2017 Westchester Fiction Award

The Westchester Fiction Award was founded in 2009 by Suzanne Osman, a teacher librarian for the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, California. This award honors talented authors who contribute exemplary literature to the Young Adult literary canon & the visionary publishers who bring their texts to life. When evaluating literature, the committee considers the following questions:

1.  Does the work have immediate and widespread appeal to adolescents?
2.  Is the theme/topic meaningful and relevant today?
3.  If the work is part of an established series, can it stand alone?
4.  Is there a unique quality to the work (voice, message, language, format, etc.)?
5.  Is the writing rich, compelling, detailed?
6.  Are the main characters and content age appropriate for high school students?
7.  Is the work a valuable addition to the Young Adult literary canon?

 

2017 Winners:

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina

The Call by Peadar O’Guilin

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

 

2017 Honorable Mentions:

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

Need by Joelle Charbonneau

Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Wax by Gina Damico

Around Town

Check out these events around town…

August 16 – Teen Gaming @ Davenport Public Library (Fairmount)

August 19 – Discovery Fair @ Bettendorf Public Library

August 19 – Back-to-School Essentials for Teens @ East Moline Public Library

 

Would you like your teen-friendly events listed here? Let me know in the comments.

What’s New?

Check out these new titles in the Teen Corner at the Moline Public Library. Click on the title to go to the catalog to find the book or place a hold.

Who’s That Girl by Blair Thornburgh
Nattie is totally OK with her place in life. She has her close friends, great parents, and is a Latin whiz. So what if she’s never been kissed? She almost kissed Sebastian Delaxroix last summer, after all. When he shows up back in town and his band’s song starts to skyrocket through the charts, Nattie’s life becomes a lot more confusing. Because the song is called Natalie, and it might be about her.

Here Lies Daniel Tate by Cristin Terrill
Six years ago, Daniel Tate disappeared. Now he’s back. But he’s no longer the same boy. His sandy hair is darker, the freckles are gone, and he’s too traumatized to speak. But he’s alive, and that’s all that matters to his family. The only problem is, he’s not Daniel Tate. He’s a con artist. And the harder he works to hide his secret, the more he learns about the secrets the Tate family is keeping as well.

The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson
Before the war, Eden’s life was easy. Now the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. Eden has lost everything to them—her family, her friends, her home, and her freedom. But Eden knows the coordinates to the only neutral ground left in the world, a place called Sanctuary Island, and she is desperate to escape to its shores.

The Suffering Tree by Elle Cosimano
Tori and her family moved to Chaptico, Maryland after inheriting a house under mysterious circumstances. Now they are at odds with the entire town, especially Jesse Slaughter and his family, who feel the land was stolen from them. Then Tori witnesses a young man claw his way out of a grave, and he tells a different story of what happened all those years ago. Something dark happened in Chaptico, and it’s happening again.

The Girl in Between by Sarah Carroll
A girl and her ma take shelter in an old, abandoned mill. It’s far better than their life on the streets. Then developers show up, and the girl seeks out the ghosts of the mill to save her home.
With only Caretaker, the old man who’s slept outside the mill for decades, around to answer her questions, she begins to wonder what kind of ghosts are haunting both the mill and her mother.

Next Week

Monday, August 14 @ 6:30 p.m.
QC Comedy Sportz founder, Jeff Adamson, returns to present his comical view of the QCA’s past in Quad Cities: Screwed Up by a River. Open to all ages.

Saturday, August 19 @ 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Drop-in to our Summer Beach Party between 2 and 4 for lots of summer outdoor fun for all ages! Will be held indoors if raining. Sponsored by Vibrant Credit Union.

A Librarian Reads…

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary Schmidt

The day Jack’s parents take Joseph into their home, the social worker tells them three things they need to know. One is that Joseph tried to kill a teacher because he swallowed something bad and didn’t know what he was doing. Two is that after being sent to Stone Mountain and what happened to him there, Joseph won’t wear orange, let anyone touch him or stand behind him, or eat canned peaches. And three is that Joseph has a daughter. Jack and Joseph have many classes together, even though Jack is in sixth grade and Joseph is in eighth, and they spend a lot of time together milking the family’s cows, and eventually Joseph learns to trust Jack and his parents. They discover he is a boy who loves deeply, and decide to do whatever they can to help him find his daughter Jupiter.

Gentle, but unflinching in the face of harsh realities, this book is highly recommended for readers in middle school and up.

 

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Featured Series

Immortal Game by Ann Aguirre

Agreeing to join the mysterious Kian’s magical faction to exact revenge on a group of bullies who have tormented her, Edie transforms into a beautiful girl and begins to sabotage the bullies’ inner circle only to discover dark truths about Kian’s world.

1) Mortal Danger

2) Public Enemies

3) Infinite Risk

Around Town

Check out these events around town…

August 9 – Teen Gaming @ Davenport Public Library (Fairmount)

August 9 – Jolly Rancher Readers @ Silvis Public Library

August 10 – Retro Gaming Night @ Rock Island Public Library (Main)

August 10 – Shrinky Dink Necklace @ East Moline Public Library

August 11 – Elvis Movie @ East Moline Public Library

August 15 – Teen DIY Desk Organizers @ Silvis Public Library

 

Would you like your teen-friendly events listed here? Let me know in the comments.