WINNER
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN | SHERMAN ALEXIE:
In this semiautobiographical novel, 14-year-old Arnold Spirit leaves his
Spokane Indian reservation to attend a wealthy white school. In addition
to normal teen angst, he also experiences the slow decay of his
reservation and starts to ask questions about his own identity.
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"It would be easy to slip into a pedantic tone, but Alexie
doesn't break character to educate uninitiated readers about the
realities of American Indian life. And he doesn't spare the gritty
details of rampant poverty and alcoholism, or the profane and funny bits
of adolescent life." REYHAN HARMANCI, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
SKIN HUNGER A Resurrection of Magic, Book One | KATHLEN DUEY: In
the first of a planned trilogy, the young Sadima has magical powers,
though magic is outlawed; generations later, Hahp, exiled by his father,
attends a strict wizardry school. Soon, the two teens' destinies
merge.
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TOUCHING SNOW | M. SINDY FELIN: Born to immigrant Haitians, upstate
New Yorkers Karina and her older sisters have become accustomed to their
stepfather's abuses. When a beating almost kills Enid, the girls go
to social services, where Karina befriends a white, wealthy girl--and
tries to change her family dynamic.
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"The rebellious, courageous voice of Karina as she struggles
to make her way in a new country, to protect her family and to reconcile
the conflicting messages from church, school and parents about the role
of the 'good daughter' is one you won't soon
forget." JEAN WESTMOORE, BUFFALO NEWS
THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET | BRIAN SELZNICK: A novel told in
words and charcoal illustrations, Invention explores magic,
storytelling, and human creativity as it chronicles the story of Hugo, a
12-year-old orphan and apprentice clock keeper, who lives in the walls
of a train depot in 1930s Paris.
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"It's a hefty tome. ... Ultimately, we are asked to think
about the power of creativity and invention, of human suffering and
human resilience." BRIGID MILLIGAN, SAN ANT ONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
STORY OF A GIRL | SARA ZARR: Branded as the school slut at age 13
after a sexual encounter with her older brother's friend, Deanna
struggles to escape her past and improve her relationships with her
parents, her best friends, and her brother, a teenage father himself.
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2007 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
Finalists are selected by panels of judges who are charged with
selecting what they deem to be the best books of the year written by a
United States citizen. The five judges on the fiction panel were
Francine Prose (chair), Andrew Sean Greer, Walter Kirn, David Means, and
Joy Williams.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Bookmarks Publishing
LLC Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2008, Gale Group. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.