National Book Award Brouhaha

Book people have no doubt heard about the mess in the YA category for the National Book Awards. Initially, a book was mistakenly included in the short list because its title was close to the actual nominee. The mistake was corrected--after the announcements were made--but that meant Lauren Myracle and her book Shine had to step aside. That's probably not been very fun for her, but it seems as though it might still translate into book sales, so there's consolation in that.


But it's not all bad news coming from the YA category judges. Here's an interesting blog post from Nikki Grimes, one of those judges, saying some very nice things about my friend Carol Saller's book, Eddie's War--one of her favorites of the year in addition to the five (six?) finalists:

"Eddie's War by Carol Fisher Saller shows us the impact of WWII on a farm boy in the Heartland. True and tender." 

Readers may remember that I reviewed the book here. It was also reviewed in Prime Number Magazine, here. So, not quite an NBA finalist, but almost--and Carol and her book deserve to be recognized.