The Michael L. Printz Award is an annual award that honors the best book written for young adults. The award is named after a Topeka, Kansas high school librarian who was a longtime active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association (
YALSA). Michael L. Printz died in 1996.
The Michael L. Printz Award was first presented in 2000.
Criteria for The Michael L. Printz Award
The criteria for the award include:
- The award is to be based solely on the literary merit of the book selected.
- The book’s publisher must have designated the book as either a “young adult book” or as being for readers 12-18 years old, the age range defined by YALSA as “young adult.”
- The author can be either an American or a foreign author. The book can have a single author or multiple authors.
- The book must have been copyrighted and introduced during the designated calendar year.
- The book may be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or anthology.
- Books previously published in another country are also eligible as long as an American edition has been published during the period of eligibility.
The 2008 Michael L. Printz Award Winner
The 2008 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature winner is
The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean, published by HarperTempest, an imprint of HarperCollins; ISBN: 9780060890353 (
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According to YALSA,
"Fourteen-year-old Symone's exciting vacation to Antarctica turns into a desperate struggle for survival when her uncle’s obsessive quest leads them across the frozen wilderness into danger."
"'Symone's unforgettable voice propels this journey of discovery in a book that is intricately plotted, richly imaged and brings new meaning to the term unreliable narrator,' said Printz Award Committee Chair Lynn Rutan. 'Readers will need to hang onto their snow goggles in this compelling book in which nothing is as it seems at first glance.'" (YALSA Printz website)
The 2008 Michael L. Printz Honor Books
Each year, up to four young adult books are selected as Michael L. Printz Honor Books.
- Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet, by Elizabeth Knox, published by Frances Foster Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux; ISBN: 9780374318543 (Compare prices.)
- One Whole and Perfect Day,
by Judith Clarke, published by Front Street, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.; ISBN: 9781932425956 ( Compare prices.)
- Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins, published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins; ISBN: 9780060835682 (Compare prices.)
- Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, By Stephanie Hemphill, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books; ISBN: 9780375837999 (Compare prices.)
