YA Award Winners

This week, I'm looking at recent award winners. I just read the graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang and cannot recommend it enough. I realize I'm biased - I love basketball and the story takes place in my childhood home town - but I can honestly say that the plot, character development, humor and emotional depth are first rate.

Here are some others to consider:

King, A.S. (2019). Dig. New York: Dutton Books. Realistic fiction.

Dig. is about a disparate family that comes together to question and inspect its race-based privilege. I am new to high school librarianship, and so am needing to get up to speed on Printz award winners. I searched up the winners online and tracked down books at the Greenfield Public Library. King as won several Printz honors and I decided it was time to get to know her style. King writes in the acknowledgements for Dig., "This book is supposed to be uncomfortable. I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry." I'm highlighting this book because it is an earnest exploration of where we are in society in re: social justice and equity.

Tison, Ari. (2023). Saints of the Household. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers. Realistic fiction.

Saints of the Household is the story of Max and Jay, two gentle sons of an abusive father whose carefully controlled lives begin to unravel when they instinctively react with violence to protect their cousin. This book was on face-forward display in the Greenfield Public Library teen center and sports both the Pura Belpré Award sticker and the William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist sticker. I chose to highlight it because I am unfamiliar with the author's indigenous Bribri culture and am intrigued to learn more about it through the characters in her book.

Chee, Traci. (2020). We Are Not Free. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Historical fiction.

Told from the perspective of 14 San Francisco teens interned after Pearl Harbor, We Are Not Free is an intimate, angry account of a terrible American injustice. I found this in the Greenfield Public Library teen center when doing research on recent Printz award winners. This book was also a National Book Award finalist. I chose it because I don't know enough about the Japanese internment camps and whit I do know comes from either a little kid voice (Dash, Paper Wishes) or from nonfiction readings. Historical fiction is such a great way to educate kids about our past and build empathy, so this feels like a perfect fit for a high school collection.

What are some YA award winners you love? Which of the above books would you most like to read?