Common Sense is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. This site provides unbiased information to help families make educated decisions about their young adult’s use of media. If you would like additional information about your child’s book selection, visit https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Link to Overdrive, the district ebook program. Students will need their district credentials to sign on and access books.
https://cliu.libraryreserve.com/10/45/en/SignIn.htm?url=Default.htm
Sources* for reading selections:
The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing.
Alex Award for Adult Fiction that Appeals to Teens
The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention.
Hugo Award for Science Fiction
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
National Book Award in Fiction and Nonfiction
The Pulitzer Prizes site contains the complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners from 1917 (the first year the Prizes were awarded) to the present. The site also lists Nominated Finalists from 1980 (the first year finalists were announced) through the present.
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Nonfiction
David J. Langum, Sr. founded The Langum Initiative for Historical Literature in 2001, which soon became The Langum Charitable Trust, out of a conviction that too many historians today write only for each other’s reading and not for the general public. As a result the American public is left uninformed of the nation’s past to the detriment of both individual Americans and also the body politic. The Trust seeks to redress this condition by rewarding and encouraging books that make the rich history of America from the colonial period to the present accessible to the educated general public.
Langum Award for Historical Fiction
Sponsored by Sir Walter Scott’s distant kinsmen the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, the Prize celebrates quality, innovation and longevity of writing in the English language, and is open to books published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. Reflecting the subtitle ‘Sixty Years Since’ of Scott’s most famous work Waverley, the majority of the storyline must have taken place at least 60 years ago.
Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
In 1982, Scott O'Dell established The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The annual award of $5,000 goes to an author for a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults. Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers--particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world.
The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Each year, the Horror Writer's Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work, Dracula. The Bram Stoker Awards were instituted immediately after the organization's incorporation in 1987.
Bram Stoker Award for Horror Fiction
Each spring, Mystery Writers of America present the Edgar® Awards, widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre
The Edgar Award for Mystery Fiction
The purpose of the RITA award is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published romance novels and novellas.
RITA Award for Romance Writing
The Baillie Gifford Prize aims to reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of any nationality. It covers all non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.
Nebula Award for Nonfiction
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States during the previous year. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers.
Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
The $5,000 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing honors a nonfiction book about sports. Eligible titles should be of a biographical, investigative, historical, or analytical nature and of the strongest literary character.
PEN/ESPN Award for Sports Writing
Established in 2010 by writer and naturalist Dale Peterson, the Henry David Thoreau Prize is awarded annually to a writer demonstrating literary excellence in nature writing. Previous winners are Gretel Ehrlich, E. O. Wilson, Gary Snyder, Peter Matthiessen, and T. C. Boyle.
Henry David Thoreau Prize for Nature Writing
The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S.
Stonewall Award for LBGTQ Writing
The Michael L. Printz Award annually honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit, each year. In addition, the Printz Committee names up to four honor books, which also represent the best writing in young adult literature. The awards announcement is made at the ALA Midwinter Meeting as part of the Youth Media Awards and is celebrated with a program and reception each year at the ALA Annual Conference.
Printz Award for Young Adult Literature
The Carnegie Medal is a British literary award that annually recognizes one outstanding new book for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.
Carnegie Medal for Best British Young Adult Writing
The Agatha Awards honor the "traditional mystery." That is to say, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others.
Agatha Award for Mystery Writing
The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.
Morris Award for Best Debut Novel of Young Adult Fiction
*all descriptions come from the sites