Mock Printz 2026 discussion

Here are the official voting rules:

To win, a title must receive five first place votes and must also receive at least five more points than the second place title. If no title meets these criteria on the first ballot, any title receiving no votes is removed from consideration and a period of discussion of remaining titles follows. A second ballot is then conducted. Balloting continues in this fashion until a winner is declared.

Here is how we will vote:
* Pick your top three books. You don't have to read all the books on the list to vote.
* Number your votes-1st Place (title); 2nd Place (title); etc. Your order is important because the higher the placement, the more points it receives. 1st place receives 5 points, 2nd place receives 3 points, 3rd place receives 1 point.
* Voting ends Sunday, January 26th at 9am CST

Here are the books you can choose from. All books were mentioned by the members.
Pet by Akawaeke Emenzi
The Lovely War by Julie Berry
Shout by Laura Halse Anderson
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Dig by AS King
Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind them all by Laura Ruby
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
White Bird (RJ Palacio)
The Moon Within (Aida Salazar)

1. Patron Saints of Nothing
2. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them all
3. Shout

I liked almost none of the YA I’d read this year, so from the list, this is all I think is worth voting for

1. Shout

Tatiana wrote: "I have liked almost none of the YA I read this year, so from the list, this is all I think is worth voting for

1. Shout"

Yeah, this was a tough year for YA and I honestly don't know what the RC is going to choose.

1. 13 doorways
2. With the fire on high
3.dig

1. The Lovely War by Julie Berry
2. Dig by AS King
3. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind them all by Laura Ruby

1. Dig
2. Shout
3. With the Fire on High

1. Shout
2. Dig
3. Look Both Ways

1. Shout
2. Lovely War
3. White Bird

1. Shout
2. With the Fire on High
3. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

I agree it has been a rather low year on YA pizzazz. The Morris Award finalists were announced and I hadn't heard of any of them before. The National Book Award was given to a nonfiction title: 1919 by Sandler. This may end up being one of those years where the winner is a book we've never heard of before.

My 2019 favorite, We Contain Multitudes, isn't on the list. So, from this list, I'd say:

1) The Patron Saints of Nothing
2) Frankly in Love
3) Look Both Ways (though this is too young for the Printz)

1- Shout
2- Thirteen Doorways
3- Lovely War

1 - Shout
2 - Pet (didn't like, but think it will get recognized)
3 - Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (committees seem to love Tamaki)

1. The Lovely War
2. Patron Saints of Nothing
3. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

1. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
2. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki
3. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Would have voted for Shout next (which I realize means nothing, but many of you are voting for it), and I do think it's an important book.

1. Lovely War
2. 13 Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
3. On the Come Up

1. Shout
2. The Lovely War
3. Patron Saints of Nothing

1. Dig
2. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up with me
3. 13 Doorways, Wolves Behind them All

1. 13 Doorways, Wolves Behind them All
2. Shout
3. the Lovely War

1. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind them All
2. The Lovely War
3. Dig

I wish I'd read Thirteen Doorways already as I loved Bone Gap. My votes are for:

1. Pet
2. Patron Saints of Nothing

1. The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali
2. Pet
3. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

1. Patron Saints of Nothing
2. Thirteen Doorways Wolves Behind Them All
3. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

1. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
2. Lovely War
3. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

1. Pet
2. Dig
3. The Lovely War

Using the point system used in sporting events:
1st place=5 pts.
2nd place=3 pts.
3rd place=1 pt.
We have three clear favorites and two titles lagging just a little behind.

1. Shout
2. 13 Doorways Wolves Behind Them All
3. Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

1. Dig. -King
2. Patron Saints of Nothing-Ribay
3. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All- Ruby

1. Dig- A.S. King
2. With The Fire On High—Elizabeth Acevedo
3. Patron Saints of Nothing—Randy Ribay

1. Dig -A.S. King
2. Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All -Laura Ruby
3. Frankly in Love -David Yoon

It looks like I did a typo with my first vote - it was for Pet

1. With the Fire on High
2. Shout
3. The Lovely War

1. With the Fire on High
2. The Lovely War
3. Dig

I wanted to see The Fountains of Silence on the finalist list. : ( Also, while I think Frankly in Love has a chance for the Morris, David Yoon may do even better as he continues writing. And for those who say there was no good YA this year--what have all y'all been reading, or NOT reading??? This year's YA has been solid and mature, lower on trendy fluff and blockbusters, stronger on titles you read and find yourself thinking about later.

I’ve read almost all titles on our final list and found most of them much weaker than previous works by the same authors they did get Printz nods.

1. Shout
2. With the Fire On High
3. Look Both Ways

1. Shout
2. Frankly in Love
3. Patron Saints of Nothing

1. Patron Saints of Nothing
2. With the Fire on High
3. Shout

1st Place Lovely War
2nd Place Shout
3rd Place Frankly in Love

1. Shout
2. Dig
3. White Bird

1. On the Come Up
2. Look Both Ways
3. With the Fire on High

We’ve chosen our winners!
Printz goes to- Shout - 52 votes
Lovely War- Honor - 41 votes
13 Doorways- Honor- 39 votes
Patron Saints- Honor- 32 votes
Fire on High - Honor - 30 votes

Tune in tomorrow to the youth media awards at 8am EST to see how we did

Bang Bang Books wrote: "We’ve chosen our winners!
Printz goes to- Shout - 52 votes
Lovely War- Honor - 41 votes
13 Doorways- Honor- 39 votes
Patron Saints- Honor- 32 votes
Fire on High - Honor - 30 votes

Tune in tomorro..."

Very exciting! I think they will probably surprise us with something unexpected.

Hello, new to this group & excited to participate in the discussion for next year's award.

I have a feeling Lovely War is going to be among the honorees and I would love if Shout were too. I'm rooting for my personal favorite of the year, The Grief Keeper, but I think it has been, sadly, largely overlooked.

Bang Bang Books wrote: "We’ve chosen our winners!
Printz goes to- Shout - 52 votes
Lovely War- Honor - 41 votes
13 Doorways- Honor- 39 votes
Patron Saints- Honor- 32 votes
Fire on High - Honor - 30 votes

Tune in tomorro..."
Thanks for hosting us this year. It will be exciting to see who the actual winners are and if we even read them as a group.

Well, we missed the mark again. We read two of the of the five honors and winner so that's good.
Honors:
The Beast Player
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Ordinary Hazards
Where the World Ends

Winner:
Dig

Thoughts?

Four books I have not read (I am not a fan of AS King), but as it happens I have read Where the World Ends, which I thought was terrific - on the younger end of YA - and by Geraldine McCaughrean, who is British.

Bang Bang Books wrote: "Well, we missed the mark again. We read two of the of the five honors and winner so that's good.
Honors:
The Beast Player
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Ordinary Hazards
Where the World Ends
..."

I am not in agreement with the committee at all this year, but I liked Dig well enough. 2 of the titles on the list I've never heard of, so that's something to check out at least.

Tatiana wrote: I am not in agreement with the committee at all this year, but I liked Dig well enough. 2 of the titles on the list I've never heard of, so that's something to check out at least. "

This a hot take:
For the third year in a row, I feel like the RC goes out of their way to choose books that are WAY under the radar. There's nothing wrong with choosing books that not a lot of people are reading but how do they stack up to the books that everyone IS reading. Just because a book is buzzy or has mass appeal shouldn't disqualify it especially if it's a great book. I liked our mock winners and I thought they fit the criteria well. I have not read the other three books on the RC's list so I guess I can't give a fair opinion but DAMN, a non-fiction memior and a historical fiction about Scotland?

I think i'm done, guys. I think I'm done doing mock Printz's. I did one with our regional libraries and we chose Patrons, Laura Dean, and Love War. For the third year, the books have come out of nowhere and it's just not fun for me anymore.

I'm no longer having fun doing this so this will be it for me on this Goodreads group and regional mock Printz. Feel free to disagree; I understand this is an unpopular opinion. I've enjoyed my time moderating and participating and good luck next year and beyond.

I don't feel strongly about the choices one way or another. Some years I feel like their picks are good, some I can't get behind at all. This year seems to have people on the committee with the tastes that do not align with mine. Plus I really think this year was pretty weak in terms of YA anyway. I am excited to check if I like the ones I've never heard of.