The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of my favorite things to think about. Since last June, I think about it at least once a week. With the help of Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil and Sharon Kane we gathered 20 "readers" to set about rereading the first 20 years of the award. Each person volunteered to reread the five books form the short list in each year from 1996 to 2015. After reading those five books, each person advanced a "winner" to the second round. In half of the cases the real winner was advanced, but in ten cases a new "winner" was moved forward. In the second round, we put the participants in to four groups of five years and asked them to read those and then, as a group, decide on book to advance to the final round. The last round of the final four is nearing the end and people are beginning to vote.
I discussed this about a year ago in one of my blog post. I reviewed some of my favorites and wondered about others I have read. I have to admit that one of the novels that I think about almost every time I put together a syllabus did make past the first round. That novel is Kimberly Willis Holt's, When Zachery Beaver Came to Town. but it had some stiff competition from other novels that have also seem to have stood the test of time; particular standouts that year are Speak and Monster. These two books have had a significant impact in the world of YA literature and I suspect that impact will continue for quite some time to come.
I discussed this about a year ago in one of my blog post. I reviewed some of my favorites and wondered about others I have read. I have to admit that one of the novels that I think about almost every time I put together a syllabus did make past the first round. That novel is Kimberly Willis Holt's, When Zachery Beaver Came to Town. but it had some stiff competition from other novels that have also seem to have stood the test of time; particular standouts that year are Speak and Monster. These two books have had a significant impact in the world of YA literature and I suspect that impact will continue for quite some time to come.
We are inviting everyone to join in the fun of the final selection. You have until Jan. 9, 2017 to read the final four!
One of the participants, Katie Sluiter, has discussed the rationale for her final choice on her blog--Sluiternation.com. It you want a description of the final four novels, Katie provides some on her most recent post. You can read her descriptions and stop short of discovery her final choice.
The "Meta-Award" finalist are below. For several months, 20 people have been reading books in different round to get at this finalist. You may or may not agree but we invite you to join us as we read this four novels. These four titles are readily available and are all enjoyable readers that should be in your classrooms or included in the syllabi of your YA courses. Below the images is a link to a place that you can vote for your favorite and put them in rank order if you like.
Please join the fun and vote using the link below:
If you want to run your own meta gold winner with a class or a book club, below is the document we used to describe the project as we shopped for participants. Feel free to use it and our modify it any way you like.
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