The 2011 winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature was announced earlier this week , and it’s Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker. The Printz award is given annually by the American Library Association (ALA) and is selected by a committee of librarians. You may have read our review of it this past summer; if not, check it out, and check out the book!I feel it’s worthy of the honor.In case you’re wondering who Michael Printz was, read here.
And if you haven’t read the 2010 winner, Libba Bray’s Going Bovine, I suggest you grab that as well.You would think a book about a 16-year old boy, named Cameron, with mad cow disease would be all drama and sadness, but when you read the first line—“The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World”—you know you’re in for a treat.I’m a sucker for sarcasm, and a fair amount of moments on Cameron’s Don Quixote-like quest to be healed—with his Mexican-American dwarf classmate who’s a hypochondriac, later on adding a Viking god trapped inside a garden gnome—are (IMHO) laugh-out loud funny.Enjoy!
Richard Harland’s steampunk novel Worldshakerhas a unique premise: an ever-moving city, two and a half miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, with 53 decks and a population of over 10,000 people. This doesn’t include the “Filthies”—the two thousand or so poor souls forced to live in the bowels of Worldshaker, keeping it running.
Colbert Porpentine, groomed to be the next supreme commander by his grandfather, Sir Mormus, meets Riff, a Filthy girl who has given security the slip, and is hiding under the bed in Colbert’s room. He doesn’t turn her in, and so begins his journey into discovering the real world that exists beyond his upper-class upbringing.
Col helps her find a way back to the Below, but they meet again as his curiosity gets the best of him and it gets him in trouble. This shakes his (and the Porpentine families’) standing in the community. He learns the Filthies aren’t dumb, mute animals, and that the polite façade of those around him can’t hide their planning and scheming. The constant emphasis on class and social status may seem a bit over the top, even downright offensive in this day and age. But as Col’s anger grows at the injustices of Worldshaker’s society, the action and suspense grows. I had to push myself in the beginning to keep reading, but then found myself racing to the end. It may not have the usual airships and advanced gadgets of traditional steampunk, but it’s still worth a spin.
Paolo Bacigalupi’s first YA novel, Ship Breaker, takes place in the Gulf Coast region of the future. Nailer, a teenage grunt on a scavenge crew, strips wiring out of oil tankers, beached due to hurricanes and no more oil available. He looks to make quota while trying to avoid his violent and drug-addicted father, Richard, and while dreaming of a better life. When a “city killer” (a previously undefined category 6 hurricane) tears through Bright Sands Beach, Nailer and a friend from the scavenge crew find in the aftermath a clipper ship dashed on the rocks. They see their chance to make enough cash to buy their freedom from the crews. The dead girl in the wreckage is draped in enough gold to last them a lifetime. When her rings won’t slide off her water-logged fingers, Nailer gets out his knife and presses it against a joint, drawing blood.
And then the girl’s eyes blink…
I don’t want to give any more away, because that would spoil the suspense. In a world where everyone has a set worth—what they own, how much quota they can make—even what their body is worth in parts—the desperation of the characters in this book means anything can happen. But it’s not as grim as you think: this desperation shows how characters stand together, and support each other if they’ve sworn to it. Nailer is a quickly likeable character that you’ll find yourself rooting for. And while the half-men—a hybrid of man, dog and tiger— that serve as loyal muscle to those who can afford it may seem far-fetched; the scenario of a New Orleans completely underwater, replaced by Orleans II further inland, is not. Early on, an incident earns Nailer the nickname “Lucky Boy.” Just how lucky he is, and where this luck takes him, will keep readers’ eyes glued to the page—I know mine were.
While reading Catherine Fisher’sIncarceron, it’s hard to imagine living in a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but cells within endless halls and caverns, nestled among cities, separated by dangerous metal forests and wilderness, under soaring but enclosed skies.Even scarier, this failed high-tech experiment in rehabilitation, whose name is the book’s title, is now self-aware and always watching.It makes sure everyone, including seventeen-year old gang member Finn, understands that they have been born here, and, with its tunnels and caverns that shift and turn at random, there is no way in and no way out.
But Finn’s flashes of memories and a tattoo on his arm convince him that he came from the world outside.When, during a raid, he comes across a crystal key that allows him to open doors to parts of the prison unseen, he’s even further convinced there’s a way out.
In a parallel story, Claudia, the daughter of the wealthy Warden of Incarceron, is in her own prison in the outside world: decreed to live under conditions of the Victorian era, despite advanced technology; and groomed from birth to wed the Queen’s son and become her formidable opponent.When Claudia discovers the other crystal key after breaking into her father’s study, she communicates with Finn and becomes convinced he was a boy she once knew a long time ago, the real heir to the throne who was presumed dead.It’s then a race against time as Claudia and Finn struggle to gain his and his companions’ freedom, before Incarceron can stop them, and before the Warden comes to march Claudia down the aisle.
Despite the 450 pages, as a big fan of dystopian fiction, I found this book hard to put down. Finn’s instant likability and sympathy did make me wonder how he could hold his own in a ruthless gang like the Scum. While Claudia does seem spoiled, I sympathized with her anger at living a life not of her choosing.The discovery of what Incarceron really was shocked me, and the ending left me begging for a sequel, which there is: “Sapphique” comes out late-December of 2010.
In C.J. Omololu’s debut novel Dirty Little Secrets she takes on a topic that has been making the rounds of reality television: hoarding. Lucy, the youngest of three siblings, is the last one left behind to deal with the family secret: her mother can’t stop the piles of moldy books, dirty dishes, and crammed boxes of useless stuff that fill every square inch of their home. Lucy’s chance at a normal life is impossible, and she’s terrified that her best friend and school crush will find out how she lives.
When Lucy comes home after school and finds her mother dead under a toppled pile of magazines, the clock starts ticking as we see Lucy, hour-by-hour, give herself two days to get some of the mess under control before calling the police.Then an unexpected event makes that time frame even shorter, and makes Lucy grow desperate.A quick read, it’s tempting to skim over the details of Lucy moving piles back and forth, and her filling up bag after bag with trash.But then one would miss the memories—and her mother’s secrets—she unearths from beneath the piles and boxes. One would miss learning how Lucy’s painful existence came to be, and who her mother was before this mental disorder took over her and her children’s lives.
Some may be disturbed by Lucy’s actions, while some may see them as the actions of a girl who felt she already lost her mother a long time ago.While the ending leaves more questions about Lucy’s future than answers, the book makes you feel Lucy’s pain and fear as she deals with the consequences of her mother’s mental disorder, and struggles to have the life denied her all those years.
Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan gives readers great pictures to look at and decipher and short vingettes to think about. Many stories, most only a few pages, make up this book that is part prose and part picture book.
My personal favorite is called Grandpa's Story. It is a story, told by a grandfather, about how "weddings were more complicated in those days". The grandfather goes on to tell how the bride and groom were sent out before the ceremony with an evelope and a compass and had to solve a number of cryptic riddles and find objects on a list. How he and "your grandma" had to work together and almost did not make it back. Like most of the stories in this book, "Granpa's Story" is meant to teach a lesson or highlight some aspect of everyday suburban life.
I liked Tan's first graphic novel The Arrival, which is wordless. It really gave me a lot to puzzle over. Tales From Outer Suburbia gave me a lot to think about too. I would recommend this book to readers who like to be visually stimulated. It reminded me of Chris Van Allsburg's books like The Widow's Broom and The Wreck of Zephyr.
Cats seem to follow Raleigh around. She sees them everywhere. If anyone asked she would tell them that she has no soul, that a cat ate her soul. But then again she does not really talk that much.
How did she end up in a car with three of her classmates in California when they are all from Vancouver? Raleigh is eighteen and has just graduated from high school. She is confused and feels like she must be insane. What is Raleigh hiding? Read Lost At Sea to find out.
Lost At Sea is a graphic novel by writer and illustrator Bryan Lee O'Malley. O'Malley also created the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels. I would recommend this book to readers who are searching for answers themselves.
-Recommended by Katie at the Chester County Library
Secure your safety harness to the rigging and get ready for a raucous revisionist ride.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld starts off with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek; their only child Alek is quickly moved into hiding. Meanwhile across the continent to the west, Dervyn Sharp enlists in the military as a midshipman under the guise of Dylan Sharp. The storyline alternates between the adventure of Dylan aboard the Darwinist ship, the Leviathan, and the race to freedom using Clanker technology for Alek.
Both Darwinists and Clankers collide in neutral Switzerland along a windswept glacier. Will Alek evade pursuit? Will Dylan’s true nature be discovered? A blending of historical fact with imaginative scientific leaps and technological marvels make Leviathan a thrilling steam punk ride.
Check out some good books about love and friendship
Fifteen by Beverly Cleary Jane gets asked out by Stan, the most popular boy at school. Is she ready for all this? This book may have been written in 1956 but it is still a fun read today.
Just As Long As We're Together by Judy Blume At first Stephanie loves seventh grade. She has a new cool friend from California and things seem better than ever. Then she finds out her parents are getting divorced and she has a huge fight with her old best friend. How will she handle this?
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli Leo’s world changes the day Stargirl Caraway comes into his life. Leo falls in love with this unconventional girl and she changes his life forever.
Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot New Yorker Mia Thermopolis had no idea that she was a princess. With the help of her grand-mere she just might be prepared to take the throne one day.
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly Angie Morrow and Jack Duluth date the summer after they have finished high school. Angie is scheduled to go to college in the fall and Jack back to Oklahoma. This love story is a told very honestly and though it was written over 60 years ago, the story holds up today.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares Four friends spend their first summer away from each other. They keep in touch through letters and by sending a pair of magical pants between the group of friends in the mail.
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause Vivian, the teenage werewolf, is not usually attracted to human boys, but with Aiden Teague things are different. She decides to reveal her werewolf identity to Aiden. He reacts in horror. She is also expected to date Gabriel the leader of her wolf pack. Vivian is much more confident and self assured than Bella but this novel might be loved by readers of Twilight.
Sophie is almost 15 and, among other things, is having a hard time figuring out the difference between love and lust. She thinks about Dylan, her current boyfriend, and wonders how she really feels about him. She remembers the hurt she felt when her old boyfriend Lou broke up with her at the end of 8th grade. Then there is the masked boy at the school dance who Sophie dances with until the song ends and he disappears.
“It’s like my mind and my body and my heart just don’t seem to be able to agree on anything.”
Sophie has other things on her mind too, like why her father works so much and why her parents are so angry at each other. She fights with her parents sometimes, like the evening of the dance when her mother came to pick her up and Sophie was wearing the tight dress she went behind her mother’s back and purchased.
Be careful with this book, you just might want to read it in one sitting. It’s free verse poetry style make this book a quick read. But be sure you don’t judge a book by its cover.
The book cover on the left looks like the one I read, but the What My Mother Doesn’t Know also comes in a more reader friendly cover. They are both the same book.
On Monday, January 18th, 2010 The Michael L. Printz Award for literary excellence in young adult literature was announced. See this link to find out more about this year’s winner and winners from previous years: www.ala.org/yalsa/printz!
Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
Once Charles Darwin sets his rational mind to marry the religious Emma Wedgeworth, they both must take a leap of faith in order to build a life together.
Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a monstrumologist, races against time to save his town (and himself) from the anthropophagi, a pod of monstrous creatures who prey on humans.
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp Fourteen-year-old runaway Jamie, homeless and strung out, embarks on a harrowing journey to reach his dying brother.
Ninth grader Craig Gilner is at his wit’s end. It all started in eighth grade when he studied day and night working on getting accepted to Manhattan‘s Executive Pre-Professional High School. This high school was supposed to be his ticket to getting a good job and succeeding in life. Now that he is in ninth grade, he feels like his life is slipping away. He has trouble eating anything more than yogurt and mostly does not sleep. So one night he checks himself into the emergency room because he is considering committing suicide.
It is in the mental hospital that he enters after the emergency room that Craig begins to accept himself as he is. This is also where many of the funniest parts of the book happen. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is more upbeat than Julie Halpern’s Get Well Soon. And while both It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Thirteen Reason’s Why are both about teen depression, Funny Story is focused on recovery and less about the past.
I found this books to be a funny and even though it is long at 444 pages, it is a very fast read.
How heartbreaking it is to be Clay Jensen. Clay, a junior in high school, comes home from school one day to find a package addressed to him propped up against the front steps. Inside are 13 cassette tapes each marked with their own number. Clay cannot believe it when he pops one into the old stereo in the garage and he hears the voice of his dead classmate Hannah Baker. Hannah was his crush and his maybe first love. She also committed suicide two weeks prior to this day. The package also contains a map of the town that Clay follows as he walks around town experiencing Hannah’s story. In Hannah’s own voice she tells about the events and people that contributed to her up to her decision to end her life.
Thirteen Reasons Why captures the way people really talk, and to some extent, the way people behave in high school. While I found some parts near the end of the story to be overly dramatic, I found this to be a really thought provoking book. If you do decide to read it I highly encourage you to have a discussion with a friend or an adult you trust about suicide.
Isabelle, or Izzy as she is know, is going about her regular high school life until in the course of a day, her life changes dramatically. This is the day that she goes to a doctor’s appointment because she has swollen glands and a cold that won’t go away. Even as she leaves the doctor’s office and the hospital, where she goes for a quick test, she and her mother are unaware that anything is wrong. But then the phone rings with news that something is very wrong and she needs to go back to the hospital right away. What follows is Izzy’s uphill battle with stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphona. Luckily, the preface inside the book reassures us that Izzy will make it. (I hope I am not giving too much away). Much of the story focuses on Izzy’s treatments and how she gets through them. Side Effects also let’s us see how Izzy’s family and friends are affected by her cancer, and we are treated to the beginnings of a romance between Izzy and Andy, a straight A student who helps her get back on track at school.
All and all this book is a good solid read, and at 143 pages, a fast read. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting problem novel.
Get Well Soon Depressed and overweight, sixteen year old Anna Bloom is committed to a mental hospital by her parents after a suicide attempt. While in the teen ward Anna loses weight, develops a crush on a boy, and finds that she is not so different from the other teens on her floor. More importantly Anna learns how to talk about her feelings.
Written in the form of letters to a friend at home, Anna’s voice is both funny and real. Readers will find themselves pulling for Anna. This novel by first time author Halpern is lighter in tone than the Bell Jar but is equally as hard to put down. This book is recommended for readers age 14 and older.
Alis by Naomi Rich Reviewed by Suzanne Macaulay, Spring City
When 14-year-old Alis’ parents arrange for her to marry 40-year-old Minister Galin, Alis decides she must run away. She will not be forced into a marriage, especially with a man almost three times her age! Alis resolves to find her way to the city where her brother, Joel, who ran away seven years ago, will protect her.
An opportunity for escape presents itself when Alis accompanies a sickly woman from Alis’ Community of Freeborne to Two Rivers, another Community of the Book. Ruled by unforgiving, merciless Reformers, Alis soon finds that life in Two Rivers is no better than life in Freeborne. Her desire to find her brother in the city intensifies.
Through the help of a boy named Luke, Alis eventually finds her way to the city where life is brutal. The streets are increasingly violent, and residents must beg and steal for morsels of food. Unable to deal with the harsh conditions, Alis resigns to return to Freeborne and face her fate as Minister Galin’s wife. However, her homecoming ignites a tragic chain of events, and Alis finds herself fighting to save her own life.
Naomi Rich’s Alis is a quick read. Although it is set in an “unspecified past,” clear parallels between life in the Communities and Colonial America can be drawn. There is plenty of suspense to keep readers engaged. However, there are many unresolved issues at the end of Alis, and although this probably sets the stage for a sequel, it makes this book feel incomplete. Recommended for teens looking for something heavy but not quite as dark as The Hunger Games.
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