National Book Award Young People's Literature Nominees

from the 2013 National Book Award announcement site

UPDATE:  wINNER:        tHE tHING ABOUT LUCK by cynthia Kadohata

FINALISTS:

Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)

 Meet Bingo and J’miah, raccoon brothers on a mission to save Sugar Man Swamp in this National Book Award finalist from Newbery Honoree Kathi Appelt.

Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)

 There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family

Tom McNeal, Far Far Away (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)

 Amazon's page has it listed as a "dark, traditional fairytale in the tradition of Neil Gaiman.

Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group USA)

 Amazon, "Unforgettable page turner about the relationship between parents and children, love and loss."

Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints (First Second/Macmillan) 

Graphic Novel:  China,1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.

LONGLIST:

- Kate DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick Press)
- Lisa Graff, A Tangle of Knots (Philomel, A division of Penguin Group USA)
- Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
- David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing (Knopf Books for Young Readers/Random House)
- Anne Ursu, The Real Boy (Walden Pond Press/an Imprint HarperCollinsPublishers)

JUDGES:

Deb Caletti, Cecil Castellucci, Peter Glassman, E. Lockhart, Lisa Von Drasek

Everything Elephants

I heard an NPR commentary by a clever scientist who said there is so much water in a cloud, he can only logically discuss the measure in elephant units.   Now, whenever it rains, I think of elephants.  And it's raining today, so naturally I feel compelled to offer elephant reading recommendations.

Here are my three favorite elephant books...I promise hours of fun reading!!
Modoc by Ralph Helfer
The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen