And speaking of public recognition…

Ok for Now has been named to the short list for the National Book Award! Just announced. Congratulations Gary Schmidt!

Other books chosen (out of the 278 submittted) on the Young People’s Literature list are:

My Name Is Not Easy, by Debbie Dahl Edwardson
Inside Out and Back Again for Thanhha Lai
Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin
Shine by Lauren Myracle

Judges for the Young Peoples Literature were Marc Aronson (chair), Matt de la Pena, Nikki Grimes, Ann Brashares, and Will Weaver.

Again, congratulations, Gary. I’m happily remembering hearing Gary read from this novel last winter.