Inside Look at Picking Award Winners

Each year during the American Library Association’s (ALA) LibLearnX conference, the organization announces its Youth Media Awards—the top books, digital media, video and audiobooks for children and young adults, including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards. While the awards and recipients are great honors, it is also a great honor to be selected to serve on one of the selection panels. Jessica Woods, a librarian at our Woodlawn Branch, was selected as one of five members of the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee, who selected Neal Shusterman and nine of his novels to honor his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens. We sat down with Jessica to talk about her experience.

Q: Thanks for chatting with me today. First, let’s dive into how you were selected for the committee. What did the process look like?

A: “There’s an online application to complete and list of which ALA committees you’d be most interested in joining. I submitted an application for a couple of different ones, including some blogging teams, thinking that would be a good way to get my foot in the door for one of the bigger ones. However, I was selected for the Margaret A. Edwards Award and I was tickled to death.

I received an email that said, ‘You’re on the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee’ and I was like 'Oh wow!’ I remembered calling my husband crying and said, ‘I was not expecting this at all.’”

Q: That’s great. Congratulations! So, what is the Margaret A. Edwards Award?

A: “The Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author who has made a lasting impact on teen literature. This award looks at an author’s body of work and not only honors the author but also certain titles that this author has created that answer the question for teens, ‘What is my place in the world?’ The winning author needs to have an authentic voice to teens and create books that engage all levels of teens across the country.”

Other qualifications include the author has to be living and the books have to be at least two years old. This award is one of the few that honor older books, whereas most are for books just published or about to be published.

Q: Okay, so tell us more about Neal Shusterman and his pieces of work.

A: “We chose nine books by Neal Shusterman to honor. He is an author who, over his very long career, has written several works that we have seen teens excited to read. The one thing we kept going back to is he meets teens where they are in this moment of time. His writing lets teens see themselves as leaders in a world and gives them hope on how to forge forward and make the world a better place.”

The titles honored are:

• “The Arc of the Scythe: Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll”
• “Bruiser”
• “Challenger Deep”
• “Everlost”
• “Full Tilt”
• “The Schwa Was Here”
• “Unwind” 

Q: Why are these titles important for teens?

A: “We’re living in a time where there’s a lot of discussion of who’s actually reading teen books in addition to adults challenging the freedom to read. There’s just such a wealth of teen publishing—which is awesome! Awesome for these kids, awesome for this time. I don’t think there are any easy answers when you’re working on an award committee. There’s just so many people you could honor. But the committee felt there was no one more deserving than Neal Shusterman because he follows all the criteria of the award. He truly embodies all the aspects of the Margaret A. Edwards Award.

He holds teens, their brains and their thought processes in very high regard. And I think he looks to put his teen characters in situations where they are the leaders and steer the ship.”

Q: Do you have a favorite book of his?

A: “My favorite is ‘Full Tilt.’ I was teaching ninth grade English when this book first came out and I saw the impact it had on teens and how it got them reading. It’s 20 years old now and I still see it resonate with teens.” 

Q: What was the energy like at LibLearnX when Shusterman’s name was announced?

A: “Being in the room during the Youth Media Awards, the atmosphere is just electric. I knew the announcement of him as the recipient would get a warm reception, but I did not realize the entire room would lose their minds for such an extended period. When we stood up to be recognized, so many people were like ‘Perfect choice!’ and it just really validated how much Shusterman deserved this award.  

We got to tell him over Zoom that he won the Margaret A. Edwards Award. The look on his face will just stay with me. It’s a core memory.”

Q: Any other thoughts you’d like to add?

A: “Personally and professionally, being on this selection committee has been the highlight of my career and my life.”

Explore Neal Shusterman

Check out our broad selection of Shusterman books.