The 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction winner is
The Hired Girl, by
Laura Amy Schlitz.
"Scott O'Dell established this award to encourage other writers-particularly new authors--to focus on historical fiction. He hoped in this way to increase the interest of young readers in the historical background that has helped to shape their country and their world." - Scott O'Dell Award.
The
Hired Girl is part of the AU Library Juvenile Collection.
"Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future. Inspired by her own grandmother’s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!), taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions." - Publisher Summary
Read the official announcement on
The Horn Book's Read Roger Blog:
The 2016 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
