YA Nonfiction Award Finalists announced by YALSA

The Young Adult wing of the American Library Association announced the finalists for the 2012 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults today. The award honors the best nonfiction books written for young adults between Nov. 1, 2010 and Oct. 31, 2011. The finalists are:

• Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science written by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos


• Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition written by Karen Blumenthal


• Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) written by Sue Macy.


• Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein written by Susan Goldman Rubin.


• The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery written by Steve Sheinkin.

For more info on each title, check out the YALSA website.