Boy21 is a novel about basketball and so much more, encompassing male friendship, poverty, the Irish mob, grief, and love. I highly recommend this fast read by Matthew Quick, who became one of my favorite teen authors with his 2010 book Sorta Like a Rock Star.

Quick's latest novel, published in 2012, opens in ugly, tough Bellmont, Pennsylvania, where quiet, obedient Finley lives with his wheelchair-bound grandfather and widowed father. Finley -- whose childhood is a mystery until late in the book -- is flourishing as the only white kid on the high school basketball team. When the coach asks him to mentor a hot new -- and very mysterious -- player from California, Finley does, but suddenly luck and life seem to turn against him and toward the new guy. Nonetheless, Finley continues to support his friend, "Boy21," and their friendship grows, until Finley's girlfriend Erin is injured and Finley can't stand it anymore.

This book offers strong characters, action, dialogue, and -- hard to believe with all the bad luck going around -- a semi-happy, if old-fashioned ending. Particularly appealing to me were the threads of responsibility, loyalty and friendship among two extraordinary young men.

I’ve declared 2013 the year of reading, and I’ve been on a mad tear reading a lot of young adult fiction, and so far Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by poet Benjamin Alire Sáenz, has been my favorite. It is beautifully written, is magically captivating, and I read it in a day.

In January the book won several awards at the Youth Media Awards including a coveted Printz Honor Award, the Stonewall Award, and the Belpré Award.

15 year old Angel Aristotle Mendoza (Ari) is practically an only child with two older sisters and a ghost of a brother who has been in prison for as long as Ari can remember. It’s hard for Ari growing up in a quiet house with so much unspoken regarding his brother and his dad’s past in Vietnam. He has no friends until one day at the community pool he meets a kid named Dante Quintana when he offers to teach Ari how to swim. The boys spend forever laughing when they realize their names are Dante and Aristotle and an immediate bond is formed, just in time for summer.

While they form a strong friendship, Dante's family life is very different from Ari’s. His father is a professor and he and Dante are forever reading and discussing books. It’s not long before Ari gets in on the action as well. The self-assured Dante talks in his unusual way and draws, Ari is an angry sort of quiet and listens, and the boys read and swim and have summer teen adventures, until one day tragedy strikes. What will happen to their friendship as their lives begin to change? It’s a touching, coming of age story about friendship and loyalty, figuring out who you are, discovering family secrets, dealing with tragedy, and just trying to get by in this Universe.

Number one on the list of Amazon Best Sellers in Teen Books is Beautiful Creatures, followed lower on the list by #3 Beautiful Darkness, #8 Beautiful Chaos, and #11 Beautiful Redemption, the final book in the Gothic romance series by Kami Garcia. These books in the Caster Chronicles series seem to be appealing to young people including fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books.

Learn about and experience Kamishibai Storytelling with Masanari Nohara of the Ann Arbor Japan House this Sunday, February 10th, 1:00-2:00 PM at the Traverwood Branch.

Kamishibai originated in Japanese Buddhist Temples in the 12th century, where monks used emakimono, or picture scrolls, to convey stories with moral lessons. In the 1930's the gaito kamishibai (street kamishibai) storytellers first made the scene, riding their bicycles to Japanese towns and villages with their paper drama stages.

Kamishibai storytelling involves a set of illustrated boards inserted into a small stage that, in Japan, was usually mounted on a bicycle and taken out one by one as a story is told. This program is co-sponsored by Ann Arbor Japan House. Ann Arbor Japan House was established with the goal to create a place where people would have opportunities to increase their familiarity with various aspects of Japanese language and culture. The event is for youth (grade K and up), teens, and adults.

Interested in business and how it works? Thinking about starting your own business? You can learn all about it when a 10-week 40 hour youth entrepreneurship training program gets underway on Saturday, February 23 at EMU’s Rackham Hall, Room 219.

Designed for youth ages 13 to 21, you’ll learn about business, developing a business plan, and job readiness skills. Conducted by B. Side: The Business Side of Youth, a program of Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) Office of Academic Service-Learning.

An early enrollment discount of only $25 (normal enrollment costs $50) is offered to those who send in their application by Wednesday, February 20th. For more info call 734-487-6570.

Check details and fill out the application. “If you can’t find a job, make a job!”

YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction

Winners of the best nonfiction published for teens between November 1, 2011 – October 31, 2012 are:

2013 Winner
Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

2013 Finalists
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Though Different by Karen Blumenthal

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind With the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose

Titanic: Voices From the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson

Printz Medal

The following Printz titles were announced at ALA Midwinter in Seattle:

2013 Printz Award Medal
In Darkness by Nick Lake
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, fifteen-year-old Shorty, a poor gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a ruined hospital, and as he grows weaker he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in the 1804.

2013 Printz Honor books:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universie by Benjamin Saenz

Code Name Verity by Robin Sloan

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna

The Teen Short Story Contest has come of age, in this its 21st year! 'It's All Write!" cosponsored by the Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library and AADL is a contest open to middle and high school writers in grades 6 - 12, with submissions being accepted starting January 28, and running through March 15, 2013.

You’ll have seven weeks to perfect that short story, and guidelines are easy to follow. When you’re ready, just send your story to allwrite@aadl.org

You can read previous winning stories here or check out writing resources that might be helpful.

1st Place Winners receive ($250), 2nd Place ($150) and 3rd Place ($100) in these three categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-10, and Grades 11-12

A panel of published authors will judge the stories. The Awards Ceremony, this year featuring award winning author A.S King, will be held Saturday, May 11, 2013 at the Downtown Library.

Good Luck!

Blacking Up explores racial identity through the lens of hip-hop music and culture.
This 2010 documentary examines the popularity of hip-hop among America's white youth, and considers whether this reflects
new racial understanding in white America or reinforces an ugly history of stereotypes.

The director, Robert A. Clift is a filmmaker from Washington, DC, whose previous film, Stealing Home: The Case of Cuban Baseball, appeared nationally on PBS.
He is currently writing his dissertation for the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University

A discussion will follow the film.
Cosponsored by the UM Community Scholars Program
Thursday, January 31, 6:00 - 8:30 PM | Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room

Every year at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, librarians from across the continent gather for the most exciting event on the youth fiction calendar--the announcement of the ALA Youth Media Awards. These awards, from the venerable Newbery medal to the relatively new Stonewall Book Award, are awarded to what can only be termed the rockstars of the youth media world, and the enthusiasm surrounding the event carries out this comparison. Books nominated for these prizes are enshrined in their own sections of libraries, assigned in schools, and treasured by decades of readers, young and old. The 2013 winners were announced this morning in Seattle, Washington.

The 2013 Newbery Medal for the most outstanding children's literature of the year was awarded to Katherine Applegate for her book The One and Only Ivan.

The Caldecott Medal, celebrating its 75th year of honoring the best of the best of children's picture books, was awarded to Jon Klassen for This Is Not My Hat.

The Coretta Scott King Book Award for an outstanding publication that represents the African American experience was given to illustrator Bryan Collier for I, Too, Am America and author Andrea Davis Pinkney for Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America while The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement recognized Demetria Tucker, librarian and youth media advocate, for her longstanding contributions.

The Pura Belpré Awards for works that best represent the Latino experience honored Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert for David Diaz's illustrations, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz for text.

The Michael L. Printz Award for the best book written for young adults was awarded to Nick Lake for In Darkness.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for a lifelong contribution to children's literature in the United States was awarded to Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia and many other beloved books, and The Margaret A. Edwards Award for contribution to teen literature went to Tamora Pierce for her quartets The Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small.

For a full list of winners and honorable mentions, visit the American Library Association's awards page or the ALA Youth Media Awards Facebook page, and be sure to check out our section of award winning children's books in the Downtown Library youth room.