Every year librarians, teachers, and avid readers sit on the edge of their seats for the big announcement made on the Monday of the American Libraries Association’s Midwinter Conference. And every year, the announcements are met with some surprise, some confirmation, some discussion, and a ton of excitement. This year was no different, and this same enthusiasm obviously carried over into YALSA’s Morris Award and Excellence in Non-Fiction Award Reception.
This year’s William C. Morris Award—which is given to a debut book published for teens by a first-time author—was given to John Corey Whaley for his book Where Things Come Back. Whaley garnered the coveted Printz Award for this title, as well.
Four other books were honored as finalists including Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard, Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.
Via a video recording, Rae Carson responded to her newly awarded honor. She noted that this was probably “the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.” She gave shout outs to many of the other finalists saying that they were “awesome people!” Her plans overall were to celebrate with “an egregiously expensive bottle of champagne.” She ended her video with a special appearance by her cat, “Rage,” otherwise known as angry kitty, which was both funny and lighthearted.
Probably one of the most emotional acceptance speeches of the afternoon was given by finalist Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Continue reading Highlights from the Morris and Nonfiction Awards reception
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As the title says, this is a book about how sugar changed the world. Growing up in America, we think of slavery as being about harvesting cotton or tobacco, but Aronson and Budhos correct this view by showing that something like 80% of the slaves Europeans brought from Africa were taken to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean and South America. Thus, the authors show how the quest for sugar was inextricably linked to the development of plantations, the international slave trade, the Industrial Revolution, and much more. This ability to show the links across these varied topics is a huge achievement for any book, let alone a young adult book.