Category: Award Winners

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Lucky Broken Girl

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

luckybrokengirl.jpgI read Lucky Broken Girl (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2017) by Ruth Behar before the announcement that Ruth won the well deserved 2018 Pura Belpré Author Award. This historical novel is based on the author’s own experience of being in a body cast for almost a year. One of the things this story set in the 60’s did for me was make me grateful for medical advancements.

Fifth grader Ruthie Mizrahi and her family have emigrated from Cuba. Hear her voice in the opening two lines: “When we lived in Cuba, I was smart. But when we got to Queens, in New York City, in the United States of America, I became dumb, just because I couldn’t speak English.”

However, Ruthie is a fighter and an encourager. She makes friends with another student who is from India who is also “not dumb.” She gets the teacher to agree to them both being promoted to the smart class. She’s also the hopscotch queen in her neighborhood and has even talked her father into a pair of go go boots.
But then the family is in a terrible car accident and Ruthie is put in a body cast. She is pretty discouraged–she’s alone so much and afraid. Surprisingly, in time her life improves. The question remains though: will she ever walk again?

Amazingly enough this is Ruth Behar’s debut novel. Ruth is also a cultural anthropologist. Read more about her here. And read about the other honors and lists, etc. for this book here.

Posted in Award Winners, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Strange the Dreamer

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

strangethedreamer.jpgStrange the Dreamer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017) by Laini Taylor is a fascinating book. And it just was named a 2018 Printz Honor Book. Woo hoo!
Lazlo Strange–foundling, loner, and now librarian–has always been fascinated by the Unseen City, or Weep as it is now called, the city that was cut off from the rest of the world 200 years ago. As a librarian Lazlo has made his own books about the Unseen City from every scrap of information he can find. He’s even learned to speak the language. So when visitors from the Unseen City arrive in the Kingdom of Zosma asking for help, Lazlo must figure out a way to make the trek to the Unseen City and find out what their problem is.
As I neared the end of the book, I wondered how Laini was going to pull off a satisfying ending, and she did, but I was thrilled to find out there’s going to be a sequel. Maybe even this year…
Read about author Laini Taylor and her books here.

Posted in Award Winners, So Many Good Books

Insignia

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

insignia.jpgInsignia (Katherine Tegen Books, 2012) by S.J. Kincaid has the flavor of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Teen Tom Raines doesn’t know what a real family is like. He and his father flit from place to place depending on whether his dad still has money from gambling or not. That’s why Tom has taken on gambling himself with virtual reality games–he likes having food to eat and a nice place to sleep.
But someone has been watching. Tom is recruited for the military in the new way of fighting–virtually. He loves his new life, however, it’s not sure who will mess it up first, Tom, his father, or his stepfather.
This book is the first in a trilogy. I’ve ordered the second book, Vortex, and am sure I’ll read the third, Catalyst, after that.
You can see my recommendation of the author’s book The Diabolic here. It’s what got me looking at the S.J. Kincaid’s other books. Her website is here.

Posted in Award Winners, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

The Sun Is Also a Star

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

sunisalsoastar.jpgThe Sun Is Also a Star (Delacorte Press, 2016) by Nicola Yoon is an impactful book that covers a very short time period in the two protagonists lives. The book is mainly told from the viewpoints of two teens from immigrant families. We also get some insight with viewpoints of some other characters.
First, we meet Daniel who feels like he has to accept his destiny and become a doctor because his oldest brother has screwed up. Daniel’s family is from Korea.
Then we met Natascha who is angry at her father. Her mother says she should give up on trying to keep them in America. Her little brother thinks Jamaica will be better.
The two meet on the day Natascha’s family is being deported and the day Daniel is being interviewed for Yale. And what an amazing, frustrating, busy day they have. These two couldn’t be more different. One is a romantic, the other a scientist–you’ll have to read it to see which is which.
How could a story like this have a satisfactory ending? Well, it does.
This book is a National Book Award Finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and New York Times Best Seller.
Nicola’s unofficial bio makes me smile. I haven’t yet read her book Everything, Everything. I hope she keeps writing.

Posted in Award Winners, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

The PROBLEM with FOREVER

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

problemwithforever.jpgThe PROBLEM with FOREVER (Harlequin TEEN, 2016) by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a wow of a book! I couldn’t stop reading. It’s compelling, sad, sweet, scary, and good. It’s also a 2017 RITA Award Winner.
Mallory Dodge is taking the scary step out of homeschooling with her adoptive family to be a senior year at a high school. Since her years in foster care conditioned her to be silent, it’s going to be very difficult for her to talk to other kids, to speak up in class, to deal with all the noise, and to prove to herself that she’s changed.
Mallory often doesn’t say a lot out loud, but as readers we get an inside look at what’s going on in her head.
Jennifer L. Armentrout is one prolific writer as well as being a NYT bestselling author. On her website I found 22 other YA novels–most are part of different series. She also writes New Adult and Adult. You might want to take a look at the bio of this amazing gal.