Each year YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) chooses books for their “Best Books for Young Adults” list. A number of books are selected for the list, often published in print format, then the top ten are chosen from that list which truly represent great literature for young adults from the past year.
How Books are Chosen
A panel of librarians from around the country use a set criteria to choose books to be considered for the “Best Books” list. Among the criterion for books considered are diversity, appeal to young adults and current themes in young adult literature, believable characterization and dialogue, and publication within the last calendar year. Once a book has been nominated by a member of the panel, that choice must be seconded by another panel member in order to be considered. Once a member has nominated a book, he/she has the opportunity to discuss that book with the other panel members, making a cause for his/her nomination.
Previous “Best Book” Award Winners
Golden Compass – Phillip Pullman (1997)
Among the Hidden – Margaret Peterson Haddix (1999)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowlings (1999)
Holes – Louis Sachar (1999)
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson (2000)
Ender’s Shadow – Orson Scott Card (2000)
Monster – Walter Dean Myers (2000)
The Girl with the Pearl Earring – Tracy Chevalier (2001)
Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli (2001)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares (2002)
Lirael – Garth Nix (2002)
So B. It – Sarah Weeks (2005)
Peeps – Scott Westerfeld (2006)
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (2007)
2008 Top 10 Best Book Winners
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Illus. by Ellen Forney. (Little,
Brown, 2007) ISBN 978-0-316-01368-0
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton, 2007) ISBN 978-0-374-10523-5
Downham, Jenny.Before I Die (Random House/David Fickling, 2007) ISBN 978-0-385-75155-1
Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2007) ISBN 978-0-375-83799-9.
Jones, Lloyd. Mister Pip (Dell Publishing/Dial Press, 2007) ISBN 978-0-385-34106-6
Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant (HarperCollins, 2007) ISBN 978-0-06-123115-5
Peet, Mal. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal (Candlewick, 2007) ISBN 978-0-7636-3488-9
Polly, Matthew. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China (Penguin Group USA/Gotham Books, 2007) ISBN 978-1-59240-262-5
Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel. Illus. by Brain Selznick. (Scholastic, 2007) ISBN 978-0-439-81378-5
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Illus. by Shaun Tan. (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine, 2007) ISBN 978-0-439-89529-3
Resource: YALSA
