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By: Beth,
on 1/22/2012
Blog: YALSA - Young Adult Library Services Association
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Odyssey Award, William C. Morris Award, Youth Media Awards, Margaret Edwards, YALSA Nonfiction Award, Alex Award, Michael L. Printz Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, ALA Midwinter 2012, YMA, Awards, Printz, Conference, Add a tag
By: Beth,
on 1/17/2010
Blog: YALSA - Young Adult Library Services Association
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Best Books for Young Adults, William C. Morris Award, Youth Media Awards, CoverItLive, 2010 Midwinter Meeting, YALSA Nonfiction Award, Qik, Awards, Conference, YALSA Info., Add a tag
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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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 1/11/2010
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
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YALSA nonfiction award, favorite books read in 2010, reviews, history, non fiction, science, national book awards, Nonfiction Monday, Henry Holt, 2009, deborah heiligman, Add a tag
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.
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By: Lizzy Burns,
on 1/4/2010
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
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non fiction, audiobooks, space, sexism, Nonfiction Monday, tanya lee stone, candlewick, Brilliance Audio, astronauts, 2009, YALSA nonfiction award, equal opportunity, Add a tag
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
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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It occurred to me that PBS or the BBC should consider doing a Darwin-Wedgewood drama series. There is so much historical material available and so many fascinating facets of Darwin's work and relationships to explore.
I loved the bits about the children. It was so nice to see a (real!) Victorian family with kids running all over the place and jumping on the furniture.
I loved the bits about the kids as well - it very much made Darwin a more human figure to me; someone I could relate to better.
I often wondered about their marriage though and most books on him (for kids or adults) focus so much on the Beagle and not on his homelife when he was working on the book. I learned a lot from this book which is saying something - I think I've read a dozen books on Darwin to date so finding something new is great.
I do wish they had released that Paul Bettany Darwin movie over here, "Creation". It sounded great. (Supposedly there was too much anti evolution sentiment in the US. UGH)
Thanks for the review. I've heard so much about this book and am looking forward to reading it.
I've been eager to read this book and your review only makes me more so. The only problem is that it would be a hard sell at my school. I cannot seem to get my students interested in biography. I've worked on weeding out the truly boring ones, but the only time they venture into the biography section is when they need something for research.
I loved this book too, especially how it made Darwin and his family feel so real. And I would love to watch a Darwin/Wedgewood drama series!
Sounds like a great read...thanks for sharing!
Have never heard of this book but, as this sort of thing is going on in our own marriage I'm totally thrilled to hear about it! Thanks for the review, I can't wait to pick it up! Wish they'd do a more detailed version for adults!
Liz, talk about reviews that make me want to read the book, boy howdy! Ran directly to the library website to put it on hold. Thanks.
Fran & Sarah, a PBS/BBC production of the Darwin/Wedgewoods would be made of awesome.
Jennie, it's so great to read how real families were not like the stereotypes. In so many ways, the Darwins didn't fit any "all Victorians are x....". It's why I love nonfiction.
Colleen, I hope the Bettany film gets released here.
Paige, biographies are definately not for all kids, so I think its about matching the books with the small group of kids who will love it. The teen appeal here, I think, is the tension of the marriage with these two having what would seem a huge divide between them, only not. "Imagine being in love with someone who disagrees with you about the most fundamental things in the world...what would you do?" Teens are sorting out relationships, etc.
Vivian & Kidsbookjunkie, after you've read it, let me know what you think.
Carlie, the good thing about YA NF is that I can finish it in a few days, as opposed to adult nonfiction which is twice the length with smaller font. The bad thing is I get to the end of the book and want more... more about educating their children, more about the love they had for each other, more about family and friends (some wikipedia searches revealed some stories of friends/families that an adult book would surely address).
Melissa, I hope you enjoy it! I especially like how the author really balances the viewpoints of Charles & Emma and respects both. And thanks for the link from your blog!