If you are a reader, somebody probably gave you money during the holidays so you could buy a book. I have picked five books published in 2016 that I hope more people read. This is harder than one might imagine. Some of best books I read during the past year really came out in 2015, I have put those to the side and I focused on 2016. I also focused on books that, in my opinion, have not recieved enough attention--yet. Here are  five books that remain powerful when I think back through the year, browse through the blog, and think about other peoples' lists.

So in no particular order here they are:

I think that the field of Young Adult Non-Fiction has put up some remarkable books over the last few years. One of my selections for this year Is Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights. I loved this book. It forced me to rethink about how I experienced the civil rights movement in the late sixties and early seventies in the west. Rich and Sandra Wallace have a fine achievement to add to there list of excellent books.

Jennifer Niven's Holding up the Universe is a book that took me by surprize. I don't want anyone to misunderstand me, I think Jennifer Nevin is a tremendous writer and I was a big fan of All of The Bright Places. However, when I started Holding up the Universe, I was captivated from the beginning. I loved the narrative exploration of two characters that too many people seem to think they understand just from what they see. I taught high school long enough to learn that the look of a student and/or the accolades they might be recieving don't always tell the full story. Some kids are lonelier than they appear, some are more confident, and some might need just one more vote of support. Not all books hit all readers the same way, but I hope you like it. For my money, I think this is a book that deservses to be on your short list of books to read, especially if you recieve a lot of books. It just might be that novel that should be book talked and set in a dominate place in the classroom.

Maria Padian's Wrecked came to me in a package with several others from Algonquin Young Readers. This one was different, it came with a note from Trevor Ingerson. Tevor knows enough about my reading habits to understand that I dift to realistic fiction that might best be describe as edgy inheritors of the legacy founded by the publication of The Catcher in the Rye. The note suggested that I should read the book and then we should talk about it. Well, everyone should be talking about this book. It is a perfect candidate for a university summer reading program. Told from several view points, this novel explores a campus date rape. If you are a fan of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak or Chris Lynch's Inexcusable, then this a book you should investigate. Without question, Padian is an author to keep reading. You can find my first blog post about her and a link to her responses to my interview questions here. 

 To say that I like Brednan Kiely's The Last True Love Story is a serious understatment. Like all of the books on this list it stays with me. Furthermore, I knew it was a book I wanted to write about. As I have written about before, my son, Isaac and I have written about how to use this text to integrate music into the ELA classroom. (Due out next summer.) If you teach The Odyssey or love music, this is a novel that will capture your heart. I encourage you to let this book take you on its journey.   

I was fortunate enough to work with the Vegas Valley Book Festival this last year. I tried to read a sample from all of the YA authors who visited this year. Some of them I knew about, but a new one for me was Mary Penney. Mary Penney's Eleven and Holding is a treasure. Macy is eleven and absolutely unwilling to have her birhtday until her father returns from a special assignment. He has survived the war, but he is still dealing with its effects. This novel deals with a trauma that too many children in America have to deal with on a daily bases; yet, some how we don't seem to talk about it to the degree that would demonstrate that we understand their sacrifice. Penney has created a character portrait of her main character, Macy, that is compassionate, but still manages to capture the precosious nature of a bright child who is 11 going on 17.  

To conclude, I hope you consider reading these novels. I would love to hear your opinion. Read one and if you fall in love with it, consider writing a blog post.

Oh, and don't you need one more for the road? As I wrote briefly about these five, I kept thinking: "Are you really not going to mention The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock." A couple of weeks ago it was my Friday pick for the weekend. I meet Bonnie-Sue as she was waiting for her first appearance at the ALAN workshop this year. It was lovely to talk with her as we both sat at the back of the room. As I read the book a couple of weeks ago, I just keep thinking: "Man, this is great writing." I loved the characters and the interwoven plot lines.

See down the road in 2017.

This week, Anne Cramer contributes the guest blog post. She is one of the deligent participants in our National Book Award Project. She reminds us that a little bit of Shakespeare in your YA life is never a bad thing. Whether you are Shakespeare purist or one who experiments with other possibilities; Anne points you to some interesting titles and resources.

• Man, full of self-importance, demands loyalty before dividing wealth among his children.
• Women don pantsuits, want to be taken seriously by society.
• Ruler faces high level of criticism due to Middle Eastern descent.
•  Husband disappears in Aleppo; Powerful men, claiming to be ordained by God, fight to rule a country, no matter the consequences.
• Teen runs away from home; parents heartbroken.  [1] 
• Man persecuted due to his religion and his job. [2] 

Titles from today’s headlines or summaries of plays written over 400 years ago? Both, of course. These themes are as relevant today as they were when Shakespeare first penned his plays. Shakespeare’s finger rested directly on the pulse of the human condition. Almost all teens can identify with these themes. So why do so many people groan upon hearing his name?

​“A rose by any other name may still smell as sweet” but I disagree. Today, it is all about presentation. It is important to hand adolescents versions of Shakespeare’s plays that they can connect to, ones that provide a variety of ways to scaffold and support independent readers. Without these, any teen would groan and curse his name.
  Over 16 years, I surveyed a variety of versions for young adult audiences.  Without a doubt, the Cambridge School Shakespeare series captures the wide interests of many readers. With the original text on the right side, the left side provides a one-to-two sentence summary of events, comprehension questions, and vocabulary definitions. Photos from different productions are strewn throughout the books, highlighting the role of costumes, set design, and actor interpretations. The last 30 pages provide a brief summary of the whole play, character summaries, imagery and thematic explorations, as well as ideas to help explore interpretations of the plays. 

It is important to remember that each work is a play, not a sedentary text. To truly appreciate Shakespeare, one must perform the words and actions. Shakespeare's works do not include dialogue tags, describe action sequences, or discuss how characters move. Shakespeare never envisioned his works to be read, only to be performed. The actors’ interpretations of the text bring the missing ingredient to the magic of the Bard’s works. Cambridge School Shakespeare editions provide examples, small group performance ideas, and internet links to enhance the performance aspect of each play. 

​ Shakespeare did not write for the upper-class or highly educated. He would be more at home in a Jerry Springer episode than on PBS documentary. A man who frequently “borrowed” plot lines and reused names would be thoroughly impressed and delighted by a new generation of writers recycling his stories. The long and the short of it: getting a book in the hands of an adolescent can be a gateway to bigger and more challenging texts. Many of Shakespeare’s characters challenged the status-quo. I like to think that the books below do the same. 

​This first group of titles are abridged works that can be enjoyed independently or partnered with the original texts to deepen comprehension and aid prior knowledge.  Cass Foster’s 60-Minute Shakespeare series contains artfully edited versions of the Bard’s original texts, keeping correct meter and verse. OMG Shakespeare! series are hysterical translations of The Bard’s most popular plays written as emoji conversations. Gareth Hinds' graphic novels (four titles and still expanding) use both fonts and colors to actualize the tones, emotions, and settings of the plays. He shares his artistic process with the reader, directly tying his illustrations to the time period and the text. 

Fan fiction continues to be a popular venue for adolescents, both in creating and reading. Since one can have too much of a good thing, this is an abridged list of titles.  Lisa Klein offers a perspective for female characters in her first-person narratives Ophelia and Lady Macbeth's Daughter. Popular author Caroline B. Cooney weaves a thrilling novel from the perspective of a young woman observing the demise of the Macbeth family in Enter Three Witches. Moving the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet into modern day settings are Sharon Draper's Romiette and Julio and Gordan Korman’s Son of the Mob. Lauren Bjorkman hilariously illustrates the wild-goose chase of crossdressed lovers simultaneously incorporating the LGBTQ themes in many of Shakespeare’s comedies through staging a production of As You Like It  in her first novel, My Invented Life. 

​In one of the more unique retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, writer Ryan North created two witty chose-your-own adventure novels Romeo and/or Juliet and To Be or Not To Be. The novels are riddled with references to other plays. YA fans will wait with bated breath as they select a new path. The books will attract both veterans and the newly initiated Shakespeare readers. 

My last two selections are We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnson. The 2014 SLJ Battle of The Books Undead Poll winner, We Were Liars is a reimagining of the power struggle between Lear and his three daughters. Exit, Pursued by a Bear retells A Winter’s Tale, boldly challenging the outdated notion of women as property and reshaping the narrative into a powerful commentary on date rape and rape culture.  Both books step out from underneath the shadow of Shakespeare through strengthening the female characters and allowing them to shape their own destiny.  In my heart of hearts, I believe that the right book can make any young adult appreciate Shakespeare, his timely themes, and his role in shaping the modern English language. I hope that I provided a few.

Okay, I realize that few people really want to buy a textbook near the end of the semester. Personaly, I know that I would like to curl up with a good crime novel (I know I am not got up with at least Jo Nesbo, Michael Connelly, and T. Jefferson Parker), but I have miles to go before I sleep.  I have grading to attend to, a chapter to finish, some book chapters to review and a few other tasks. In addition, there are a list of YA novels that looking forward to--Girl in PIeces, Out of Darkness, and I am interested in the new Lock & Mori Mind Games. But they will all wait while I finishing Bonnie-Sue Hitchock's wonderful novel, The Smell of Other People's Houses.

Again, NCTE was a great conference this year with a ton of connections to YA literature. Now, let's see if I can point to three new textbooks connected to Young Adult Literature in a short post. (I know. That will be difficult for me.) I purchased two of the textbooks while at the conference and one the other one should be coming to me in the mail. In the past I have recommended that it is important for those of use who teach YA literature to preservice teachers or want to know about how this body of literature is being researched and taught would do well to pay attention to these textbook. Clearly, it won't replace scholarly articles; but paying attention to both sources provides a rich supply of information to draw from.  I would not require a single textbook in a young adult literature course. Instead, I would provide a list of quality textbooks and have each student buy one.  Depending on the size of the class, the students individually  or in pairs would report on their selected text. As a result, these future teachers would be introduced to several textbooks that could inform their use of YA lit in the classroom.

The first is Jennifer Buehler's Teaching Reading  with YA Literature: Complex Texts, Complex Lives, Jennifer is the immediate past president of ALAN and she is just about as knowledgeable as it comes for a source about young adult literature. Among her many achievements, my favorite is that she introduced me to Matt de la Pena. Several years ago she wrote an exceptional article for The ALAN Review that featured his work.  The book is an NCTE publication and has an accompaning resource page. This book is a valuable addition to the field and would make a great addition to your resource shelf.

The next is Developing Contemporary Literacies through Sports edited by Alan Brown and Luke Rodesiler. These scholars have worked together to gather a collection of chapters that address literacy through sports. While the book references young adult literature throughout the chapters, it would be dismissive to suggest that it is just a book about sports and YA. It is a great deal more. You should quickly browse through the table of contents and then buy the book. Since it is an NCTE publication, there is a companion website. If you ever wonder how to engage those kids who might be thinking more about balls and sports workouts than they do about books, get this book.

And the last selection is the second editon of Teaching Young Adult Literature Today that comes with updated material and new chapters. This is a second edition that should be purchased. The new material demonstrates how much scholarship and various topics surrounding young adult literature have expanded in the four years since the first edition. If you quickly browse the table of contents of this new editon to the first edition, you will quickly understand that one does not replace the other. Judith Hayn, Jeff Kaplan, and Karina R. Clemmons have gathered chapters that explore what the title states. The chapters are, indeed, a collection of discussion about what could and should be occuring in classrooms using the resources of quality young adult literature.

You know have a shopping list to encourage you self-selected professional development. The field is growing. If you have been teaching YA literature for a long time or if you are new to the field these three books are informative, timely, and full of inspiration.

The Guest Blogger this week is Robert Prickett. He is an Associate Professor of English Education at Winthrop University and is currently working as the Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. The title above is actually an abbreviation of what he sent me. It is actually worth putting the whole title, it is funny, but also captures the angst that many feel in the aftermath:

Ugh! The No More Political Talk Except for this Last Blog about YAL & Politics & Activism & Moving on Past this Election Except When You Can’t or Won’t but Want to and Give a Chance for Peaceful Transference of Power While Still Keeping an Eye On and Out for All But Need to Recognize How Difficult that is & Know that YAL Can & Will Help Our Students & Us . . .  Blog Post

And.. Robert takes over:

Disclaimer: I’ve spent the majority of my life in “Red” States – Indiana, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In the period of my life when my wife and I lived in Virginia (a – what? – “Purple” State), we still found ourselves living in the part of the state that would likely be “red”. Now, I’ve been “Blue” most, if not all, of my adult life. I’m talking “Denim”. I’m talking “Indigo”. “Navy Blue”. No “Sky”. No “Turquoise”. “Blue-Blue”. So, needless to write (and yet here I go), this election hurt – literally (and I am using “literally” correct here – nausea, head ache, taking my breath away, 5 stages of grief, etc.). 

​The theme (chosen before the election but I am sure with recognition of the election season) of this year’s NCTE was “Faces of Advocacy”. I did not realize how much I needed NCTE this year (a common thread of friends, acquaintances, and colleagues at the convention) until I was there listening to Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins, Jo Knowles, and Meg Medina discussing censorship and fighting back or listening to the general session of Sharon Draper, Jason Reynolds, G. Neri, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, and Ibtisam Barakat discussing advocating and fighting for students or Ta-Nehisi Coates (admittedly way too briefly) articulating why he (and some of us) should not have been surprised by our surprise. All of these and countless other sessions advocating for, well, advocacy was an anecdote (of sorts) for me. 

So, what do we read at this time? What do our students (many of whom are also shocked and hurting and scared) read at this time? What do we do? As Joan Kaywell repeats frequently, I, too, know that YA saves lives. It is with this disclaimer, this introduction, that I now turn to my book shelves, my book lists, my Young Adult Literature. . . for a completely biased, completely cathartic, completely open (for further discussions, suggestions, and critiques), completely incomplete list –
 
Do I submit and wallow in my pessimism? Do I need to start practicing and solidifying my post-apocalyptic dystopian skill set?
 

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Divergent by Veronia Roth
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• Unwind by Neil Shusterman
• Feed by MT Anderson
• The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

OR do I visit (or more accurately – re-visit) history/non-fiction and what we need to do to not repeat it?
 

• The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media by Brooke Gladstone & Josh Neufeld
• Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II by Martin W. Sandler
• Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration by Ann Bausum
• I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
• We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson
• They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement by Rick Bowers
• Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights by Richard Wallace and Sandra Neil Wallace
• March: Book One, Book Two, & Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell
• Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• Kids Like Me: Voices of the Immigrant Experience b Judith M. Blohm & Terri Lapinsky
• A Young People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Enrique’s Journey (The Young Adult Adaptation): The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother by Sonia Nazario
• Gay America: Struggle for Equality by Linas Alsenas
• Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimner
• Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq by Mark Alan Stamaty

OR do I visit/re-visit those books that sharpen my students’ empathy (which was another advocacy theme throughout my NCTE experience)? *note: literally scribbled down some from off my bookshelf . . . . soooo many great YA titles fit into this pondering. . .  
 

• Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices by Mitali Perkins
• In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang
• The Arrival by Shaun Tan
• Skim by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Tyrell by Coe Booth
• The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle
• Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
• Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
• Shine by Lauren Myracle
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
• Nothing but the Truth by Avi
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• Luna by Julie Anne Peters
• Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
• Audacity by Melanie Crowder

OR finally, do I visit/re-visit books that instruct my students and me how to go forth and do – make a difference – take a stand – and love, protect, and work with our fellow human beings – all of them – regardless of gender, orientation, race, ethnicity, age, citizenship . . . . (as if all of these titles listed above don’t do that in some way or another)?
 

• The Teen Guide to Global Action: How to Connect with Others (Near & Far) to Create Social Change by Barbara Lewis
• The Kids’ Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference by Barbara Lewis
• Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions Around the World by Garth Sundem
• Yes You Can! Your Guide to Becoming an Activist by Jane Drake & Ann Love
• Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters by Laurie Ann Thompson
• The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth by EarthWorks Group
• Free?: Stories about Human Rights by Amnesty International
• It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired, & Get Going! by Chelsea Clinton

​So, this is where I am – three weeks out – combing through my home and office bookshelves filled with YAL – searching for survival, for context, and for compassion – for me, for my children, for my students, for their students, and for our world. After all, if Baez is right and “action is the antidote to despair” I better get moving. 

The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of my favorite things to think about. Since last June, I think about it at least once a week. With the help of Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil and Sharon Kane we gathered 20 "readers" to set about rereading the first 20 years of the award. Each person volunteered to reread the five books form the short list in each year from 1996 to 2015. After reading those five books, each person advanced a "winner" to the second round. In half of the cases the real winner was advanced, but in ten cases a new "winner" was moved forward.  In the second round, we put the participants in to four groups of five years and asked them to read those and then, as a group, decide on book to advance to the final round. The last round of  the final four is nearing the end and people are beginning to vote.

​I discussed this about a year ago in one of my blog post. I reviewed some of my favorites and wondered about others I have read. I have to admit that one of the novels that I think about almost every time I put together a syllabus did make past the first round. That novel is Kimberly Willis Holt's, When Zachery Beaver Came to Town. but it had some stiff competition from other novels that have also seem to have stood the test of time; particular standouts that year are Speak and Monster. These two books have had a significant impact in the world of YA literature and I suspect that impact will continue for quite some time to come.

One of the participants, Katie Sluiter, has discussed the rationale for her final choice on her blog--Sluiternation.com. It you want a description of the final four novels, Katie provides some on her most recent post. You can read her descriptions and stop short of discovery her final choice. 

​The "Meta-Award" finalist are below. For several months, 20 people have been reading books in different round to get at this finalist. You may or may not agree but we invite you to join us as we read this four novels. These four titles are readily available and are all enjoyable readers that should be in your classrooms or included in the syllabi of your YA courses. Below the images is a link to a place that you can vote for your favorite and put them in rank order if you like.

If you want to run your own meta gold winner with a class or a book club, below is the document we used to describe the project as we shopped for participants. Feel free to use it and our modify it any way you like.