Michael L. Printz Award
for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

2002 Award Winner

A Step from Heaven by An Na - YA NA                                                                           
 "A Step from Heaven," tells the tale of Young Ju as she grows from a toddler in Korea to a high-school graduate in California desperately trying to be a 'true' American while her immigrant parents try to make her stay close to her Korean heritage.  Both intimate and universal, this powerful story of Young Ju's coming of age is rooted in the conflict between her traditional Korean immigrant family and the need to find her place in the United States.

Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego. "A Step From Heaven" is her first novel.

2002 Honor Books

The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson YA DIC                                                    
Long protected from the fearsome Empire by an enchanted forest, the Valley is in danger as the forest's power fades. Four brave souls must venture into the Empire to find the mysterious magician who can save the Valley. Tilja, the youngest, learns that only she, an ordinary girl with no powers, has the ability to protect her group and their quest from the Empire's sorcerers.

True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff  YA WOL                                      
In this second novel of Wolff's "Make Lemonade" trilogy, 15-year old Verna LaVaughn is visited by Jody, a boy she knew as a child who comes back to the housing project where she lives. Jody behaves as if he's in love with her, but Jody is wrestling with questions of his own identity.

Freewill by Chris Lynch YA LYN                                                                                          
Will finds himself with a bunch of kids in wood shop in a school that's known as Hopeless High. Will doesn't know what he's doing there--or maybe he just doesn't want to admit the truth. No one knows why local teens are committing suicide, either. The deaths all have one thing in common: beautifully carved wooden tributes that appear just after--or just before--the bodies are found. Will's afraid he knows who's responsible for the deaths.

Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art by Jan Greenberg - YA 811 HEA
Editor Jan Greenberg invited poets to choose a 20th-century work of American art and write a poem "stimulated by it"; the result is Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art. Jane Yolen contemplates Grant Wood's American Gothic, Angela Johnson one of Faith Ringgold's quilts, and Ronald Wallace two diverse works by Alexander Calder. The volume pays homage to 47 different paintings, sculptures and photographs.