It’s time to celebrate National Book Month! Schools and libraries around the country are participating in the value of books. The best way to support National Book Month is by reading. Opening a book and seeing what those pages hold…word combinations that have meaning, depth and beauty. As a reader, they can guide us, inform, and tantalize, bringing our senses to a new awareness of other realms, imagination, and creativity. “Curling up with a good book,” my aunt would always say while devouring page upon page of a delicious read especially during the snowy months of the year.
Originally sponsored by the National Book Foundation, National Book Month is an important event with many areas celebrating books by having book festivals. This week in particular is Teen Read Week sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association ( YALSA). Teen Read Week encourages teenagers to pick up a book and read. The John Newberry Medal and Honor Books are awarded annually to children’s literature. This year’s winner is Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.
The National Book Awards (NBA) began in 1950 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. This award honored writers given by fellow writers and marked the beginning recognition of excellence in literature. The literary community came together through The American Book Publisher’s Council, The Book Manufacturers’ Institute and The American Booksellers’ Association. The awards recognize merit in the categories of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Having undergone many changes throughout its history, the NBA now includes the additional category of Young People’s Literature.
And with these words I expect to find my readers—reading beyond my blog—with some of my recommended reads:
Young Adult: “Hoot” by Carl Hiaasen
Fiction: “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink, “Like Water for Chocolate” Laura Esquivel, “The Waterworks” by E. L. Doctorow
Non-Fiction: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot
Historical: “Wicked Philadelphia” by Thomas H. Keels
Self-Help: “Overcoming Life’s Disappointments” by Harold S. Kushner
Literary Magazine: Apiary and Painted Bride
Short Story: “The Gilded Six-Bits” by Zora Neals Hurston and “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton
The National Book Awards for this year’s finalists are:
FICTION
Andrew Krivak, “The Sojourn”
Tea Obreht, “The Tiger’s Wife”
Julie Otsuka, “The Buddha in the Attic”
Edith Pearlman, “Binocular Vision”
Jesmyn Ward, “Salvage the Bones”
NONFICTION:
Deborah Baker, “The Convert”
Mary Gabriel, “Love and Capital”
Stephen Greenblatt, “Swerve: How the World Became Modern”
Manning Marable, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention”
Lauren Redniss, “Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout”
POETRY:
Nikky Finney, “Head Off & Split”
Yusef Komunyakaa, “The Chameleon Couch”
Carl Phillips, “Double Shadow”
Adrienne Rich, “Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010”
Bruce Smith, “Devotions”
YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:
Franny Billingsley, “Chime”
Debby Dahl Edwardson, “My Name Is Not Easy”
Thanhha Lai, “Inside Out and Back Again”
Albert Marrin, “Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy”
Lauren Myracle, “Shine”
Gary D. Schmidt, “Okay for Now“