2013 Longlist for Young People’s Literature

Lisa Graff, A Tangle of Knots
Philomel Books/Penguin Group (USA)

Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic

Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck
Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster

David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing
Alfred A. Knopf/Random House

Tom McNeal, Far Far Away
Alfred A. Knopf/Random House

Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone
G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group (USA)

Anne Ursu, The Real Boy
Walden Pond Press/HarperCollinsPublishers

Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints
First Second/Macmillan

Authors’ biographies

Kathi Appelt was a National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature in 2008 for The Underneath, which was also a Newbery Honor Book in 2009. She lives in Texas.

Kate DiCamillo was a National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature in 2001 for The Tiger Rising. She won a Newbery Medal in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. She lives in Minnesota.

Lisa Graff is the author of five chapter books. She also writes YA novels under the pseudonym Isla Neal. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Alaya Dawn Johnson graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures. She lives in New York City.

Cynthia Kadohata won a Newbery Medal in 2005 for Kira-Kira. She lives in Los Angeles.

David Levithan has written over ten books for young adults. He is vice president and editorial director of Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. He lives in New York City.

Tom McNeal is the author of several books for children; many written with his wife, Laura McNeal, who was a National Book Award Finalist in 2010. He lives in Southern California.

Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, Massachusetts and lives in London. She won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2005 for How I Live Now.

Anne Ursu is the author of several books for children and adults. The Real Boy is her fifth book for young people. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese won the Michael L. Printz Award and was the first graphic novel honored as a National Book Award Finalist in 2006. Yang also served as a National Book Award Judge. He lives in San Jose, California.

Publishers submitted a total of 298 books for the 2013 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. The judges’ decisions are made independently of the foundation’s staff and board of directors; deliberations are strictly confidential.

To be eligible for a 2013 National Book Award, a book must have been written by a US citizen and published in the United States between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013.

2013 Judges for the Longlist in Young People’s Literature

Deb Caletti was a National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature in 2004 for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, which was the recipient of numerous other awards and honors, including the PNBA Best Book award, the Washington State Book award, and the SLJ Best Book award.

Cecil Castellucci is the author of books and graphic novels for young adults, including Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, The Year of the Beasts, and Odd Duck. She is the YA editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, children’s correspondence coordinator for The Rumpus, and a two time MacDowell Fellow. She lives in Los Angeles.

Peter Glassman has been a bookseller for 38 years and is the founder and owner of Books of Wonder, one of the foremost bookstores in the country for young people’s literature. He is also the author of three picture books and the editor of the Books of Wonder Classics series published by HarperCollins.

E. Lockhart (Chair) was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature for her novel The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which was also a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a Cybils Award winner. Her most recent book, Real Live Boyfriends, is the fourth book in the Ruby Oliver series.

Lisa Von Drasek is the curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections of the University of Minnesota. Previously, she was the director of the Center for Children’s Literature and children’s librarian of the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. She reviews children’s books for The New York Times and blogs about children’s and young adult books on EarlyWord.com.