YALSA announces 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults finalists

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), selected five books as finalists for the 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, which honors the best nonfiction books written for young adults between Nov. 1, 2011 and Oct. 31, 2012. YALSA will name the 2013 award winner at the Youth Media Awards at 8 a.m. on Jan. 28, in Seattle during the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting.

The 2013 finalists are:

• “Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different” a biography by Karen Blumenthal, published by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
• “Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95” written by Phillip Hoose, published by Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan children’s Publishing Group.
• “Titanic: Voices from the Disaster” written by Deborah Hopkinson, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic.
• “We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March” written by Cynthia Levinson, published by Peachtree Publishers.
• “Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon” written by Steve Sheinkin, published by Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

“Our five finalists represent the wonderfully burgeoning field of nonfiction written for young adults,” said Angela Frederick, chair of YALSA’s Excellence in Nonfiction Award committee. “Our committee chose these books based on their well-crafted stories, thorough research and appeal to teens.”

Annotations and more information on the finalists and the award can be found on the YALSA website. YALSA sells finalist seals to librarians and publishers to place on books at www.alastore.ala.org. YALSA will host a reception honoring the finalist authors and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Morris Award winner and finalists, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Jan. 28, in room 606 of the Washington State Convention Center.

Members of the 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award committee are: Chair Angela Frederick, Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library; Ruth Allen, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Roxy Ekstrom, Schaumburg (Ill.) Twp Library; Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos (N.M.) County Library System; Judy Nelson, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, Wash.; Maren Ostergard, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Laura Pearle, VennConsultants, Carmel, N.Y.; Adela Peskorz, Metropolitan State University Library, Saint Paul, Minn.; Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington (Va.) Public Library; Sara Morse, Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library; and Gillian Engberg, Booklist, Chicago.

YALSA’s portfolio of book and media awards helps strengthen library services for and with teens by identifying quality, age appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in their communities.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has worked to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.

For more information on the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.