Amy Blanchard Efaw's (H3) '89 novel for teens, AFTER, won Border's "Original Voices" Award for 2009 in the children's/young adult book category. Through the award, Borders recognizes original and compelling works by new authors in such categories as Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children/Young Adult.
Children/Young Adult: "After," by Amy Efaw and published by Penguin (Viking), is the Original Voices winner in the Children/Young Adult Category. Emotionally raw and gut wrenching, Efaw's "After" is the unforgettable story of straight-A-student Devon Davenport who becomes pregnant, gives birth in her apartment and then does the unthinkable—throws the baby in the dumpster. Through skillful writing, Efaw sets Davenport on a course of clarity, acceptance and redemption and brings readers along for the journey. The selection committee found that "By all of today's standards, Davenport should be a despicable character, though through airtight storytelling, Efaw pulls readers into the thought process of the character and allows them to actually sympathize with her."