National Book Awards

The National Book Foundation has announced the winners of the National Book Award. There are four categories that receive awards: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. In mid-October, a list of five nominations for each category is announced. It's often a surprise to those of us interested in book awards when the nominations and winners are announced. That may be because the jury that decides which books receive that honor changes every year - and each jury devises it's own criteria, based on the eligibility set by the Foundation.

In 2012, 314 books were submitted for the Young People's Fiction Award. Out of all these books, the jury selected five finalists:


Goblin Secrets by William Alexander
YA Alexander
Hoping to find his lost brother, Rownie escapes the home of the witch Graba and joins a troupe of goblins who perform in Zombay, a city where humans are forbidden to wear masks and act in plays.

 
Out of Reach by Carrie Arcos
YA Arcos
Accompanied by her brother's friend, Tyler, sixteen-year-old Rachel ventures through San Diego and nearby areas seeking her brother, eighteen-year-old Micah, a methamphetamine addict who ran away from home. 


 
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
YA McCormick
Cambodian child soldier Arn Chorn-Pond defied the odds and used all of his courage and wits to survive the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge.
 

Endangered by Eliot Shrefer
YA Shrefer
Sophie is not happy to be back in the Congo for the summer, but when she rescues an abused baby bonobo she becomes more involved in her mother's sanctuary--and when fighting breaks out and the sanctuary is attacked, it is up to Sophie to rescue the apes and somehow survive in the jungle.


Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Largest Weapon
by Steve Sheinkin
YA 623.45119 SHE
Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

 

 

AND THE WINNER IS: