Press Release: 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced!

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the winner of the 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.  Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.  

The 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner is:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton Books)

The 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin AlireSáenz (Simon & Schuster)

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King (Little Brown and Company)

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer (Scholastic)

All Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists. The winning title and finalists will be honored on Monday, November 25^th at the 2013 ALAN Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts, and will be invited to participate in a panel discussion.

The 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation, the ALAN Executive Council, the ALAN Board of Directors, NCTE, and the thirty publishers who submitted titles for consideration.

The 2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered nearly 350 young adult titles throughout the process.  The committee was comprised of eleven members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities.  They are:

• Lois Buckman, Committee Chair, Librarian, Caney Creek High School, Conroe, TX
• Ricki Ginsberg, Past Committee Chair, Doctoral Student, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
• Carolyn Angus, Director, George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
• Jonatha Basye, Teacher/Librarian, Bryan Elementary, Hampton, VA
• Paul Hankins, English Language & Composition, Silver Creek High School, Sellersburg, IN
• Suzanne Metcalfe, Librarian, Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska
• Mark Letcher, Assistant Professor English Education, Purdue University Calumet Hammond, IN
• Kellee Moye, Classroom Teacher, Hunter’s Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL
• Mindi Rench, Classroom Teacher, Northbrook Junior High School, Northbrook, IL
• Lois Stover, Professor, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St Mary’s City, MD
• Diane Tuccillo, Teen Services Librarian, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO

For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents.

Slice of Life March 9th, 2013 #slice2013

Today the dogs and I walked 5 miles at a local park.  But after dropping them off at home, I headed back out to the bookstore.

Despite the fact that my house is home to mountains (yes, plural) of books that I still want to read, I came home with more books.  I think this is one of the signs of being a member of the Nerdy Book Club. I went to the store to pick up a copy of Eleanor & Park after reading John Green’s review in the NYTimes this weekend.  I already had a copy from NetGalley, but I like having a physical copy.  Plus, I know it sounds like a book that will be popular with my students.

I browsed the bookstore for a while, as I can never just buy one thing there.  I spent some time looking at the Moleskine notebooks (I have an addiction) because I need a new notebook for a new project.  (See me justifying it there?)  Unfortunately, they did not have the limited edition Le Petit Prince notebook I was looking for.

Then I wandered over to the bestsellers and considered buying a few adult books.  But then I saw Admission and added it to the pile in my arms.  I am a Princeton glutton and I am fascinated by the college admissions process, so it was a no-brainer.

Next, I spent some time in the YA section.  Luckily, I own most of the books already.  I ended up grabbing a copy of Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin, Book I (His Fair Assassin Trilogy) because I remembered a lot of my Nerdy friends recommending it.  And I did jot down a few titles to add to my classroom library later.  Some of those included Cory Doctorow’s Homeland and Lauren Oliver’s Requiem (Delirium series).  While there, I also managed to convince myself that I did not need a John Green TFIOS tshirt.

Ok, fine.  Maybe they just didn’t have my size.

All in all, I escaped from Barnes and Noble relatively cheaply.  I had a $20 gift card so it was a cheap trip.  Not too bad for this Nerdy Book Club member!

Oh, and Eleanor & Park is fabulous so far.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I’m not sure that I can say anything that hasn’t been said yet, but I feel strange not reviewing John Green’s latest masterpiece.  This will be short and sweet, and I’m not going to bother summarizing the plot because it’s been done to death.  Just know this-  The Fault in Our Stars is a book that should be required reading for young adults and adults.

Hazel is dying.  She knows this, her parents know, and her doctors know. But John Green has crafted an unforgettable, life-affirming book that will leave you laughing through your tears.  This isn’t a book about death; it’s a book about life and living it to the fullest.

I purchased three copies of The Fault in Our Stars before it was released. Other than brief appearances as they passed from hand to hand, I haven’t seen any of those books since January.  But at least half of my students, of both genders, have now read it.  And all three copies are continuing their journey from student to student through the summer.  That’s damn good for a realistic fiction book.  That’s the equivalent of five stars from my kids!

If you haven’t read this yet, I can’t recommend it enough.  The story is multi-layered and intensely literary.  While it’s published as YA, it certainly has many adult readers.

If you don’t already own all of John Green’s novels (or if you are like me, and just can’t turn this down) be sure to preorder the  John Green Limited Edition Boxed Set (autographed).  The graphics, designed by Karen Kavett, are really awesome because she and her sister attended school in my district.  My nerdfighters love that!

*purchased, all three copies, on my own

Random Nonsense

Busy month!  November is always crazy here.  It’s the end of the first marking period, I’m trying to grade essays, #NCTE11 is in just two weeks(!), Thanksgiving is coming, then it’s Christmas, and I have a class reunion this week.  Oh, and did I mention I am doing NaNoWriMo?  So yeah, just a little crazy.  Especially when you throw in my two crazy dogs who demand a lot of running and activity- Dublin is training to be a therapy dog right now and Bailey just finished her first puppy class.  Busy times here!

 

This is something I am SO ridiculously excited for.  Just when I think I can’t possibly love John and Hank Green anymore, they announce CrashCourse- a youtube channel devoted to educational videos made by John and Hank.  First up? World History (John) and Bio101 (Hank).