Michael Printz Award

The Michael L Printz Award is awarded each year for a book written and published for young adult readership. The award requires that the winning book exemplifies literary merit and written solely for persons ages 12 – 18. This award does not consider popularity as a criterion, nor does it consider titles that are written for adults that appeal to teens. Also not considered as a criterion is the message delivered in the book. In order to be eligible, the book must have been published in the United States during the preceding year. This does not mean it is ineligible if it was published in another country first. Also eligible to receive the awards works of joint authorship and editorship. Titles will not be considered eligible until the first year the book is available in print.
All forms of writing are considered for this award. It is not limited to a particular genre. Also broad are the criteria for literary merit.
Michael Printz retired from teaching in 1994 and died in 1996. Prior to his death, he was active in YALSA and served on the Best Books and award committees. The first book recognized as a Michael L Printz winner in 2000 was Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. A reason for creating this award was to encourage the publication of quality literary merit written expressively for young adults. Another purpose is to promote the readership of books that fall in the young adult genre. It is also important to focus attention of the importance of young adult genre and award those that produce materials that are best for young adults.
Bone Gape was chosen as the 2016 winner because of the way Laura Ruby tells the story from alternating viewpoints. Interwoven in the story are elements of fairy tales, myths, gothic romance and magic realism. The characters are diverse and their stories weave a tale full of vivid