Printz Award 2021

 

Everything Sad is Untrue
(a true story)
By Daniel Nayeri

Winner of the 2021 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult Literature is Daniel Nayeri's Everything Sad is Untrue -- published by Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Levine Querido. 

In an autobiographical novel, middle-schooler Daniel, formerly Khosrou, tells his unimpressed and at times cruel classmates about his experience as an Iranian refugee.

"A modern masterpiece - as epic as the Iliad and Shahnameh, and as heartwarming as Charlotte's Web. It's for the kids at the lunch table; the heroes of tomorrow, just looking to survive the battle of adolescence."
— New York Times Book Review

"A journey as intimate as it is epic. A remarkable work that raises the literary bar in children's lit." 
— BookList

About the Author:

Daniel Nayeri is the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, where he oversees a team of designers, editors, and inventors creating "joyful books for curious minds." He was born in Iran and spent several years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. Along with Everything Sad is Untrue, Nayeri is the author of several books for young readers, including Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow: Four Novellas.

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Printz Award 2020

Dig
By A.S. King

Winner of the 2020 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult Literature is A.S. King's Dig -- published by Penguin Random House.

"King’s narrative concerns are racism, patriarchy, colonialism, white privilege, and the ingrained systems that perpetuate them. . . . [Dig] will speak profoundly to a generation of young people who are waking up to the societal sins of the past and working toward a more equitable future."
— Horn Book Review

"With her inimitable surrealism and insight into teenage experience, A.S. King explores how a corrosive culture of polite, affluent white supremacy tears a family apart and how one determined generation can save themselves." 
— by Karen Jensen, School library Journal - Teen Librarian Toolbox


From the publisher:

Five teenagers’ disparate lives weave together, unveiling long-buried secrets within a complex shared history. King’s surrealistic narrative confronts themes of white privilege and its dark legacies.

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