The good news is I’ve been selected to serve on the 2010 Printz Award committee. The Michael L. Printz Award(opens in a new window) is an award for a book that exemplifies literacy excellence in young adult literature. It’s named for a Topeka, Kansas librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. Recent winners include Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchettea, American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.
As a committee member, I’ll be reading hundreds of books once, and many of them twice or three times. Undoubtedly, my house will be drowning in books, my eyes will be red, and my family and friends a distant memory—at least for 12 months!
The bad news is to prepare for all the reading and to abide by the rules that I not speak publicly about what I’m reading during the review period, I’m going to stop writing The Mash-up. I’ve really enjoyed sharing my musings on YA lit with you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts. After the 2010 Printz Award winners are announced, I look forward to sharing with you what the review process was like and giving you some great book suggestions mined from all my reading.
I hope you’ll stay in touch. You can always find me at GoodReads.com(opens in a new window), which is a great platform for book lovers to share reviews and recommendations. I’ll continue to post new young adult reviews there through 2009, and adult book and other non-Printz eligible titles year round.
Keep reading all the good stuff!
Jamie