Inkpot Andre Norton Award Roundup - Part I

[leah_cypess]

It's voting time! For those of you who are members of SFWA, Nov. 15-Feb. 15 is the voting period for the Nebula Awards -- and for the Andre Norton Award, which covers young adult speculative fiction published in 2011. (more info here, or here if you are a SFWA member)

Needless to say, a lot of the books featured on the Inkpot this year qualify for

Comments

[auroraceleste]

Mastiff by Tamora Pierce
Across the Universe - Beth Revis
Behemoth - Scott Westerfeld
Rage - Jackie Morse Kessler
Tankborn - Karen Sandler

[leah_cypess]

Thank you! These are all great suggestions & they'll be in the next post.

[jennreese]

Since the Norton Award covers middle grade, too, I'm going to mention a few of those:

Books I read and really enjoyed and/or loved:
Circus Galacticus by Deva Fagan
The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell
The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier (this is YA, maybe)
The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout
The Hidden Gallery (Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #2) by Maryrose Wood

I haven't read these yet, but I've heard great things:
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

Okay, I could probably keep going, but I'll make myself stop. :)

[leah_cypess]

Hi Jenn!
We discussed this before putting up the post - the Norton rules (http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/rules/) seem to specifically say the book has to be YA, but we all know how arbitrary these classifications can sometimes be. We decided that we would include a book if either (a) the publisher classified it as YA, or (b) anyone is willing to stand up and say, "This book is classified as MG, but I think it's YA." According to the rules, the jury would then decide if the book is really YA or not. My guess is that most upper-MG books would qualify.

And thanks for all the recommendations!

[jennreese]

Hi Leah,

That seems like a completely reasonable interpretation of the description of the rules.

My issue is that most SFWAns -- especially back when the award was created -- don't know the difference between between MG and YA, so YA was a catch-all term covering all younger-than-adult books. You can even see this on the award ballot for the last few years -- there are several books that are firmly MG: Savvy, Hereville, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, SmekDay, etc.

But over the last few years, more and more MG/YA authors have joined SFWA, meaning more people actual know the difference. As a result, MG is being squeezed out of award contention.

So I think MG belongs in the award category because originally, SFWAns didn't really know the difference. But I completely understand why people are dismissing it now -- it just makes me sad.

[leah_cypess]

There also didn't used to be such a big difference btw. MG & YA -- YA didn't have such a big crossover adult audience, they weren't in separate sections in bookstores, etc. But you're right that a lot of past ballots have included MG books, and the rules don't reflect that. I think I'm going to see if I can bring this to the attention of relevant people in SFWA and suggest a change. Is it ok if I mention your name when I do?

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton!

[anonymous]

I would like to recommend Tyger Tyger and In The Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton.

Tyger Tyger was published in 2010, and In the Forests of the Night just came out this month!

Thanks!
Megwi
megwiinthelibrary.blogspot.com

Re: Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton!

[leah_cypess]

Thanks! In the Forests of the Night is eligible (and in fact, Kersten was just interviewed about it on the Inkpot today).