Final Passionate Pleas

Fiction - Speak
I can't say it enough how perfectly I think this book resonates with the adolescent experience - especially for girls. This book uses language and themes that really can connect deeply with the adolescent, and yet it challenges their literary thinking to go to deeper levels. Overall, I think this book definitely deserves to win the award. In the book, the reader can so deeply connect with Melinda, which is an important aspect of adolescent literature. I think this book makes a breakthrough in that it talks about the internal silence of someone who's been raped and gone against her friends to follow her best judgment and do what was right - and now she's suffering the consequences of that. I think an important part of this book is that it shows its alright and good to do what's right, even when there are consequences. Through everything, Melinda learns so much about herself and her morals and standing up for what is right and discovers who really cares about her and who matters anyways.

Non-Fiction - Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
I think the amount of valuable pieces of history interwoven in this book (it is an important piece of history itself!) make it an important contender for the award. This book not only resonates with the development of the adolescent, but it is a completely true story. There is something compelling about knowing these diary entries really happened and she lived through an important time in our world's history. This book can be such a wonderful supplement to learning about the war and Jewish history in school. High school years are the years they delve deeper into these subjects, so it seems an appropriate time to read this book. Also, Anne being thirteen to fifteen years old throughout the book, she is struggling and facing the same things they are.