The YALSA awards were announced yesterday; I spent a lazy hour in bed, curled up under my warm comforter, following the tweets as each honor book and winner was announced. It was pretty amazing to see BOOKS trending nationwide. As a result, my to-read list has grown immensely in just the past 24 hours. In particular, I'm always interested in the winners of the Printz award and the Alex Award. For those of you who enjoy YA fiction but like to dip into the adult shelves at your local library or bookstore, the Alex Award winners offer a great crossing-over place. In looking back through the past few years, I've read and enjoyed a number of each year's winners. Here's a look at the ones I recommend, as well as 10 books I've added to my list to pick up on my next library visit.
2012 winners:
Ready Player One
The Night Circus
Salvage the Bones
The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens
The Talk-Funny Girl
The Lover's Dictionary
In Zanesville
2011:
Room
The Radleys
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
The House of Tomorrow
The Lock Artist
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
2010:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Magicians
Soulless
The Bride's Farewell
Have you read any of the titles that I didn't link? I've been aware of several of them for a while, but there are a few others that have made it onto my TBR list because of the awards.
What about you? Are you more or less likely to pick up a book if you see it's an award winner? Sometimes I'm a little worried about the hype, because I do try to go into every reading of every book with an open mind, but it's oh so hard to do...
