YALSA Nonfiction Award Finalists in Conversation with SLJ

Presented by: Page Street Publishing, Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company, HarperAlley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Astra Books for Young Readers, a division of Astra Publishing House, and School Library Journal
Event Date and Time: Thursday, January 16, 2025| 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT

Join us for a lively conversation featuring the finalists of the 2025 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award! Moderated by Albany High School Librarian Alicia Abdul, the authors will share insights into the inspiration behind their nominated titles, along with details about their research and storytelling processes.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. Award winners will be announced during the ALA Youth Media Awards on January 27, 2025, during ALA's LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience conference in Phoenix, AZ.

And the nominees are...

“A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women's Soccer—and Beyond,” written by Elizabeth Rusch and published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 9780063220904.

Elizabeth Rusch’s A Greater Goal chronicles how members of the U.S. Women’s National Team fought to receive fair treatment and equal pay despite the intense pushback they received from U.S. Soccer, the governing body of soccer in the United States. With a narrative that includes player profiles and vignettes framed from team member perspectives, A Greater Goal illuminates the work, support, and grit needed to be treated with equality in a world that often undervalues the contributions of women.

“Homebody,” written and illustrated by Theo Parish and published by HarperAlley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 9780063319592

In their comics debut, Theo Parish masterfully weaves an intimate and defiantly hopeful memoir about the journey one nonbinary person takes to find a home within themself. Combining traditional comics with organic journal-like interludes, Theo takes us through their experiences with the hundred arbitrary and unspoken gender binary rules of high school, from harrowing haircuts and finally the right haircut, to the intersection of gender identity and sexuality—and through tiny everyday moments that all led up to Theo finding the term “nonbinary,” which finally struck a chord.

“Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire,” written by Paula Yoo and published by Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company. 9781324030904.

Award-winning author Paula Yoo delivers "a comprehensive, kaleidoscopic account of what happened before, during, and after the 1992 Los Angeles uprising." (Horn Book Magazine, starred review)

In Rising from the Ashes, Paula Yoo draws on the experience of the city’s Korean American community to narrate and illuminate this uprising, from the racism that created economically disadvantaged neighborhoods torn by drugs and gang-related violence, to the tensions between the city’s minority communities. At its heart are the stories of three lives and three families: those of Rodney King; of Latasha Harlins, a Black teenager shot and killed by a Korean American storeowner; and Edward Jae Song Lee, a Korean American man killed in the unrest. Woven throughout, and set against a minute-by-minute account of the uprising, are the voices of dozens others: police officers, firefighters, journalists, business owners, and activists whose recollections give texture and perspective to the events of those five days in 1992 and their impact over the years that followed.

“Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away,” written by Candy J Cooper and published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, a division of Astra Publishing House. 9781662620133.

2025 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist
The New York Public Library Best Books for Teens 2024

Here is the explosive story of the Kids for Cash scandal in Pennsylvania, a judicial justice miscarriage that sent more than 2,500 children and teens to a for-profit detention center while two judges lined their pockets with cash, as told by Candy J. Cooper, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist.

In the early 2000s, Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania were known as no-nonsense judges. Juveniles who showed up in their courtrooms faced harsh words and even harsher sentencing. In the post-Columbine era, many people believed that was just what the county needed to ensure its children and teens stayed on the straight and narrow path. But as more and more children faced shocking sentences for seemingly benign crimes, and a newly built for-profit detention center filled up further and further, a sinister pattern of abuses and bribery emerged. Through extensive research and original reporting leading into contemporary times, award-winning journalist Candy J. Cooper tells the story of a scandal that the Juvenile Law Center calls “one of the largest and most serious violations of children’s rights in the history of the American legal system.”

“The Unboxing of a Black Girl,” written by Angela Shanté and published by Page Street Publishing. 9798890039538.

Written as a collection of vignettes and poetry, The Unboxing of a Black Girl is a creative nonfiction reflection on Black girlhood. The debut YA title, by award-winning author Angela Shanté, is a love letter to Black girls set in New York City and serves as a personal and political critique of how the world raises Black girls.

Speakers:

Moderator: Alicia Abdul, High School Librarian, Albany, NY

Paula Yoo, Author of Rising From the Ashes

Candy J. Cooper, Author of Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away

Angela Shanté, Author of The Unboxing of a Black Girl

Elizabeth Rusch, Author of A Greater Goal

Theo Parish, Author of Homebody

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