It’s the tenth anniversary of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. In addition to the 2010 Printz Award winner, Going Bovine, four 2010 Printz Honor Books were named. The American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association defines the age range 12-18 years old as "young adult."

The 2010 Michael L. Printz Award Winner

The 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature winner is Going Bovine, by Libba Bray.

According to the American Library Association’s media release,

• ”In Going Bovine Cameron, a sixteen-year-old slacker, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist to save the world and perhaps his own life….

• “’Wow. Backwards and forwards, this wildly imaginative modern day take on Don Quixote is complex, hilarious, and stunning,’ said Printz Award Committee Chair Cheryl Karp Ward. ‘The hero’s journey will never be the same after Going Bovine’”. (ALA 1/18/10 media release)

(Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, An Imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, 2009. ISBN: 9780385733977) .? ?

2010 Michael L. Printz Honor Books

The following quotations about each of the 2010 Printz Honor Books come from the ALA media release cited above.

• Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman
  “Once Charles Darwin sets his rational mind to marry the religious Emma Wedgeworth, they both must take a leap of faith in order to build a life together.” (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, 2009. ISBN: 9780805087215) .? ?

• The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey
  “Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a monstrumologist, races against time to save his town (and himself) from the anthropophagi, a pod of monstrous creatures who prey on humans.” (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2009. ISBN: 9781416984481) .?
• Punkzilla, by Adam Rapp
  “Fourteen-year-old runaway Jamie, homeless and strung out, embarks on a harrowing journey to reach his dying brother.” (Candlewick Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780763630317) .
• Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973, by John Barnes
  “Karl Shoemaker wants to begin his senior year with a new identity separate from his counseling group, his alcoholic mother and the legacy of his dead father.” (Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Young Reader’s Group, 2009. ISBN: 9780670060818) .