Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending YALSA's webinar Back to the Facts: YA Nonfiction, presented by Angela Carstensen. A recording of the webinar will be available through YALSA's members' only section in two months time, but in the mean time I think it's okay if I share some of the notes that I took.
Carstensen was the 2010 chair of the YALSA nonfiction award committee. I've previously mentioned the article she wrote for YALS. It doesn't look like it's available online, but the effort to track down a print copy is worthwhile.
In addition to the YALSA award, she highlighted several other awards that are useful for collection development, including the ALSC's Sibert Medal (nonfiction for ages birth-14), the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award (for children), the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for excellence in science books (for children and young adults), and the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards (also for children and young adults)
End of the year best-of lists are another very helpful resource, and a great place to access them is Early Word. (Early Word also hosts periodic galley chats on twitter that are fun to follow!)
Carstensen was the 2010 chair of the YALSA nonfiction award committee. I've previously mentioned the article she wrote for YALS. It doesn't look like it's available online, but the effort to track down a print copy is worthwhile.
In addition to the YALSA award, she highlighted several other awards that are useful for collection development, including the ALSC's Sibert Medal (nonfiction for ages birth-14), the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award (for children), the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for excellence in science books (for children and young adults), and the Boston Globe-Horn Book awards (also for children and young adults)
End of the year best-of lists are another very helpful resource, and a great place to access them is Early Word. (Early Word also hosts periodic galley chats on twitter that are fun to follow!)
Carstensen also mentioned several blogs including Nonfiction Matters by Marc Aronson, Bookends by Lynn Rutan and Cindy Dobrez, Reality Rules by Betsy Fraser, and INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids. She also mentioned this blog, which was completely unexpected and wonderful, but also made me realize, "Oh no, I haven't updated it recently!"
I'm currently reading The Horrors of Andersonville, and also have The War to End All Wars: World War I and This Is Rocket Science waiting for me, so I pledge to post comments on these books very soon!
Finally, Carstensen highlighted several new and upcoming titles, some of which I hadn't heard of yet. These include: The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (pubbed this month), Frozen Secrets and The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie (both pubbing in October). She also mentioned two more entries in the Scientists in the Field series, Kakapo Rescue and Project Seahorse that I have just neglected until now (Project Seahorse and Frozen Secrets have been recently featured on Fraser's blog).
Please share any great new nonfiction books for young adults that you've discovered in the comments field below!
