The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has announced the finalists for the 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, July 30. The finalists are: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin’s Griffin) Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott (Holt/Christy Ottaviano Bks.) The Milk of Birds by Sylvia Whitman (S. & S./Atheneum) Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Bks.)

Winger by Andrew Smith (S. & S.)