Read Rec Rachel: YA and MG Novels I Wish I’d Seen at the YMAs

Yesterday was YMAs day — ALA’s Youth Media Awards day, aka the only Monday a year I willingly set my alarm to wake up early (I work afternoon/evening on Mondays). I’m not an awards panelist person but I love a good awards show–and I also love lists like “Oscars Snubs and Surprises”, so I usually end up with a list of books I wish I’d heard called out (or called out more) on the livestream. I want to share 7 of them with you today.

I’m sharing the disclaimer here that I’m not saying any books called today were not deserving of their awards. In fact, this is the happiest I’ve been in many years of watching the awards! There’s just a lot of great books that released last year, and these are some I wish had gotten recognized, so I’m recognizing them here! I’ve done my best to try and talk titles that, to the best of my knowledge, were eligible for awards (ex: there’s a Canadian author I believe has had one of the best MG titles of the year for a second year in a row now, but Newbery eligibility is limited to US citizens).

YA BOOKS

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds

Maybe I’m biased here because I think Jas Hammonds’ name should have come up on every award list either of their two books have ever been eligible for, but being biased doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Thirsty–which follows a teen in the midst of a battle with alcohol dependency and addiction–is a gorgeous contemporary.

The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

I was thrilled to see two speculative novels on the Printz list this year, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have loved to see my favorite novel of the year, and one of my favorite YA fantasies of all time, The Maid and the Crocodile. I think it will prove to be a long-standing fantasy classic on YA shelves.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal by Gretchen Schreiber

I was expecting to hear this one in the Schneider list, it’s a little snarky and real and a great look into the experience of a teen dealing with a rare illness.

How to Lose a Best Friend by Jordan K. Casomar

Part of this I knew in December (this, along with Shut Up, This is Serious, was my original Morris Award guess), but I was hoping to hear How to Lose a Best Friend mentioned on Monday. It’s a relevant read about relationships, friendships, and the stress and fractures that occur when one member of a partnership interprets things differently. It offers a discussion of the friend zone and of what people think is “owed” to them–it’s such a great books for teens to have on shelves.

The Fox Maidens by Robin Ha

I am so thrilled that the Printz medal this year went to an incredible graphic novel that I love so much–Brownstone. And while you’re grabbing extra copies of that, and we’re talking graphic novels anyway, grab The Fox Maidens, which I think made me gasp and throw at my friends every three pages because the art is so stunning. Honestly, the Printz list could have been entirely graphic novels this year we’ve had such great picks in YA this year.

MG BOOKS

Mid-Air by Alicia D. Williams

One of my favorite middle grades of the year, I was expecting this to be somewhere on the Newbery list (or even on Printz!) A great middle school read, perfect for those 7th grade readers especially, about life and moving on and moving through.

Kwame Crashes the Underworld

Ok ok, I know we did hear this book called out as the winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award. YAY! But I still want to talk about it here because I was really hoping to hear it on the Newbery list. It’s a dynamic, fun, beautiful fantasy that feels fresh and still timeless, with buckets full of kid appeal.

Were there any books you were hoping/expecting to see or hoping to see more of?

Filed under: Awards, Books, Uncategorized