March 2020 – Page 2

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, March 13 Edition

Click hereto see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown
Henry Holt and Co. Books for Young Readers / Macmillan
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1250309853

Echo Brown is a teenage wizard in Cleveland, Ohio. Part of being a wizard means she can stop time to manage challenging situations, secrets from the past, and the dark veil that hangs over herself and others. Her mother’s addiction means she has had to grow up quickly and develop coping mechanisms for some disturbing and emotionally intense situations.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, March 12 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill
Oni Press
Publication Date: January 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781549303357

Joel Christian Gill narrates what it was like for him to grow up in a single-parent household in the 1980s, from childhood to young adulthood—Black, broke, and surrounded by uncertainty. Bouncing around between caretakers, schools, and residences, Gill shares a version of his turbulent adolescence, marked by pervasive violence—sexual, emotional, and physical—and the scant, but powerful, pockets of connection and fulfillment he finds in friendships, reading, and drawing.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, March 11 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Light It Up by Kekla Magoon; Narrated by Landon Woodson, Karen Chilton, Cherise Booth, Eevin Hartsough, Christopher Carley, Peter Jay Fernandez, T.Ryder Smith, Julian Thomas, Kevin R. Free, and Korey Jackson
Recorded Books
Publication Date: October 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1250128898
Shae Tatum hurries home from school one night. She has her earphones on, tuning out the world around her. Shae is tall and looks much older than her thirteen years. A case of mistaken identity leads to tragedy.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2021) Nominees Round Up, March 10 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Quick Picks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

I Know You Remember by Jennifer Donaldson
Razorbill / Penguin Random House
Publication Date: October 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1595148544

Ruthie returns home to Anchorage, Alaska after several years away, only to discover her former best friend, Zahra, has gone missing. Ruthie plays teen detective, putting all of her time into investigating Zahra’s friends and family to track her down, since the police have come up short. As Ruthie closes in on who she thinks took Zahra, the plot reveals major twists, and the reader must question everything they thought they knew.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, March 6 Edition

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Light It Up by Kekla Magoon
Henry Holt and Co. Books for Young Readers / Macmillan
Publication Date: October 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1250128898

The community of Underhill reacts after an unarmed thirteen-year-old girl is shot and killed by a police officer while walking home. Tensions mount even more upon the arrival of White supremacist demonstrators. The citizens of Underhill prepare for possible havoc as they protest and await the announcement of the officer’s verdict.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2021) Nominees Round Up, March 5 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Great Graphic Novels nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Strange Ones by Jeremy Jusay
Gallery 13 / Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: January 14, 2020
ISBN: 9781982101121

A serendipitous meeting at a Belly concert in Manhattan between Anjeline and Franck, two loner teens in NYC in the early 1990s, leads to an epic friendship and much more. As they journey back and forth to Staten Island, they bond over music, family, and ennui. We see their relationship develop, and their loner armor slowly begins to melt.

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2021) Nominees Round Up, March 4 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Amazing Audiobooks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

The Year We Fell From Space by Amy Sarig King; Narrated by Stephanie Willing
Scholastic Audio / Scholastic
Publication Date: October 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1987162448
Liberty Johansen loves making her own constellations. After her parents announce that they will be separating and getting a divorce, Liberty asks the stars to fix her family, which is when a meteorite falls from the sky, almost into her lap. Following her parents announcement Liberty learns about her father’s depression, and starts having feelings of her own of depression and anxiety. While trying to reconcile her mother’s sense of calm after the breakup, her little sister’s refusal to leave the house, and the sudden absence of her father in her life, the meteorite begins to communicate with her.

Quick Picks (#QP2021) Nominees Round Up, March 3 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Quick Picks nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, art by Harmony Becker
Top Shelf Productions / IDW Publishing
Publication Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1603094504

George Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, tells of his family’s forced removal from their home and detention in internment camps in this graphic memoir. The drawings show the grim realities of their lives even as the text tells the story from George’s perspective as a five year old whose parents undertook heroic efforts to shelter him from their dire circumstances. George’s parents largely succeeded in protecting him from the harsh truth that they were prisoners and he still has some fond memories games, treats, and friendships in the camps. When the camps closed, the Takei family began an even more precarious existence as they struggled to rebuild their lives in a world that viewed them with suspicion and hostility. Interspersed throughout the book are depictions of milestone events in Takei’s life that demonstrated how the residual effects of a childhood spent as an “alien enemy” impacted his personal relationships, his career, and his activism.

The 2020 Hub Reading Challenge Begins Today!

What’s the Hub Reading Challenge?

The goal of the Hub Reading Challenge is to read 25 books over the next four months from a list of the most recent award winner and honor books and YALSA selected lists titles. This challenge encourages participants to discover new titles and explore genres outside of your comfort zone. And for library staff, you’ll hopefully get to build your readers’ advisory skills and totally impress your coworkers and patrons.