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RE: YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award
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From: sully_at_sully-writer.com
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:17:46 -0700
As a member of this year's Sibert committee, I was especially curious to see what would win the YALSA Nonfiction Award. I wondered what sort of crossover there would be among the titles. I am thrilled that Charles & Emma won the award. I am glad it was also recognized as a National Book Award finalist. It is such a beautifully written, richly layered book. I can think of no title more deserving. Many people remarked that they loved the book but could not imagine who would read it. I feared the book would suffer the same fate as Philip Hoose's The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. That story may not be as appealing or accessible as Claudette Colvin, but it's still my personal favorite of Hoose's work. It is one of the best nonfiction books I have read for any age. Lord God Bird did not receive NBA recognition, and I'll hazard to guess the Sibert committee that year struggled with the same question as many did with Charles & Emma this year: "Who is the audience?"
There is no question that the audience who reads either title is limited, but young people who do read those books are in for a rich and rewarding experience. These are the kinds of books that librarians need to sell to teachers and to their young patrons. These books will have enthusiastic, appreciative readers if we make an effort to bring them together.
There was, as I suspected, some crossover. The Sibert Medal-winner Almost Astronauts is a YALSA Nonfiction Honor book, and Claudette Colvin are both Sibert and YALSA Honor books (and a Newbery Honor book but not a Printz Honor book). Charles & Emma is a Printz Honor book. The other YALSA Nonfiction honor books are The Great and Only Barnum and Written in Bone, both exemplary choices.
What I find odd are some of the titles in the "Official Nomination List." The oddest is John Agard's The Young Inferno. It is not an informational book. It is nonfiction in the sense that it could be shelved in the 740s as a graphic novel or the 800s as literature since the story is based on Dante's Inferno. With that as an "official nominee," I'm assuming the YALSA award does not consider informational book and nonfiction synonymous. Are they considering any book that would get a Dewey number nonfiction? That would mean poetry and folklore would be eleigible, along with other books not typically considered nonfiction except in how they might be shelved.
According to the YALSA web site, the committee's charge is to "annually select the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year." I cannot argue w ith the choice of Charles & Emma as the pick for "best." It is difficult to discern, however, how the committee decides what is "best." The closest I can find to criteria is this: "The title must include excellent writing, research, presentation and readability for young adults." I'm not sure what the list of "offically vetted" nominations is supposed to represent. Are the honor books supposed to be "second best" and the nominations list "almost second best"? It is odd to see abridged adaptations for young readers like Ominivore's Dilemma and Mission Control, This is Apollo on the list. Even odder is the inclusion in the list of a book like a Rachel Ray biography from Chelsea House when books like James Cross Giblin's Joseph McCarthy biography and Genius of Common Sense are ommitted.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Visit my web site, http://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Reading http://sullywriter.wordpress.com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award From: Megan Schliesman Date: Fri, February 12, 2010 1:01 pm To: "ccbc-net, Subscribers of"
I'll second the appreciation for "Charles and Emma" by Deborah Heiligman
that Kathleen Odean stated earlier this week. This is a book that I didn't want to end because I found it a pure pleasure to read. It's a vivid history full of humor, drama, passion, and keen details of time, place, and personalities. If I were in a high school library, I'd want to share it with teachers of natural sciences and literature, and anyone
doing courses about or connected to religious studies. (And I've already
recommended it to a number of adult friends.)
I've heard CCBC director K.T. Horning mention it as a book that would appeal to teen readers who have found Jane Austen, and I agree. It's also such a great example of non-fiction as story: The rich primary source material was clearly a treasure trove for the author--the letters
of Charles and Emma alone must have felt like a biographer's dream. But beyond these, there is a narrative tone in Charles and Emma as satisfying to me as that of a terrific novel--it was irresistible. And I think there are teen readers who will think so, too. Others may come to it from an interest in science rather than story, and there, too, the
book has so much to offer, detailing how Darwin's voyage on the "Beagle"
influenced and helped solidify his thinking in the years that followed.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:17:46 -0700
As a member of this year's Sibert committee, I was especially curious to see what would win the YALSA Nonfiction Award. I wondered what sort of crossover there would be among the titles. I am thrilled that Charles & Emma won the award. I am glad it was also recognized as a National Book Award finalist. It is such a beautifully written, richly layered book. I can think of no title more deserving. Many people remarked that they loved the book but could not imagine who would read it. I feared the book would suffer the same fate as Philip Hoose's The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. That story may not be as appealing or accessible as Claudette Colvin, but it's still my personal favorite of Hoose's work. It is one of the best nonfiction books I have read for any age. Lord God Bird did not receive NBA recognition, and I'll hazard to guess the Sibert committee that year struggled with the same question as many did with Charles & Emma this year: "Who is the audience?"
There is no question that the audience who reads either title is limited, but young people who do read those books are in for a rich and rewarding experience. These are the kinds of books that librarians need to sell to teachers and to their young patrons. These books will have enthusiastic, appreciative readers if we make an effort to bring them together.
There was, as I suspected, some crossover. The Sibert Medal-winner Almost Astronauts is a YALSA Nonfiction Honor book, and Claudette Colvin are both Sibert and YALSA Honor books (and a Newbery Honor book but not a Printz Honor book). Charles & Emma is a Printz Honor book. The other YALSA Nonfiction honor books are The Great and Only Barnum and Written in Bone, both exemplary choices.
What I find odd are some of the titles in the "Official Nomination List." The oddest is John Agard's The Young Inferno. It is not an informational book. It is nonfiction in the sense that it could be shelved in the 740s as a graphic novel or the 800s as literature since the story is based on Dante's Inferno. With that as an "official nominee," I'm assuming the YALSA award does not consider informational book and nonfiction synonymous. Are they considering any book that would get a Dewey number nonfiction? That would mean poetry and folklore would be eleigible, along with other books not typically considered nonfiction except in how they might be shelved.
According to the YALSA web site, the committee's charge is to "annually select the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year." I cannot argue w ith the choice of Charles & Emma as the pick for "best." It is difficult to discern, however, how the committee decides what is "best." The closest I can find to criteria is this: "The title must include excellent writing, research, presentation and readability for young adults." I'm not sure what the list of "offically vetted" nominations is supposed to represent. Are the honor books supposed to be "second best" and the nominations list "almost second best"? It is odd to see abridged adaptations for young readers like Ominivore's Dilemma and Mission Control, This is Apollo on the list. Even odder is the inclusion in the list of a book like a Rachel Ray biography from Chelsea House when books like James Cross Giblin's Joseph McCarthy biography and Genius of Common Sense are ommitted.
Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian Author, The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb (Holiday House, 2007) Visit my web site, http://www.sully-writer.com Visit my blog, Rogue Librarian: All About Books and Reading http://sullywriter.wordpress.com Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sullywriter
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award From: Megan Schliesman Date: Fri, February 12, 2010 1:01 pm To: "ccbc-net, Subscribers of"
I'll second the appreciation for "Charles and Emma" by Deborah Heiligman
that Kathleen Odean stated earlier this week. This is a book that I didn't want to end because I found it a pure pleasure to read. It's a vivid history full of humor, drama, passion, and keen details of time, place, and personalities. If I were in a high school library, I'd want to share it with teachers of natural sciences and literature, and anyone
doing courses about or connected to religious studies. (And I've already
recommended it to a number of adult friends.)
I've heard CCBC director K.T. Horning mention it as a book that would appeal to teen readers who have found Jane Austen, and I agree. It's also such a great example of non-fiction as story: The rich primary source material was clearly a treasure trove for the author--the letters
of Charles and Emma alone must have felt like a biographer's dream. But beyond these, there is a narrative tone in Charles and Emma as satisfying to me as that of a terrific novel--it was irresistible. And I think there are teen readers who will think so, too. Others may come to it from an interest in science rather than story, and there, too, the
book has so much to offer, detailing how Darwin's voyage on the "Beagle"
influenced and helped solidify his thinking in the years that followed.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
---Received on Tue 16 Feb 2010 12:17:46 PM CST
