PRESS RELEASE

Canadian Library Association Announces 2009 Young Adult Book Award Shortlist

(Ottawa, March 2, 2009)The Young Adult Services Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association / Association canadienne des bibliothèques is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2009 Young Adult Book Award. The 2009 Young Adult Book Award is generously sponsored by Tutor.com

This award recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2008, that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18.

The winner of the award, and the Honour Books, will be announced prior to the National Canadian Library Association Conference.  The award will be presented at the CLA conference at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, in Montréal, Quebec on May 30, 2009.

The finalists for the 2009 CLA Young Adult Book Award, in alphabetical order by author, are:

The Lit Report by Sarah N. Harvey (Orca)
Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka (Orca)
Would You by Marthe Jocelyn (Tundra)
The Apprentice's Masterpiece by Melanie Little (Annick)
Storm by Carrie Mac (Penguin)
War Brothers by Sharon E. McKay (Penguin)
After River by Donna Milner (HarperCollins)
Egghead by Caroline Pignat (Red Deer)
Chanda’s Wars by Allan Stratton (HarperCollins)
Skim by Mariko Tamaki (Groundwood)

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the 2008-2009 CLA Young Adult Book Award Committee:

Thomas Long, Vancouver Public Library, Chair
Elsa Ngan, Toronto Public Library
Lisa Doucet, Woozles Children’s Book Store, Halifax
Carol Rigby, Contract Cataloguer, Iqaluit, Nunavut
Barb Janicek, Cambridge Libraries

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For immediate release

For more information contact:  Thomas Long, 604-257-8781