The Michael L. Printz Award for
Excellence in Young Adult Literature

2005 Award Winner

how i live now  by Meg Rosoff  YA ROS
Set during a shocking occupation by terrorist forces, Rosoff’s novel is narrated by 15-year-old Daisy, a wry and alienated young woman who finds true love, mystical connections, and a sense of home with her cousins in England.

“Through Daisy’s evolving voice, readers see a teen who moves beyond self-absorption to become a resourceful survivor, understanding the need to care for others,” said Award Chair Betty Carter. “Meg Rosoff achieves balance in a story both darkly symbolic and bitingly funny.”

Rosoff was born in Boston, graduated from Harvard, and now makes her London. “how I live now” is her first novel.

2005 Honor Books

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel  YA OPP
Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.

Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton YA STR                           
A girl's struggle amid the African AIDS pandemic, Chanda, is an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges, Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a story about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt YA SCH
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.