Nominees for YALSA’s 2022 Lists Are Updated Weekly
YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), a section of the American Library Association (ALA), has a schedule of updates of nominees for several of their lists for 2022. Check their blog, The Hub, each week or month to learn what titles are being considered for their Best Fiction for Young Adults (Mondays), Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (Tuesdays), Amazing Audiobooks (Wednesday), and Great Graphic Novels (Thursday). You see a copy of the cover and a review of the book, usually one title with a review and one or more additional titles merely listed per posting.
At the bottom of each posting there is occasionally a place to click to see all the postings referring to that list. A quarterly compilation of each list is available, the first ones were posted on The Hub in early April, the second list was posted in early July.
You and your teens are also welcome to submit titles for consideration for any of the lists. Also at the bottom of each posting is a link to the information and form to suggest a title for that list.
Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney and illustrated by Robyn Smith is a graphic novel included on two nominees’ lists: Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers and Great Graphic Novels.
Nubia is fast and strong – really strong. She is black and her two mothers constantly remind her not to use her strength, it will only get her in trouble; they DO want the best for her. Her two best friends (LaQuisha and Jason) want her to enjoy her summer, but that seems unlikely. She is in a convenience store for a refill when two robbers enter. She stays low, as her mothers would want, until a guy she likes is threatened – and she throws the ATM at the robber and then runs. No surprise to Nubia, a policeman finds her part way home and handcuffs her, until he learns the two robbers were men. Then he releases her and tells her to stay out of trouble.
Dealing with many things common in high school – liking a guy and being awkward around him – Nubia must also deal with racism; and keep in mind that if people learn of her abilities, they will likely be afraid of her, they will not see her as Wonder Woman. But when her best friend Quisha, is threatened by her former boyfriend, Nubia finds a way to catch him out without violence. And… it turns out Nubia is related to Wonder Woman.
As School Library Journal said, “No superhero collection is complete without Nubia.”
(The Nebraska Library Commission receives free copies of children’s and young adult books for review from a number of publishers. After review, the books are distributed free, via the Regional Library Systems, to Nebraska school and public libraries.)
