National Book Award Finalists

It’s getting close to the time of year when the “Best of the Best” lists come out for just about everything – including books!  The National Book Award just posted it’s finalists in its four areas Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature.  As per usual, I’m really only interested in the children’s award and it looks like some big names are finalists this year:

• Eliot Schrefer, Threatened (Scholastic Press)
• Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights (Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan Publishers)
• John Corey Whaley, Noggin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster)
• Deborah Wiles, Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy, Book Two (Scholastic Press)
• Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Group (USA))

Sadly, I’ve only gotten a chance to read Threatened and Brown Girl Dreaming.  Both well-written books but completely different in almost every way.  It’s going to be interesting to see what the judges decide will be the winner this year.  A task I’m not jealous of in any way!  Good luck to all the authors!  I’m anxiously awaiting to hear the results on November 19th and in the meantime, I’ve got some more reading to do.