Award Winners Named at 2013 ALA Meeting

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King , Newbery and Printz awards – on January 28 at its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

Genre figures among the honorees include Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett:

Tamora Pierce is the winner of the 2013 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.

Pierce was born in rural Western Pennsylvania in 1954. She knew from a young age she liked stories and writing, and in 1983, she published her first book, Song of the Lioness. She continues to write and even record her own audiobooks. She currently lives with her husband (spouse-creature) and a myriad of animals in Syracuse, New York.

Terry Pratchett’s work Dodger was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, a runner-up to the award winner:

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults: “In Darkness,” written by Nick Lake, is the 2013 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers.

Four Printz Honor Books also were named: “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Saenz, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division; “Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein, published by Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group; “Dodger” by Terry Pratchett, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers; “The White Bicycle” by Beverley Brenna, published by Red Deer Press.

[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh for the story.]