YA Award Winners

The Dragon Egg Princess by Ellen Oh

Official Description / Back cover: "In a kingdom filled with magic, Jiho Park and his family are an anomaly—magic doesn’t affect them. Jiho comes from a long line of forest rangers who protect the Kidahara—an ancient and mysterious wood that is home to powerful supernatural creatures. But Jiho wants nothing to do with the dangerous forest. Five years ago, his father walked into the Kidahara and disappeared. Just like the young Princess Koko, the only daughter of the kingdom’s royal family. Jiho knows better than anyone else the horrors that live deep in the magical forest and how those who go in never come back. Now the forest is in danger from foreign forces that want to destroy it, and a long-forgotten evil that’s been lurking deep in the Kidahara for centuries finally begins to awaken. Can a magic-less boy, a fierce bandit leader, and a lost princess join forces and save their worlds before it’s too late?"

Where I found it: I found The Dragon Egg Princess in the school library where I work.

Why I am highlighting it: Because it is a Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA) winner.

 

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova

Personal book review: A stellar graphic novel for and about middle schoolers, the point-of-view character is Penelope “Peppi” Torres, the new girl at Berrybrook Middle whose two cardinal rules for surviving school are “Don't get noticed by the mean kids” and “Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.” But she trips over her own feet in the hall and breaks the first rule when a quiet boy named Jaime helps her and the bullies brand her “nerder girlfriend". Peppi’s reaction? Shoving Jaime away and fleeing. An artist, she obeys the second rule by joining the Art Club and making a bevy of friends, yet is tormented with guilt over pushing Jaime who, worse, happens to be a member of her club’s archrivals, the Science Club. This is the story of how the socially awkward and shy yet at heart brave and bighearted Peppi navigates and tries to mend her awkward relationship with Jaime even as their clubs descend into greater animosity. Brilliantly drawn, Awkward showcases both the best and worst of middle school dramas in that it is populated with a rich and diverse cast of distinct characters, Peppi and Jaime’s clubmates and teachers, who are so alive and three-dimensional one can practically feel their thoughts. Which is easy seeing as the art is simple yet expressive in a way reminiscent of yet quite separate from anime. The style is different, yet some of the artistic tactics used to convey emotions and movement are the same so that the story, aided by fantastic and utterly believable dialogue, truly comes to life.

Where I found it: I found Awkward in the school library where I work.

Why I am highlighting it: Because it was one of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)'s 2016 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens and remains a critically acclaimed success.

A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry

Official Description / Back cover: "Swift, a young wolf cub, lives with his pack in the mountains learning to hunt, competing with his brothers and sisters for hierarchy, and watching over a new litter of cubs. Then a rival pack attacks, and Swift and his family scatter. Alone and scared, Swift must flee and find a new home. His journey takes him a remarkable one thousand miles across the Pacific Northwest. The trip is full of peril, and Swift encounters forest fires, hunters, highways, and hunger before he finds his new home. Inspired by the extraordinary true story of a wolf named OR-7 (or Journey), this irresistible tale of survival invites readers to experience and imagine what it would be like to be one of the most misunderstood animals on earth. This gripping and appealing novel about family, courage, loyalty, and the natural world is for fans of Fred Gipson’s Old Yeller and Katherine Applegate’s Endling."

Where I found it: I found A Wolf Called Wander in the school library where I work.

Why I am highlighting it: Because it is a Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA) winner.