Alex Awards

The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults. They were first given annually beginning in 1998 and became an official ALA award in 2002.

The award is sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust. Edwards pioneered young adult library services and worked for many years at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore. The Alex Awards are named after Edwards, who was called “Alex” by her friends.

2012 Winners 

• Big Girl Small, by Rachel DeWoskin, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (9780374112578 )
• In Zanesville, by Jo Ann Beard, published by Little, Brown & Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (9780316084475)
• The Lover’s Dictionary, by David Levithan, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (9780374193683)
• The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, by Brooke Hauser, published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. (9781439163283)
• The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. (9780385534635)
• Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, published by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (9780307887436)
• Robopocalypse: A Novel, by Daniel H. Wilson, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. (9780385533850)
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, published by BloomsburyUSA (9781608195220)
• The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures, by Caroline Preston, published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (9780061966903)
• The Talk-Funny Girl, by Roland Merullo, published by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (9780307452924)

2011 Winners 

• The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To, by DC Pierson, published by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.,New York (9780307474612)
• Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, by Liz Murray, published by Hyperion (9780786868919)
• Girl in Translation, by Jean Kwok, published by Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (9781594487569)
• The House of Tomorrow, by Peter Bognanni, published by Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of the Penguin Group (9780399156090)
• The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton, published by Thomas Dunne Books for Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press (9780312380427)
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: A Novel, by Aimee Bender, published by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.,New York (9780385501125)
• The Radleys, by Matt Haig, published by Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. (9781439194010)
• The Reapers Are the Angels: A Novel, by Alden Bell, published by Holt Paperbacks, a division of Henry Holt and Company, LLC (0805092439)
• Room: A Novel, by Emma Donoghue, published by Little, Brown and Company a division of Hatchette Book Group, Inc. (9780316098335)
• The Vanishing of Katharina Linden: A Novel, by Helen Grant, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,  division of Random House, Inc., New York (9780385344173)

2010 Winners 

• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (9780061730320)
• The Bride’s Farewell, by Meg Rosoff, published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (9780670020997)
• Everything Matters!, by Ron Currie, Jr., published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (9780670020928)
• The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel, published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux (9780374165734)
• The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir, by Diana Welch and Liz Welch with Amanda Welch and Dan Welch, published by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House (9780307396044)
• The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (9780670020553)
• My Abandonment, by Peter Rock, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (9780151014149)
• Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel, by Gail Carriger, published by Orbit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group (9780316056632)
• Stitches: A Memoir by David Small, published by W.W. Norton & Company (978039306857)
• Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, by Kevin Wilson, published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins  (9780061579028)

2009 Winners 

• City of Thieves, by David Benioff, published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (9780670018703)
• The Dragons of Babel, by Michael Swanwick, a Tor Book published by Tom Doherty Associates (9780765319500)
• Finding Nouf, by Zoë Ferraris published by Houghton Mifflin Company (9780618873883)
• The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, published by Dial Press, a division of Random House (9780385337458)
• Just After Sunset: Stories, by Stephen King, published by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster (9781416584087)
• Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (9781565125698)
• Over and Under, by Todd Tucker, published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint ofSt. Martin’s Press (9780312379902)
• The Oxford Project, by Stephen G. Bloom, photographed by Peter Feldstein,  published by Welcome Books (9781599620480)
• Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow, published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins (9780061430220)
• Three Girls and Their Brother, by Theresa Rebeck, published by Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House (9780307394149)

2008 Winners 

• American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch; An Odyssey in the New China, by Matthew Polly, published by Gotham (9781592402625)
• Bad Monkeys, by Matt Ruff, published by HarperCollins (9780061240423)
• Genghis: Birth of an Empire, by Conn Iggulden, published by Bantam (9780385339513)
• The God of Animals, by Aryn Kyle, published by Scribner (9781416533252)
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, published by Farrar/Sarah Crichton (9780374105235)
• Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones, published by Dial (9780385341066)
• The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, published by DAW (9780756404079)
• The Night Birds, by Thomas Maltman, published bySoho (9781569474624)
• The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz, published by Simon & Schuster (9781416532392)
• Tales from the Farm: Essex County, v.1, by Jeff Lemire, published by Top Shelf (9781891830884)

2007 Winners 

• The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly, published by Simon & Schuster/Atria (0743298853)
• The Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig, published by Harcourt (0151022377)
• Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska, by Michael D’Orso, published by Bloomsbury (1582346232)
• Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, published by Algonquin (1565124995)
• Color of the Sea, by John Hamamura, published by Thomas Dunne (0312340737)
• The Floor of the Sky, by Pamela Carter Joern, published by University of Nebraska Press (0803276311)
• The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, by Michael Lewis, published by Norton (039306123X)
• Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell, published by Random House (1400063795)
• The World Made Straight, by Ron Rash, published by Henry Holt (0805078665)
• The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield, published by Simon & Schuster/Atria (0743298020)

2006 Winners 

• Midnight at the Dragon Café, by Judy Fong Bates, published by Counterpoint (1582431892)
• Upstate, by Kalisha Buckhanon, published by St. Martins (0312332688)
• Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman, published by William Morrow & Company (006051518x)
• As Simple As Snow, by Gregory Galloway, published by Putnam (0399152318)
• Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, published by Alfred A. Knopf (1400043395)
• Gil’s All Fright Diner, by A. Lee Martinez, published by Tor ( 076531711)
• The Necessary Beggar, by Susan Palwick, published by Tor (076531097x)
• My Jim, by Nancy Rawles, published by Crown (1400054001)
• Jesus Land: A Memoir, by Julia Scheeres, published by Counterpoint (152433380)
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Walls, published by Scribner (0743247531)

2005 Winners

• Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, by Steve Almond, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (1565124219)
• Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, by Lynn Cox, published by Knopf (0375415076)
• Donorboy, by Brendan Halpin, published by Random House (1400062772)
• Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson, published by Random House (0375760989)
• Work of Wolves, by Kent Meyers, published by Harcourt (0156031426)
• Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett, published by HarperCollins (0060572140)
• My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, published by Atria (0743454529)
• Thinner Than Thou, by Kit Reed, published by Tom Doherty Associates (0765307626)
• Project X, by Jim Shepard, published by Knopf (140004071X)
• Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, by Robert Sullivan, published byBloomsbury (1582343853)

2004 Winners

• Wonder When You’ll Miss Me, by Amanda Davis, published by William Morrow/HarperCollins (0688167810)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon, published by Doubleday (0385509456)
• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, published by Riverhead (1573222453)
• The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, published by MacAdam Cage (193156146X)
• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by Z.Z. Packer, published by Riverhead (1573222348)
• Stiff, by Mary Roach, published by Norton (0393050939)
• True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman, published by Knopf (0375413081)
• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, published by Pantheon (0375422307)
• Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear, published bySoho (1569473307)
• Leave Myself Behind, by Bart Yates, published by Kensington (0758213489)

 2003 Winners

• One Hundred Demons, by Lynda Barry, published by Sasquatch (0570613370)
• My Losing Season, by Pat Conroy, published by Doubleday/Nan A. Talese (0385489129)
• Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril, by Timothy Ferris, published by Simon & Schuster (0684865793)
• The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde, published by Viking (0670030643)
• Crow Lake, by Mary Lawson, published by Dial (038533611X)
• The Year of Ice, by Brian Malloy, published by St. Martin’s (0312289480)
• When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka, published by Knopf (0375414290)
• The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, by Ann Packer, published by Knopf/Borzoi (0375412824)
• The Fall of Rome, by Martha Southgate, published by Scribner (0684865009)
• 10th Grade, by Joseph Weisberg, published by Random (0375505849)