The National Book Award controversy
Everyone in the book world is going to be talking about this, so I am jumping right up on the bandwagon. The National Book Award chooses 5 finalists every year to compete in the category for Young People's Literature. Due to a snafu, this year there were 6 finalists. My Name is Not Easy, Inside Out and Back Again, Okay for Now, Flesh and Blood so Cheap, Chime, and Shine were the 6 finalists. Apparently Shine was never supposed to be on that list. So, instead of allowing all 6 to compete (which was the original plan), Lauren Myracle (the author of Shine) had to withdraw her book (before they withdrew it for her) from consideration. Now, mistakes happen, people read off the wrong name, hell there is still a rumor that Marisa Tomei was not supposed to get the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress because the wrong name was called blah blah blah. That said, there is a way to handle the mistakes, and that would be with class. I get that there is some tradition...
