Ages 11-18
Blog Post
Alex Award Winners
by manz
The American Library Association announced award winners for the best in books, video and audio books for children and young adults at the annual Youth Media Awards. Among the long list of awards is the Alex Award which is given to the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences. As an avid reader of young adult fiction, I love the crossover of teens reading adult fiction. This years picks were mix of fiction, science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, and graphic novels. Here’s a quick list in the catalog of this year's winners, as well as a long list of all Alex winners since 2002.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates – The author writes to his 15-year-old son about the inborn hazards of being black in America and his own intellectual, political and emotional confrontation with the need to live fully, even in the face of racialist culture.
Futuristic violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong – Zoey never had much ambition beyond being a barista, but when her father leaves her in control of the lawless city of Tabla Ra$a, she goes from steaming milk to slaying supervillains.
Girl at War by Sara Nović – Ana's early life was ravaged by the 1991 Balkan wars. Now a college student, Ana relives her war and its consequences as she unravels the mystery of herself and the meaning of home.
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie – A bloodthirsty girl and a reluctant warrior are recruited by a cunning minister for a mission that will either save or doom their kingdom.
All Involved by Ryan Gattis – Historical fiction set in 1992 during the LA riots that vividly recreates this turbulent and terrifying time through the stories of six interconnected lives caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
Bones & All By Camille DeAngelis – 16 year old Maren literally eats the ones who love her, bones and all. When her mother abandons her, Maren sets out to find the father she has never met, hoping he can help her understand why she is a monster.
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen – A high school basketball star lives under the thumb of her grandmother, a fierce believer in Y2K as the apocalypse. The year 1999 alters Mercy’s life in a small Texas refinery town and gives her a future beyond it.
Humans of New York, Stories by Brandon Stanton – In pictures and interviews that captivate, puzzle and reveal, photojournalist collects an immeasurable range of human emotions and perspectives.
Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League by Dan-el Padilla Peralta – Overstaying his visa in the U.S. before he was in kindergarten, Padilla Peralta joined other young DREAM Act scholars to erase his illegal status. His humor, wisdom, success and very American boyhood smash anti-immigration stereotypes.
Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia – Adults have disappeared, and Ben Schiller is trying to keep things together until their return in this unsettling graphic novel.
Blog Post
Teen Stuff: Orbiting Jupiter
by manz
Gary Schmidt has done it again with his latest teen novel. The acclaimed author won both a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy as well as a Newbery Honor for the amazing The Wednesday Wars. Schmidt’s newest novel is written in the same style as The Wednesday Wars and its companion Okay For Now.
Orbiting Jupiter features 14 year old Joseph, and rumor has it that he has a baby, almost killed a teacher, and has just been released from a juvenile detention center. He moves in as a foster with 12 year old Jack and his parents on a family farm in rural Maine. Joseph is wounded, lost and longs to find his baby daughter – all while trying to ward off bullies and learn to milk a cow. The book is full of nice grown-ups, helpful teachers, and a few warm and fuzzy feelings to balance out the harsh reality that is Joseph’s life. It was great to see a brotherly relationship develop between Joseph and Jack in small tender moments amidst all the other things happening in their lives.
It’s a quick read and I really wanted more character development, and the ending happened a bit too quickly, but I am really glad I read this book. (For 7th grade and up.)
Blog Post
Upcoming Writing Contests at AADL
by krayla
If you like to write, then get ready for two upcoming writing contests at the Ann Arbor District Library! We will start accepting submissions for both contests on Monday, January 25. Read on if you're interested in entering this year!
TEENS in Grades 6-12: "It's All Write!" Teen Short Story Contest
Writers may submit a short story Monday, January 25 through Friday, March 4. Check out the contest website for more information. Judges will choose the top three stories from each category (grades 6-8, 9-10, and 11-12) to receive cash prizes totaling $1500!
KIDS in Grades 3-5: "Write On!" Short Story Contest
Writers may submit a short story Monday, January 25 through Friday, February 12. Check out the contest website for more information. Judges will choose the top three stories from each grade to win awesome prizes!
We look forward to reading your story! For inspiration and ideas, check out the writing resource guides for teens and kids!
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #571 (and truly a small gem)
by muffy
As I was getting ready my Small Gems blog for this December, my copy of Anna and the Swallow Man * * arrived on my doorstep, and my choice is obvious. "I have never read anything quite like this book", wrote the reviewer for The Guardian, and neither have I.
"When Anna Lania woke on the morning of the sixth of November in the year 1939 - her seventh - there was several things that she did not know", one of them being her father, a Linguistics professor at the Jagiellonian University, would never return, having been rounded up by the Gestapos in Occupied Poland.
Turned out by a fearful family friend, hungry and cold, Anna met a tall and exceedingly thin man who not only shared Anna's command of languages, but he could also speak to the birds, and seemed to have more than a little magic up his sleeves. As the pair wandered the countryside together for years, they dodged bombs, tame soldiers, and in the process, the Swallow Man taught Anna lessons of survival while remaining an enigma until the end.
"Subtly crafted with an intelligent structure and beautiful language, this was a compelling and thought-provoking read." "Artful, original, insightful." Marketed as Teen fiction, Anna will nevertheless appeal to readers of any age.
A readalike for The Book Thief, it too, is "a story about growing up during a time of monumental changes. It reveals life's hardest lesson while celebrating its miraculous possibilities."
Debut novelist Gavriel Savit holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he grew up. An an actor and singer, he lives in Brooklyn.
* * = 2 starred reviews
Blog Post
New poetry for the year's end
by eapearce
Even though it’s not as cold as it usually is this time of year in Michigan, the dreary winter months are a wonderful time to curl up with a good book of poetry. Poetry can so quickly transport you to a different time, place, or season and can invoke intense emotions with just a few carefully chosen words. The AADL has recently purchased quite a few new poetry collections. Bring one of these home to curl up in an armchair with!
And His Orchestra is Benjamin Paloff’s second poetry collection, and contains poems that focus on the running conversations we are having with ourselves, and with others in our minds as we go about our days. “In poems that orchestrate imaginal dialogues with absent friends,” reads the book’s description, “And His Orchestra traces the inner experience of attachment, intimacy and separation.”
Insomnia: poems, is a graceful poetry collection by Linda Pastan that focuses on sleep or rather, the lack thereof. Sleepless nights, the moments before falling asleep, the strange tempo of the passage of time in the night…. all these backdrop Pastan’s poetry, creating a luminous end product.
The Ruined Elegance is a multicultural poetic exploration by author Fiona Sze-Lorrain, who offers a complicated vision of humanity. Honest and almost funny at times, her poems are sensitive to the human experience and often deal in memories rather than of-the-moment experiences.
In Elaine Equi’s thirteenth collection of poetry, Sentences and Rain, she focuses on stark, often overlooked beauty and uses plain language to express new ideas and strange, winding images. It is perhaps one of Equi’s own lines that best describes her poems: “Soothing because they put you/someplace impossible to locate.”
Other new poetry collections include Joy Harjo’s Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Lia Purpura’s It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful, Troy Jollimore’s Syllabus of Errors and Maggie Smith’s The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison.
Blog Post
George
by PizzaPuppy
One of my favorite books published this year is George by Alex Gino. In their debut novel, Gino expertly crafts the story of George, a transgender girl coming to terms with her identity.
In this moving and heartwarming novel, we follow George as she attempts to land the lead role of Charlotte in her school play of Charlotte's Web. There's only one problem: the lead role is a "girl's role". George is not a boy who "wants to be a girl", but a girl in a world where no one can see her. George feels that if she were to play the role of Charlotte, the world would see her as she truly is and not as she appears outwardly. The book brilliantly weaves together George's intensely private and public struggles, and the reactions of her family, friends, classmates and the world at large.
Intended for a middle grade audience (fourth to sixth grade), this simple but important story never comes across as a lesson. Instead, George speaks to the difficulties that transgender members of our community face on a regular basis. Gino approaches the subject with a clear and positive outlook on a sometimes tricky topic, and ultimately delivers a profound story of an individual trying to find their place in the world.
Interested in similar stories? Give Gracefully Grayson a try. This book tells the story of Grayson Sender, a sixth-grader coming into her own as a transgender girl. This novel is intended for a slightly older crowd (for sixth grade and older), but is another wonderful story about discovering your identity and staying true to oneself.
Also check out our Gender Variant Books for Children and Teens public list for more picture book, middle grade and teen book recommendations.
Blog Post
2015 Thumbs Up award from the Michigan Library Association winner
by gulickb
Every year the Michigan Library Association gives out the Thumbs Up award that recognizes books that offer an outstanding contribution to young adult literature. This years winner is Through the Woods by Emily Carroll.
The book has 5 graphic stories in it each one a complete "fairy tale" type story. The artwork is just phenomenal and the stories gave me chills. Th stories included in the book are Our neighbor's house - A lady's hands are cold - His face all red --My friend Janna - The nesting place and each one creates a great feeling of the "weird" that really works great in tandem with the artwork.
So if you are interested in a great series of short weird graphic stories then give the 2015 Thumbs Up award winning Through the Woods a read!
Blog Post
Beyond the Birds and Bees
by evelyn
Do you know kids who are ready to learn about the facts of life, from preschoolers who want to know where their new baby sibling came from, to adolescents dealing with puberty and sex? We have two perfect books for you, both written by sex educator Cory Silverberg and beautifully illustrated by Fiona Smyth! With bright, cheerful illustrations, straightforward text, and true diversity, these books blow other sex and puberty books away.
What Makes a Baby is for younger children who are just learning about where babies come from. The book explains that sperm and an egg are needed to make a baby. What Makes a Baby uses precise language but leaves it up to the reader to explain where their little one came from. This leaves the book open for use by any kind of family- a refreshing change for families that are usually relegated to a footnote. The illustrations boast a wealth of different kinds of families and the book emphasizes the joy that a new baby brings.
When your kids start to wonder about puberty and sex, check out Sex is a Funny Word, which is as bright and cheerful as What Makes a Baby, but longer and more advanced. This book describes sex in completely inclusive language that relates to all orientations, genders, and gender identities. It also pulls in concepts like respect, trust, joy, and justice to explain how sex fits into a bigger picture of the world. Sex is a Funny Word explores puberty, body parts, safe and unsafe touch, crushes, and so much more! The text is completely nonjudgmental and incredibly diverse.
Simply put, these books are spectacular! Go check them out!
Blog Post
Gruesome folk(ish) tales in comic form.
by gulickb
The Saint's Eyes and other stories by C.Frakes is a collection of stories that all share one thing in common, they are all weird in the original sense of the word. They have something out of the ordinary, something slightly mystical and sometimes gruesome to them. My favorite of the stories is a woman talking about her life and the curse that she's been placed under. At first you don't notice anything strange but as the panels progress you get a better understanding of just who the woman was.
The artwork is simple, but it works with the style of stories that are being told. The simple lines and lack of shading in the comics give it a whimsical feel that plays well with the stories and creates something that is great.
If you enjoy short stories told in comic form and folk tales then The Saint's Eyes and other stories is definitely for you!
Blog Post
You Want Cute? I'll Give You Cute!
by hanxanth
And I mean it. If you're looking for an adorable manga to read, Wish is the series for you. This short 4-volume series is written and illustrated by CLAMP, a publication company known for their all-female staff and famous for series such as xxxholic, Tsubasa Chronicle, and Chobits.
In Wish we meet Kohaku, an angel who has come to Earth to find one of the missing Angel Masters. Kohaku isn't necessarily the best angel for the job though. She's clumsy and a little dense, but she has a pure soul and is considered one of God's favorite angels! Luckily for her, she meets Shuichiro at the beginning of her journey when he saves her from a raven. In order to repay his kindness, Kohaku promises to grant Shuichiro one wish, but when Shuichiro says there's nothing he'd wish for, Kohaku stays at his place until he can come up with one. During her stay, Kohaku and Shuichiro have to deal with the demon Koryu, who loves picking on Kohaku. And lets not forget Kohaku's mission! God has only allowed Kohaku to come to Earth for a short period of time, so can she find the missing Angel Master? And put up with Koryu's teasing? AND deal with Kokuyo, the son of Satan? AND what about these odd feelings she has when she's with Shuichiro?! Poor Kohaku... Anyway, check it out if you're wanting a cute series with angels, demons, and of course, love.