Contact:Stephanie Kuenn


YALSA Communications Specialist


(312) 280-2128


skuenn@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


June 17, 2008

YALSA publishes “The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook”

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced the publication of “The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook,” edited by Tina Frolund and co-published with Neal-Schuman.

In “The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook,” eight nationally recognized authorities have brought together essential information about the YALSA awards in one comprehensive guide. The guidebook will provide librarians with an exhaustive list of award-winning books with which to build their collections, as well as useful tools for promoting those books to readers.

Ideal for any library that caters to a young-adult population, the book provides information on three YALSA awards: the Alex Award, honoring adult books with specific teen appeal; the Edwards Award, citing an author for a specific work for its lifetime contribution to writing for teens; and the Printz Award, for the best young adult book of the year. For each award, contributors discuss the history and founding of the award, as well as characteristics of the winning books. Lists of winning books provide concise summaries as well as subjects covered. The book also includes speeches from Printz and Edwards award ceremonies.

Tina Frolund is a librarian in Las Vegas, Nev. Tina holds a master’s degree in library science from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is an active member of YALSA and will be appearing at the YALSA Authors Meet & Greet at 12:30 p.m. June 29 in the ALA Pavilion (#1840) at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

“The Official YALSA Awards Guidebook,” edited by Tina Frolund for the Young Adult Library Services Association (ISBN-13: 978-1-55570-629-6), costs $55.00 and is available for purchase on Neal-Schuman’s Web site,
www.neal-schuman.com or by calling 1 (866) NS-BOOKS. It will also be available at Neal-Schuman’s booth in the exhibits hall (#700) at the ALA Annual Conference. Discounts are available for YALSA members. For more information, please contact Matt Wilson (
matt.wilson@neal-schuman.com).

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos and audio books for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to
www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists, or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail:
yalsa@ala.org.