Liz Burns Helps Select the Winner of the 2012 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

Liz Burns, youth services consultant for the New Jersey State Library Talking Book & Braille Center, served as a member of a distinguished committee which selected the the best nonfiction book for teens from a select group of finalists. The 2012 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults was presented by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. It is the first national award that honors the best nonfiction books for teens.

The winning book was “The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery,”written by Steve Sheinkin and published by Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.  Treating history as mystery, Sheinkin explores the means, motives and opportunities of America’s most infamous spy as he reveals Arnold’s path towards treason. This cradle to grave biography emphasizes the political, social and military issues within the Colonial army and how Arnold ambitiously maneuvered his own career through grit and determination.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. Award winners are announced annually during the ALA Midwinter Meeting’s Youth Media Awards.

Other finalists, which were announced in December, included: “Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science,” written by Mark Aronson and Marina Budhos; “Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition,” written by Karen Blumenthal; “Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way),” written by Sue Macy; and “Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein,” written by Susan Goldman Rubin.

Serving with Burns on the committee were: Chair Jennifer Hubert, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York; Mary Burkey, Olentangy Local Schools, Columbus, Ohio; Betty Carter, Consultant, Coppell, Texas; Diane Colson, Youth Services Librarian, Palm Harbor (Fla.) Library; Megan Fink, Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day Middle School; Pam Spencer Holley, Consultant, Hallwood, Va.;  David C. Mowery, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library; Mary Anne Nichols, Kent State University of Library and Information Science, Kent, Ohio; John Sexton, Greenburgh, New York; and Dan Kraus, Booklist Magazine, Chicago.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos and audio books for teens. For more information or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists. For more information on the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults and other ALA Youth Media Awards, visit www.ala.org/yma.