Award winning books: Check 'em out

Code Hunters: Read this for your next clue, which is at the bottom!

Looking for a tried-and-true read? Why not check out these book award winners, selected by panels of librarians, bloggers, teachers, and more? We own each of these books, and you can find them by looking up the first three letters of the author's last name on the shelves in the teen area.

2010 Printz Winner

The Printz award is given to the most outstanding book written for teens in a given year. This is presented through the American Library Association, and the most recent winner is:

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi.

In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

2010 William C Morris Award Winner

The Morris Award is a more recent award that honors the best book written by a first-time author. It, too, is awarded by the American Library Association. Clue Hunters: Find this book, which happens to be 2010's Morris Award Winner:

The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston

Suffering from a crippling case of post-traumatic stress disorder, sixteen-year-old Loa Lindgren tries to use her problem solving skills, sharpened in physics and computer programming, to cure herself.

2010 Cybils Awards in YA Fiction & YA Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Cybils awards are selected by a group of bloggers who represent professions such as librarians, teachers, authors, and some who are even teens themselves. These awards target books that are well written and have wide appeal for teens. There are two categories for young adult books. First, the winner for YA Fiction:

Split by Swati Avasthi

A teenaged boy thrown out of his house by his abusive father goes to live with his older brother, who ran away from home years ago to escape the abuse.

For the Science Fiction and Fantasy category:

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

Code Hunters: If you missed it -- go find this year's Morris Award Winner on the shelf for your next clue in the form of a QR code.