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Music and Musicality: Reviews from the Outstanding Books for the College Bound List

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I’ve been working through talking about the different books on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list over the last few weeks, and it’s been interesting to not only talk about a year’s worth of work, but it’s been interesting to see the different themes that have popped up beyond the categories the list has set up that mirror the liberal arts. A couple of weeks ago, I highlighted books tackling religion and spirituality, followed by books that looked at football and football culture. This week, I thought I’d talk about four books on the Arts and Humanities list that all dive into some component of music. These are four very different books — two are non-fiction, two are fiction, but all speak to an element of music and/or musicality and the way music impacts us.

Ready for a Brand New Beat: How “Dancing in the Streets” Became the Anthem for a Changing America by Mark Kurlansky

Admittedly, this is a book I had a hard time reading and ultimately ended up choosing not to finish, but it’s also one that I completely saw the merit in and understand why committee members loved it and wanted it on our list.

Kurlansky’s a great writer, and in this book, he looks at how the song “Dancing in the Street” came to be. It’s a story about not just the song and the power behind it, but it’s about the 1960s in Motown, as well as about race during the civil rights era. Woven in is how the song became an anthem for an entire generation — while many people may be familiar with the really dance worthy version of “Dancing in the Street,” Kurlansky talks about how the song has been rendered in far different manners by very different artists. In talking about that, he’s able to explore how once a piece of work is out there, it takes on a life of its own.

Readers who like Motown, classic rock, or are interested in the progression of music and the social climate of this time period will dig this book. There is an extensive list of versions of the song included, so readers who want to dive in deeper can seek out this versions and actually listen through the history and thesis presented.

The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light

Where Kurlansky’s exploration of “Dancing in the Street” didn’t work for me, Light’s book about “Hallelujah” did work for me. Like Kurlansky, this is a look at how a song changes and becomes something new and different as new artists choose to work and adapt it to their own interpretations. Unlike Kurlansky’s book, this one is far less about sociopolitical and cultural aspects surrounding the song and a lot more about how a song becomes the kind of song everyone knows (and how it becomes the kind of song no longer allowed to be reinterpreted on “American Idol”).

I’m familiar with “Hallelujah” because I’m quite familiar with Buckley. I went through a phase in high school where I became fascinated with his story, and it was through that I learned about the song and about the song having had its start with Cohen. However, I didn’t know the history of the song and Light did an excellent job talking about how Cohen wrote and presented the song against how Buckley chose to interpret and sing the song. While reading this one, I pulled up YouTube to look up every rendition discussed and it only aided in my enjoyment of the book.

Teens will be familiar with “Hallelujah” because of Idol or because of it having been a part of Shrek, and each of those things are talked about in here. There’s discussion of how the song has been interpreted as religious, as well as how it’s been interpreted to be the exact opposite of religious and how it is both of those interpretations can be accepted and embraced. Cohen’s original vision of the song, as well as some of the verses left off the Buckley track, are talked about. But I think my favorite thing was watching how the two of them sang the song as I read Light’s take on it — Buckley’s heart is bleeding while Cohen sings with a look that suggests it’s darkly humorous.

This one’s for the pop culture lovers, as well as those who like good — though not necessarily hard-hitting — music journalism.

 

Two YA fiction titles are included on the Arts & Humanities list, too, which feature music in some capacity. Both are books I’ve talked about here and here, so I won’t go into too much depth, other than to talk a bit as to why they’re on the list and how they work in the music and musicality theme.

All Our Pretty Songs by Sarah McCarry: I talked about the feminist aspect of this book, but something I didn’t touch on was the musicality of it. This is a novel that’s not only lushly written, but it’s a story set in the grunge heavy, 1990s Pacific Northwest. McCarry’s story is a retelling of Orpheus myth, and the main character (who is unnamed) and her best friend Aurora are drawn to a boy named Jack because of his musical charm. While the focus isn’t the music, music is a huge part of the story and it’s the bond that ties the two girls together. This could have easily fit into the Literature & Languages category, but it was the music, combined with the story of a tighter-than-tight friendship between two girls, that made it fit the Arts & Humanities list.

It’s a challenging, literary title that will resonate really strongly with the right readers.

The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr: This is a story about a girl who was forced into the “family business” of piano performance, as she’s a legacy. It’s what the Beck-Moreaus do. But after being pushed to the brink, Lucy chooses to walk away from everything unraveling before her as a career pianist. The story follows as she learns to rediscover herself after performance, as much as it’s about Lucy coming to learn that she can love playing piano completely and entirely for herself, as opposed to doing it to meet the expectations of those around her.

The pursuit of passion and the exploration of how one chooses to devote to art as a career or art as a hobby should hit strong notes for those readers who’ve ever had to think about what it means to make art and what it means to be an artist.

YA Adaptations of Adult Novels

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I’m not a huge YA non-fiction reader, despite really enjoying adult non-fiction. I’m not sure why that is, but after this last year on committee reading and talking about non-fiction, I’ve been thinking a lot more about YA non-fiction. During one of our meetings, I brought up the topic of YA adaptations of adult non-fiction titles, and a number of people didn’t know that it was a thing that happened. In light of that, I thought it would be worthwhile to put together a list of non-fiction titles that began as adult books but then were rewritten and adapted for YA audiences.

Not every adult non-fiction title gets a YA adaptation, and in fact, I don’t think it’s a particularly big phenomenon. The books that seem to be adapted tend to be ones with high YA interest, gauged either through them being read or assigned in school, through them featuring primarily teen or younger main characters, or they’re books teens have been picking up and talking about all their own. Part of me wonders if sometimes adaptations happen when the title isn’t working for adults and there’s a decision to repackage and remarket for younger readers instead. Sometimes, the books that adapted for younger readers are surprising choices and other times, they’re natural fits. The sports adaptations to me are pretty obvious choices, especially for popular athletes, and the historical or cultural adaptations seem natural, too. 

It’s interesting, too, to think about the adult non-fiction teens love that was never reworked as a YA non-fiction (say, for example, Dave Pelzner books, Alexandra Robbins books, or titles like Ophelia Speaks or Queen Bees and Wanna Bes, which have good appeal and readership to teens) against those which have. 

YA adaptations of adult non-fiction are interesting. Sometimes, they present the material in a way that’s stronger and more engaging than the adult version of the novels. Other times, they’re weaker because of how the adaptation was presented — too much information was cut or the writing itself is taken to a level that doesn’t engage the reader. It is entirely dependent upon the writer and his or her ability to write for the YA audience or work with someone who is comfortable in doing so themselves, as not all adaptations are written by the original author. 

One example standing out to me is I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai. The book came out at the end of last year, written by Malala and Christina Lamb. Malala’s voice really comes through in the book, but it’s also clear she’s not a writer herself. The story told was important, but the book never fully engaged me because it wasn’t consistent nor fluid in execution. The narrative thread was weak, and that’s one of the most important elements of non-fiction: it was much more of a straight sharing of events that happened, rather than a working through of events that happened tied either to a bigger point or event (think about the best memoirs you’ve read — they aren’t timelines of events but a story around a grander theme or idea). 

Coming this summer is a YA adaptation of the story. It’s written by Malala, but in the young reader edition, Patricia McCormick will be co-authoring. Knowing McCormick has written fiction tackling many of the things that have been a part of Malala’s life in her country, it seems not only a natural choice but suggests that perhaps the adaptation will be a stronger, more compelling read (at least to me!). Thinking about McCormick’s Sold especially, I suspect she’ll be a really smart and solid writer able to help Malala’s writing come across stronger, but it’ll make her voice ring even louder. 

Here’s a look at a pile of other YA adaptations of adult non-fiction books. All descriptions are from WorldCat. As always, this is not comprehensive, so if there are other titles I should know about, I’d love to hear in the comments so they can be added. 

Chew On This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson: A behind-the-scenes look at the fast food industry. Adapted from Fast Food Nation. 

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario: When Enrique was five, his mother, too poor to feed her children, left Honduras to work in the United States. The move allowed her to send money back home so Enrique could eat better and go to school past the third grade. She promised she would return quickly, but she struggled in America. Without her, he became lonely and troubled. After eleven years, he decided he would go find her. He set off alone, with little more than a slip of paper bearing his mother’s North Carolina telephone number. Without money, he made the dangerous trek up the length of Mexico, clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains. He and other migrants, many of them children, are hunted like animals. To evade bandits and authorities, they must jump onto and off the moving boxcars they call the Train of Death. It is an epic journey, one thousands of children make each year to find their mothers in the United States. Adapted from Enrique’s Journey. 

Outcasts United by Warren St. John: American-educated Jordanian Luma Mufleh founds a youth soccer team comprised of children from Liberia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkan states, and elsewhere in the refugee settlement town of Clarkston, Georgia, bringing the children together to discover their common bonds as they adjust to life in a new homeland. Adapted from Outcasts United. 

Bloody Times by James Swanson: On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time–the Yankees are coming, it warned. That night Davis fled Richmond, setting off an intense manhunt for the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln’s murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed the nation. His final journey began when soldiers placed his corpse aboard a special train that would carry him home to Springfield, Illinois. It was the most magnificent funeral pageant in American history. Adapted from Bloody Crimes. 

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson: Recounts the escape of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, and follows the intensive twelve-day search for him and his accomplices. Adapted from Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. 

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder: Traces the efforts of Dr. Paul Farmer to transform healthcare on a global scale, documenting his visits to some of the world’s most impoverished regions and the unconventional methods that enabled him to improve and save lives. Adapted from Mountains Beyond Mountains. 

Lincoln’s Last Days by Bill O’Reilly with Dwight John Zimmerman: Describes the events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the hunt to track down John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices. Adapted from Killing Lincoln. 

What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio: A photographic collection exploring what the world eats featuring portraits of twenty-five families from twenty-one countries surrounded by a week’s worth of food. Adapted from Hungry Planet. 

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan: What’s for dinner?’ seemed like a simple question -until journalist and supermarket detective Michael Pollan delved behind the scenes. From fast food and big organic to small farms and old-fashioned hunting and gathering, this young readers’ adaptation of Pollan’s famous food-chain exploration encourages kids to consider the personal and global health implications of their food choices. Adapted from The Omnivore’s Dilemma. 

Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore: The author, a Rhodes scholar and combat veteran, analyzes factors that influenced him as well as another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison, focusing on the influence of relatives, mentors, and social expectations that could have led either of them on different paths. Adapted from The Other Wes Moore: Two Names, One Fate. 

The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World by Nathaniel Philbrick: After a journey across the Atlantic, the Mayflower’s passengers were saved from destruction with the help of the natives of the Plymouth region. For fifty years, peace was maintained as Pilgrims and Natives worked together. But that trust was broken with the next generation of leaders, and conflict erupted that nearly wiped out English and natives alike. Adapted from Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. 

The Warrior’s Heart by Eric Greitens: Shares the author’s adventures as a young man that led him to a life of service as both a humanitarian and a Navy SEAL. Adapted from The Heart and the Fist. 

Believe by Eric LeGrand: In this uplifting memoir, now adapted for young readers, Eric LeGrand tells the amazing story of how he rebuilds his life, continues his college education, and pursues a career in sports broadcasting following the injury that paralyzed him from the neck down. His belief in a grand plan and his hope for the future make him a model for anyone who has experienced tragedy or faced obstacles. Adapted from Believe: My Faith and the Tackle That Changed My Life. 

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers and Michael French: A true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America. Adapted from Flags of Our Fathers. 

Hope Solo: My Story by Hope Solo: Hope Solo, Olympic gold medalist and goalie for the US women’s national soccer team, tells the exciting insider details of her life on and off the field, in her own words. Adapted from Solo: A Memoir of Hope. 

Football Culture: Reviews and Thoughts from Outstanding Books for the College Bound

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Continuing on with talking about the titles on this year’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound list (which began with touching on the religious/spiritual books and memoirs) I thought it would be timely to talk about the books across the OBCB list that were connected to football and football culture.

As you may or may not know, last week, NFL football prospect Michael Sam came out about his sexuality in advance of the draft. The decision to own who he is in anticipation of achieving his own goals of being drafted to the big league is something worth talking and thinking about. Football has a culture surrounding it, and that culture is why Sam’s coming out is such a huge deal: it’s not something generally talked about, let alone embraced.

One of the things we were looking for on OBCB and something we talked a great deal about was getting sports-related books onto our lists in some capacity. It turns out we had three football titles, each in a separate category, and each one of them looks at the culture of football in some way. Though none touch on what we’re seeing right now in the media with Sam and his decision to come out, part of why these three books made the lists is because they’re things that we haven’t seen talked about in the media. And though it sounds like they’re all downers or they’re unnecessarily harsh on football and sports culture, they’re not. They do shed light into the dark side of the sport, but all pay respect to what football is, why people love it, and why people want to play it. Readers seeking good sports books will find these three showcase very different things and do so in a way that respects the game.

Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry

Though it tackles probably some of the harshest stuff on the OBCB list, Armstrong and Perry’s book was one of — if not the — best books I read while serving on committee. It’s one I found by accident while seeking out anything sports-themed that might have a tie-in to what people are aware of in the sports world socially today.

This is a piece of investigative journalism that began as a news story in Seattle and blossomed out into a full blown book that’s incredibly compelling, fascinating, and disturbing. The book follows the University of Washington’s football team in 2000 as players are accused of committing a series of crimes, including rape, drug possession, attempted murder, and more. And while those crimes are the story, what’s at the heart of the book is how the players on this team managed to get away from all of those things and not have their personal lives impact their reputations as heroes. This isn’t a book about how they overcame adversity; it’s a book about why the things they did were purposefully overlooked, buried, or otherwise ignored by the media at the time and why and how it is that even now, over a decade later, those things they’ve been convicted and charged with have no bearing on their reputations or their status as football heroes.

How was it possible that the school, the local police, and the media kept these things quiet? It’s because of what football is and the power it holds.

What’s worth mentioning about this book, too, is that it’s not just the criminals who have page time here. It’s the victims, as well as those who really did need football in their lives to get on the right track. The girl who is at the center of the rape story has a voice in this book, and I found that particularly powerful, as well as particularly hard to read. We see what that crime actually does to her and her future — not just that her rapist manages to avoid having his reputation marred by it, but her experience at school is not any longer an experience that belongs to her. Likewise, there are stories here about the players whose lives changed because of football in a good way. It helped give them drive and purpose, and it allowed them to find themselves in an otherwise scary place at the university.

Anyone interested in politics, in investigative journalism, and in crime or criminology will be fascinated by this, whether they love football or not. And readers who love football but may be less invested in the social and cultural aspects will find the writing about the game itself to be compelling. Perhaps the thing I took away from this book most was not just the fact that it is still relevant today, but many of the names of the players involved in these stories are not only still playing in the big leagues today, but some of them have gone on to be big in the big leagues…and these incidents are still ignored or denied.

League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru

Fainaru-Wada and Fainaru’s book is on the science and technology list within the OBCB, and I haven’t read it in full. It had originally been nominated in another category, and I read the first fifty pages before suggesting it switch over.

But what I can say about this book aside from it being very readable is that it’s a little bit about football, a little bit about football culture, a little bit about sports medicine, a little bit about concussions and injuries sustained during football, and a little about how big sports managed to deny and hide the fact that injuries sustained while playing could have brain — and thereby life — altering consequences on players.

Can science show evidence that a problem exists and if so, if a big organization chooses to deny that evidence, who gets the final word? Which one has more power and more believability? What about the players whose lives have been changed, not to mention had their careers ended, because of injuries they got on the field? The NFL is a huge and powerful organization, and even in the wake of a pile of evidence, their power to deny says a lot.

Since I can’t talk much more detail about the book because I haven’t read it in full, I suggest spending a little time with the PBS Frontline report and story about League of Denial. I’d be willing to bet that teens who find this report interesting will be eager to pick up the book (and not just teens, but adults, as well, since our list is broad in scope and audience).

Muck City by Bryan Mealer

Mealer’s title appears on the arts and humanities list within the OBCB, and that’s because the biggest take away from this book is that football is human. What I mean by that is that it has the power to impact people’s lives in a way that goes beyond politics, beyond the culture of responsibility or deniability, and beyond even what it means to win or lose a game.

Set in Belle Glade, Florida, Muck City is about how high school football can become the heart of a city when there needs to be something positive within a broken-down place. I’m not familiar with Florida, aside from my image of beaches and resorts, so sitting down and being put into Belle Glade, which is a poor, broken, dying, crime-ridden town. For more perspective on Belle Glade, it’s often referred to as Muck City because of it’s high concentration of muck, which is what helps sugarcane grow. More than that, Belle Glade is known for having one of the highest concentrations of AIDS infections per capita in the United States — while that statistic is older, it should give a picture of what this community looks and runs like.

The other thing to know about Belle Glade is that it’s also known for sending on a huge number of its high school players to the NFL, with a good number drafted in the first round. Football is one thing that community rallies around, but even more than rallying around their high school’s team, football is a way out of the community for many of its players who have grown up knowing no certainty in their future.

Mealer’s book follows three people. There’s coach Jessie Hester, who was Muck City’s first first star and comes back not to just win championships but to make a huge impact on the kids who he sees through the program. Mario Rowley is the team’s quarterback, and he’s driven by the need to win in order to make his parents — who aren’t alive anymore — proud and to move beyond a string of things in his life that keep holding him back. Football is his ticket out of town, too, if he’s good enough. Then there’s Jonteria Williams, head cheerleader for the team, who wants to get out of Belle Glade and become a doctor. The problem is she needs a scholarship to make it happen, and she pushes herself to the brink in order to help realize this dream.

This is the book to hand to readers who love drama with their personal stories of triumph and adversity. Which sounds really cheesy and reductive, but it’s the easiest way to sell this book to readers. It’s about football and there’s a lot of football in it, but it’s a lot more about what it’s like to grow up in a rough, unforgiving environment and still find things that interest you and make you find a passion and desire in your life.

In many ways, Muck City is football culture on the microlevel in a way that the other two books are football culture on the macrolevel. Together, these three explorations of football manage to look at the big picture — the politics and structure of the system — while also looking at the smaller one — how and why we care and love the game itself.

A Year in Committee Life

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As I mentioned a few times over the last year, in 2013, I served on YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound (OBCB) committee. It’s a committee that is put together every five years and it’s comprised of primarily YALSA members, but it includes a handful of academic librarians from the ACRL division, as well. Since my committee is an open committee and I don’t have to keep things secret to the grave (unlike many of the awards committees), I thought it would be worthwhile to talk about the highs and lows of the experience, as well as discuss some of the things I learned about what it means to serve on a book committee.

Our list is done and annotated, but as of this writing, it hasn’t yet been posted to the YALSA site. As soon as it is, I’ll come back and link up to it. Spoiler: you’ll learn maybe one title we picked in this post.

OBCB’s Structure

First, a little background into how OBCB works.

Unlike many of the other committees, which focus on the books published in the past year, OBCB’s only requirement is that a book be “widely available.” There are no publication date rages, no content requirements, and no set of standard rules by which we have to follow. This means that we can include fiction and non-fiction, adult and young adult, graphic and non-graphic titles, and they can be published within any time frame. In many ways, that wide a window is amazing and freeing: anything is eligible for the list. But at the same time, that wide a window is horrifying: anything is eligible for the list.

The very first thing we did in discussion back last winter was decide how we wanted to structure the list itself. We can have up to 125 titles, and they can be hashed out in a number of different manners. We chose to keep the structure as it had been in 2009, with five categories that mirrored the liberal arts. Each member of our committee then selected two of those categories to become a member of, which meant reading and discussing titles relevant to that category (though we were able to nominate for any category). I chose personally to be a member of arts and humanities, as well as social science. My background is in psychology and writing, so those both seemed like natural fits, and both are categories I was most interested in.

Unlike many other committees, OBCB does not receive books from the publishers. It’s our job to do the searching and hunting for titles and to nominate, read, and discuss them as we do. But the very first thing we had to do was read the titles from the prior list — we treated the 125 titles from 2009 as vetted nominations. Since we each had responsibility for two categories, that amounted to 50 titles we had to read right off the bat.

I should back up a second and explain that OBCB changed this year. What used to be a two-year committee shifted into a one-year committee, a decision that, though we were able to work with, I think was a poor decision to make. It created a huge time crunch and impacted the number of nominations we received and could discuss.

The end goal of OBCB is to develop a list that exposes college bound and life long learners to a wide range of titles, stories, worlds, and experiences to excite and ignite their interests and passions. It’s not meant to be a rehashing of the Canon. Those lists are everywhere. This is instead meant to broaden their minds and thinking.

A Year of Tireless Reading


One of the biggest things I rediscovered this year is how different reading adult non-fiction is from reading YA fiction. I’ve always enjoyed adult non-fiction, but it requires an entirely different reading mindset than YA fiction — or even adult fiction — does. It’s much more intense, and I learned that I really do require engagement within the first fifty pages of a non-fiction title. If I can’t get that, I’m going to check out and feel a bit resentful about the experience. And actually, really discovering this about myself this year was immensely helpful in working on the committee because it forced me to consider whether it was me or whether it was the book causing the issue. In a couple of cases, a book I
ended up giving up on early was still a book I voted for at our final meeting because I knew it was me who didn’t love the book, not that the book wasn’t a right fit for the list.

Beyond reading the 50 titles that were already on the list, this committee required nominating books that weren’t already being considered. That meant more reading beyond the list in a variety of categories. At the first meeting we had in the summer at ALA Annual, we talked about holes we saw within our various categories that perhaps we should be looking into, which helped guide a bit of the reading. We talked about updating certain titles with fresher takes on the topic or which might simply be better presentations of the topic at hand.

I made sure not only to be reading new stuff, but I also thought a lot about the things I had read in the past which might make interesting additions to the list; though, to be fair, much of my work in nominating was not only about books I thought would be good to have on the list, but also books I thought would be good to DISCUSS in regards to the list. In other words, not everything I nominated I knew would be a slam dunk. I wanted to have some discourse. That would help suss out topical issues, as well as issues relating to putting forward fiction over non-fiction titles and so forth. I suspect other people on the committee did a bit of this as well, particularly when we reached the end of our open nomination period.

Nominations were read as they came in. Any nomination from a member of the committee, regardless of whether they were working on a particular category, was considered a vetted nomination and required no second. Any titles suggested from people outside the committee required a second to be considered, and while we had some field suggestions, there weren’t a whole lot, and most of them were indeed seconded. Again, partially because they would be good fits without question and partially because they would be worth at least bringing to the table to talk.

Five to six people sat on each of the category lists, and when a book received a fair number of “no” marks on our spreadsheet, others were free to ignore it. Titles which received “maybe” and “yes” marks were made into priorities on the sheet. This helped in whittling down reading work and helping toward seeing what was and wasn’t working so far.

In terms of take aways from the reading portion of the committee experience, the biggest was learning how to schedule reading time into my daily life. It meant skipping out on fun reading at times for a committee read and it meant becoming very judicious in my use of the 50-page rule. Sometimes I knew a book wouldn’t be a go and other times, I knew at 50 pages it was a strong contender so I could make the choice in either case to stop or keep pushing forward.

Committee Discussion


One thing that was kind of a surprise for me was how little we discussed titles throughout the year. Most people were so focused on reading that discussion fell to the wayside. And while that was understandable in some cases, at other times I had a really hard time putting an idea or discussion point out and hearing silence. More than anything, it made me worry what meetings at Midwinter would look like, when we were scheduled for hours and hours of time in the same room to hash out what our lists would look like.

With so little discussion, it was difficult to talk about how we wanted our lists to ultimately look. Did we want a lot of fiction or non-fiction? Did we need balance? What were we missing and what did we have too much of?

Fortunately, those things worked themselves out at the meetings. And even when books were hard to acquire, there were reasons for it, and members of the committee did a great job talking about why a book that might not be in 500 libraries still needs to be considered (while “widely available” is our only criteria for this committee, some formats, like graphic novels, are by their nature LESS widely available than novels are).

Midwinter Decision Making


What you really probably want to know are the dirty details of how these meetings go down, and I’m happy to provide a glimpse into some stuff because if I learned anything about this experience, it’s that committee work is committee work and follows its own set of rules and standards which are not rules nor standards. Instead, it’s about the discussion at the table, about impassioned case making, and at times, it IS about bargain making. No, money is never exchanged and favors aren’t granted, but sometimes, you have to give up something in order to get something else, and whatever energy you put into something is what you walk away from it with. In other words, just because a book is not on a list doesn’t mean it wasn’t passionately discussed, debated, and considered.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the books on the list are of a better quality or standard than others. It means a few things: it filled a nice hole in the list, it added to the diversity of the list, or it had a passionate champion or two who fought to get that book on the list. Sometimes, we had multiple books that explored a certain topic, and for the sake of having a list that was expansive, we decided to pick only one book of the many on that topic to be on the final list.

In my committee, not everyone was able to read all of the books (much of this has to do with the cutting of a year off our charge, I think), but that didn’t mean people who didn’t read the book didn’t have a chance to vote for or against the book. That came down to how a discussion emerged and played out. There was at least one book I was never able to get — a graphic novel — that a fellow member of my committee made an excellent case for and thus convinced me to give it a yes.

There is a drawback, though, to people not all having read the books: when two people on a committee of six have read a title and four have not, and your loyalties are divided, it’s tough to champion it or argue against it. One book, which I’d nominated for literature and languages (a category I was not on), had two readers on it. One loved the book and one did not. The book ultimately didn’t end up on their list. But since it was a book I felt passionately about, as did another member of the committee, when the entirety of our group met later in the week, I brought it up for discussion again, and between the two of us, we rallied enough support to get it placed on the arts and humanities list. Conversely, a title nominated for social science that had two supporters, one person who didn’t support it, and three people who hadn’t read it ended up having the most heated discussion — and ultimately did not end up on any list.

Which is to reiterate that a book not on the list isn’t a book overlooked. It may have been discussed quite passionately but because of simply how the committee process works, it may not have had a home on the list.

And frankly at times, you simply have to give up on a title because it wasn’t read by enough members of the committee and you aren’t passionate enough to go the extra mile for it. Fortunately, many of the books that that happened to are already on other book lists and earned honors. We were able to talk about this in many situations, particularly on titles which appeared on previous iterations of the OBCB list, during our discussions.

What We Talked About


Unlike a committee like the Printz, Morris, or Non-fiction Award, the bulk of our discussion revolved around how a story or information was presented. It was far less about the technical aspects of the book and more about what the book itself could add to the list and what a reader would pull from it. Writing quality did matter, but it was less of a considering factor than other aspects. For arts and humanities especially, we wanted a nice array of topics that could engage and excite teen readers, and we had many discussions about relevancy and interest. Would a teen be more likely to pick up Tina Fey’s memoir or Steve Martin’s? Choosing Fey’s over Martin’s didn’t mean Martin’s was less good; it meant that it had more appeal and timeliness to it. Likewise, we knew that the Martin memoir was on the prior iteration of the list, meaning that it wasn’t going to disappear into oblivion.

There were a number of titles I read this year that I found problematic or didn’t like. Other people had similar reactions to titles, too, and we brought those biases to the table. What was nice was being able to acknowledge them and yet, look into what the book itself may bring to the list and to other readers. A number of well-written social science books were ones that we as committee members — and adults who have been through college, as well as graduate school — enjoyed but when we thought about how today’s 15 or 17 year old may read the book, we realized it wouldn’t be as worthwhile to them as it would be to us. And the same thing in reverse: something we found juvenile may have been discussed through the lens of how it would be perfect for those younger readers.

What I loved most, I think, was listening to what other people had to say about books I’d nominated and had feelings about. Some of those feelings were strong, but not all of them were. In one case, I’d nominated two books that traversed similar territory and said in discussion we needed ONE on the list and my feelings were not strong on which one. Other people, though, had VERY strong feelings on one over the other, and I loved hearing the what and why of those thoughts.

In many ways, what I love about our list is that it highlights a lot of titles not found in other places. I love that we literally have something for every kind of reader. There’s something for more reluctant readers who want to be inspired and those who are very high-achieving students looking to satisfy and round out their reading a bit more. There are graphic novels, YA novels, adult novels, and non-fiction that spans all of those categories.

So You Want To Be On A Committee?


Before rounding out the post on my experience on the committee, I thought it’d be worthwhile to talk about a few things that anyone who wants to be on a selection committee should know. I found myself frustrated many times this year, for many different reasons, but in the end, it ended up being a worthwhile and fulfilling experience that makes me really hungry for the chance to serve on the Printz in 2016 (was that a nice way to remind you to vote when the elections open next month if you’re a YALSA member?).

  • Be prepared to read. You will reads HUNDREDS of books. That is not exaggerating. One of the comments many committee members made was they didn’t realize how much reading it was. It is a LOT of reading. You will essentially read a book a day during the week. If you don’t read during the week, prepare to read a few books over a weekend. When you’re in the holiday season when everything is stressful in general, know you’ll have massive piles of books to read still. There aren’t really “breaks.”
  • Be prepared to talk. I’ll say one of the disappointments I had this year was how little we talked during the year. I wanted more conversation. I craved more discussion. But it didn’t work that way. It ended up being a lot of discussion AT ALA, which for the purposes of the committee, was perfectly fine. My point is, though, you need to be prepared to talk. Have notes, have thoughts, be passionate about what you love and strong about what you don’t love in equal measure. Be able to articulate that. 
  • Know you’ll win some good wins and lose some hard losses. There is one victory on committee I am going to feel good about forever. There are plenty of losses I’ll be sad about not winning. But that’s the way it goes. When you work on a committee with people who have opinions and different experience and varied backgrounds, that’s how it goes. But man that one great victory felt great. 
  • Be willing to take chances. I nominated a few books this year that I thought didn’t stand a chance. Or there were some I nominated not having read them and having no idea how or where they’d fit. Guess what? Some of those chances ended up being excellent fits. It takes speaking up and following a professional hunch to put something to the table, and the chance can pay off well. 
  • Get excited about it. Because if you can’t be excited about what you’re going to produce, why bother? And when your product is out there, do you know how nice it is to talk about it? Because I know I plan on talking about this list for a while. I’ve already made purchases for my own collection of things I didn’t have, and I’m eager to promote these titles with my teens, as well as with adult readers looking for “something good” to read. 


What’s To Come 

Over the next few weeks, I plan on blogging more about the list. Since I couldn’t talk about the books we were considering or why we were considering them throughout the year (though obviously, I reviewed some), I think I’d like to talk about some of the titles that deserve some further recognition. I loved the non-fiction we pulled together on our lists, and while I generally love non-fiction, it’s rare I talk about it here.

Likewise, I plan on talking about how to use this list a little more. I hope that by talking about it, it’ll inspire other readers to check it out and promote it further. There’s so much here, and it’s perfect for dipping and out of when looking for something to read.

I’d love, too, to hear from those who use OBCB or who plan on using the list about why and how they do. I’m exceptionally proud of this product and it’ll hold a life not just for the five years between now and when it’s updated again, but it’ll hold a life long after. While some topics may fade out of the spotlight in areas like social science or science especially, they aren’t dead by any means. These are still great books with great appeal and use for readers seeking to be engaged, inspired, and excited by reading.



Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert

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The Cybils graphic novel categories were full of true life stories this year – a couple of graphic memoirs and two or three (depending on your definition) historical biographies. Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller was a standout among them – just really well-done overall, with a fascinating true story and art that does more than just illustrate the book.

The relationship between Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller is a fairly well-known one, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to mine the same material in new and interesting ways. Lambert uses Annie Sullivan’s own letters as a springboard for the story, thereby grounding it in historical fact. It’s also a great way to give the reader some personal insight into Annie’s mind and allow us to experience the many frustrations as well as triumphs she experienced while working with Helen.

The story jumps back and forth in time, between Annie’s childhood in an almshouse and at the Perkins School for the Blind to her time as a young adult with Helen at the Kellers’ home. (The technique is well-intentioned, but sometimes transitions are difficult to pick up on.) This makes the book much more Annie’s story than Helen’s. We get a clear picture of Annie as a determined and intelligent woman, sometimes quick to an outpouring of temper, but well-matched to deal with Helen in her younger years.

One of the best techniques used here is the art, which really illuminates Helen’s transition to understanding the world around her. Before Annie is able to communicate with Helen, Helen’s world as drawn from her point of view is gray and shapeless. As the idea that things have names begins to crystallize for her, so too does the world around her. It’s a simple and brilliant visual idea, something so well-suited to a comic book about a blind girl.

I wouldn’t call the art beautiful, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s well-done and visually interesting, though sometimes the text can be a bit difficult to read. This is a great example of a graphic book where writing and art go hand-in-hand, each necessary to the other.

The end of the book focuses some on a plagiarism scandal that I hadn’t know about previously. Helen wrote a story as a child called The Frost King that was later discovered to be very similar to another author’s story. When this comes to light, Annie is accused of copying the story and passing it off as Helen’s, or of narrating the story to Helen, who then copied it. It was difficult for Helen to understand the concept of owning words, and the book leaves this pretty open-ended, which frustrated me (but perhaps that’s more of a personal failing than the book’s). It certainly encouraged me to do some further reading after I had finished the book, which is not a bad thing at all.

This will certainly appeal to kids already interested in Helen Keller, who seems to be a perennially popular topic for school reports. I can also see it being used in classrooms in conjunction with Miss Spitfire or a viewing/production of The Miracle Worker (which was put on by my own high school class when I was a teenager).