In 1896 Clara Estby and her mother left Washington state to walk all the way to New York City to save the family farm. The two women would write up their experiences and a publisher in New York would pay them and publish the story. The two fight illness, weather, ruffians, terrain, and dangers along the way. But will they meet their deadline and get paid?
The Year We Were Famous (Clarion Books, 2011) by Carole Estby Dagg is based on the true story of the author’s great-aunt and great-grandmother. About this book, Carole says, “After fifteen years and twenty-nine rejections, I have finally given Great-Aunt Clara and Great-Grandmother Helga voices of the forward-thinking women they were.”
Carole did an excellent job. While reading this very good book, I really felt the time period and the struggles of these two women.
I’m not the only one who things this book is good. Carole was awarded the Will Rogers Medallion earlier this summer for the book AND won the 2012 WILLA Literary Award for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction. This award is named for Willa Cather and is bestowed by Women Writing the West. Woo Hoo!
Read about the backstory of this book on Carole’s site. It’s fascinating, too!
Category: YA Novels
young adult novels (for 13+ yo)
Wake
This is another book that I’m glad I don’t have to wait on the sequels. Wake (Simon Pluse, 2008) by Lisa McMann is followed by Fade and Gone. (More books for my TBR pile.)
17-year-old Janie gets sucked into other people’s dreams, so she keeps herself as far away from people who are sleeping as possible. She can’t stop it. She gets sucked in at school or wherever she is. It’s tiring watching these dreams and not being able to escape. Sometimes it’s embarrassing knowing the things people are dreaming about, but sometimes it is very scary as Janie relives their nightmares with them. Will she ever be able to live a normal life with this curse?
I love how the author has “frequently asked book questions” on her website. You might also want to check out the other books Lisa’s written, too.
My Life, The Theater, and Other Tragedies
Sophomore Adam Ziegler has been hiding in the dark of the high school theater. Of course, he runs the lights so that’s one reason he’s hidden. But there’s more to it than that. Like his father dying 2 years ago. And the feud between the actors and the techs. But then he’s attracted by an actress named Summer and crosses the line.
I love how Allen Zadoff author of My Life, The Theater, and Other Tragedies (Egmont, 2011) makes this story all so real.
The author is open about his own tough experiences growing up. Read here on his website. Allen is an award winning author of Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have, which won the 2010 Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Click on the main page of his site to see one interesting quirk about his main characters.
His book Since You Left Me is coming out in August. And in summer of 2013, Allen has a thriller series called Boy Nobody coming. Woo Hoo!
Flip
14-year-old Alex wakes up. He can’t remember how he got home last night. Wait, this isn’t his bed or his room. Or his body! He’s not in London any more and 6 months have disappeared from his life. He tries to contact home and discovers something terrible has happened to him. His body is in a coma. He has to figure out a way to get himself back into his own body.
How could you not read this book? It’s called Flip (Wendy Lamb Books, 2011) by Martyn Bedford and I loved it and the fascinating problem. The character is sympathetic. Great read. I’m not the only one to think so…
Flip has been named one of the 2012 Best Children’s Books of the Year by Bank Street College of Education, and has been tagged as one of the novels of “outstanding merit” on the list.
This is Martyn’s first YA book, but he has five adult novels out. Plus he has a second YA coming out next year. Read more about him, and even some fan mail about Flip on his website. You also might enjoy his Not The Home Page page.
How to save a life
I love how the title of this book, How to save a life (Little, Brown and Company, 2011) by Sara Zarr, applies to multiple situations and characters in this story. Told in two viewpoints from two teen girls from very different backgrounds we see the world through them in very different ways. I love how the author has made me sympathetic for both girls even though they have opposing needs.
Here’s a brief intro to the girls:
There’s Jill, who has lost her father, and whose mother is doing this crazy thing of taking in a girl to adopt the girl’s baby, like that will replace Dad.
And there’s Mandy, who is pregnant, hopefully because of the wonderful experience she had at the fair, and not something else, is looking for a home for a child and a place to stay while she waits for him to be born.
Throw in Jill’s boyfriend, who is bonding with Mandy, and the tension rises.
Don’t pass on this very good award winning book by the wonderful Sara Zarr. Her website has been re-designed, so if you haven’t been there for a while, check it out. You might also be interested in her blog where she’s been posting episodes of “This Creative Life.”