Michael L. Printz Award. Winners. 201 to present.

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

"Mike," as he was known to his friends and colleagues, was a school librarian at Topeka West (KS) High School for many years and retired from teaching in 1994. Until his untimely death in 1996, he worked as a marketing consultant for Econo-Clad Books.

His passion for books inspired YALSA to created a place, a circle if you will, for Mike to stand and be recognized- that place is the Michael L.Printz Award

Printz Winners & Honor Books 2000 to present at Amazon

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean Wins 2008 Printz Award

As we might expect from a commitee consisting of school and public librarians, the members, of the Printz Award Commitee, have come up with a sumptuous selection for this years' winner and honor books. Some awards, in our view, seem to set the bench mark for others to follow. Congratul g_mccaughrean ations Printz crew, we believe that you are such an award.

The White Darkness by English writer, Geraldine McCaughrean (HarperTempest) has taken out the main award with a a very strong supporting cast of four honor book winners. Honors were given to: Dreamquake by New Zealander, Elizabeth Knox (FSG/Foster); One Whole & Perfect Day by Australian, Judith Clarke (Front Street); Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins (HarperTeen); and Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (Knopf).

Snow Googles Needed on Journey of Adventure for 2008 Winner

The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean (right above

) , published by HarperTempest, an imprint of HarperCollins has won the 2008 Michael L. Printz Award. The award announcement was made during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 11-16, 2008

Fourteen-year-old Symone's exciting vacation to Antarctica turns into a desperate struggle for survival when her uncle's obsessive quest leads them across the frozen wilderness into danger.

Ms. McCaughrean has won numerous awards for children's literature in her native England. Celebrated for her novels, picture books and folklore adaptations, The White Darkness is her first contemporary young adult novel.

"Symone's unforgettable voice propels this journey of discovery in a book that is intricately plotted, richly imaged and brings new meaning to the term unreliable narrator," said Printz Award Committee Chair Lynn Rutan. "Readers will need to hang onto their snow goggles in this compelling book in which nothing is as it seems at first glance."

About the Winning Author

Geraldine McCaughrean was born in 1951 and brought up in North London. She studied at Christ Church College of Education, Canterbury and worked in a London publishing house for 10 years before becoming a full-time writer in 1988.

Ms. Ms. McCaughrean is a prolific author having produced about 140 books and is certainly no stranger to Book Award World. She has previously won a number of leading UK Literary Awards including:

Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and 'Book to Keep Forever' Award in 2000 for John Bunyan's a Pilgrim's Progress
Blue Peter 'Best Book to Keep' Award in 2001 for The Kite Rider
Smarties Book Prize Bronze Award 2001 for The Kite Rider
CILIP Carnegie Medal 'Highly Commended' in 2001 for Stop the Train!
Smarties Book Prize Bronze Award 2002 for Stop the Train!
Smarties Book Prize Bronze Award 2004 for Smile!
Whitbread Children's Book Award 2004 for Not the End of the World (now Costa Children's BookAwards)

Winning the Printz for 2008 is certainly her biggest American award win to date, although she has seldom been far from a US winners podium over the years. Some of the recognition that she has received includes:

Parenting Reading Magic Award in 1998 for The Bronze Cauldron Myths And Legends Of The World: Myths And Legends Of The World
American Library Association Notable Book in 1998 for The Pirate's Son
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 1998 for The Pirate's Son
Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book in 1998 for Grandma Chickenlegs

Newsweek Best Picture Book for Children in 1999 for The Pirate's Son
Amazon.com Editor's Top Ten Children's Books in 2000 for The Stones are Hatching
American Library Association Notable Book in 2003 for The Kite Rider
American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 2003 for The Kite Rider
School Library Journal Best Books in 2003 for Stop the Train!
American Library Association Notable Book for Children in 2004 for Stop the Train!
Westchester Libraries Ann Izard Storytellers Choice Award 2004 for Gilgamesh the Hero
School Library Journal's Best Books 2005 for Not the End of the World
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2006 for Not the End of the World

Geraldine McCaughrean Website

2008 Honor Books

Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (FSG/Foster)

Book Description
The dreamhunting began as a beautiful thing, when Tziga Hame discovered that he could elizabeth_knox enter the Place and share the dreams he found there with other people. But Tziga Hame has disappeared and Laura, his daughter, knows that the art of projecting dreams has turned sour. On St. Lazarus’s Eve, when elite citizens gather at the Rainbow Opera to experience the sweet dream of Homecoming, Laura, determined to show them the truth, plunges them into the nightmare used to control the convict workers. The event marks the first blow in the battle for control of the Place, the source of dreams. Then, when Laura’s cousin, Rose, uncovers evidence that the government has been building a secret rail line deep into the Place, Laura follows it to find out what lies at its end. As she struggles to counter the government’s sinister plans, a deeper mystery surfaces, a puzzle only Laura can unravel, a puzzle having to do with the very nature of the Place. What is the Place, after all? And what does it want from her?

Inventive and richly imagined, Elizabeth Knox’s (above) dramatic conclusion will satisfy readers – whether or not they’ve read Book One.

Reviews
"Will be considered among youth fantasy's most significant recent works. Knox's haunting, invigorating storytelling will leave readers eager to return to its puzzles--and to reap its rewards." --Starred, Booklist

"Unexpected plot turns and a rewarding and engaging read."--The Chicago Tribune

“Thoroughly impressive—for its sure, literary prose, nuanced characters, and fully realized Edwardian setting, but even more so for its original, surprising imagery and plot. An involving—and challenging—read, Knox’s fantasy is outstanding in its ability to make us think both poetically and analytically about human nature.” --The Horn Book

“Legendary allusions add depth and light.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Compelling.”--VOYA

"Richly layered and thoroughly enthralling, Knox's literary duet is a unique blend of fantasy and history that stands out as a stunning achievement in recent young adult literature."--School Library Journal

“It’s a story of hope and love. It’s a fantasy yet is very realistic. This is one I will read over and over again.” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

One Whole & Perfect Day by Judith Clarke (Front Street)

Book description- The title is based on the heroine's wish for just one perfect day for her family to spend together, on her grandfather's 80th birthday. So far, they haven't had much luck; every family occasion ends with arguments.

Lily wishes her family was normal. Her father -- called a "shifty hippy bugger" by her grandfather -- ran off to live in the United States before she was even born. Her mother, a qualified psychologist, works at an underpaid job in a day care facility for senior citizens and, softie that she is, keeps bringing home "lame ducks" for respite care when their families want time off. Her grandmother has an imaginary companion and her grandfather, whom she sees as an old racist, has chased her brother Lonnie away with an ax because he simply can't stick to any university course for long. The family home is so shabby her grandfather keeps making tasteless jokes about how they'd be better off burning it down and getting the insurance money.

The storyline bounces around from one character to another, and each of the main characters is shown with sympathy and kindness, even Stan and Clara's grumpy father. It seems to have far too many threads, but they are all pulled together in the end, in a happy conclusion, and if there are a lot of coincidences, this is forgivable. Lily gets her longed-for whole and perfect day, as do all the other characters -- what else can one ask? Many young adult novels these days are so grim; the occasional positive story is a refreshing change.

With thanks to Reviewe by Sue Bursztynsk in January Magazine for the above

About Judith Clarke

Judith Clarke was born in Sydney, Australia, and lives in Melbourne. She is the author of many award-winning books for young adults, including Kalpana's Dream, Wolf on the Fold, Night Train, and Friend of My Heart.

"The best job I ever had," says Judith, "was as a tea-lady in a Sydney radio station. The worst was as governess/minder/parole officer of two teenagers whose parents had gone away (escaped?) for the long summer holidays."

"I never made a conscious decision to be a writer; I never saw it as a profession or career. Writing was something I began doing when I was a child in the western suburbs of Sydney in the 1950s. All of the kids in my neighborhood were boys, and though they let my sister and I play with them, they pinched our marbles and comics and bashed us up. Writing stories was less dangerous."

AWARDS won by Judith Clarke
One Whole & Perfect Day (Front Street, 2007)
Michael L. Printz Honor Book

Kalpana's Dream (Front Street, 2004)
Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book in Fiction and Poetry

Wolf on the Fold (Front Street, 2002)
Children's Books of the Year Awards Winner-Children's Book Council of Australia

Night Train (Holt, 2000)
Children's Books of the Year Awards Honor, Older Readers
Children's Book Council of Australia
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Winner
Young Adult Fiction-State Library of Victoria, Australia

Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins (HarperTeen)-

About the book- Don't call me a demon. I prefer the term Fallen Angel.

Everybody deserves a vacation, right? Especially if you have a pointless job like tormenting the damned. So who could blame me for blowing off my duties and taking a small, unauthorized break?

Besides, I've always wanted to see what physical existence is like. That's why I "borrowed" the slightly used body of a slacker teen. Believe me, he wasn't going to be using it anymore anyway.

I have never understood why humans do the things they do. Like sin—if it's so terrible, why do they keep doing it?

I'm going to have a lot of fun finding out!

About the author- A.M. Jenkins: lives in Benbrook, Texas with her three sons. Novels: Breaking Boxes (Delacorte, 1997); Damage (HarperCollins, 2001); Out of Order (Bccb Blue Ribbon Fiction Books Awards) (HarperCollins, 2003), Beating Heart: A Ghost Story (HarperCollins, 2006); HarperCollins, 2007); Night Road (HarperCollins, spring 2008). She also does freelance work for educational and trade companies

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill (below)

Book Description
On a bleak February day in 1963 a young American poet died by her own hand, and passed into a myth that has since imprinted itself on the hearts and minds of millions. She was and is Sylvia Plath and Your Own, Sylvia is a portrait of her life, told in poems.

With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources to round out the reading experience, Your Own, Sylvia is a great curriculum companion to Plath's The Bell Jar and Ariel, a welcoming introduction for newcomers, and an unflinching valentine for the devoted.

About the Author

Stephanie Hemphill is an award-winning poet living in Los Angeles. Her first young adult novel, Things Left Unsaid, was awarded the 2006 Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Excellence in Poetry by the Children''s Literature Council of Southern California. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, is Stephanie Hemphill''s second novel

2007 Printz Award Winner

Gene Luen Yang has won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for his masterful graphic novel, American Born Chinese. The book is published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. The award announcement was made during the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

Yang draws from American pop culture and ancient Chinese mythology in his groundbreaking work. Expertly told in words and pictures, Yang’s story in three parts follows a Chinese American teenager’s struggle to define himself against racial stereotypes. American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to be recognized by the Michael L. Printz Committee.

About the Winning Author

Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry award, for Gordon Yamamoto And The King Of The Geeks and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan's Kingdom: Book 1 of 2 (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and Rosary Comic Book: Includes the Luminous Mysteries. His first graphic novel, American Born Chinese (First Second, 2006), was a National Book Award finalist, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Editor's Choice for 2006, and recipient of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area

2007 Honor Books

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson, published by CandlewicK

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Surrender by Sonya Hartnett, published by Candlewick Press

The Book Thief (Readers Circle) by Markus Zusak, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

Previous Winners 2000 to 2006

2006

Winner:

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

Honor Books:

Black Juice, by Margo Lanagan
I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)), by Elizabeth Partridge
A Wreath for Emmett Till (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards)), by Marilyn Nelson

2005

Winner:

How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff

Honor Books:

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel

Chanda's Secrets, by Allan Stratton

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

2004:

Winner:

The First Part Last, by Angela Johnson

Honor Books:

A Northern Light, by Jennifer Donnelly

Keesha's House, by Helen Frost

Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

2003

Winner:

Postcards from No Man's Land (Carnegie Medal Winner) by Aidan Chambers

Honor Books:

The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

My Heartbeat, by Garret Freymann-Weyr

Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos

2002

Winner:

A Step From Heaven, by An Na

Honor Books:

The Ropemaker, by Peter Dickinson

Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, by Jan Greenberg Abrams

Freewill, by Chris Lynch

True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

2001

Winner:

Kit's Wilderness (Readers Circle), by David Almond

Honor Books:

Many Stones, by Carolyn Coman

The Body of Christopher Creed, by Carol Plum-Ucci

Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison

Stuck in Neutral, by Terry Trueman

2000

Winner:

Monster, by Walter Dean Myers

Honor Books:

Skellig, by David Almond

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Printz Committee Members

Members of the Printz Award Committee are: Chair Lynn Rutan, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, Mich.; Julie Thomas Bartel, Judge Memorial Catholic High School, Salt Lake City; Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Calgary, Alberta; Jonathan Hunt, Modesto City Schools, Hughson, Calif.; Walter M. Mayes, The Girls' Middle School, Mountain View, Calif.; Jolen Neumann, Madison Metropolitan School District , Fitchburg, Wis.; Hollis Rudiger, Rochester, Minn.; Amy Sears, Teaneck Public Library, Teaneck, N.J.; Patricia Suellentrop, youth services manager, Johnson County Library, Kan. and Stephanie Zvirin, Booklist consultant, Chicago.