The Reading List Council of the American Library Association has established the new Reading List Award, an annual award that will acknowledge their selection of the best book in eight different genre categories for the year. Thrillers, suspense and adventure titles were combined into the “Adrenalin” category. Other genres include Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Horror, Fantasy and Historical Fiction. The winners of this year’s award for Adrenalin and Mystery titles were announced on January 18th: respectively, Mark Frost for The Second Objective, and Ariana Franklin for Mistress of the Art of Death.
Neal Wyatt, who has served as past chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) and the Notable Book Council, felt that a focus on genre fiction was needed because of its popularity with patrons. She proposed a genre award in 2007.
Neal Wyatt, who has served as past chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) and the Notable Book Council, felt that a focus on genre fiction was needed because of its popularity with patrons. She proposed a genre award in 2007.
Ten librarians fill out the Reading List Council, all experts in
readers’ advisory and collection development. The Council nominated
approximately 17-20 novels in each category that embodied the criteria
of the award: the book is a pleasure to read, it embodies the standards
of the genres or offers a new or unexpected take on those standards,
and it is well-conceived in terms of story line, character, setting,
language, dialogue, tone, pace, detail, description,
learning/experiencing and narrative structure.
Winners were selected after lengthy debate and discussion; the Council meets twice a year, and only members can nominate a book, though editors, authors and publishers are free to submit books for consideration. A title is short listed when one person on the committee thinks it is strong enough to be considered the top choice of the year.
The Reading List Council compiles a monthly list of titles to consider, which is then emailed to the respective publishers of the titles along with a letter of introduction. Publishers are welcome to submit additional books or, if they have not received a current letter of request, they may contact the chair of The Reading List Council to request a list of Council members. The chair will then discuss with the publisher the type of books eligible for consideration and assist the publisher in distributing the titles to the Council members. Authors who would like their book submitted should speak to their publishers.
The Reading List is heavily used by libraries for collection development and readers’ advisory, and is publicized widely within the library community, on genre fan sites and in library publications.
Winners were selected after lengthy debate and discussion; the Council meets twice a year, and only members can nominate a book, though editors, authors and publishers are free to submit books for consideration. A title is short listed when one person on the committee thinks it is strong enough to be considered the top choice of the year.
The Reading List Council compiles a monthly list of titles to consider, which is then emailed to the respective publishers of the titles along with a letter of introduction. Publishers are welcome to submit additional books or, if they have not received a current letter of request, they may contact the chair of The Reading List Council to request a list of Council members. The chair will then discuss with the publisher the type of books eligible for consideration and assist the publisher in distributing the titles to the Council members. Authors who would like their book submitted should speak to their publishers.
The Reading List is heavily used by libraries for collection development and readers’ advisory, and is publicized widely within the library community, on genre fan sites and in library publications.
