I’m off my game, people! I normally try to predict the Printz winners and honors for the year, but the awards have been given and I haven’t posted! The Micahel L. Printz Award (< click for the complete list) is given annually to the best young adult book — like the Newbery Award, but for books about teenagers. I try to read at least two of the past winners or honors every year, as well as predict what will be nominated. Last I predicted five, and only one of the five made the list, but it was the winner, Going Bovine by Libba Bray. Great read. I definitely recommend it.
This year I would have predicted:
1. The Sky Is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson
2. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
3. The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar
4. The Freak Observer, by Blythe Woolston
5. A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend, by Emily Horner
And I would have failed miserably. Not one of those titles made the list. Was anyone else kind of surprised by this year’s list? I’m not sure why the books that were honored were not on my radar. Does this mean that I’m overly influenced by blogs and tweets? And um, does this mean that my Twitter and Goodreads crowd have a different taste in books than the ALA? Just what influences their ideas of literature with merit? I’ll probably never know. Now, I’m off to finish my current read, Five Flavors of Dumb; and next up I think will be Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A. S. King. I was excited to see that one on the list!
Jody Sparks Mugele 
I was surprised by a lot of the books which won awards this year. I hadn’t heard of a lot of them.
I like your list! I think it was a wild card year!