Finalists for Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Unveiled

By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 8/14/2009

Jacqueline Woodson’s After Tupac and D Foster (Putnam), Kristin Cashore’s Graceling (Harcourt), and Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, by (HarperCollins) are among finalists for the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award, created to recognize an author whose work demonstrates “a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.”

Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of Walden, an author of more than 40 books for young adults, the award comes with a $5,000 check and is sponsored by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

A selection committee of 10 individuals who represent higher education, K-12 education, and library communities reviewed 232 titles published in 2008 and recently unveiled the five finalists for the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.

This year’s winning title will be announced during a reception at the 2009 ALAN Workshop in Philadelphia, PA, and will include the finalists reading excerpts from their works.

The finalists are:

After Tupac and D Foster (Putnam) by Jacqueline Woodson

Graceling (Harcourt) by Kristin Cashore

The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins) by Neil Gaiman

Me, The Missing, and the Dead (HarperCollins) by Jenny Valentine

My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park (Dial) by Steve Kluger.