2019 National Book Awards Finalists -- Young People's Literature

In case you want to elevate your reading, here are the finalists for the 2019 NBA in Young People's Literature. Not sure if any of these are mysteries; I'll have to read them and report back...

Young People’s Literature

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (Random House/Make Me a World)

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds, illus. by Alexander Nabaum (Atheneum/Dlouhy)

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (Penguin/Kokila)

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)

1919: The Year That Changed America by Martin W. Sandler (Bloomsbury)

Get the full list of nominees for all categories here. 

Congrats to the Edgar Nominees!

The Edgar nominees were just announced--congrats to everyone who made the list! Here are the top contenders in Juvenile and YA:

BEST JUVENILE

Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson (Scholastic – Scholastic Press)
Vanished! By James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
The Assassin’s Curse by Kevin Sands (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
First Class Murder by Robin Stevens (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
NewsPrints by Ru Xu (Scholastic – Graphix)
 
BEST YOUNG ADULT
 
The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Feiwel & Friends)
Grit by Gillian French (HarperCollins Publishers – HarperTeen)
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (Simon & Schuster)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster – Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins Publishers – Balzer + Bray)

You can find the full list of all category nominees on the MWA Edgars site.

Edgar Award nominees for Best Juvenile and Best YA

In case you missed it, last week Mystery Writers of America announced their Edgar Award nominees. As always, I'm going to make an attempt to read the Juvenile and YA category books.


In case you feel like joining in, here is the list:

BEST JUVENILE

Strike Three, You're Dead by Josh Berk (Random House Children's Books – Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)

Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking by Erin Dionne (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dial)

P.K. Pinkerton and the Petrified Man by Caroline Lawrence

 (Penguin Young Readers Group – Putnam Juvenile)

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

(Disney Publishing Worldwide – Disney-Hyperion)

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake (Random House Children's Books – Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)

BEST YA

 

 All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry
(Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Juvenile)
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (Random House Children's Books – Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)
Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy (Simon & Schuster – Simon Pulse)
How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller
(Penguin Young Readers Group – Razorbill)
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Confession time: I had not heard of most of these... Since I read a lot of MG and YA mysteries, I did see the (very long) list of submissions, so I guess it's not surprising that these titles are unfamiliar to me. There are just so many books being published--which is a good thing.

I do have to say that I was surprised how many strong YA and MG mysteries from the submissions did not make the list this year, including ones by fairly well-known mystery authors... I guess awards are always a bit of a mystery, huh?

I'll be sure to review the nominees as I read them! This'll be fun...

 

Awards--Do You Care?

I'm reading my way through the Edgar nominees, as you regulars to the blog probably know. So far, the caliber of books is impressive. And they're books I might not have picked up otherwise, so this awards mattered to me, I guess.

But there are so many awards! Edgars, Anthonys, DILYS, etc.--and that's just in the mystery department. I'm sure all are deserving, but there are A LOT of awards. And I watched my oldest dismiss a book the other day because there was one of those book award medal emblems on it... It was not a mystery award, at least. But still.

So I wonder: does a book award nomination or win matter to you? For books that you buy for the kids in your life? Or outside books, the Oscars, Grammys whatever? I'm curious.

CrimeFest Awards

From Janet Rudolph's blog (who is far more in the loop than I am): here are the CrimeFest Award announcements.

For those of you not familiar, CrimeFest is held annually in Bristol (this would be in England) to celebrate all things crime. I know, we wish we could go, right?

No YA award, but then nobody's perfect.

Agatha Winners!

It's Agatha time!

Wait--wasn't it just Edgar time?

If I didn't know any better, I would think Malice Domestic is having a bit of a competition with MWA (or vice versa). Given that these awards are announced on the same weekend, at different events... Just making an observation.

Anyway, the Agatha for best Children's/YA goes to Chris Grabenstein for The Hanging Hill--congrats! Kaye Barley lists all the winners on her blog.

Here is a list of the nominees, in case you missed that info.

Lambda Literary Awards: YA

To feed your TBR pile, here are the finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards for Children's/YA:

LGBT Children's/Young Adult

Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
How Beautiful the Ordinary, edited by Michael Cart (HarperCollins)
In Mike We Trust, by P.E. Ryan (HarperCollins)
Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA)
The Vast Fields of Ordinary, by Nick Burd (Penguin Books)

For the complete Lambda listings, check out GalleyCat.

LA Times Book Prize Finalists

More award news, the LA Times Book Prize Finalists this time. Here's the YA roundup:

Young Adult Literature Finalists

James Cross Giblin, The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Frances Hardinge, The Lost Conspiracy (HarperCollins)
Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Elizabeth Partridge, Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t You Grow Weary (Viking Children’s Books/Penguin Group)
Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)

I hadn't heard of any of these, so I'll be off to check them out. Congrats to the nominees!

Agatha Nominees

The Agatha Nominees have been announced; see them all on Sarah Weinman's blog.
Here are the Children's/ YA (bummer they lump them together; how are you supposed to judge a children's book against a YA?)nominees:

Best Children's/Young Adult:
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Viking Juvenile)
The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Random House)
The Case of the Poisoned Pig by Lewis B. Montgomery (Kane Press)
The Other Side of Blue by Valerie O. Patterson (Clarion Books)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Philomel)