Printz Watch (winner edition)

Well, the Printz Watch at Pearl wasn't exactly successful...at least in terms of correctly identifying the winner. There were a lot of surprises this year at the Youth Media Awards. The Printz Award was given Monday and here are the results:




Winner: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Summary: In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town vanishes. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears.










Honor: Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Summary: Charlie, 13, is woken up on a hot summer night by teenage outcast Jasper, who wants to show him something secret. That secret turns out to be the dead body of Laura Wishart, Jasper's occasional paramour and the older sister of Charlie's own crush, Eliza. The boys, assuming that Jasper will be blamed, hide the body, and Laura's disappearance combines with the boys' guilt and lies to create an ongoing spiral of stress.












Honor: The Returning by Christine Hinwood

Summary: Cam Attling, having lost an arm, is the only one from his town of Kayforl to return after twelve years of war. All his fellow soldiers were slain, and suspicion surrounds him. When his betrothal to Graceful Fenister is called off and his role in the community questioned, Cam leaves to find the lord who maimed him but spared his life, seeking answers and a new place in the world.









Honor: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Summary: Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.








Honor: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary: It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.Some riders live.Others die.At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

If you'll remember, The Scorpio Races is the only Printz book that we read and reviewed for this blog series. Our recap is here but what we may not have mentioned in that review is that we LOVED it. The language is gorgeous, the story moves along quickly, and the race itself is amazing. This book is totally deserving of its honor!

Find all of these books at your nearest CMRLS library!

Even if we didn't correctly identify the winners/honors, we're counting Printz Watch 2012 a complete and total success. I read a lot of books that I normally would not have, and even found a book to count among by list of all-time favorites (Chime by Franny Billingsley--loved it!!). We're going to be reading reviews and books like crazy...it's not too soon to start Printz Watch 2013!!!