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CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) , a division of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ (ALA), selected five books as finalists for the 2014 William C. Morris Award, which honors the year’s best books written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the 2014 award winner at the Youth Media Awards at 8 a.m. on Jan. 27, in Philadelphia during the ¾«¶«´«Ã½’s Midwinter Meeting.

The 2014 finalists are:

• “Charm & Strange” written by Stephanie Kuehn, published by St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, a division of Macmillan.
• “Sex & Violence” written by Carrie Mesrobian, published by Carolrhoda LAB, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group.
• “Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets” written by Evan Roskos, published by Houghton Mifflin, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
• “Belle Epoque” written by Elizabeth Ross, published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.
• “In the Shadow of Blackbirds” written by Cat Winters, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS.

“With the growing number of exciting new voices and talent emerging every year, the Morris Committee worked hard to find the strongest debuts within this competitive field,” said Dorcas Wong, chair of YALSA’s Morris Award committee. “This year's finalists delve into madness, violence, discovery, and self-reflection. The committee and our teen readers applaud these outstanding authors and look forward to what will come next.”

More information on the finalists and the award can be found at . YALSA sells finalist seals to librarians and publishers to place on books at . YALSA will host a reception honoring the finalists and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Nonfiction Award finalists and winner, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Jan. 27, Pennsylvania Convention Center, 114 Lecture Hall.

YALSA’s portfolio of book and media awards helps strengthen library services for and with teens by identifying quality, age appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in their communities.

The award is named for William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. William “Bill” Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.

Members of the 2014 William C. Morris Award Committee are: Dorcas Wong (Chair), San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco; Jerene D. Battisti, King County Library System, Issaquah, Wash.; Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Hannah Gomez, Castilleja School Espinosa Library, Palo Alto, Calif.; Christopher Lassen, Brooklyn Public Library-Marcy, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Alissa Ann Lauzon, Lexington, Mass.; Rachael Myers Ricker, Horace Mann School, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jenna Nemec-Loise, Chicago; Mary A Wepking, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee SOIS, Milwaukee, Wis.; Ileana Pulu (administrative assistant), Bayview Branch, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco; and Daniel Kraus (Booklist consultant), Chicago.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has worked to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to , or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.

For more information on the Morris Award or YALSA’s other young adult literature awards, please visit .