Despite having to suspend my disbelief at the agreement that forms the premise of this book, I can’t forget Unwind (Simon and Schuster, 2007) by Neal Shusterman. In this story abortions aren’t allowed, but when kids are between the ages of 13 and 18 parents can choose to have them “unwound,” where all body parts will be used. Of course, people always find a way to get rid of unwanted babies, in this case by “storking.” This powerful story presents multiple sides of the issues. Meet the characters who will be unwound: Connor, because he’s a trouble maker; orphan Risa, to save expenses; and Lev, a tithe dedicated from birth. Once you’re hooked, you’ll find it hard to put down.
See Neal talk about some of the inspiration for this award winning book here. Then check out this brilliant author’s long list of books.
Category: Award Winners
Character Growth – Red Glass & Mexican WhiteBoy
I recently read two award-winning books which give some insight into the Hispanic culture. Both were very good and in both the main character grew and changed.
Red Glass (Delacorte, 2007) by Laura Resau features Sophie, who is afraid of everything. She and her family have taken in her great aunt, Dika, a refugee from Bosnia, and Pablo, a 6-year-old Mexican boy, whose parents die trying to cross into America. Dika meets Mr. Lorenzo and becomes friends. Mr. Lorenzo, his son, Angel, Dika, and Sophie travel to Mexico to take Pablo to his village to see if he wants to be with his family there and for Angel to find his lost mother. The story is powerful and memorable and Sophie learns what is important to fear and what is not.
Laura has another book coming out this month. Read more at her website: http://www.lauraresau.com/.
Mexican WhiteBoy (Delacorte, 2008) by Matt de la Pena has a character with several dilemmas. First, Danny is white to the Mexicans and Mexican to the whites. He lives with his mom and step-dad in San Diego, but goes to spend the summer with his Mexican uncle’s family. People in National City don’t understand why he can’t speak Spanish. Secondly, Danny’s great at baseball, especially pitching, but at his private school in San Diego, he can’t keep control over the ball. In National City he becomes friends with Uno who has a Mexican mother and a black father. The two help each other figure out what is going on in their lives. Warning: This book does have language that may be offensive, however, it does fit the culture.
Matt also has a new book coming out this month. Check it out at his website: http://www.mattdelapena.com/index.html.
Saving Francesca
This book sticks with you! And offers hope.
Saving Francesca (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2004) by Melina Marchetta is not a book to easily forget. One morning Francesca’s depressed mother won’t even get up. Francesca is also one of the new girls at a boys’ school that has been forced to add girls. She thinks she has nothing in common with anyone there. Discovers the ones she thought were her friends at her previous school were sucking the individuality out of her. Her new friends accept her for who she is. The story ends with hope as the family begins to work out their problems.
Francesca is very real and believable. Enjoy the journey of her learning that it’s okay to be who she is. The story is set in Australia. (No surprise since the author is from there!)
Author Melina Marchetta recently won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults for Jellicoe Road (HarperTeen). Read more about her at her website.
Got voice? – Penny from Heaven & Elijah of Buxton
Penny from Heaven (Random House, 2006) by Jennifer L. Holm definitely has good voice. It’s 1953 and Penny can’t go swimming because of the fear of polio. She lives with her mom and Pop-pop and Me-me, but spends a lot of time with her dad’s side of the family. Nonny still doesn’t speak good English and Uncle Dominic lives in his car, but the food is great at her grandmother Falucci’s house. Readers will learn along with Penny how her father died and why the two families don’t have much to do with each other.
This book is a 2007 Newbery honor book. Author Jennifer L. Holm also won a Newbery honor for her first novel, Our Only May Amelia. Read about her other books here.
If you’ve ever read any Christopher Paul Curtis, you’ll expect his historical novel Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Press, 2007) to have good voice. You won’t be disappointed. From the humor of hoop snakes to serious business of freed slaves saving money to buy their family member’s freedom, this story flows.
Fra-gile Elijah is 11 and the first free born child of freed slaves in the community. Everyone remembers how as a baby he throwed up on Frederick Douglas, but by the end of the story Elijah accomplishes something else that he thinks they’ll be remembering instead.
Memorable story!
Christopher is a great speaker, too. If you ever get a chance to hear him, go! Here’s his website.
The Graveyard Book
2009 Newbery Winner
Have you read it yet?
An unusual premise and setting, yet author Neil Gaiman had me convinced of the world he created in The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins Publisher, 2008). He breaks one of the unwritten rules of children’s literature–start with your main character. Neil started with the villain. Well, actually he started with the weapon. Listen to this first sentence: “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”
Hey, that’s passive writing, but doesn’t it work? Aren’t you nervous about what’s going to happen? I was. And the villain is horrible, has done horrible things and is now after a baby!
I’m not going to tell you anything else, because you really ought to read it! But I will tell you Neil’s website: www.neilgaiman.com. And his blog about receiving the award. And a link to the youtube video with Steven Cobear in case you missed any of that.
Enjoy!
P.S. FYI – Neil’s twitter name is neilhimself.