This weekend is probably my favorite weekend of the entire year! It’s the LDStoryMakers Conference and the Whitney Awards banquet!!!!!!!!
Yes, they deserve all those exclamation points—and more!
Seriously. I’ve been going to Storymakers for years in my alter ego persona. I’ve missed a few—and that always makes me sad—but I’ve really loved watching it grow and change to become what it is today. I love the supportive atmosphere and the great fun. I always come home inspired to write more.
Click here to see a few photos of me at the conference in previous years.
And then there are the Whitney Awards! I simply can’t imagine the Oscars being more fun. (Unless, of course, I got a seat next to Robert Downey Jr.)
Click here for photos of me at the 2011 Whitney Awards Banquet.
I’ll be posting some pictures of this year’s outfit later this week.
But today, let’s talk about the finalists. Here are the finalists for two of the Whitney categories.
Young Adult—General
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| After Hello | Finding June | The Space Between Us | The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back | V is for Virgin |
| Lisa Mangum | Shannen Crane Camp | Jessica Martinez | Sariah Wilson | Kelly Oram |
Middle Grade
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| Case File 13: Zombie Kid | Epic Tales of a Misfit Hero | Freakling | Palace of Stone | The False Prince |
| J. Scott Savage | Matt Peterson* | Lana Krumwiede* | Shannon Hale | Jennifer A. Nielsen |
In the comments, tell us:
• How many of these 10 finalists have you read?
• Which ones did you really, really love?
• And if you had to pick just one from each category—like, if you were at the bookstore and you only had enough money to buy ONE book—which is your winner and WHY?
Remember, these comments enter you to win one of the books featured in sidebar!
I read all of these. My favorite from the middle grade was The False Prince. SO good. There were so many twists. It was awesome. The Space Between Us was amazing. I loved the characters, the story and the emotion. Not my usual read, but I loved it. All the books were pretty dang good though. 🙂
I’ve read 7 of those 10.
Just one from each category…so hard! I would take The False Prince from Middle Grade, because it was AMAZING! and The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back from Young Adult, because it was my favorite of the ones I’d read.
I’ve read all 10. I liked and would recommend all the books in the Young Adult category. All of them were 4 or 5 stars for me. My top two were The Space Between Us (serious, deals with teen pregnancy from a sister’s POV) and The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back (lighter, more fun, while still dealing with teen issues). If forced, I think I’d pick Ugly Stepsister.
In the Middle Grade category, I really loved both The False Prince and Case File 13: Zombie Kid. False Prince was more traditional, while Zombie Kid was just pure fun and hi-jinks. If forced, I’d…um…put them both on my credit card. 🙂