First Alex Awards for Best Adult Books for Teens

[Esther Murphy <emurphy@ALA.ORG>]

ALA NEWS RELEASES
American Library Association
Public Information Office

News Releases
Vol. 3, No. 19

For Immediate Release
April 1998

Contact: Joyce Kelly, Press Officer
         Linda Wallace, Director
         312-280-5043 or 5042

ALA NEWS

First Alex Awards honor best adult books for teens
        Winners of the first Alex Awards honoring the best adult books
for teenagers have been announced by the Young Adult Library
Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library
Association, and Booklist.
        Fiction titles selected are *The Secret Family: Twenty-four Hours
inside the Mysterious Worlds of Our Minds and Bodies* by David Bodanis
(Simon & Schuster), *What Girls Learn* by Karin Cook (Pantheon,
Vintage, paper), *Snow in August* by Pete Hamill (Little, Brown); *Only
Twice I've Wished for Heaven* by  Dawn Turner Trice (Crown); and *To
Say Nothing of the Dog; or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at
Last* by Connie Willis (Bantam).
        Nonfiction titles include *Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black
Girls in America* by Rebecca Carroll (Crown); *The Perfect Storm: A
True Story of Men against the Sea* by Sebastian Junger (Norton);  *Into
Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster* by Jon
Krakauer (Villard); and *Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to
Slavery and Emancipation* by Velma Maia Thomas (Crown); and *All
Over but the Shoutin'* by Rick Bragg (Pantheon).
        The Alex Awards are part of a five-year initiative, funded by the
Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust, to help librarians encourage young
adults ages 12-18 to read by introducing
them to high quality books written for adults. The first in a series of
programs under the project will be Sunday, June 28, from 2 to 4 p.m.,
during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.  It  will feature
Richard F. Abrahamson, professor of literature for children and young
adults at the University of Houston. The program will be followed by a
reception with special guests from the publishing world and the Margaret
Alexander Edwards trustees.
        The 10 Alex Award books were nominated and selected from
fiction and nonfiction published and marketed primarily to adults during
the past year. The books were chosen based on literary quality,
readability and appeal to a teen audience.  Representing a variety of
genres * realistic fiction, fantasy, memoir, science and adventure - the
books introduce teenagers to the riches of adult reading.
        The awards are named in honor of Margaret Alexander (Alex)
Edwards, a pioneer in young adult library services whose
accomplishments at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore have guided
and inspired young adult librarians.  Edwards used adult books
extensively with young adults to broaden their experience and enrich
their understanding of themselves and their world.
        The selections were made by the Adult Books for Young Adults
Task Force.  Members are: Deborah Taylor, chair, Enoch Pratt Free
Library, Baltimore, Md.; Betty Carter, Texas Woman's University, School
of Library and Information Science, Denton Texas; Susan Farber,
Ardsley (N.Y.) Public Library; Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San
Diego, Calif.; David Mowery, Brooklyn Public Library; Pamela Spencer,
Alexandria Va.; and Stephanie Zvirin, Booklist, Chicago.
        The annotated list of titles appears in the April 1 issue of Booklist
and in ALA's *Guide to Best Reading, 1998.* It is available on the ALA
Web site at www.ala. org/yalsa or from ALA Fax-On-Demand at
800-545-2433, press 8.
-30-

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