On Awards: The Printz
By Maggie Block
As you hopefully know, Still True won an IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) Bronze Medal for Creative Nonfiction! We are very excited about this recognition, and grateful for the committee’s appreciation of Reagan Jackson’s incredible book.
And this whole thing got me thinking about different literary awards. How useful they are to authors and publishers to get more recognition for their books. Also, in a time of BokTok, where a lot of okay books go viral for the sake of jumping on trends, looking at awards which are chosen by a committee of literature professionals is a great way to weed through some of the undeserved buzz out there.
Every year a committee of YALSA, the Young Adult sub group of the American Library Association, awards the Michael L. Printz award to the best piece of literary fiction from the year prior. When explaining it I often call it the Pulitzer of YA. And it’s an award I follow closely every year. A group of my cohort mates from Library school read possible contenders for the Printz every year, and we do our best to guess what the winner might be.
As a fun exercise I’m highlighting a few of my favorite winners, and honor list titles, to give you a sampling for what kinds of books the Printz awards. And to perhaps get you to read some deeply meaningful books…
Midwinter Blood, by Marcus Sedgwick, Printz winner 2014
This dark and creepy tale, starts in the near future, and slowly works its way backwards to the early medieval times. With two characters whose lives are always intertwined as you see them reincarnated in different forms and relationships throughout the ages. What bound them together you won’t learn until the end of the book and the beginning of their time.
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, honorable mention 2016
This book takes a stark and honest look at America’s history of racism, and racialized gender violence. It is a hard read. And I’ve been in discussions where it was questioned whether or not this book even was for young people, due to the cruelty and violence in its pages. But as we see curriculum bans across this nation try to reimagine our histories of slavery and segregation, as kindly and paternalistic; I think it is crucial that we take a long hard look at the true horrors American history holds.
March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, winner 2017
This honor was an exciting departure from Printz’s history of only awarding highly literary, frequently magical realism, literature. March, a biographical retelling of John Lewis’ life in the civil rights movement, is one of the greatest graphic novels ever written. It introduces you to the many players who fought for racial justice beyond MLK and Malcolm X. It gives the reader a long view of the hard, years long struggle it took to get voting rights, and equal protection under the law. And as a graphic novel it is accessible to so many more readers.
Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman, honorable mention 2018
I found this book illuminating! The author explores Vincent and Theo Van Gogh’s lives through their letters to each other, historical records of their lives, and researching the times they lived in. Learning about the art space that Van Gogh came out of, and how he related to his community and family was riveting! But what I thought was outstanding was how the author placed Vincent Van Gogh in the history of our understanding of mental health. The Van Gogh brothers were contemporaries of Sigmund Freud. So while yes, they lived in a time where our modern understanding of mental illness was being discovered and written about, they did not get to reap any of the benefits of that knowledge through treatment.
Dig by A.S. King, winner 2020
Honestly, you should just read A.S. King, all of her books are excellent. I have heard her called the Vonnegut of YA, and it’s true. The way King breads magical realism and speculative elements into her stories, leads the reader to see the stories and characters with crystal clarity. This book looks at 5 different teenagers, who couldn’t be more different- but when you find out what binds them to each other, you discover the monsterous depths that the generationally wealthy go to in order to hold onto their name, wealth, and power.
Firekeeper's Daughter By Angeline Boulley, winner 2022
This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I laughed out loud, I reflected deeply, I was moved to tears. Daunis, our main character, gets pulled into trying to help solve a mystery after witnessing a murder. Working under cover she has to try and figure out who is behind dealing a new danergous strain of heroine, and why they have been killing people in her community. This book is what helped me fully understand the far too frequent tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. I of course understood it was a problem before this book, but living the experience of the characters in this story, and seeing how the only systems that exist to help victims of this violence neglect indigenous women and girls; has and continues to have a profound effect on me.
All My Rage By Sabaa Tahir, winner 2023
This book wrecked me. The powerful narrative is told by two perspectives, of the once best friends and only Muslim and Arab students in their small town school, Sal and Noor. Noor is the only surviving member of her family home in Pakistan, who lives with her American uncle who deeply resents her for it, her only escape is through the music she listens to. Sal’s parents own and run a small motel, but with his mother very sick and his father dealing with mental illness, it falls to Sal to keep the family business and home a float. This deeply authentic story walks the reader through why some people are pushed to commit crimes in order to survive. And the absolute brutality that the US “justice” system can slam down on you, for having no better choices.
I hope that this small sampling of books will wet your appetite for YA literature. I have been enjoying reading possible contenders for this year’s prize, including Kindling; Shut Up, This is Serious; and Black Girl you are Atlas, if you want to keep going after this list.