>In a switch from fall to spring, the 10th annual Massachusetts Book Awards were announced last night at a ceremony celebrating a decade of literature by Massachusetts authors or about Massachusetts. To download the complete list of this year’s must-reads in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s/young adult, visit the Massachusetts Center for the Book.
Fiction Winner
Woodsburner by John Pipkin (Random House, 2009)
In this debut novel, the author takes an actual incident in the life of Henry David Thoreau (an accidental fire that consumes 300 acres of the Concord woods) and weaves it into a richly satisfying tale.
Check Old Colony Library Network for availability of Woodsburner.
Nonfiction Winner
American Passage: The History of Ellis Island by Vincent J. Cannato (HarperCollins, 2009)
A clarifying and enlightening account of Ellis Island that is not only a history of the Island itself but also a study of the process of the entire Ellis Island experience and an invitation to contemplate openings and closings of the gates in our nation of immigrants.
(At the awards ceremony, the author did rub it in that he was a New Yorker receiving a MassBook Award for a book about New York, but he is a professor at U. Mass., Boston, so can be forgiven.)
Check Old Colony Library Network for availability of American Passage.
Poetry Winner
This Is the Red Door by James R. Whitley (Ironweed, 2009)
A wonderful collection of lyrical poems about love, loss, and moving on.
Children’s/Young Adult Winner
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown, 2009)
A young girl named Minli takes an epic journey seeking fortune and wisdom in this beautifully designed and illustrated novel blending Chinese folktales with the Wizard of Oz.
Check Old Colony Library Network for availability of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.