Code Name Verity - Historical fiction at its finest

Although summer is a great time for escapist reading, it's also an opportunity to catch up on some wonderful historical fiction that complements facts learned in the social studies classroom.  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein tells the tale of Verity, a secret agent captured in enemy territory during WW II, who trades an intricately woven confession to her Nazi captors in hopes of prolonging her life.  In flashbacks she tells the story of her friendship with Maddie, a pilot who is her best friend, whom she believes died in the wrecked fuselage of their downed plane. Life: An Exploding Diagram by Mal Peet chronicles the story of Clem Ackroyd, a boy from the English working class, who begins an ill fated love affair with Frankie Mortimer, the daughter of a wealthy land owner, just as the Cuban Missile Crisis heats up. In The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow, Max Schmeling, a real life champion boxer and German national hero, offers to give Karl, a Jewish teen in Nazi Germany, boxing lessons. Karl, the victim of bullying, sees it as a chance to learn to defend himself. A skilled cartoonist, Karl relates his newfound skills and relationship with Max in his drawings which illustrate the book.

An experienced pilot, Elizabeth Wein creates a realistic potrayal of the relationship between Maddie Brodatt, a British civilian pilot during WW II and her best friend Queenie, a wireless operator and spy  in Code Name Verity. In part one Queenie, code named Verity, has been captured by the Nazis and is trading a hand written confession including what she knows about the British war effort, in order to postpone her inevitable execution. Assuming that Maddie died in the crash of their plane over France, Queenie primarily writes about the development of their friendship. (Spoiler alert) Part two is Maddie's "accident report." Unbeknownst to Queenie, Maddie survives the crash and spends the last part of the book attempting to rescue Queenie from her captors.

Mal Peet, the Carnegie award winning author of Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal, creates a coming-of-age tale during the Cuban Missle Crisis in his new book Life: An Exploding Diagram. The book, which spans three generations, focuses on a childhood affair between two British teens. Because Clem Ackroyd's father works for Frankie Mortimer's dad, they must meet secretly to explore their mutual attraction.  As these star-crossed lovers try to find ways to see each other, world leaders attempt to avoid WWIII.  A catastrophic event which tears the lovers apart, forever colors their futures.

Robert Sharenow is the award winning author of My Mother the Cheerleader, a story about school integration in New Orleans in 1960. He is also an Emmy Award-winning television producer and serves as executive vice president of programming for Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network. In his new book The Berlin Boxing Club, he tackles the topic of Aryan superiority in the WW II story of a young Jewish boy who develops a relationship with his father's friend, the real life boxer Max Schmeling. VOYA's review says, "This beautifully written coming-of-age story puts a human face on both the victims and the tormentors during the holocaust while revealing on a national level the political importance and implications of the historic match between black boxer Joe Louis and German hero Max Schmeling.”

All three books are carefully researched and beautifully written.  If you are like me, and like your history dished up on a fictional plate, you will love the latest historical novels by these award winning authors.

New Series: Tempest, His Fair Assassins, Under the Never Sky

There are lots of series sequels available for summer reading: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Delirium), Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Divergent) and Out of Sight, Out of Time by Allie Carter (Gallagher Girl series) to name a few.  However, they already have faithful audiences, so I thought I would suggest three new series by promising young authors. Tempest by Julie Cross is the first in a time travel trilogy. Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers introduces a group of young women who serve as assassins for the God of Death. Finally, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi is a dystopian thriller that is sure to appeal to fans of The Hunger Games.

 Tempest opens with 19-year-old Jackson Meyer stating, "Okay, so it’s true. I can time travel. But it’s not as exciting as it sounds." Jackson  can “jump” back and forth in time and at first it's just harmless fun. But when his girlfriend is murdered, he and his best friend try to figure out how he can go back in time and prevent her death. There he encounters the “Enemies of Time” who will stop at nothing to recruit him for their evil purposes. As Jackson learns to harness his abilities, he travels farther back in time and begins to learn the truth about who he is and who he can trust. Although time travel is a tricky subject and there are many varied opinions about this book in the blogosphere, I think it's a real page-turner that will have many YA fans.

Grave Mercy, the first book in the His Fair Assassins trilogy, introduces seventeen-year-old Ismae who escapes her abusive father and an arranged marriage, finding sanctuary at the Convent of St. Mortain.  There she discovers she has special powers and is to serve as an assassin for the God of Death.  In her first assignment Ismae must protect the Duchess of Brittany and kill the traitor in her court. Set in medieval France with historically accurate details, Grave Mercy combines political intrigue with romance and mystery. That each book in the series focuses on a different assassin allows for a very satisfying ending. Dark Triumph, whose main character Sybella is a minor character in Grave Mercy, is due out in 2013 and Dark Hope in 2014.

In Under the Never Sky the author weaves a world of Dwellers, who live in Reverie, a sheltered environment where all experiences are virtual, and Outsiders, who live in the outer wasteland know as The Death Shop.  When Aria and her Dweller friends escape Reverie for an adventure, they are greeted by cannibals and violent electrified energy storms. Aria is rescued by Perry, a savage hunter for his tribe, and her polar opposite. She, at first, longs to return to Reverie, but he needs her help to rescue his nephew, who has been abducted and taken to Reverie. As she learns the truth about this strange world they inhabit, she begins to wonder where she really belongs.The VOYA review says "The interwoven narratives of both male and female protagonists offer broad appeal. Already selling in more than twenty countries and with film rights optioned by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Rossi’s first novel has the potential to be a blockbuster."

Colorado Teen Literature Conference - Local Authors

This year's Colorado Teen Literature Conference was, as always, informative, as well as fun. In addition to presenting the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award workshop, I had the opportunity to hear Maggie Stiefvater talk about her childhood, her Wolves of Mercy Falls Series and her upcoming novel The Raven Boys, which is the first book in her new series about a clairvoyant. She also played her bagpipes! However, my favorite part of the conference was hearing local authors Todd Mitchell and Denise Vega talk about their writing careers and their new books.

Todd Mitchell gave us delightful insights into writing his new book The Secret to Lying, which is about fifteen-year-old James who gets a scholarship to an academy for gifted students. James celebrates the chance to start over. No more boring Mr. Nice Guy; he’s going to recreate himself as a punk rebel. All the nerds at his new school are dutifully impressed by his rebellious pranks, except the beautiful “Ice Queen” Ellie Frost, on whom he has a crush.  He starts having dreams about being a demon-hunting warrior, which prompt him to engage in self destructive activities while he is awake. As his pranks begin to backfire and he becomes a danger to himself and others, the only person he can confide in is an IM presence named ghost44. Although Todd denies that the story is autobiographical, he shared a slide show of his antics at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, a school that he says changed his life.  The book fully explores the dangers of trying to be someone that you are not.

Denise Vega's new book Rock On: A story of guitars, gigs, girls and a brother (not necessarily in that order) was inspired by her love of music.  Ori Taylor, who is the lead singer for a garage band that he starts with his friends, is looking forward to the Battle of the Bands contest and to stepping out of his older brother Del’s shadow.  But then Del returns from college in disgrace and just won’t let Ori enjoy the limelight.  In addition to his stage fright, and lack of finesse with girls, Ori now has to contend with sibling rivalry. Whenever things get tough, Ori disppears into his music.  Denise said, "It might seem strange for someone who is (a) not a guy and (b) not musically inclined to write a book about a naturally gifted guitar-playing singer-songwriter dude, except...(a) I grew up listening to my dad and my brother play their guitars, (b) Dad would spin the Beatles, Jose Feliciano, the Kingston Trio, John Denver and Charlie Byrd, among others, on the record player and (c) I spent hours listening to albums and singles."This book is a unique story about brothers which is filled with wonderfully drawn, sympathetic characters. I would highly recommend it.

Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Awards

Last month Sarah Pauly and I presented a workshop at the CCIRA convention about the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Awards.  We did book talks on the 2013 nominees and announced this year's winner, which is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney.  Book talks for the 2013 nominees are now available on the website at http://www.coloradobluespruceaward.org/. Several books that are the first in series were nominated, including The Comet's Curse (Galahad series by Dom Testa), Fallen (Fallen series by Lauren Kate), The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan), Matched (Matched series by Allie Condie, Mission Unstoppable (Genius Files by Dan Gutman), Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renee Russell) and Witch and Wizard (Witch and Wizard series by James Patterson.) Two sequels, Crescendo (Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick) and The Scorch Trials (The Maze Runner series by James Dashner) were also nominated. I always find those nominations interesting, because so many sequels are dissastisfying bridges to the final novel in the series.

I have recently read Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter, A Million Suns by Beth Revis and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, which are all second books in series.  Goddess Interrupted continues the saga of Kate Winters, who married Henry, the god of the underworld in The Goddess Test.  Just as she is about to be crowned Queen, Henry is abducted by the King of the Titans. Kate must enlist the help of Henry's ex-wife Persephone to help save him.  In A Million Suns the crew from Across the Universe continues to hurtle into outer space. Elder is now in control of the ship, but when he takes the inhabitants off Phydus, the mind controlling drug that makes them passive, chaos erupts.  He and Amy have to work together to discover the truth about life on the Godspeed. Both of these sequels basically end on a "to be continued" note.

However, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver is one of the most satisfying sequels I've read in a long time. Although the story could almost stand alone, I would recommend first reading Delirium, the introductory book in this dystopian romance, which takes place in world where love is a disease and all eighteen-year-olds must undergo a surgery that is considered a cure.  Right before Lena Holloway's procedure, she falls in love with Alex, who is an uncured Invalid living in the Wilds, but passing in the Valid world.  At the end of the book they attempt to escape into the Wilds, to live a vagabond life filled with passion.  As Pandemonium opens Lena is near death and Alex is missing and presumed dead.  She is nursed back to health by a band of rebel Invalids and decides to join their resistance movement.  The story is told through a series of flashbacks to her convalescence and present-day accounts that chronicle her undercover work in the Valid world.  There she is abducted from a rally along with Julian, the uncured son of the DFA (a movement supporting the cure) leader, by a group of Scavengers hoping to get a ransom.  During their incarceration, they fall in love.  Their escape and subsequent adventures are action packed and lead to a rewarding conclusion. The sequel's success can be attributed to perfect blend of action and suspense, paired with Lena's equally compelling evolution from a wounded bird into a courageous resitance fighter. The startling revelation at the end of the story, which sets up Requiem, the final book in the trilogy (due out February 2013), is icing on the cake.  The series has also been optioned by Fox 2000 to become a movie.

The Fault in Our Stars

The 2012 edition of What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use is now available at http://www.lulu.com/. Click on the book cover at the top right of my blog page and it will take you to this site.  I have added over 130 new titles from 2011 and have reorganized the bibliographic summaries so that one book in a series is referenced and then all the books in the series are listed in a separate series section.  The new books have also been integrated into the units for the classroom.
 I've already read several terrific books for 2012.  My favorite so far is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns) Virtually every review of the book is starred, and it was Amazon's young adult book of the month.  In my opinon, the book is very deserving of all this praise.
Hazel Grace Lancaster is a stage IV cancer survivor who due to a medical breakthrough has been given a reprieve from death. Her parents and doctor insist that she attend a cancer support group where she meets Augustus "Gus" Waters, a basketball player who has lost his leg to osteosarcoma.  The two connect when Hazel introduces Gus to her favorite novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Hazel is obsessing over the book's ambiguous ending, so the enterprising Gus arranges a trip to Amsterdam where they meet the author who is an American expatriate.  Of course, the trip does not turn out as planned. 
The book is set in Indianapolis, where I grew up. In the book Gus goes to North Central, my former high school, and lives in my best friend's neighborhood. Recognizing one landmark after another only added to my delight in the book.  Gus and Hazel's witty repartee and poignant struggles with life and death issues endear them to the reader.  This is John Green's best effort to date, and that's saying something, considering his Printz award winner and honoree.  The tough subject matter and romantic interludes make this a book for more mature readers.

New Dystopian Series

Although there is an abundance of dystopian series available now, authors are still coming up with unique twists on the genre.  Marie Lu's Legend series, Gabrielle's Zevin's Birthright series, and Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles all have something new and wonderful to offer teen readers.

Legend takes place in the not too distant future in a plague ridden America.   June, a  privileged daughter of the Republic, receives perfect scores at the Trial, a test administered to all teens. Her scores insure her a great future in the military. Day, who was born in the slums and supposedly failed the Trial, is a hero to the street people, because he fights injustice wherever he sees it. When Day tries to get plague medicine for his sibling, he kills June’s brother, and she vows revenge. However, when she finally captures him, she finds out all is not as it seems.

All These Things I've Done, the first book in Gabrielle Zevin's new Birthright series, introduces Anya Balanchine, the daughter of a deceased mafia boss, whose mafia family deals in contraband chocolate and coffee in 2083. When Anya falls in love with the new D.A.’s son, their star-crossed relationship is fraught with problems; especially when her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by her family’s chocolate and she is the number one suspect.

 Cinder, the first of four books in the Lunar Chronicles, retells the Cinderella story in a futuristic dystopian world. Cinder, a cyborg, who is a gifted mechanic, is hated by her stepmother and blamed for exposing her stepsister to the plague that is ravaging their world. Cinder gets involved with Prince Kai when she works on one of his droids. Little does she know that she is the key to dealing with the intergalactic struggle that threatens them all. Cinder will be available January 3, 2012.

Kids in Foster Care

Coincidentally, I recently read two books about kids in foster care which I really enjoyed.  In Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett the story is told from the female foster child's point of view, and Calli by Jessica Lee Anderson is told from the perspective of the teenage girl whose family takes in a foster daughter, who is a nightmare. The contrasting points of views illustrate how complicated fostering a teenager can be.  What is especially refreshing about these two books is that in both cases the foster families are supportive rather than abusive.

Geek Girl introduces Jen who has been in many foster homes, some more succesful than others. This time around she is with the Clarks, a loving couple who have a daughter in college and a married son.  Jen is planning to sabotage her placement with this family rather than be rejected as she has been in the past.  She bets her Goth friends that she can seduce Geek Guy Trevor and turn him bad.  If she wins, the girls will pay for piercings that are forbidden by the Clarks.  Trevor responds to Jen's advances; however, she is in for a big surprise.  For the first time in her life, she is with somebody who sees through her makeup and chains and loves her for herself.  As their relationship progresses, Jen finds herself changing to accomodate Trevor's goodness. But when Trevor finds out about the bet, Jen fears she will lose him forever.

Calli focuses on the 15-year-old  daughter of two lesbians, who is excited when they decide to foster a teenage girl. However, Cherish, her foster sister, is not everything Calli had hoped she would be. Cherish attempts to sabotage Calli’s relationship with her boyfriend, steals her possesions, and pits her moms against her. When Calli's ipod goes missing, she decides to take action. Her plans for revenge go awry and Cherish is sent back to juvenile detention. Calli’s guilt begins to overwhelm her and she wonders how she can make amends.

In both books the foster parents want what's best for the foster daughter and are patient and kind; not only with the foster child, but also with their own children, who have trouble adjusting. The change of pace from the stories about abusive foster parents, who only take kids in for the money, was a welcome development.