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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: YALSA nonfiction award, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 10 of 10
1. Short Review: Laughing At My Nightmare

Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane BurcawRoaring Brook Press. 2014. Review copy from publisher.

Burcaw's memoir, based on his tumblr of the same name, is a humorous look at his life with spinal muscular atrophy. It's told in short, episodic chapters -- while it's roughly chronological in order, it doesn't have to be read in order or even all at once. This structure is both a weakness and a strength: those wanting an in depth, detailed examination will be disappointed. But, that's looking for this bok to be something it isn't. It is, instead, a funny, hilarious look at life. And that is it's strength: the short chapters means it's easy to read, and also easy to read over an extended period of time. A few chapters here, a few chapters there, is, a think, the best way to approach Laughing at My Nightmare.

While Burcaw's memoir is uniquely about his own experiences, it's also universal. Starting middle school, worrying about making friends, anxious about a first kiss -- Burcaw isn't the first person to worry about these things. Burcaw is funny and blunt: he knows teen readers will wonder "but how does he go to the bathroom?" and so he addresses those questions. And the humor is such that will appeal to a lot of teen readers.


Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

0 Comments on Short Review: Laughing At My Nightmare as of 3/23/2015 5:43:00 AM
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2. Short Review: The Port Chicago 50

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve SheinkinRoaring Brook Press. 2014. Review copy from publisher.

The Port Chicago 50 tells a story that I was not familiar with -- actually, many stories I was not familiar with. The Port Chicago 50 are fifty African American sailors accused of mutiny in the aftermath of the Port Chicago disaster. I don't want to go into the details of the disaster or the mutiny accusations or the aftermath -- read the book!

The story of these fifty men is not just about allegations of mutiny and these fifty individuals; it is also bout the segregation of the Navy and other armed forces before and during World War II and the efforts to end it. It's about just what it meant, to have segregated troops, and institutionalized racism both within and without the armed forces. Segregation and racism, and the actions at Port Chicago and by the sailors, cannot be viewed in isolation of each other.


Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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3. Nonfiction Reviews

Two of the finalists for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin. Roaring Brook Press. 2014. Review copy from publisher.

The Port Chicago 50 tells a story that I was not familiar with -- actually, many stories I was not familiar with. The Port Chicago 50 are fifty African American sailors accused of mutiny in the aftermath of the Port Chicago disaster. I don't want to go into the details of the disaster or the mutiny accusations or the aftermath -- read the book!

The story of these fifty men is not just about allegations of mutiny and these fifty individuals; it is also bout the segregation of the Navy and other armed forces before and during World War II and the efforts to end it. It's about just what it meant, to have segregated troops, and institutionalized racism both within and without the armed forces. Segregation and racism, and the actions at Port Chicago and by the sailors, cannot be viewed in isolation of each other.

Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw. Roaring Brook Press. 2014. Review copy from publisher.

Burcaw's memoir, based on his tumblr of the same name, is a humorous look at his life with spinal muscular atrophy. It's told in short, episodic chapters -- while it's roughly chronological in order, it doesn't have to be read in order or even all at once. This structure is both a weakness and a strength: those wanting an in depth, detailed examination will be disappointed. But, that's looking for this bok to be something it isn't. It is, instead, a funny, hilarious look at life. And that is it's strength: the short chapters means it's easy to read, and also easy to read over an extended period of time. A few chapters here, a few chapters there, is, a think, the best way to approach Laughing at My Nightmare.

While Burcaw's memoir is uniquely about his own experiences, it's also universal. Starting middle school, worrying about making friends, anxious about a first kiss -- Burcaw isn't the first person to worry about these things. Burcaw is funny and blunt: he knows teen readers will wonder "but how does he go to the bathroom?" and so he addresses those questions. And the humor is such that will appeal to a lot of teen readers.






Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

0 Comments on Nonfiction Reviews as of 1/9/2015 3:06:00 PM
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4. On YALSA Award Winners and Ebooks

In the spring issue of YALS, you’ll find an easy-to-reference listing of all the YALSA award winners and book and media lists announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. Since ebooks are on the rise, I thought I’d take a look at which of the winners are currently available as ebooks and which are available for libraries on OverDrive.

Counting the winners and honors of the awards (except for Odyssey) and the top ten books on the Best Fiction, Quick Picks, and Popular Paperback lists, we end up with 50 unique titles. Of those, 37 are available as ebooks that can be purchased through the usual channels including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Google Books. The only titles that aren’t available electronically are non-fiction titles, graphic novels, and older fiction titles. Of the 37 ebooks, 20 are available for libraries to lend in OverDrive, according to their search engine.

As the ebook market continues to grow, I expect we will see more backlist titles become available, while full-color ereaders and tablet computers will allow graphic-intensive books to be offered electronically. Whether or not more ebooks will be available for library lending, however, remains to be seen. I hope that next year, more of the award-winning and noteworthy books honored by YALSA will be available to as many readers as possible in their desired reading format.

Alex Awards

Title Author Publisher Date Available as an ebook Available on OverDrive
Big Girl Small Rachel DeWoskin Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011 x
In Zanesville Jo Ann Beard Little, Brown & Company 2011 x
The Lover’s Dictionary David Levithan Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011 x x
The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens Brooke Hauser Free Press 2011 x
The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern Doubleday 2011 x x
Ready Player One Ernest Cline Crown Publishers 2011 x x
Robopocalypse: A Novel Daniel H. Wilson Doubleday 2011 x x
Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward Bloomsbury USA 2011 x x
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures Caroline Preston Ecco 2011
The Talk-Funny Girl Roland Merullo Crown Publishers 2011 x x

Edwards Award

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5. Join the Youth Media Awards LIVE!

Join YALSA with LIVE streaming video of all the YMA announcement, presented jointly by the YALSA Blog and The Hub. Along with the video, we’ll also be offering quick polls and pulling Twitter hashtags like #printz and #alexawards. You can log in to the live session with your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or OpenID username (which will include your avatar), or just jump right in.

YALSA Blog manager mk Eagle (username pandanose) will be offering transcriptions of all the announcements, with live video from The Hub blogger Jessica Pryde. Coverage begins at 7:30 central on Monday, January 23.

2012 Youth Media Awards

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6. Morris and Nonfiction Awards Live Blog

If you can’t be at the Westin Copley Plaza for the Morris and Nonfiction Awards, you can join the live blog by clicking in the viewer window below. We’ll have live streaming video, commentary from those of us in the room, and selected tweets about the awards.

You have the option to sign in using your Twitter, Facebook or MySpace ID, which will include your avatar. We’ll be automatically publishing tweets that use hashtags #MorrisAward, #yalsanf and #yalsa. A replay of the live event will be available as soon as we close the session.

Morris & Nonfiction Awards

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7. Join YALSA in Boston–or Your Living Room

Those of you who aren’t with us in Boston or find yourself double (or triple!) booked can participate in several YALSA events via live coverage at the YALSA blog. Once again we’ll be using CoverItLive, with some exciting changes: live streaming video and social networking logins.

When you join the live blog session by clicking in the viewer window (see last year’s BBYA live blog to see the interface) you’ll have the option to log in using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace login. Your comments will then appear with your avatar from that account. You’ll also be able to view our streaming video from the session thanks to integration with Qik.

The schedule of YALSA live blogs:

Best Books for Young Adults Teen Session: Sunday, January 17 1:30-3:30 PM

Youth Media Awards: Monday, January 18 7:30-9:00 AM

Morris and Nonfiction Awards: Monday, January 18 8:00-10:00 PM

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8. Charles and Emma


Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman. Henry Holt & Co. 2009. Review copy from publisher. YA Nonfiction. National Book Award finalist; on the shortlist for YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

About: Charles Darwin had faith in science; his wife, Emma Wedgwood, had faith in religion. Despite having opposite beliefs on the role of God in science as well as life after death, the two married and had a long, happy marriage of mutual support and love. How?

The Good: I adored this book! I love the look at real people in history, even it always makes historical fiction that much harder to read.

Darwin's research and writing process is presented in a way that makes sense to the non-scientist.

Darwin and Wedgwood (as well as their family and friends) left so much written documentation behind (books, journals, letters, notes) that Heiligman never guesses to thought process or motivation, footnoting the source for each he/she said/thought.

Because "how real people really lived" intrigues me (as opposed to "all Victorians thought and did thusly") I was especially interested in the details of housekeeping, in the most literal sense of the word. Here was not just a marriage full of love and respect; here, too, was a family that was warm, affectionate, supportive.

And I loved the message -- people can disagree and yet still love and respect each other. Darwin believed that God played no role in natural selection or evolution; Wedgwood (religious but not a literalist in her belief) disagreed. While they argued the point, it did not control their lives, their love, or their relationship. The trust was such that Wedgwood read and edited Darwin's work, noting what needed to be clearer to a nonscientific reader or more persuasive in supporting his arguments.

The good thing about a nonfiction book for young adults is that they are usually shorter than adult nonfiction. The bad thing is they are usually shorter than adult nonfiction. Often, in Charles and Emma, I was wanting more; more information on the family and friends of the Darwins. All those cousins, intermarrying! And all the rather impressive members of the Darwin/Wedgwood family. More information on the children. A modern theoretical diagnosis on what illnesses Darwin and his daughter Annie suffered from. What, if anything, they thought about social issues going on around them.

Because I read this is 2010, it's on my favorite books read in 2010 list. Even tho it's a 2009 title.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

10 Comments on Charles and Emma, last added: 1/12/2010
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9. Almost Astronauts


Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone. Candlewick. 2009. Brilliance Audio. 2009. Narrated by Susan Erickson. Reviewed from audiobook provided by Brilliance Audio. Nonfiction, Young Adult. Finalist for YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

About: In the early 1960s, as the Space Program was proceeding with the Mercury 7 astronauts, a handful of people asked "why not included women in the astronaut program?" Beginning with Jerrie Cobb, a top female pilot, a total of thirteen women went through preliminary testing conducted by Dr. W.R. Lovelace. This was not part of any official NASA program. Lovelace ran the privately-funded program. Attempts to make the program official -- or to include women in the space program as astronauts -- failed. The first American woman astronaut would be Sally Ride in 1983; the first American woman astronaut who was also a pilot would be Eileen Collins in 1995, over thirty years after the "Mercury 13" attempted to show they, too, had the "right stuff."

The Good: Stone is passionate about this story, and Susan Ericksen, the narrator, brings that passion to life. Listening to Ericksen is like attending a lecture by someone who loves a subject and wants to share that love with the world.

The audio does not have any of the photographs in the book; it does have a bonus CD with photographs and references and bibliography. The audio works extremely well all by itself, in part because of Ericksen's spirited delivery; but it's nice to have the bonus of photos and the full list of works cited. I do want to get my hands on the actual book, to see the other pictures I missed. But, if I didn't know about the pictures would I think something was lacking in the book? No.

This is a nonfiction book with an opinion, and not just an opinion that is being voiced. It's an opinion that wants to be persuasive. It's not so much about the women who underwent the testing; it's more about prejudice and institutional sexism. The intended reader of this book was born after both Ride and Collins went into space. To an adult (and particularly an adult whose school photo books had "what I want to be when I grow up" with "boy jobs" such as "astronaut" and "girl jobs" such as "teacher" or "mother"), that sexism is so understood and expected that every now and then I thought, "c'mon, how can you not know that?" I had to remind myself that today's teens don't know what it is to be told no, they can't do something based on sex; or to have the rules be made in such a way as to exclude them from participation.

So, yes, the problem with the women ever seriously being considered by NASA was that they lacked the specific flight experience of being jet test pilots. Since women were barred from being jet test pilots, the discussion ended, rather

8 Comments on Almost Astronauts, last added: 1/6/2010
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10. The YALSA Update: Shortlists, Midwinter Registration & More

Promote the Morris Award shortlist @ your library® The Morris shortlist is out! You can promote it to teens in your library with a downloadable bookmark (PDF) that allows you to put each book’s location at your library and customize the back with your logo and contact information. Congrats to this year’s five nominees!

Nonfiction Award shortlist next week Watch YALSA’s website and this blog to see the shortlist for YALSA’s 2010 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award! The shortlist will be announced next week. This new award honors the best fiction written for young adults in a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. Learn more at www.ala.org/yalsa/nonfiction.

Register for YALSA’s Midwinter events Even though today is the last day to receive the advanced registration discount, prices won’t change for either of YALSA’s pre-Midwinter ticketed events:  Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition and Games, Gadgets and Gurus. You don’t need to register for Midwinter to attend either one.  Details and how to register for them after the jump (you can read about everything we have planned for Midwinter Meeting, including a free program and reception honoring the 2010 Morris and Nonfiction Award honorees, at the YALSA Midwinter Wiki).

Read on for details on YALSA’s pre-Midwinter events, the Young Adult Literature Symposium Stipend, Teen Tech Week registration, and YALSA’s winter online courses.

Pre-Midwinter event details: Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition: Join YALSA from 9-4:30 p.m on Jan. 15 to learn how you can take advantage of free online tools and social networking options to enhance and expand the services for teens, discover strategies to gain funding for technology initiatives and buy-in from administrators, and hear speakers like Stacy Aldrich (futurist & acting California State Librarian), Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing.net, Little Brother), Laura Pearle, Wendy Stephens, and Buffy Hamilton. Lunch included! Libraries 3.0 costs $195 for YALSA members, $235 for ALA members, and $285 for nonmembers. Full details on this event, and all of YALSA’s plans for Midwinter, are available online at http://bit.ly/yalsamw2010.

Games, Gadgets & Gurus: Join us from 8-10 p.m. on Jan. 15! Spend a fun evening networking with colleagues and learning new skills to take back to your library! Come play games – both board and video; demo gadgets like e-readers, mobile phones, digital audio recorders, video cameras and the latest software; and take advantage of the opportunity chat one-on-one with a tech guru. Other participants include Galaxy Press, PBS’ Digital Nation, and Tutor.com. Mingle with colleagues! Enjoy some refreshments! Play with neat tech toys! And go home with great swag! Tickets cost $40; full details online at ht

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