MotherReader

In the National Book Awards, the award for young people’s literature went to M.T. Anderson for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party. From the Washington Post:

In his acceptance speech, Anderson made a point of noting that Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award. “There is a lot of dithering in the blogosphere,” he said, about whether graphic novels are worthy. This can now be laid to rest.

The other finalists in young adult literature were Martine Leavitt for Keturah and Lord Death (don’t know it), Patricia McCormick for Sold (haven’t got it yet), and Nancy Werlin for The Rules of Survival (Amazing).

The Washington Post also reported:

Yang said he thinks we’re “in the middle of a renaissance for the graphic novel” — finally seeing “an entire body of work” in the form that aspires to be literature.

My favorite part of this whole thing? That M.T. Anderson talked about the blogosphere with regard to books. That’s us, guys!