2006 Michael L. Printz Winner

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/printzaward/previouswinners/06printz.cfm

2006 Michael L. Printz Award Winner

John Green has won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award for his extraordinary first novel “Looking for Alaska,” published by Dutton Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Tired of his boring existence, 16-year-old Miles “Pudge” Halter heads off to seek his Great Perhaps at an Alabama boarding school, where new-found freedom, guilty pleasures and an enigmatic girl named Alaska hurl him into life. First-time author John Green writes with intimacy, humor, and insight about a world where intense friendship can lead to devastating loss,” says Committee Chair Michael Cart.

John Green, like his protagonist Miles, attended an Alabama boarding school and currently lives in New York City.

The award announcement was made during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, January 20-25. The award, first given in 2000, is named for the late Michael L. Printz, a Topeka, KS, school librarian known for discovering and promoting quality books for young adults.

2006 Honor Books

Black Juice

by Margo Lanagan, published by EOS, an imprint of HarperCollins

I Am the Messenger

by Markus Zusak, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography

by Elizabeth Partridge, published by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

A Wreath for Emmett Till

by Marilyn Nelson, published by Houghton Mifflin Company

Award sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

Members of the Printz Award Committee are Chair Michael Cart, San Diego, CA; Sandra Anne Farrell, Philadelphia, PA; Jennifer Hubert, New York, NY; Betsy J. Levine, San Francisco, CA; Kimberly L. Paone, Elizabeth, NJ; Michael G. Pawuk, Brooklyn, OH; Susan Raboy; Brooklyn, NY; Susan Riley, Mount Kisco, NY; Deborah Denise Taylor, Baltimore, MD; Ilene Cooper, Booklist, Chicago, IL; and the late James Cook, Dayton, OH.