ALAN Online

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the finalists for the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. The honored titles for 2009 (in alphabetical order by title) are:

· After Tupac and D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam)

· Graceling, by Kristin Cashore (Harcourt)

· The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)

· Me, The Missing, and the Dead, by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)

· My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park, by Steve Kluger (Dial)

This year’s winning title will be announced at an open reception and reading at the 2009 ALAN Workshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author, Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.

The 2009 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee was comprised of ten members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities who considered 232 young adult titles over the duration of the process:

Wendy Glenn, Chair
Associate Professor
University of Connecticut, Storrs

Mary Arnold
Teen Services Manager
Cuyahoga County Public Library, Ohio

Erica Berg
Classroom Teacher
Rockville High School, Vernon, CT

Jean Boreen
Professor
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

C.J. Bott
Retired Classroom Teacher, Educational Consultant
Solon, OH

Jennifer Buehler
Assistant Professor
Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO

Bonnie Kunzel
Retired Youth Services Consultant, Youth Services Consultant
New Jersey

Teri Lesesne
Professor
Sam Houston State University Department of Library Science, Huntsville, TX

Daria Plumb
Classroom Teacher
Dundee Alternative High School, Dundee, MI

Barbara Ward
Assistant Professor
Washington State University, Tri-Cities

For more information on the award, please contact Wendy Glenn, 2009 AEW Committee Chair, at wendy.glenn@uconn.edu.