Each year, teen librarians in the American Library Association select ten books to receive Alex Awards. What are the Alex Awards, you ask?

The Alex Awards were first given annually beginning in 1998, and became an official ALA award in 2002.The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18. The winning titles are selected from the previous year's publishing.The award is sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. Edwards was a young adult specialist for many years at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore. Her work is described in her book Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts, and over the years she has served as an inspiration to librarians who serve young adults. The Alex Awards are named after Edwards, who was called “Alex” by her friends.

This year's winning titles are:

* The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
* The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig.
* Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and A High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska by Michael D'Orso.
* Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.
* Color of the Sea by John Hamamura.
* Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern.
* The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis.
* Black Swan Green by David Mitchell.
* The World Made Straight by Ron Rash.
* The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

I have made a display of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Alex Awards winners in the Teen section. Check it out!

And, in case you missed it, Greg Galloway, author of the 2006 Alex Award-winning novel As Simple As Snow will be here in March!