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The Michael L. Printz Award
2000 marked the debut of the Michael L. Printz Award, which was established to recognize a book that "exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature," according to the Young Adult Library Services Association division of the American Library Association. The Award is named for Michael L. Printz, a former school librarian at Topeka West High School in Kansas. Throughout his career he was a respected colleague and teacher, and an active and dedicated member of YALSA. He passed away in 1996.
The Printz winner and up to four honor books (or runners up) are chosen annually by a committee of nine YALSA members.
This year's winners are:
2004 Michael L. Printz Winner
 THE FIRST PART LAST
by Angela Johnson
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0689849222
Ages 12-up
144 pages
June 2003
• Read a Review & Excerpt
Bobby is a typical urban teenage boy: impulsive, eager and restless. On his sixteenth birthday he receives news from his girlfriend Nia that is sure to change his life forever --- she is pregnant with his baby. Suddenly school, house parties and hanging out with friends no longer seem important. Instead, Bobby spends much of his time accompanying Nia to the obstetrician and visiting with a social worker who believes that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption.
2004 Michael L. Printz Honors
 A NORTHERN LIGHT
by Jennifer Donnelly
Harcourt Children's Books
ISBN: 0152167056
Ages 14-up
400 pages
April 2003
Mattie Gokey has a word for everything. She collects words and stores them up as a way of warding off the hard truths of her life, the truths that she can't write down in stories. Yet, when the drowned body of a young woman turns up at the hotel where Mattie works, all her words are useless. But in the dead woman's letters, Mattie again finds her voice and a determination to live her own life.
 THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS
Carolyn Mackler
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763619582
Ages 14-up
256 pages
August 2003
• Read a Review & Excerpt
• Reading Group Guide
Don't let the whimsical title fool you. Although Carolyn Mackler's novel about 15-year-old Virginia Shreves --- along with her family and friends --- is lighthearted and humorous, at its core is a serious message about self-confidence and self-acceptance.
 KEESHA'S HOUSE
by Helen Frost
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374340641
Ages 12-up
128 pages
April 2003
Keesha has found a safe place to live, and other kids come to her house when they just can't make it on their own. They include Stephie, who's pregnant and is trying to make the right decisions for herself and those she cares about; Jason, Stephie's boyfriend who is torn between his responsibility to Stephie and the baby and the promise of a college basketball career; and Dontay, who is in foster care while his parents are in prison and is feeling unwanted both inside and outside the system. These teenagers, along with three others, courageously struggle to hold their lives together and overcome their difficulties.
 FAT KID RULES THE WORLD
by Kelly Going
Putnam
ISBN: 0399239901
Ages 14-up
192 pages
June 2003
Troy Billings is standing at the edge of a subway platform seriously contemplating suicide when he meets Curt MacCrae, a semi-homeless punk guitar genius who also happens to be a drop-out legend at Troy's school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Curt saves Troy's life that day, though Troy gets more than he bargained for when Curt recruits him to be his drummer. There's only one problem: Troy can't play the drums. And to make matters more complicated, Troy's father thinks Curt is a drug addict and his brother thinks Troy is a loser. But with Curt, anything is possible.
--- Written by Tom Donadio
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2002 Winners:
2001 Printz Winner:
KIT'S WILDERNESS by David Almond
2001 Printz Honor Book:
MANY STONES by Carolyn Coman
2001 Printz Honor Book:
ANGUS, THONGS AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING by Louise Rennison
2001 Printz Honor Book:
THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED by Carol Plum-Ucci
2001 Printz Honor Book:
STUCK IN NEUTRAL by Terry Trueman
The first-ever recipients are:
2000 Printz Winner:
MONSTER by Walter Dean Myers
2000 Printz Honor Book:
SKELLIG by David Almond
2000 Printz Honor Book:
SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson
2000 Printz Honor Book:
HARD LOVE by Ellen Wittlinger
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