Award

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

This one I was happy about because Mr. Gantos is something of a local figure around my parts. Hometown hero, etc. Plus, Gantos is just a flat-out interesting writer. He manages to keep writing books about young boys (most of them named Jack) and somehow make every book he writes seem daring in some way. I haven’t had a chance to read Dead End in Norvelt, yet, but I did snag an ARC from my mother’s stash last August, so it is kicking around my apartment somewhere…

Honors

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Velchin

The wildcard. I know nothing about this book, but it only has three reviews on Amazon. Three? How is that possible??

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

The National Book Award winner returns. I feel like the NBA’s are kind of like a Newbery pregame, and often turns up titles (like these) that I otherwise would have missed. Anyway, I still have my roommate’s library copy of this (oops) I am thinking I might sit down on Saturday and muscle through this one before I rack up any more of her fines…