Reading Lists
No matter how busy you are, you must find time for reading or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
~Confucius
Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.
~Aldous Huxley
Young Adult (YA) Book Awards & Reading Lists
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing.
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association.
YALSA: Young Adult Library Services Association/ALA
Looking for great teen books? Look no further than YALSA's Book Awards and Selected Booklists. YALSA's six literary awards honor the best books for teens each year with its Alex, Edwards, Morris, Nonfiction, Odyssey, and Printz awards. In addition, YALSA publishesselected booklists each year, which offer recommended titles for both the avid and reluctant teen reader. Both the awards and booklists highlight great books for teens. Parents and caregiverss can use these lists to find good books for their teens and librarians and educators may find them useful for collection development.
Genre Awards
The Agatha Awards honor the "traditional mystery." That is to say, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others. For our purposes, the genre is loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex and contain no excessive gore or gratuitous violence.
Each Spring, Mystery Writers of America present the Edgar® Awards, widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre.
The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. They were first awarded in 1953, and have been awarded every year since 1955. The awards are run by and voted on by fans.
Nebula Award (Science Fiction)
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America(SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year.
Scott O'Dell Award (Historical Fiction)
In 1982, Scott O'Dell established The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults. Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world.
The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the active members of the HWA. They are named after influential Irish horror writer Bram Stoker, author of the novel Dracula, among others.
Prestigious Literary Awards & Honors
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded every year since 1901. Alfred Nobel wished that the prize would be awarded to an author whose outstanding work as a whole evidences a lasting commitment to idealism and more recently the championing of human rights. The laureate is announced every October followed shortly by the award ceremony in December held in Stockholm, Sweden. The Prize is awarded by His Majesty the King of Sweden himself and is a great honour. The Nobel Prize for Literature is made up of this great honour as well as a medal, a Nobel diploma and 10 million Swedish Kronor.
Established in 1960, the National Book Awards honors American writers in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.
Named and established by American publisher Joseph Pultizer in 1917, the Pultizers are awarded in twenty-one categories. They include fiction, drama, history, biography, poetry and non-fiction. Other categories include journalism and photography.
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens.
The Man Booker Prize s reward the best novel of the year written by an English or Irish writer.
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table. Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., this award recognizes outstanding African American authors and illustrators, and is awarded for books about the African American experience, that are written for a youth audience (high school or below).
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