The Places You Will Go

Junior Reading Room

Emily Gravett's latest picture book is featured in Junior Reading Room today. There's also the hilarious tale of a hypersensitive hippo and a board book that helps babies learn about shapes. Junior Reading Room also highlights a YA novel about the son of a archvillain, groomed to continue his father's plans to rule the world, and a graphic novel about a group of teenage art terrorists.

Cut out the coupon (available only in the newspaper) to enjoy 25% discount, on the featured books, at Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Gene Wins!

The winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award (which honours excellence in Young Adult fiction) is Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel American Born Chinese.

From the ALA website:

Yang draws from American pop culture and ancient Chinese mythology in his groundbreaking work. Expertly told in words and pictures, Yang’s story in three parts follows a Chinese American teenager’s struggle to define himself against racial stereotypes. “American Born Chinese” is the first graphic novel to be recognized by the Michael L. Printz Committee.

Yang, who began drawing comics in the fifth grade, is a high school teacher in the San Francisco Bay area. The annual award for literary excellence is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of ALA, and is sponsored by Booklist magazine. The award, first given in 2000, is named for the late Michael L. Printz, a Topeka, Kans., school librarian known for discovering and promoting quality books for young adults.