Monday, January 23, 2012

And the winner is...

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

This book was awarded the Michael L. Printz award "for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature."

It was also awarded the William C. Morris YA Debut award, which "honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature."

In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town vanishes. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears. As Cullen navigates a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young, disillusioned missionary in Africa searches for meaning wherever he can find it. Through masterful plotting, these two stories are brought face-to-face in a surprising and harrowing climax that is tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, and above all, hope.

Congratulations for the double honors!

Learn more about these and other ALA awards, and see complete lists of winners and honor books.

2012 ALA Youth Media Awards

Have you read it?  Do you plan to read it?  Let us know what you think!