Coe Booth Nabs LA Times Book Prize for YA Fiction
By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 4/30/2007
Coe Booth’s first novel, Tyrell (Scholastic), is this year’s winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction.
Other young adult nominees included M.T. Anderson’s 2006 National Book Award-winner The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party (Candlewick); John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines (Dutton); Meg Rosoff’s Just in Case (Wendy Lamb); and Nancy Werlin’s National Book Award finalist, The Rules of Survival (Dial).
Tyrell, the story of an African-American teen living in a homeless shelter and trying to stay clean of drugs and street life, received a starred review from School Library Journal, praising its “strong plot and array of vivid, well-developed characters [which] take readers on an unforgettable journey through the gritty streets of New York City’s South Bronx.” Booth was profiled in the February issue of SLJ.
The awards ceremony, which took place April 27, was hosted by PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer, and marked the 27th anniversary of the book awards. The event kicked off last weekend’s two-day Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA. Each L.A. Times Book Prize includes a $1,000 cash award.
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