping novel for teens. – My Review
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (9780062795250)
A humorous, honest and heartfelt novel that offers a gorgeous look at the ups and downs of relationships through the eyes of a gay couple. – My Review
2018 Best Poetry Books!
I didn’t manage to read a lot of poetry in 2018, unfortunately. The ones on my list of the Best of 2018 though are worth treasuring:
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko (9781512404425)
In this book, there is a feeling of safety to explore difficult subjects that the poetry itself creates. – My Review
For Every One by Jason Reynolds (9781481486248)
It is a book about perseverance and resilience, a poem about life, hard knocks and getting up and continuing onward. – My Review
The Horse’s Haiku by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows (9780763689162)
A stellar book of focused haiku. – My Review
Imagine by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Lauren Castillo (9780763690526)
Rich, memorable and timely, this picture book is something special. – My Review
Seeing into Tomorrow by Richard Wright, illustrated by Nina Crews (9781512498622)
A dynamic look at one of the top African-American poets of the 21st century, this book of poetry is a celebration. – My Review
Review: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (9781250144546)
Set in 1889 Paris, this teen novel mixes historical fiction with fantasy into one incredible adventure. Severin was denied his inheritance by the Order, a group of wealthy and powerful Houses that control the French Babel fragment and therefore the power to forge amazing devices. So Severin has become a thief who hides in plain sight in his hotel with his group of fellow thieves and friends around him. Each of his friends has their own distinct skill set that is invaluable when rescuing magical artifacts. Their expertise ranges from explosives to poisons to spiders to desire. As they start to seek out their largest target ever, it is an opportunity for Severin to regain his inheritance but it may just kill them all in the process.
Chokshi has written several amazing books and this one builds on her previous success. The setting here is particularly lush. Lovingly depicted, Paris comes to life just as the Eiffel Tower is being built for the Exposition Universelle. Paris is a great setting for the equally vibrant adventures the characters have there with traps, break ins, magical elements and more adding to the drama. That mixture of fantasy and history is forged together tightly into a unified whole.
This is a complex teen novel filled with engaging characters who all are distinct from one another and enticing to spend time with. She has included all sorts of diversity in her characters, including neurodiversity, bisexuality, and racial diversity. Each of these characteristics is a part of the story and plays into the plot, so they are far more than token notes and instead are rooted deeply in the characters.
A breathtaking adventure in a fantasy world, this first in a series will be appreciated by fans of Leigh Bardugo. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
Reviewed from e-galley provided by Wednesday Books.
Waking Brain Cells 