I know, I know, it’s already old news — but it would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the NBA longlist in Young People’s Literature.
There are a few surprises, as always, a few “of course” books, and a side of “wait, really?”
There’s also a slant towards a type of book. Social conscience seems to be on the table as a criteria, or at least a bias. Greenglass House and 100 Sideways Miles maybe don’t fit that mold (I haven’t read either yet and descriptions don’t make it clear), but the rest do — even Noggin, which takes on ethics and identity as issues.
But because we are really narrowly focused here, what I am mostly interested in is how this list compares to our own list.
Already on our list: Impossible Knife of Memory, Girls Like Us, The Port Chicago 50, 100 Sideways Miles, and Noggin, although we considered removing Impossible Knife because we sometimes listen to Thumper’s father.
Skink, Revolution, and Brown Girl Dreaming we thought were firmly middle grade/Newbery territory and so not for Printz speculation, but if anyone thinks they skew into Printz territory (ages 12-18), shout. Greenglass House hadn’t been on our radar at ALL, but again seems to be middle grade/Newbery territory, although it also looks like a book I will love.
Finally, Threatened had been on our early list but we pulled it when all the buzz disappeared post publication and it only garnered two stars. I thought Endangered was interesting but leaned toward the didactic rather than literary. Do we need to add Threatened back on?
Overall, I am, as always, interested in the NBA picks but also slightly baffled. What did you think?
About Karyn Silverman
Greenglass House is definitely MG (and fabulous), and honestly I’d consider The Port Chicago 50 MG as well.
My library holds Revolution as YA, and I think it’s definitely a 11-12-13 sort of book, but it feels more middle-grade than YA to me. I don’t really see it as a Printz contender — I didn’t really like the book that much, but I think it’s much stronger considered as a middle-grade book than considered as a YA book.
Also, Skink possibly skews the “oldest” of Hiaasen’s YPL work to date. SLJ review said gr 9-up and Booklist said gr 7-10 and that this is his first book aimed at YA. That doesn’t mean I think it’s Printz material, just that we may not be able to target Hiaasen as MG in this instance. (And we actually have Hoot & Flush etc in Teen in our library system, though admittedly they’re at the lower end.)