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FORWARD from Richie Partington: The Printz Award at 13
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From: Kathleen Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:16:05 -0500
Forwarding this message from Richie Partington:
**
First of all, on a related tangent, I find it ridiculous and counter productive that one has to sign in on YALSA's pages in order to see th e list of Printz medalists and Honor books (or any of the other book awa rd winners and selection committee choices). Who are you -- YALSA seem s to ask through this process -- that you dare to gain access to our precious listings of award-winning books?
I don't have my ALA membership number memorized, so I end up just g oing to Wikipedia to access the Printz listings, instead of going thro ugh that YALSA ordeal. I don't bother sending my MLIS students to YALSA's pages, either. It's a total nuisance, so I just provid e them the bib information myself. I did go in to YALSA's pages to d o a bit of research for what I am about to say, and I had to sign in T HREE TIMES in five clicks of the mouse in order to see three separate li sts. What a nuisance!
You don't see ALSC making a big deal about keeping their awards listi ngs under lock and key...
There is, of course., plenty to love on the Printz list (once you gain access to it). My all-time favorite Printz-recognized book is SP EAK. My favorite informational book receiving Printz award recognition is Betsy Partridge's JOHN LENNON: ALL I WANT IS THE TRUTH, A PHOT OGRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY.
Like Marc, I think that it has been a significant and egregious fai lure of YALSA's system that informational books for teens have been al most thoroughly shut out of the Printz award process. Something is ser iously wrong with that and it should be changed. YALSA seems, in g eneral, to accord nonfiction secondary citizenship. In addition to t he Printz shunning nonfiction titles, nonfiction was purged from BBYA and, yes, there is now a Nonfiction Award. BUT in contrast to the 112 -- yes, 112 -- titles on the most recent Best Fiction for Young Ad ults list (out of 211 official nominations), YALSA recognizes one nonf iction book, a measly handful of finalists, and the rest of YA nonfi ction can go take a walk.
It is my opinion that books like AMELIA LOST: THE LIFE AND DISAPPEARA NCE OF AMELIA EARHART and FLESH & BLOOD SO CHEAP: THE TRIANGLE FIRE & ITS LEGACY (to cite a couple of my favorite books from 2011) are far superior every which way to a majority of those 112 BFA titles.
But the entire YALSA system is a stacked deck in favor of fiction.
Richie Partington, MLIS Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com(http://richiespicks.com /) BudNotBuddy_at_aol.com Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/(htt p://groups.yahoo.com/middle_school_lit/) http://slisweb.sj
Received on Mon 06 Aug 2012 01:16:05 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:16:05 -0500
Forwarding this message from Richie Partington:
**
First of all, on a related tangent, I find it ridiculous and counter productive that one has to sign in on YALSA's pages in order to see th e list of Printz medalists and Honor books (or any of the other book awa rd winners and selection committee choices). Who are you -- YALSA seem s to ask through this process -- that you dare to gain access to our precious listings of award-winning books?
I don't have my ALA membership number memorized, so I end up just g oing to Wikipedia to access the Printz listings, instead of going thro ugh that YALSA ordeal. I don't bother sending my MLIS students to YALSA's pages, either. It's a total nuisance, so I just provid e them the bib information myself. I did go in to YALSA's pages to d o a bit of research for what I am about to say, and I had to sign in T HREE TIMES in five clicks of the mouse in order to see three separate li sts. What a nuisance!
You don't see ALSC making a big deal about keeping their awards listi ngs under lock and key...
There is, of course., plenty to love on the Printz list (once you gain access to it). My all-time favorite Printz-recognized book is SP EAK. My favorite informational book receiving Printz award recognition is Betsy Partridge's JOHN LENNON: ALL I WANT IS THE TRUTH, A PHOT OGRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY.
Like Marc, I think that it has been a significant and egregious fai lure of YALSA's system that informational books for teens have been al most thoroughly shut out of the Printz award process. Something is ser iously wrong with that and it should be changed. YALSA seems, in g eneral, to accord nonfiction secondary citizenship. In addition to t he Printz shunning nonfiction titles, nonfiction was purged from BBYA and, yes, there is now a Nonfiction Award. BUT in contrast to the 112 -- yes, 112 -- titles on the most recent Best Fiction for Young Ad ults list (out of 211 official nominations), YALSA recognizes one nonf iction book, a measly handful of finalists, and the rest of YA nonfi ction can go take a walk.
It is my opinion that books like AMELIA LOST: THE LIFE AND DISAPPEARA NCE OF AMELIA EARHART and FLESH & BLOOD SO CHEAP: THE TRIANGLE FIRE & ITS LEGACY (to cite a couple of my favorite books from 2011) are far superior every which way to a majority of those 112 BFA titles.
But the entire YALSA system is a stacked deck in favor of fiction.
Richie Partington, MLIS Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com(http://richiespicks.com /) BudNotBuddy_at_aol.com Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/(htt p://groups.yahoo.com/middle_school_lit/) http://slisweb.sj
Received on Mon 06 Aug 2012 01:16:05 PM CDT
