National Book Award Names Five Finalists for Kids' Lit
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By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 10/16/2008
A historical fiction set during the American Revolution, a touching story about a cat and dog in the Bayou, and a coming-of-age story are among five finalists for the 2008 National Book Award in the category of Young People’s Literature.
The nominees, selected from 271 book submissions published between December 1, 2007 and November 30, 2008, were chosen by a panel of fellow authors that included Daniel Handler, a.k.a Lemony Snicket; Holly Black, author of "The Spiderwick Chronicles" (S & S); and 1983 Newbery medalist, Cynthia Voigt.
The nominees are:
Laurie Halse Anderson for Chains (S & S), about a 13-year-old named Isabel who is determined to win her freedom after her former owner breaks his promise to set her free and sends her to live with a cruel loyalist family at the start of the Revolutionary War.
"I am deeply honored and positively giddy," says Halse Anderson reacting to being a finalist for "this amazing award." "I never thought I'd have this happen again and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and humbled and crazy with excitement!"
Kathi Appelt for her novel The Underneath (Atheneum), the story about a calico cat about to have kittens and her unlikely friendship with a hound, set in the backwaters of the bayou.
"The best I can say is that it feels glittery, like I swallowed a star," Appelt says about her nomination.
Judy Blundell for What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic), a novel set in 1947 that involves a teenager named Evie who finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies when she falls for the handsome young ex-GI who served in her stepfather’s company in postwar Austria.
Blundell told SLJ she was “stunned to the point of incoherence” when she heard about her nomination. “I discovered that it's possible to not breathe and yet say 'oh my god' 14 times in a row to Harold Augenbraum (executive director of the National Book Foundation),” she says. “Mostly, I'm thrilled to be in the company of such amazing writers.”
E. Lockhart for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion), about a slightly awkward teen who turns into a knockout during the summer between her freshman and sophomore years at Alabaster Preparatory, one of the nation's most elite boarding schools, and suddenly gets a lot of attention, especially from senior heartthrob Matthew Livingston.
Tim Tharp for The Spectacular Now (Knopf), about an unambitious partier named Sutter Keely, who wakes up on a random front lawn and meets Aimee, who's even more clueless than he is—and for the first time in his life, Sutter has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.
The National Book Award was created in 1950 to recognize the best of American literature and to strive to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in the U.S., while advancing the careers of both established and emerging writers. The winner will be announced at a dinner in New York City on November 19th.
