Posted by Megan Habel on Nov 14, 2018
Shortlist for 2018 Outstanding Works of Literature Award Announced
After careful consideration, we've narrowed down the OWL Award nominees to the top 15.
Congratulations to the fifteen titles that have made it to the Outstanding Works of Literature Awards Shortlist!! It was difficult to narrow down the longlist, because all of the titles we reviewed challenged and inspired us. Below are the three finalists in each category.
The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
by Daniel Coyle
In The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle goes inside some of the world’s most successful organizations—including the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, IDEO, and the San Antonio Spurs—and reveals what makes them tick. He demystifies the culture-building process by identifying three key skills that generate cohesion and cooperation and explains how diverse groups learn to function with a single mind. Coyle offers specific strategies that trigger learning, spark collaboration, build trust, and drive positive change.
The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Extreme Ownership comes a new and revolutionary approach to help leaders recognize and attain the leadership balance crucial to victory. In this book, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin dive even deeper into the unchartered and complex waters of a concept first introduced in Extreme Ownership: finding balance between the opposing forces that pull every leader in different directions. Here, Willink and Babin get granular into the nuances that every successful leader must navigate.
Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change
by Beth Comstock and Tahl Raz
Imagine It Forward is an inspiring, fresh, candid, and deeply personal book about how to grapple with the challenges we face every day. It is a different kind of narrative; a big picture book that combines Comstock’s personal story in leading change with vital lessons on overcoming the inevitable roadblocks. Comstock shares her own transformation story from introverted publicist to GE’s first female Vice Chair, and her hard-won lessons in shifting GE toward a new digital future and a more innovative culture.
by Jacqueline Woodson
It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat—by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them—everything from Esteban's father's deportation to Amari's fears of racial profiling. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.
by Janik Coat
Llamaphones, Janik Coat’s much-anticipated follow-up to Hippopposites and Rhymoceros, features witty words that sound the same but are spelled differently—and have different meanings. Like the other books in the series, this one features surprising novelties, including a touch-and-feel element, making homophones an easy and fun concept to learn.
by Rick Warren and Ag Jatkowska
Words to Love By explores the power of words. With warmth and wisdom, this inspirational book takes a heartfelt look at language and how children use words to encourage, forgive, express gratitude, heal, and love. Through charming illustrations and Warren’s engaging text, young readers will understand how words can change their lives and the lives of those around them.
Choose Wonder Over Worry: Move Beyond Fear and Doubt to Unlock Your Full Potential
by Amber Rae
Choose Wonder Over Worry is your official invitation to face your fears, navigate your discomfort, and rewrite the "worry myths” in your mind that keep you from being your best and truest self. Through a thoughtful blend of vulnerability, soulfulness, and science, Amber Rae guides you in expressing the fullness of who you are and the gifts you’re here to give. You don’t have to be held back by worry when wonder awaits you every moment of every day.
Eat for the Planet: Saving the World One Bite at a Time
by Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone
Do you consider yourself an environmental ally? In this fascinating new book, authors Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone share new research, intriguing infographics, and compelling arguments that support what scientists across the world are beginning to affirm and uphold: By making even minimal dietary changes, anyone can have a positive, lasting impact on our planet. If you love the planet, the only way to save it is by switching out meat for plant-based meals, one bite at a time.
This Is Me: Loving the Person You Are Today
by Chrissy Metz
With chapters that alternate from autobiographical to instructional, Chrissy offers practical applications of her hard-won insights in a series of “Bee Mindful” interstitials. There she invites you to embrace gratitude in “Say Thank You” or to be honest with your partner and yourself in “The Shrouded Supreme.” Blending love and experience, Chrissy encourages us all to claim our rightful place in a world that may be trying to knock us down, find our own unique gifts, and pursue our dreams.
The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural
by Lee Strobel
This book starts with an unlikely interview in which America’s foremost skeptic builds a seemingly persuasive case against the miraculous. But then Strobel travels the country to quiz scholars to see whether they can offer solid answers to atheist objections. Along the way, he encounters astounding accounts of healings and other phenomena that simply cannot be explained away by naturalistic causes. The book features the results of exclusive new scientific polling that shows miracle accounts are much more common than people think.
The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation
by Miles McPherson
Miles McPherson, founder of The Rock Church in San Diego, speaks out about the pervasive racial divisions in today’s culture and argues that we must learn to see people not by the color of their skin, but as God sees them—humans created in the image of God. Full of practical takeaways and exercises to help us understand the points of view of others, this book inspires, encourages, and equips us to make positive changes in our country—starting with ourselves.
Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of God
by Max Lucado
What feels shaky in your world? Are you overwhelmed by the problems you’re facing or the pain you’re feeling? In Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado unpacks 12 of the Bible’s most significant promises, equipping you to overcome difficult circumstances by keeping your focus on the hope found in the promises of Scripture rather than dwelling on the problems in front of you. In this book, Lucado takes a closer look at Scripture’s unbreakable promises and shows you how to live with unshakable hope.
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
by Thi Bui
This beautifully illustrated story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. This memoir provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past.
Fear: Trump in the White House
by Bob Woodward
With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America―and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free. When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. Patrisse transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering inequality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country―and the world―that Black Lives Matter.
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This post was written by Megan Habel, the brand strategist at BookPal. She is currently reading This is Me by Chrissy Metz.