Award Winning YAs

Jacob Have I Loved

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. . . ." With her grandmother's taunt, Louise know that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone Loved. Growing up on a tiny Chesapeake Bay island in the early 1940s, angry Louise reveals how Caroline robbed her of everything: her hopes for schooling, her friends, her mother, even her name. While everyone pampered Caroline, Wheeze (her sister's name for her) began to learn the ways of the watermen and the secretes of the island, especially of old Captain Wallace, who had mysteriously returned after fifty years. The war unexpectedly gave this independent girl a chance to fulfill her childish dream to work as a waterman alongside her father. But the dream did not satisfy the woman she was becoming. Alone and unsure, Louise began to fight her way to a place where Caroline could not reach.

Katherine Paterson wrote a wonderful, emotional story of sibiling rivarly, coming of age, and determination. .

Newbery Medal 1981
ALA Notable Children's Book 1976-1980
School Library Journal Best Books of 1980
Best of the 80's YA Novels (English Journal)
Best of the 80's (ALA Booklist)


The Face on the Milk Carton

No one ever really paid close attention to the faces of the missing children on the milk cartons. But as Janie Johnson glanced at the face of the ordinary little girl with her hair in tight pigtails, wearing a dress with a narrow white collar—a three-year-old who had been kidnapped twelve years before from a shopping mall in New Jersey—she felt overcome with shock. She recognized that little girl—it was she. How could it possibly be true?

Janie can't believe that her loving parents kidnapped her, but as she begins to piece things together, nothing makes sense. Something is terribly wrong. Are Mr. and Mrs. Johnson really Janie's parents? And if not, who is Janie Johnson, and what really happened?

My mom has been telling me for years that I need to read this book (series) by Caroline B. Cooney. I could not put it down wondering if Janie was really Jennie. Can't wait to get to book #2 Whatever Happened to Janie? .

1993 Young Reader's Choice Award Winner
American Library Association "Recommended Books for the Reluctant Young Adult Reader"
International Reading Association "Children's Choices" WINNER 1996 - Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
WINNER 1993 - Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award
WINNER 1994 - Tennessee Volunteer State Award
WINNER 1993 - Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award
WINNER 1993 - Iowa Teen Book Award

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things

Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves has a larger-than-average body and a plus-size inferiority complex. She lives on the Web, snarfs junk food, and follows the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct." Her stuttering best friend has just moved to Walla Walla (of all places). Her new companion, Froggy Welsh the Fourth (real name), has just succeeded in getting his hand up her shirt, and she lives in fear that he’ll look underneath. Then there are the other Shreves: Mom, the successful psychologist and exercise fiend; Dad, a top executive who ogles thin women on TV; and older siblings Anaïs and rugby god Byron, both of them slim and brilliant. Delete Virginia, and the Shreves would be a picture-perfect family. Or so she’s convinced. And then a shocking phone call changes everything.

Carolyn Mackler's book is touchingly funny and poignant that most girls will relate to. You will find yourself rooting for Virginia as she learns to like herself.

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book
An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults
A YALSA Teens' Top Ten Book
Publishers Weekly Cuffie Award winner for Best Book Title
A Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Honor Book
A 2006 Great Lakes Great Books Nominee