The Academy Awards of Teen Books!

Do you know what today was (besides Monday)?  It was the day the American Library Association announced (among a bunch of other fine awards) the winners of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in YA literature and John Newbery Award for excellence in children's lit published in 2012--in the nerdy world of librarians, this is basically the equivalent of the Academy Awards, and authors, illustrators, and book lovers everywhere anticipate this day with eager, nervous, shivery excitement, much the way children look forward to Christmas and my cats look forward to getting fed every day (those pigs, you'd think I was starving them).  Winning one of these awards is huge.  H-U-G-E huge.  In terms of prestige and honor and recognition of one's inimitable talent, getting one of those shiny gold or silver seals stamped on to your book really is like winning an Oscar.

I really had "The Fault in Our Stars" pegged as, if not a gold winner (because let's face, John Green always wins awards, so why not let someone else have a moment in the Printz sun?), then at least a Printz honor book.  A story about two teenagers with cancer who fall in love--sign me up!  But seriously, who else but John Green could turn something so horrible and heartbreaking into something so poetic and--here's where his talent becomes obvious--so funny and actually readable and far more about life than death?  Um, teens with cancer.  Not particularly funny.  Not necessarily something I'd want to spend a lazy Saturday reading about.  John Green makes it not only bearable, but awesome.

So of course, John Green didn't win anything (well okay, TFiOS did get the Odyssey Award for best audio book but, while nice, that ain't no Printz).  Here ARE the winners of the Printz Award for the best YA books published in 2012 (since I know you're rolling on the floor in agonizing anticipation).  (Also, if you click on the book covers, you'll notice that APL owns each title except "The White Bicycle."  Hope to remedy that soon.)

& the gold winner, the numero uno Michael L. Printz winner of 2012:

"In Darkness" by Nick Lake.  Summary: "In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, fifteen-year-old Shorty, a poor gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a ruined hospital, and as he grows weaker he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804."

I haven't read this book yet, but I do like the book cover.  Earthquakes?  Slums?  Poverty?  A slow death?  Sounds as fun as teens with cancer!  Can't wait to get to this book and see what makes it the best YA title of 2012 (at least according to a small panel  of random people).

Has anyone read any of these titles?  Are they worthy of their Printz win?  Anyone have a favorite book from last year, whether it was something published in 2012 or just something you read in the past year?