Yay for Justine!

Congratulations to my online friend Justine, who just won the second annual Norton AwardDespite what is says (at least at the moment I’m writing this) at Wikipedia, this is the second year of the award. Holly Black won last year at the inaugural occasion. for her Magic Trilogy.

This must be an especially satisfying win for her, since the shortlist for this year was so great. Check it out:

• Devilish—Maureen Johnson (Penguin Razorbill)
• Magic or Madness—Justine Larbalestier (Penguin Razorbill)
• Life As We Knew It—Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt)
• Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness—Scott Westerfeld (Harper Eos)
• Peeps—Scott Westerfeld (Penguin Razorbill)
• The King of Attolia—Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow Books HarperCollins)

I’ve read (and enjoyed!) all of those except the Pfeffer one, which I guess I should if it can play in that company. (I actually read the Turner on Justine’s recommendation, the Johnson on Gwenda’s, and had read both the Westerfeld’s earlier–he’s Justine’s husband, so I bet she gets to make a joke or two about beating him twice for the award.)

There’s certainly a renaissance going on in “YA” at the moment, and I’m certainly willing to risk the stigma that is still associated with adults reading “kids’ books” in order to get the good stuff. (Of course, I also read comics and science-fiction, so I guess it’s hardly a surprise that I’m willing to read things that might be looked down on by the mainstream is somewhat less than literary.)