The Los Angeles Times has announced the finalists for their 2016 Book Prize. Winners will be announced on April 21st. The finalists include 55 titles covering a variety of themes and topics. One category focuses on young adult literature. Here are the five young adult finalists:
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
The Head of the Saint by Socorro Acioli
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
March: Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (9781681191058)
Jade attends a mostly-white private school on scholarship, riding the city bus to and from school as her mother works multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their head. Jade is one of the best students in Spanish class and she looks forward to being selected to travel abroad. But a different opportunity arises as Jade is placed in Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk African-American girls. Jade’s mentor, Maxine, is often distracted or late, seemingly more interested in her love life than in Jade. Sometimes though, she is wonderful, paying attention to Jade’s collage art, talking about ways to get her art seen. Still, Jade is the one with things to show and teach even as she is learning herself to find her own voice in life.
Watson’s writing is superb. She captures the conflicting issues of being poor and African-American in today’s America. There are opportunities, yes, particularly for talented students. Still, those opportunities can come at the cost of other decisions and choices. There is the tension of being the one leaving poverty to another place and not wanting to lose family and friends along the way. Even neighborhoods and ways of life are sources of pain and emotions.
Watson doesn’t shy away from directly addressing racism in the book. She gives Jade a new best friend who is white and who doesn’t understand the racism that Jade is experiencing and can’t support Jade in the way that she should. This is handled with sensitivity but also clarity, about what the role of white friends should be in our world. Jade herself is learning that she needs to speak up for herself, insist on fairness, and continue to push. Black Lives Matter is clear on the pages too, showing the violence of society, the murders by police and the impact that has on everyone in a community.
Powerful, strong and filled with writing that calls for action, this book is simply stellar. Appropriate for ages 13-16.
Reviewed from ARC received from Bloomsbury.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced the nominees for the Nebula Awards. One of the awards included in the announcement is the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book.
Here are the seven nominees for the Norton Award:
Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine
The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
Railhead by Philip Reeve
Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
A gorgeous trailer for the film version of Everything Everything:
A List of Cages by Robin Roe (9781484763803)
Julian just wants to get through high school without attracting anyone’s attention. He has a secret spot to hide during lunch where he feels safe, something he never feels anywhere else even at home. Julian’s parents died when he was a child and now he lives with his last remaining relative, an uncle by marriage. Adam is a popular kid in high school, bouncing with energy from his ADHD and full of smiles to brighten everyone’s day. When Adam is sent to find a freshman who is missing his sessions with the school counselor, he is surprised to discover it is Julian, who had once been his foster brother. But as the two get closer, it is clear that something awful is happening to Julian, something that may be too big for them to handle.
This teen novel is about grief, loss and pain. It’s about possibilities lost, other lives dashed. It’s gut-wrenching and powerful and devastating. And yet, it is also brimming with hope, with a gritty potential for change that just won’t stop, with the power of friendship and the deep abiding love of brotherhood. It’s complicated and not easy in any way. It’s wonderful.
The writing by Roe makes everything powerful and dense with meaning. Here is how she has Adam describe Julian on Page 170 of the book:
I used to think struggle was what aged you, but if that were the case, Julian should’ve been a hundred years old. Now I wonder if the opposite is true. Maybe instead of accelerating your age, pain won’t let you grow.
The characters here are brilliantly juxtaposed. She does not turn to the trope of the well-off teen being a bully or a jerk. Instead, Adam is a bright spot for everyone until he faces something he can’t deal with. It’s such a mix of tragedy, hope and fear. One that Roe has written with depth and care.
A stunning debut novel that is deeply moving and wondrously hopeful. Appropriate for ages 15-18.
Reviewed from library copy.
Valentines Day is a great day to think about wonderful reads all about romance and love. Here are some books for teens that balance the sweet with the sour just right. Pucker up!
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten
Wildlife by Fiona Wood
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
Released February 14, 2017.
Marin left her entire old life behind, arriving at college in New York two weeks ahead of schedule and with almost nothing with her. She tried to leave that life behind and start anew, but now her best friend Mabel is coming to see her. The best friend that Marin hasn’t spoken to in months, the best friend she hasn’t texted or called. Left alone in the deserted dorm as winter break arrives, Marin can only wait for Mabel to arrive. When she does, they are awkward together and the story of their relationship slowly reveals itself. Along the way, Marin’s unique relationship with her grandfather also emerges. Now it is up to Marin to face everything she has run from for the first time.
I knew on the very first page that this was a book that would consume me. LaCour writes with a precision and yet a naturalness that disarms and embraces the reader. She is delicate at times, allowing the reader to explore and learn. At other points she is direct, pointing out pain, tenderness and loss with care. The tone is uniquely hers, a voice that is beautiful to read, filled with poignancy, hesitation and wonder all the while it fights depression and despair.
This is a novel of hope, a novel that shows how difficult it can be to face loss and betrayal. It is a book that speaks of the power of bridging those gaps in our lives, of finding a person we love once again and allowing them back into our lives. It’s a story of slowly opening that door, the door to humanity and joy that had seemed locked forever. It’s a story of transformation that is simple and yet profound.
One of the best young adult books on loss and grief that I have ever read, this one will find a place in your heart. Appropriate for ages 14-18.
Reviewed from ARC received from Dutton Books for Young Readers.
The Time Museum by Matthew Loux
Released February 21, 2017.
Delia thinks she is just heading to her uncle’s house for the summer, but instead finds herself competing for an internship at the Time Museum, a museum that contains items from across human history. There are other teens competing against her, including a girl from future Japan who loves robots, a boy from ancient Rome, and a boy from the far past. While the internship at first seems to focus on physical fitness and school work, quickly the missions become real time travel. Each mission judges the interns individually as competitors, but they quickly learn that they need to work together to survive traveling through time!
Loux is the author of several award-winning graphic novels. In this latest work, he has created a world where history and the future mingle. Time travel wristbands, magical stones, and body-free brains all appear on the pages, each more wonderful than the last. It’s a setting where you are never sure what the next adventure will contain and that makes it immensely appealing.
Loux’s art adds to that appeal. His characters are vibrant and charming. Even the villainous character is complicated and has a clear history with others in the story. Delia herself is perhaps the most straight-forward character which makes the book an exploration of those around her even as Delia discovers her own bravery and ingenuity on the page.
Clearly the first in a series, this graphic novel has mass appeal and plenty of smarts. Appropriate for ages 10-13.
Reviewed from copy received from First Second.
Deadline Hollywood has the news that YA author, Brandon Sanderson has two film deals in the works. His series The Reckoners has been purchased by 20th Century Fox. The deal includes the first two books in the trilogy, Steelheart and Firefight.
Waking Brain Cells 