YALSA announces 2005 Alex Awards

Contact: Nichole Gilbert


312-280-4387


ngilbert@ala.org

For Immediate Release


April 14, 2005

YALSA announces 2005 Alex Awards

CHICAGO - The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected 10 adult books that will appeal to teen readers to receive the 2005 Alex Awards. YALSA and
Booklist are announcing the Alex Awards as part of National Library Week, April 10-16, 2005.

The 2005 Alex Awards are:

• Almond, Steve.
  Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of Ameri ca. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $21.95 (1-56512-412-9).

• Cox, Lynn.
  Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer. Knopf, $24.95 (0-375-41507-6).

• Halpin, Brendan.
  Donorboy. Random House, $12.95 (1-4000-6277-2).

• Kurson, Robert.
  Shadow Divers. Random House, $26.95 (0-375-50858-9).

• Meyers, Kent.
  Work of Wolves. Harcourt, $24.00 (0-15-101057-9).

• Patchett, Ann.
  Truth & Beauty: A Friendship. HarperCollins, $23.95 (0-06-057214-0).

• Picoult, Jodi.
  My Sister's Keeper. Atria, $25.00 (0-7434-5452-9).

• Reed, Kit.
  Thinner Than Thou. Tom Doherty Associates, $24.00 (0-765-30762-6).

• Shepard, Jim.
  Project X. Knopf, $20.00 (1-4000-4071-X).

• Sullivan, Robert.
  Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (1-58234-385-3).

“The list created by the 2005 Alex Awards Committee is a diverse group of both fiction and non-fiction titles that will entertain, captivate, and challenge many teens,” said Kimberley Hrivnak, chair of the 2005 Alex committee. “These titles speak to realities that affect all of us: unconditional friendship and love, pushing or being pushed beyond one's limits, learning about society's norms and mores, dealing with adversity, and exploring the world that surrounds us.”

The Alex Awards were created to recognize that many teens enjoy and often prefer books written for adults, and to assist librarians in recommending adult books that appeal to teens. The award is named in honor of the late Margaret Alexander Edwards, fondly called “Alex” by her closest friends, a young adult specialist at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. She used adult books extensively with young adults to broaden their experience and enrich their understanding of themselves and their world.

In addition to selecting titles for the Alex Awards, the Alex Committee presents a program at the ALA Annual Conference. This year's program, Saturday, June 25, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Continental room of the Chicago Hilton Towers, will highlight how to talk about the Alex winners to young adults.

An annotated list of the Alex Award winners is available on the YALSA “for members only” website, in the April 1st issue of
Booklist, and in the 2005 edition of
ALA's Guide to Best Reading. The list without annotations is available on the YALSA website:
www.ala.org/yalsa.

The 2005 Alex Award Committee: Chair, Kimberley Hrivnak, Allegheny County Library Association, Pa.; Lauren Adams, Horn Book Review, Mass.; Terry Beck, Sno-Isle Libraries, Wash.; Peter Butts, Holland Public Schools, Mich.; Angela Carstensen, Staten Island Academy, N.Y.; Mary Hastler, Harford County Public Library, Md.; Ellen Loughran, Pratt School of Library and Information Science, N.Y.; Karlan Sick, New York Public Library, N.Y.; Ann Theis, Chesterfield County Library, Va.; and Administrative Assistant, David Hrivnak, Peoples Library, Pa.