We’re called “Someday My Printz Will Come” for a reason; we kiss a lot of frogs. Which is necessary if we want to read widely — and we do, because that gives us the best sense of the year. The Printz is, after all, an award for literary excellence in the publication year — wider readership means we are assessing the books against as many of the competition as possible.

We can’t cover every book we collectively read — if you’re interested in seeing those lists, find us on Goodreads — and there are plenty of books we are happy to skip. But we wanted to take a moment to give out a few honorable mentions to some books that aren’t quite frogs, but they aren’t princes, or Printzs, either.

So, in brief, a roundup of some titles we don’t think need a lengthy discussion but did deserve some acknowledgement. The following books fall into one of two categories — either we read them and loved them, but sadly believe they have no chance when it comes to the Printz, OR they landed on our list for reasons of stars (we do our best to lay eyes on everything with three or more stars) or buzz, but we just can’t see them going the distance.

Andre the Giant, Box Brown
First Second, May 2014
Reviewed from final copy
Zero stars; read because interest

Like The Undertaking of Lily Chen, this one is probably not eligible. It’s worth noting here though that Andre the Giant is graphic nonfiction with massive appeal for teens. It’s a moving biography of a man whose life took on mythic qualities. The art is done in these gorgeous, thick lines of black and white that create soft shapes. Told in vignettes with occasional commentary from “talking heads” in a documentary style, Andre’s entire life is covered, but the book left me feeling like some things were left unsaid. -JP