Waiting to be Loved, Again.

 

Hey Guys! So it's February and love is in the air. Well, for some. Our poor skeleton has been waiting a long time for someone to love him again. Folks just look at him and pass on by. That, unfortunately, is what happens sometimes to old things. They get forgotten. They do not get used. They feel unloved. Everybody say, AWE.

But seriously, it does happen. Sometimes to people and sometimes to books. Sure, everyone wants to read the newest and hottest book titles that are out there. But, what about those older books. You know, the ones librarians call the classics, in hushed reverent voices. Those books are good, too. Just a little unloved. 

So this month, Library Lover's Month, challenge yourself to read at least one old book. Think, Old Yeller by Fred Gipson if you need a good cry or The Black Stallion by Walter Farley if you like horses. Pick up a Curious George book and relive your childhood. Solve a mystery with the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. Explore your tough side with The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The possibilities are endless. 

Need a little incentive. Download the Beanstack app and sign up for the Library Lover's Challenge. Read ONE Book and log it on the app before March 1st and you could win a $25 Walmart gift card. Too easy. So get to your local library, find an old book that needs some love, read it, log it, and maybe you will win. Even if you don't, that old book does. 

Now, what to do about our skeleton friend? 

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Our Teens Review Books: You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin

Author: Sean Beaudoin

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

You Killed Wesley Payne is a truly original and darkly hilarious update of classic pulp-noir, in which hard-boiled seventeen year-old Dalton Rev transfers to the mean hallways of Salt River High to take on the toughest case of his life. The question isn't whether Dalton's going to get paid. He always gets paid. Or whether he's gonna get the girl. He always (sometimes) gets the girl. The real question is whether Dalton Rev can outwit crooked cops and killer cliques in time to solve the mystery of "The Body" before it solves him.

Sean Beaudoin (Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue) evokes the distinctive voices of legendary crime/noir authors Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson with a little bit of Mean Girls and Heathers thrown in for good measure. It'll tease you, please you, and never ever leave you. Actually, that's not true. It's only a book. One that's going to suck you in, spit you out, and make you shake hands with the devil. Probably.
What I thought: 
You Killed Wesley Payne is an interesting, funny and somewhat parodish book about pulp mysteries, and honestly I found it pretty interesting. I'm planning on rereading YKWP again to understand a few misconceptions, but overall this is an entertaining book! 

I'm not too quick to read mystery (pulp, excessive) books, but maybe it's the cover that gotten me interested. 

The premise of the story is ideal: 17 year old Dalton Rev is an amateur wannabe-detective who solves crimes/mysteries on his detective website. Dalton decided to solve Wesley Payne's murder requested by Wesley's sister, Macy Payne. Police claims Wesley committed suicide, but is it so? Only one way to find out... at Salt River High. 

I really enjoyed the setup at the beginning, creating this direct, mysterish themed setting through sharp monologue and funny dialogue. I just going to be blunt with ya, Dalton Rev is certainly funny with his snarky comments, seriously. I believe that's what made this book stand out from the rest... 

Throughout the story we began to understand Dalton and his main purpose for being a detective, his personal 'whys' and explore Dalton's homelife when not in 'detective' mode. I like Dalton's reasoning based on Lex Cole(man?), main character of a detective series within this book and I gotta say... it's amusing. I'm sure I would base half of my logic/reasoning on my favorite character! Other characters besides Dalton are his family, 'friends' and cliques that runs predominantly in this mystery book. Salt River High is the main focus resolving Wesley's murder, but not only that, the crude adults and students serve a plot, too. The main cliques that are 'suspects' are Balls and Pinker Caskets (Football seniors verses Gothic emos). These two clique runs the school, but with two big kings urging to cut each others throats to be the only one remaining on top, it's up to Dalton and his quick thinking to resolve this brewing battle AND use the cliques to resolve Wesley's mystery. 

I liked the interaction, it's sharp and cut clean, 'to the point' I will say. The bonding is brief, but it gives up a taste of emotions from each character. Personally, I like Kurt Tarot, Newspaper, and Chuff... I don't know how to explain it, but I wanted to know more about those characters, unfortunately, we don't have much characterization for them :( but of course, this is about Dalton and not those three. 

I don't have any personal issues with this novel, to be honest. My gripe about this novel is too many nicknames and that makes it difficult for me to keep up. Using odd phrases that I have no clue what it means...- guess that's why we have a specific dictionary for them, eh? 

I sincerely enjoyed this book, and I recommend giving it a read! At least, for a 14+ audience. There are a few scenes that are a bit, 'touchy', so keep that in mind. Don't mind too much about the swear words, it's actually hilarious how it's alternated into something wacky. Anyway, it's a humorous book to read for the sake of entertainment. 

-- AMBER

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Want to check out You Killed Wesley Payne? Find it here on the CMRLS catalog and place a hold on it!

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Printz Watch 2013: Winners!

So, my predictions were wrong, I know you're shocked!  Let's dive right in, shall we?

In Darkness by Nick Lake won the big prize.  From the publisher: "In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One: I am alive. Two: there is no two. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake a boy is trapped beneath the rubble of a ruined hospital: thirsty, terrified and alone. 'Shorty' is a child of the slums, a teenage boy who has seen enough violence to last a lifetime, and who has been inexorably drawn into the world of the gangsters who rule Site Soleil: men who dole out money with one hand and death with the other. But Shorty has a secret: a flame of revenge that blazes inside him and a burning wish to find the twin sister he lost five years ago. And he is marked. Marked in a way that links him with Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Haitian rebel who two-hundred years ago led the slave revolt and faced down Napoleon to force the French out of Haiti. As he grows weaker, Shorty relives the journey that took him to the hospital, a bullet wound in his arm. In his visions and memories he hopes to find the strength to survive, and perhaps then Toussaint can find a way to be free ..."  Sounds super intriguing! Your local libraries have ordered this one and it's on its way: check with your library to request it soon!

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz made quite the sweep at the awards this year: it won multiple honors!  From the publisher: "Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be."

Click here to request this one!

Dodger by Terry Pratchett was one of the books I fully intended to read for Printz Watch, but just never got around to.  From the publisher: "Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl--not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery."

Click here to request!

The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna was one of those titles that no one had heard of and now I can't WAIT to read it.  Publisher summary: "The White Bicycle is the third stand-alone title in the Wild Orchid series about a young woman with Asperger's Syndrome. This installment chronicles Taylor Jane's travels to the south of France where she spends a summer babysitting for the Phoenix family. Including flashbacks into Taylor's earliest memories, along with immediate scenes in Lourmarin, a picturesque village in the Luberon Valley, The White Bicycle results in a journey for independence both personal and universal, told in Taylor's honest first-person prose."

Your libraries have ordered this title and we hope it will be in soon!!

So my beloved Code Name Verity did get some honor love.  You remember how much I adored it? My review is here if you didn't see it.  This book is exquisite.  If you haven't read it...just read it, ok?

Click here to request!












I've been reading advance copies of 2013 titles for several months now, and there are already a few great contenders for next year!

Until Printz Watch 2014,
Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Predictions!

Ok, so I've been jabbering at y'all for months about this, and here's my final post!

 

PRINTZ GOLD SEAL!!!

I think the gold will go to....



Code Name Verity!!!

I LOVED Code Name Verity, see my initial, nearly incoherent review here. I adored the characters, and the plotting was absolutely unbelievable. Seriously. Mind blown.  I'm planning to reread this one soon, just for sheer love of the book. It completely blew me away. I read a LOT of books in 2012, and this one still stays with me.  I thought it couldn't possibly live up to the hype, but it did. I gave it to my mom for Christmas!  Code Name Verity also won the Pyrite Printz Award over at Someday my Printz Will Come and I can only hope it will win gold come Monday.  Y'all, honestly, if you haven't read it yet, you're doing yourself a disservice.  Request it here. Good luck to Elizabeth Wein on Monday--I'm rooting for you!!!

so shiny and pretty

Honor books!  Honor books are a little different.  The Printz Committee can award UP TO four honor books--they don't have to select any if they don't want to--and they are selected independently from the winner (meaning that they don't just pick runners up--after they vote the winner, they start over for honor books).  There was a GREAT field this year, but here are the four I'm thinking have the best chance:

So I know I read this one late in the game, and that I just reviewed it yesterday, but I think it's strong.  It was incredibly engaging.  I also think it has a good chance at the Excellence in Nonfiction Award.  Request it here.

I talked about this one in my gushing adoration-of-Australian YA post (y'all, I SERIOUSLY LOVE AUSTRALIAN YA).  Lanagan has quite a history with the Printz Honor, and this is the book of hers that I've enjoyed the most.  It's lyrical and literary and just disturbing enough to make you really think.  I think it's got a good shot at an honor.  Request it here.

I talked about this one yesterday, too.  I may not have connected with Astrid Jones as much as I did with Vera Dietz, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a solid contender and that the writing is splendid.  Maybe A.S. King will have another Printz Honor under her belt soon. Request it here.



Last but not least!



Seraphina was one of my favorite reads of last year, and it was definitely in my top two fantasy reads (the other being Froi, obviously). And yes, it's the beginning of a series, but it stands alone beautifully.  The world-building is amazing, and the way that the characters are developed makes it a strong candidate for a Printz Honor.  It's already been named a Morris Award finalist, and I think that it has a good chance at the Morris Award too!! Request it here and wait with me with bated breath for the second book this summer.

So those are my predictions. I have literally never been right in the past, but I hope that I'm wrong this year!! I'll report back here with results next week. Fingers crossed!

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Wrapping Up, Part 2

Just a a few more reviews! The big day is Monday!!

So, Chopsticks probably doesn't have a really good chance at winning the Printz, but it is a really cool book that's gotten a lot of buzz, so I wanted to cover it.  Chopsticks is the story of Glory, a piano prodigy, who is drawn to the new boy next door, Frank.  The fun part of this story is that it's told completely in words, pictures, drawings, doodles, notes, postcards, instant messages, links to real youtube videos, and other mementos from their relationship.  It's a completely unique way to tell a story.  And as the story goes on, the reader wonders how much of it is true, and how the events that unfold are affecting Glory's fragile mind.

The way that the alternative format is done is brilliant. The design and layout are brilliant, and it's really easy to see yourself when you're looking at the different ways that people communicate with each other.

It's hard to say a lot about it without giving it away, so I'll just say that it's a great read and that here's an example of a page:

Get it at the Pearl Library or request it here.

Emily's Dress and other Missing Things is a book that I really enjoyed.  It did receive a starred review, but it really hasn't been talked about a lot, which I feel is just a shame, because it's great.  Maybe it's because it's hard to pin down, genre-wise.  Claire finds herself in Amherst (home of Emily Dickinson) a year after her best friend Richy disappears.  The stress of that (and of being a person of interest in the disappearance), and the trauma of her mother's death have messed her up a bit, understandably.  But even she doesn't really understand the compulsion that leads her to steal a dress from the Emily Dickinson house.  Along with Tate, the student teacher in her literature class, she tries to figure out what to do with the dress, while slowly uncovering clues about Richy's disappearance.

This one has mystery, a hint of romance (but not too much), but also, poetry.  It's lyrical and incorporates some of Dickinson's poetry, but Claire's work sums up how helpless and alone she sometimes feels, and it is lovely.  You'll like it, trust me.  Request it here.

Ask the Passengers is definitely worth a second look.  Not only did it get six starred reviews, its author, A.S. King nabbed  Printz Honor two years ago.  Astrid Jones feels alone in her family and her tiny town.  She feels lost and she is confused about her place in her family, her sexuality, her dad's desire to do drugs to check out, her relationship with her mother, what everyone else thinks about all of it. To deal with that, she sends love to passengers, 30,000 feet above her, that pass in planes overhead.

This is a story about love and acceptance, and it's beautifully written.  Astrid's voice is strong, even in her confusion.  She is struggling to find out who she is, and she's not afraid to ask questions--which is wonderfully refreshing in a teenage girl character.  She's upset to watch how people are put into boxes, so she questions and explores it.  It's not without flaws--especially Ingrid's parents.  You have to ask: can I suspend my disbelief to think that the things that these parents are in any way realistic? Are they really showing favoritism in such obvious ways? It's not my favorite King novel (if you still haven't read Please Ignore Vera Dietz, get on that! It's phenomenal!), but it's very good, and it's a strong contender for the Printz Award.  Don't be surprised to hear this one called out at the awards ceremony Monday.  Check it out here.

Look! It's my one nonfiction book that I read for the 2013 Printz Watch! But it's a great one.  A National Book Award Finalist and it's on the shortlist for the Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, Bomb is a knockout.  It traces the discovery of the splitting of uranium atoms to the Manhattan project.  The race to build an atomic bomb was fraught with espionage, fear, and the beginnings of the Cold War.  Who knew that frostbitten Norweigan men were responsible for keeping atomic research out of the hands of Nazi Germany? Who knew that there was so much illicit information being passed to the Soviets about the research in Los Alamos?  This was such a thrilling and unbelievable read that I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually nonfiction!  There were so many larger-than-life personalities involved in this--military, presidential, and scientific--that it's hard to believe it really happened.

A nonfiction work has never won the Printz Award, but nonfiction has taken honors five times (the last time was in 2010).  I think Bomb has a shot at getting a seal.  Request it here.

Come back tomorrow when I make my Printz predictions and final comments!!

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Wrapping Up, part 1

The 2013 Printz award winners and honorees will be announced this month!  On January 28th, all of the Youth Media Awards will be announced! I'm going to do my best to cover a few more books before then and then talk about my predictions and thoughts right before the announcements.

Anna Jarzab wrote All Unquiet Things, which y'all obviously love, because it's constantly checked out. So when I got an opportunity to read an early copy of her new one, The Opposite of Hallelujah, I jumped at it.  It's about Caro.  Caro's much older sister Hannah left home years and years ago.  Caro barely remembers her and she feels a lot like an only child--and she's fine with that.  But all of a sudden, Hannah is returning and Caro's world is turned upside down.  Guys, I loved All Unquiet Things, but this book is a completely different story.  It is quiet and personal and lovely.  Hannah has been living in a convent, which is mystifying to Caro, and Hannah won't talk about what sent her there or why she came back.  Caro is so confused by this behavior that she begins to tell lies about her sister, and she gets caught in them.  But this book isn't about the lies, or about the convent, or even about the hot transfer student that Caro suddenly notices.  It's about family and grief and truth and art and faith and science and relationships.  It's about God. It's about how events affect people.  Caro's relationships with her parents, with Hannah, with Pawal, and with her priest are integral to this story, and as she grapples with understanding all of these things and these people in her life, she starts to understand herself and her sister a little better.  I loved this one and I'm planning to reread it soon.  It didn't get as much recnognition (or starred reviews) as some of the other "big" titles and it's a bit of a dark horse for the Printz, but I certainly think the committee will be taking a look.  Check it out here.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is another one of those haunting stories that stick with you.  Becca has just finished high school and she is ready to get out.  But she's not prepared when her boyfriend dumps her right after graduation.  And she's even less prepared when the broken body of a young woman is found in her small town the same night.  Becca has always been academically driven, ready to leave, to find out what's in the world beyond her small town, but now, even her home is feeling unsafe.  With the whole summer ahead of her, Becca has to figure out what she really wants--and how that relates to Amelia Anne.  Because a lot of the story--both Becca's story and Amelia's story--is told in flashbacks.  Becca latches on to the mystery of Amelia partly because she needs to know how this could happen in her town, but partly to figure out what all of this means for her.  The writing is beautiful.  Becca's uncertainty, heartbreak, terror--they all feel completely genuine.  This is another one that I haven't heard as much Printz buzz about, but it's still wonderful.  Click here to request it.

Well, those two books were fantastic, but they're pretty serious.  Keeping the Castle...isn't.  Althea is the hope of her family.  She must marry well so that they don't starve...and so they can keep the castle that's been in her family for generations.  But there aren't many suitors in her hilariously named English village, Lesser Hoo.  And another problem is that Althea can't seem to keep herself from speaking her mind (much to her mother's chagrin!).  Heaven forbid a potential husband should find out that she's an intelligent, witty woman, in addition to being beautiful!  But then the very rich and very attractive Lord Boring comes to town and Althea is determined to snatch him up.  But he always seems to be in the dreadful company of his cousin and business manager, Mr. Fredericks.  How is a girl supposed to snag a husband with such a bore around?  So this one is a parody of Regency romances like Jane Austen, and has similar overtones to Dodie Smith's classic I Capture the Castle.  It is light-hearted, and honestly, the humor that runs through it makes it a delightful read.  Is it literary enough for the Printz? Probably not, but that doesn't make it any less fun to read! How can you not love a book that opens with these lines:

“I love you Althea—you are so beautiful,” murmured the young man in my ear.

Well, I was willing enough. I looked up at him from under my eyelashes. “I love you too,” I confessed. I averted my gaze and added privately, “You are so rich.”

Unfortunately, I apparently said this out loud, if just barely, and his hearing was sharper than one would expect, given his other attributes.

That's hilarious! Althea is resourceful, smart, and has a sense of humor that you'll love.  Check this one out here. 


Join me next week where I talk about just a few more Printz-worthy titles!

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Strong Women

When you read, you're always going to have a reader's bias. You always bring your own experiences into the mix.  That's part of the fun.  So as I've read through these contenders this year, what I've come to realize is that a HUGE percentage of them have female protagonists.  Now some of that really is just that there happened to be a lot of books written by and about women in 2012.  But I'm sure some of it is that I am a woman and so I tend to gravitate towards female heroines. All that to say, whether this year's field is largely populated by women or whether that's just what I've been reading, this post is about two strong women. And they are both AWESOME.

So we all know about Tiger Lily.  She was in the original Peter Pan book, and she was in the Disney movie, so we know her, right? Well, Jodi Lynn Anderson has written her backstory and she's almost completely unrecognizable.  And I gotta say, I love her this way. Narrated by TINKER BELL (y'all, it's my childhood come to life here), this story shows a different side of Tiger Lily, Tink, Hook, Smee, and even Wendy.  This Tiger Lily is stoic, solitary, introspective, and comtemplative.  She's faced with an arranged marriage to a man that she finds repugnant.  And then she meets Peter Pan, who is completely off-limits and completely fascinates her.  The Pirates are terrifying.  Smee is reimagined in a way that I would never have thought of, and painting Hook as a drunken wastrel with touches of elegance is nothing short of brilliant. The mermaids that love Peter are bloodthirsty, and Tiger Lily's tribe doesn't quite adore her the way we're used to.  I love the way that Anderson weaves pieces of the story that we know with details that didn't occur to us when we were Disney-watching children.  Seriously, though--what would really happen in a romance between a 15-year-old Indian girl--an adult, marriagable woman in her tribe--and a boy who refuses grow up?  This book got multiple starred reviews, and it's beautiful.  If you love Peter Pan--or even if you don't--try this one. You better believe the Printz committee is rereading it right about now.  Request it here.

The Crown of Embers is the second book in a series that started with The Girl of Fire and Thorns, which I reviewed during Printz Watch 2012. I really liked it and when I managed to snag an advance copy of this second book, I snatched it and started reading immediately.  I was determined to make it last as long as possible and not devour it whole. I always want to stay in Joy D'Arena as long as I possibly can.  Elisa is queen and hero of her country after the events of the first book. But she's only seventeen, and she has no experience in running a country. Her enemies have retreated, but heaven only knows how close they linger.  She's bogged down in bureaucracy, trying to figure out the day-to-day business of running her country.  Her advisors are pushing her to marry quickly and diplomatically. She's still trying to figure out her duty as bearer of the Godstone.  But things take a turn when she's the victim of an assassination attempt.  She must go on a dangerous journey and make some serious decisions.  Ok, so I'm always terrified to read second books in trilogies when I've loved the first one, but this one is GREAT.  It's easily just as strong as the first.  Elisa is growing and maturing as a woman and as a queen.  She's learning how to be her own person, how to bear the Godstone, and how to rule a country bu learning to put her emotions to the side for the sake of her people.  Honestly, I can't say all that much about this book without ruining the first one.  If you like fantasy at all, try this one.  As for Printz odds? I'm hoping they look at it, but even though it's such a strong second book, it's still a second book, and that may count in its favor.  Either way, this one deserves a read. Request it here, and then join me in waiting with bated breath for the third book!!

Happy reading!

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Underrated Gems

The Printz award will be annouced in two short months!! I'm very excited and I'm going to step up my blogging to reflect all the awesome titles that have come out this year.

Today, I'm going to talk about three books that I've read this year that I loved, but they didn't receive a lot of press.  Which is a shame, because they're fantastic.

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott is the story of Megan, the sole survivor of a plane crash.  She's a miracle, at least that's what her whole town is saying. Everyone--including her family, her friends, and her church--can only seem to see her as Miracle Megan.  But she doesn't feel miraculous. She really doesn't feel much of anything.  When the memories of the crash start coming back, she doesn't know how to deal with them.  And her community is no help. They're so thankful that she is alive that they can't see what's happening to her.

This story is an unflinching look at post-traumatic stress disorder, though it never mentions the syndrome by name.  Megan feels broken and she feels like there is something irreparably wrong with her.  She feels guilty for surviving, and she is drowning.  Her family is so grateful that she is alive that they can't seem to handle the fact that she is still struggling.  Her feelings of grief and helplessness are drawn beautifully by Scott.  Her interactions with Joe, the boy next door with a tragic past of his own, are awkward and painful yet ultimately cathartic.  And her friendship with Margaret, a woman from church, is more helpful than anything anyone else has to say.  The story has some flaws--Megan's parents are a little too desperate to overlook her anguish and believe she's fine--but mostly, you're willing to overlook it because it's so real.  Well done.  It was a relatively small book.  It didn't get any starred reviews or buzz and somehow I have a feeling that the Printz committee won't have much discussion about it.  But they should.  And you should read it.

Small Damages by Beth Kephart is the story of Kenzie, who has just finished her last year of high school.  She comes from a prestigious family, she's bright and ambitious, and she's in love with Kevin, who is bound for Yale.  But she's also grieving the loss of her father, and she reckless chances, and she gets pregnant.  Refusing to end the pregnancy despite the wishes of her stubborn mother, Kenzie finds herself shipped off to Spain for the summer to wait out her pregnancy and give up her baby to a Spanish couple.

Kenzie's story is quiet and sad and full of emotion.  Her interactions with her mother and her boyfriend when she finds out she's pregnant are interspersed with her life in Spain.  She is learning to cook from Estela, she is learning to be friends with Estaban, and she is trying to find out how she feels about the adoptive parents of her baby.  She feels very alone but starts to find healing as she immerses herself in the culture of gypsies and bullfighting and orange groves.  As a heads-up, this isn't an action-filled book.  It's much more character-driven than plot-driven, and I know that drives some of my regular teen readers crazy. It's introspective and lovely and about how a young woman grows up. It got two starred reviews and I certainly hope there are some conversations about it.

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara is the story of Wren. Wren Wells survived the car accident that killed her boyfriend.  It tilts her world on its axis and sends her life completely off course.  She moves to remote Maine to live with her sculptor father, to recover, but her grief threatens to overwhelm her.

Oh my gosh, THIS BOOK.  First of all, the writing is gorgeous.  Some of you poetry afficiandos will love this one, because the language is downright poetic.  This isn't an easy book to read, because Wren's grief is palpable.  It weighs her down and beats on her from all sides; it is relentless.  The setting of Maine and the weather and the snow make her isolation seem even more extreme.  Wren begins to work for Cal, which turns into a relationship.  But it's not all happy--they are both broken people.  One of the things that I love the most about their story is that Cal is not Wren's salvation, or vice versa. They're each trying to find their own way back to sanity.  They're both trying to deal with their situations, and their families, and their pasts. Their interactions with each other are very real and very human.  This one is not upbeat, but it is gorgeous.  The second I finished this book, I wanted to start it over from the beginning. You won't regret this read.  As for the Printz? I hope the committee reads it and rereads it and talks about it.  Since it's a debut, I think it's a strong contender for the Morris Award (I may have nominated it already. Ok, I did.)

There you have it, three underrated gems. All three of these are available at the Pearl Library.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to reread these pronto.

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: Superstars of YA!

So maybe I've been boring all of you with my super-technical geeking out over starred reviews and YA from other countries that you might not have read, so in this post I'll be discussing two authors that you know and love.


David Levithan is a pretty prolific and popular YA author these days.  He had a book in the Printz Watch last year (Every You, Every Me), which you can read about here.  He's teamed with Rachel Cohn for popular books like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, which I know you love because they're never checked in at the Pearl Library!  He's even coauthored with John Green!

His 2012 title is called Every Day.  Every Day is about A, whose life is very different.  Every day, A wakes up in another person's body. A different one every day. A has been black, white, girls, boys, gay, straight, sick, well, brilliant, suicidal, you name it, A has been it. A has learned over the years not to get to attached to these lives. A trudges along, trying not to disrupt them too much, trying not to be too out of character, trying to make it through the day.  Until the day that A wakes up in Justin's body and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.  Suddenly, A's body-switching life becomes more and more erratic:   The story is intruiguing: what would you do if your only life had to be lived vicariously through others? This one, like a lot of Levithan's books is very lyrically written.  This is definitely a character-driven novel and the characterization is pretty great, especially considering that one character is essentially a chameleon.  I feel like maybe this one could have been longer and developed the backstory character more, but the sparse background actually made the story more engaging, not less.  This one has received multiple starred reviews and will definitely be talked about around the Printz deliberation table. Check it out by clicking here.

Maggie Stiefvater wrote the insanely popular Wolves of Mercy Falls series (Linger, Shiver, Forever) that y'all loved. I'm not a huge reader of werewolf books (I'm a scaredy cat, y'all, it's so sad!), so when last year's The Scorpio Races came out, I almost passed it by.  I'm so glad I didn't, because it ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2011 and it also won a Printz Honor! So when I got my hands on an advance copy of Maggie's newest book, The Raven Boys, I snatched it up and devoured it almost in one sitting. Blue's entire family is psychic, but she isn't.  Her gift is that she seems to make the powers of her mom and crazy aunts stronger, which is helpful to them, but pretty useless to Blue.  She's grown up with psychic predictions--like the fact that she's been told since she was tiny that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die.  She also does things like help her aunts see the spirits of the dead--which she never sees. Until the night that she sees the ghost of a boy wandering around the cemetary.  And her life makes a turn with that same boy--very much alive--comes into her mother's house for a reading.  This one is brilliant.  It has the backstory of a town, a mythology about a long-dead kind, psychics, clairvoyants, ghosts, brooding private school boys, and a raven.  The only thing that may count against this dark delight of a story is that it's the first book in a series and though some things are cleared up, there are definitely more mysteries to be solved.  I can't wait to read the next one! Click here to request The Raven Boys.

So what do y'all think? Are Levithan and Stiefvater some of your favorite authors? Will they win again?

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: The Land Down Under

One of my very favorite things about the Printz award is its international scope.  Though it's an award given in America by an American committee, books from all over the world are considered to be eligible as long as an American edition is published during the consideration year.  Books like Meg Rosoff's how i live now, the 2005 winner, Kit's Wilderness, the 2001 winner, and Postcards from No Man's Land, the 2003 winner, were written by British authors.  A couple of international Honor books include Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (UK), Skellig (UK), and Nothing (Denmark).

The international scope of the Printz is pretty far-reaching, but I would argue that perhaps Australia has one of the most influential group of YA writers on the planet.  Melina Marchetta's jaw-dropping masterpiece Jellicoe Road won the Printz in 2009 (and if you haven't read that one, I beseech you to. It's in my top two favorite books OF ALL TIME).  There have been seven additional Australian authors that have received Printz Honors (and one from New Zealand---hi, Elizabeth Knox! Only Kiwi on the list--represent!). Two of these authors have received multiple Printz Honors.  But this isn't surprising.  Australian YA is AMAZING and over here at the Pearl Library, I do my very best to collect as much of it as I can.  There are still some fantastic authors that haven't been published in the US (like Shirley Marr and Kirsty Eagar), but the ones that have American distributors here are on my shelves!

This year, there are three serious Printz contenders that have been imported from Australia.

Margo Lanagan has received two Printz Honors already.  She's known for writing haunting and slightly disturbing works of fiction.  These tend to skirt the line between magic realism and flat-out fantasy.  The Brides of Rollrock Island is about a remote ocean community in which men utilize the services of a local witch to draw their wives from the creatures of the sea.  Published in Australia as Sea Hearts, this book is every bit as unsettlingly beautiful as Lanagan's other works.  This book received five starred reviews. (See our last post for information about starred reviews!)  The language is beautiful, the characters are flawed and relatable, and you can't look away.  Is it Printz-worthy? Honestly, I don't know, but with Lanagan's history of awards, you better believe the Printz committee will be reading and rereading it.  To check it out yourself, click here.





Graffiti Moon may not have received any starred reviews, but I say forget about that because it's wonderful.  Lucy has just year 12 and before her life changes forever, she just wants to find Shadow.  Shadow is a graffiti artist that only works at night, and Lucy's artistic soul adores his work.  The entire book takes place in one night as Lucy tries to locate the elusive Shadow, with the help of Ed, the last guy she wants to deal with. But Ed says he knows how to find Shadow, so they spend an all-night search going from place to place and finding out more and more about Shadow.  But as the search progresses, Lucy finds out more about herself, her friends, and even Ed.  This book is just so lovely.  Cath Crowley captures the voices, the insecurities, the inner lives of her characters so well.  We have another one of her books, A Little Wanting Song (Aussie title: Chasing Charlie Duskin), and that one...man, it just changed the way I look at my own self.  This lady's got chops.  Y'all, even if this book doesn't get a Printz nod, it deserves a read. Request it here.

Oh, Melina, MELINA, Melina.  If this woman wrote ingredients lists on cereal boxes, I'd read them, so you should probably be aware that there is nothing that I say about her or this book that will be unbiased or objective in the least.  Froi is a follow up to her insanely popular Finnikin of the Rock, in which Marchetta tried her hand at fantasy.  And suceeded beautifully, of course.  Finnikin worked as a standalone, but then she decided to explore the character of Froi in his own work, and it was just as lovely. (She's calling the series the Chronicles of Lumatere.)  I'll be totally honest and say that it's been awhile since I've read this one.  It was published in Australia about a year ago, and I couldn't wait for the US publication date, so...I ordered it from overseas. WORTH IT.  I'm currently reading the third book in this trilogy, Quintana of Charyn, which will be published in the US in March (yeah, I ordered this one from Australia, too. Obviously.).  Do I think Froi is Printz-worthy? Based solely on literary merit, definitely. It's received four starred reviews!  But the fact is, it's the middle book of a trilogy.  There's a lot of backstory, and there's a lot of buildup to the final book.  I loved learning about the history of Skuldenore, and about Froi's origins, and continuing the story of Finnikin and his family.  I loved it and I thought it was literarily excellent, but it doesn't stand alone as a single title very well.  If you read this one without reading the first book, you'd probably be lost, and I think that will count against it during Printz deliberation.  Still, start by reading Finnikin, then read Froi.  You know I'll have the last book on our shelves as soon as Candlewick publishes it in March.

I know this one has been a long one, but I'm utterly fascinated by the way that YA is written and received in other countries.  Pick up one of these Aussie books! You'll be so glad you did.

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013: The Seven Stars Edition

When a young adult novel is published, it often reviewed in professional journals, like School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and the like. (These are the kinds of peer-reviewed journals that your teachers beg you to cite for your English papers!) These reviews are used by teachers and your local librarians to decide if a book is a good fit for our collection.  When the reviewer and the publication deem a book particularly excellent, they give it a "starred" review.  The books that get multiple starred reviews are a casual (though not ever definite) indicator to readers in looking for potential winners for awards such as the Printz.

Y'all, this is the year of the stars.



SO MANY STARS EVERYWHERE

Three young adult books published in 2012 have gotten SEVEN starred reviews so far.  That is off the charts.  I have read all of them and here is a rundown:


John Green is always a good bet.  He won the Printz award in 2006 for Looking for Alaska.  His next book An Abundance of Katherines was a Printz Honor book in 2007. He tops the bestseller charts every time he has a book release and teens line up for his books.  He's a steady vlogger and he and his brother started the whole "nerdfighter" phenomenon.  Dude's got serious credentials.  The Fault in Our Stars is about Hazel, a cancer patient, and Augustus, a cancer survivor.  It is compulsively readable. And it's poignant, of course.  Anyone who can read this book without crying like a wretch might not have a heart.  That being said, it's awfully unrealistic in some places.  Hazel might be facing her own mortality on a daily basis and Augustus might be extremely well read, but good grief they're ridiculously erudite and mature for their age.  RIDICULOUSLY.  The author that they come into contact with is also a bit too...textbook, for lack of a better description.  All of that taken into consideration, the Printz committe will have many, many, many discussions about this book and it's obviously literariness.  Also, it hasn't been checked in at Pearl since it arrived, so you'll need to get in line to get it.  Click here to request it!

Elizabeth Wein wasn't an author I was extremely familiar with.  She's written some Arthurian fantasy which I haven't read.  However, Code Name Verity is far from fantasy.  It's historical fiction, and it's set during WWII.  As a little aside, I'm not a huge fan of war books.  I never have been.  I read mainly to escape, and I don't like to escape into the darkness of war.  But I keep seeing reviews and blogs about how unbelievably good this book is, so I picked it up and promptly read it in one sitting.  This is the story of two girls and their friendship.  Both of them met while doing pilot and radio training in England at the start of the war.  One of them, however, has been captured.  She is telling her story, and the story of her friend, to buy herself time in Gestapo prison, though she knows that the Nazis will almost certainly kill her as soon as she has finished.  People, this book is breathtaking.  Told from two perspectives, the intricacy of the plot reminds me of the great Melina Marchetta. Seriously, it's completely brilliant. The climax will shock you and if you're anything like me, you will weep. The relationship between these two young women is the center and the heart of this book.  Their friendship is strong and true and lovely to watch.  This quote from the book sums it up beautifully: "It's like falling in love, finding your best friend."  The Printz Committee will love this one, and I'd be shocked it if at least didn't get an honor.  Click here to request.  You won't be sorry.

So about as different from books about cancer and war as you can get, the last seven-star book is about dragons. Seraphina, named for the main character is a half-dragon.  She carefully keeps this fact hidden. The peace between her country of Goredd and the dragons has been carefully constructed, and though dragons can walk through her country in their human form, or saarantas, they are still deeply mistrusted by the humans.  The anniversary of the treaty between the two peoples is approaching, and Seraphina, who has tried so hard to keep to herself and keep people from suspecting that her arm is covered in scales, finds herself caught up in court intrigue, a murder, and thrust suddenly into the spotlight because of her talents.  This world is beautiful.  The rules and the culture is spelled out brilliantly by Rachel Hartman.  And obviously, dragons=fantasy but the idea that while they are in human form, they can understand and experience the full range of human emotion is so novel.  And the vibrant way that Hartman illustrates Phina's struggle to understand herself and her place is marvelous.  This one will have a sequel, which I am thrilled to read.  Will the Printz committe love it as much? I'm not sure, as fantasy has not been a genre that has traditionally received a lot of Printz attention.  But don't let the word "dragon" put you off.  This one is lush and literary.  Click here to check it out.


There's your seven-star books....so far.  It's only October, and we still have two and a half months of publishing that's eligible for the Printz.  Something may be published next month that gets just as many stars.  If so, I'll keep you updated.  Be sure to stop by the Pearl Library or your local CMRLS branch to ask about any of the books I've talked about here.  Happy reading!

Ally

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Printz Watch 2013!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time again for a blog series that we at the Pearl Library like to call the Printz Watch.

The Michael L. Printz Award is awarded each January to the book that most exemplifies excellence in young adult literature.  The 2013 award will be awarded in January, and it will take into consideration all of the books that were published in 2012.  Some of my favorite books have been Printz Winners, like Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (Printz winner, 2009).

Last year's Printz was so much fun! I didn't do well at guessing (though I did peg one of the honor books as fantastic), but I got to read and explore some YA that I may not have otherwise picked up. Click here if you'd like to flip through my entries from last year.  With the help of a School Library Journal-based blog called Someday My Printz Will Come, I'm busy reading away. I'm going to start reviewing (and guessing!) soon. If you have any suggestions, or if you think you can guess the 2013 Printz winner, leave a comment and join in the fun!  Even if you have no guesses, check back here frequently  To close, I leave you with a few covers of books (all available from your local CMRLS library!) that may be Printz contenders. 

Happy reading!!
Ally

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