ALAN Online

ALAN’s Picks is a monthly book review column edited and compiled by Dr. Pam Cole of Kennesaw State University.  Be sure to check the site regularly for the a preview of the latest titles in YA Lit.

Reviewed this month:

An Off Year by Claire Zulkey
Ash by Malinda Lo     
By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
The Crimson Cap by Ellen Howard
Freaks and Revelations by Davida Willis Hurwin
Gentlemen by Michael Northrup
Hunter’s Heart by Julia Green 
Jars of Glass by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler 
The Long Wait for Tomorrow by Joanquin Dorfman
Oathbreaker: A Prince Among Killers by J. B. Redmond and S. R. Vaught
Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough    
Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes
[Read more →]

Brett and Kate McKay, the authors of The Art of Manliness Blog, have compiled an interesting list of must-reads for boys and young men.  The list, which features a number of YA classics, can be found here.

The McKays have authored other reading lists including:

100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library

The Essential Adventure Library: 50 Best Non-fiction Adventure Books

About The Art of Manliness:
The Art of Manliness is authored by husband and wife team, Brett and Kate McKay. It features articles on helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men. In our search to uncover the lost art of manliness, we’ll look to the past to find examples of manliness in action. We’ll analyze the lives of great men who knew what it meant to “man up” and hopefully learn from them. And we’ll talk about the skills, manners, and principles that every man should know. Since beginning in January 2008, The Art of Manliness has already gained 53,000+ subscribers and continues to grow each week.

As reported by Motoko Rich of the New York Times, Katherine Paterson has been named ambassador of young people’s literature–a joint appointment by the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book and the non-profit organization Every Child a Reader.

Paterson the well-known author of Bridge to Terabithia is the recipient of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Read the entire New York Times Article here.

Steven Bickmore, Melanie Hundley, & Jacqualine Bach, C0-editors of The ALAN Review, have released the themes for the Summer 2010 and Winter 2011 issues.  If you would like to submit a manuscript in response to one of these prompts, please refer to the submission guidelines posted here.

2010 Summer Theme:  Interplay: Influence of Film, New Media, Digital Technology, and Image on YA Literature

The lines between various forms of media are frequently blurred for young adult readers; young adult novels increasingly have some combination of web sites, blogs, fan fiction, and video games to accompany them. The theme of this issue asks us to consider the influences of film, new media, digital technology and image on young adult novels.  What does the interplay between digital media and young adult literature look like?  How is young adult literature being influenced by digital media?  What roles do film and image play in young adult literature? What are the reading experiences of young adults who “read” books in multiple media?  Which novels and novel media help readers to question or critique society and the world?  This theme is meant to be open to interpretation, and we welcome manuscripts addressing pedagogy as well as theoretical concerns. General submissions are also welcome. Submission deadline: February 15, 2010

Winter 2011 Theme: Looking for the Real Me: The Search for Self in Young Adult Literature

An oft-cited reason for including YAL in the middle and high school curriculum is that YAL is literature in which young adult readers can see themselves.  The theme of this issue asks us to consider questions of identity and self in young adult literature.  How does this YAL literature address or not address the young adult reader’s search for his or her own identity, for familiar issues and concerns, and for answers to questions about life and choices?  How is young adult literature answering the call to be more inclusive?  What role does YAL play in helping young adults shape and/or question their identities?  Which novels, old and new, help young adults ask questions and challenge assumptions about their own identities?  This theme is meant to be open to interpretation, and we welcome manuscripts addressing pedagogy as well as theoretical concerns. General submissions are also welcome. Submission deadline: July 1, 2010

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner Announced

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the winner of the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. 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 winner of the 2009 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award is:

My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park

by Steve Kluger (Dial)

2009 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists 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)

[Read more →]