2014 Margaret A. Edwards Award

2014 Winner

Markus Zusak for “The Book Thief,” “Fighting Ruben Wolfe,” “Getting the Girl,” and “I Am the Messenger”

Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak is the recipient of the 2014 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens for “The Book Thief,” “Fighting Ruben Wolfe,” “Getting the Girl,” and “I Am the Messenger.”

The Book Thief I Am the Messenger

As the horrors of war in WWII Germany escalate, Liesel steals books in Zusak’s heart-wrenching, critically acclaimed “The Book Thief,” published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. “I Am the Messenger,” also a publication of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, features slacker Ed Kennedy who discovers the power of chances and his own potential.

Fighting Ruben Wolfe Getting the Girl

“Fighting Ruben Wolfe,” and “Getting the Girl,” two compelling books published by Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Scholastic, introduce readers to the engaging Wolfe brothers, offering them a rare and realistic depiction of teen boys living in a loving working class family.

“With lyrical prose, memorable characters, and authentic dialogue, Zusak’s richly nuanced stories capture and hold teens’ attention from the first word to the last,” said Edwards Committee Chair Cheryl Karp Ward.

Markus Zusak will be honored at the YALSA Edwards Award Brunch and presented with a citation and cash prize of $2,000 during the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, June 26 – July 1. The award is sponsored by School Library Journal.

Members of the 2014 Edwards Committee are: Chair Cheryl Karp Ward, Teen Services Consultant, Broad Brook, Conn.; Sarah Ludwig, Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, Conn.; Melissa McBride, Southold UFSD, Southold, N.Y. ; Barbara Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, N.Y.; and Lynn M. Rutan, Bookends: Booklist Online Youth Blog, Holland, Mich.

Previous Winners