Blue Spruce Award Winner and Nominees

The winner of the 2019 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award is Scythe by Neal Shusterman,  The first book in his Arc of the Scythe trilogy introduces a world where humanity has conquered death. There is no aging, no disease, no poverty, no war.  Earth is ruled by an omniscient "cloud" called the Thunderhead and to deal with overpopulation, a group of humans called Scythes randomly cull the population.  Against their wishes, the main characters, Citra and Rowan, are chosen to train to be scythes. The sequels Thunderhead and The Toll are also available for this thought-provoking and engrossing series.  The 2020 nominees are unusually heavy on historical fiction.  I will review those titles in this month's blog, as well as briefly mention the other nominees.  
Allies by Alan Gratz is a fictionalized account of D-Day, which weaves together individual experiences from six different operations in settings across Europe. The narrative covers a sea invasion, French citizens and Resistance fighters on land, soldiers arriving by air, but focuses repeatedly on Dee, a German fighting on the American side and hiding his identity from his best friend Sid, a Jewish American soldier.  The account is historically accurate, but covers a very diverse cast of main characters.  In the end all the stories come together, showing that it took a great deal of cooperation to defeat the Nazis in WWII.
Like a Love Story by Adi Nazemian is set in NYC in the 80s and examines the AIDS epidemic through the eyes of three teenage friends.  Judy, whose uncle is living with AIDS, has befriended Art and defends him  against homophobic classmates. When Reza, who is questioning his sexuality, arrives, things get complicated.  Reza pairs off with Judy, even though it's Art he's really attracted to.  When Reza finally admits he's fallen for Art, Judy is shattered.  Her uncle, who is not long for this world, helps them navigate this rift in their friendship and what it means to be part of the LBGTQ community during this devastating time. 
Lovely War by Julie Berry blends fact with fantasy. Set in a Manhattan hotel during WWII, Greek God Hephaestus catches his wife Aphrodite with his brother Ares.  To exonerate herself, she weaves a story of love during wartime, which focuses on four different characters.  Aubrey, an African American musician, Colette, a bereaved Belgian singer, Hazel, a British pianist and her lover James.  Alternating between past and present, the story finds Colette and Hazel volunteering in France, where they meet Aubrey, who quickly falls for Colette.  Meanwhile, James is on the front experiencing firsthand the devastation of war.  As the mortals' stories play out, Aphrodite is teaching her husband about the ups and downs of true love.  
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys focuses on Francisco Franco's fascist rule of Spain.  Set in Madrid 1957, the story introduces 18-yr-old Daniel Matheson, who is staying at the luxurious Castellana Hilton with his Texas oil baron dad and Spanish mother.  He meets Ana, a hotel employee, who worries about losing her job, as he pursues a relationship with her.  Trying to find a subject for his entry into a photo competition, Daniel goes out each day and captures disturbing images of local people trying to survive under Franco's regime.  He goes to Ana's village and meets her parentless siblings and becomes aware of a government and church collusion, which involves stolen children.  Ultimately he heads back to the U.S, with his parents and newly adopted sister and submits an award-winning portfolio.  Eighteen years later he returns to Spain with his sister and reconnects with Ana.  Official quotations from academic and foreign service archives are interspersed among the chapters. 
Additional Blue Spruce nominees include
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - 1st in a sci fi series about intergalactic travel
Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau - Graphic novel about about two boys who fall in love over baked goods.
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte - Fantasy about a thief and an upstanding citizen who work to solve a murder mystery, falling in love in the process.
Guts by Raina Telgemeier - Graphic novel about author conquering childhood anxieties.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell - Graphic novel about a girl in a toxic relationship with a popular girl who is using her.
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir - 3rd book in the An Ember in the Ashes series.
To learn more about the Blue Spruce Award go to https://www.coloradobluespruceaward.org/

CTLC Recommendations: Tell the Wind and Fire, The Shadow Queen, Into the Dim and Salt to the Sea

The Colorado Teen Literature Conference on April 2nd was wonderful as always.  I really enjoyed Eliot Schrefer's keynote address.  I had previously read his book The School For Dangerous Girls, but was unaware of his Ape Quartet, which includes Endangered and Threatened, thus far. His talk on the writing process and why he went in this direction topically was informative and hilarious.  As always, I got new ideas for books I want to read and confirmation that other readers liked some of my recent favorites, which I will discuss in this month's blog. Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan is a dystopian reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities. The Shadow Queen by CJ Redwine is an retelling of Snow White, where the princess is a magician and the prince is a shape-shifting dragon.  Into the Dim by Janet B Taylor is the first in a series about time travelers who go back to the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Finally, Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is a WWII tale by the award-winning author of Between Shades of Grey and Out of the Easy.

Tell the Wind and Fire where to stop...but don't tell me, a quote from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities opens a new dystopian novel in which there are two New York Cities: the Light where affluent light magicians live, and the Dark, where impoverished dark magicians live. Lucie Mannette, a girl of duel parentage, escapes the Dark City with her father, after her mother, a light magician who is using her skills as a healer in the Dark City, mysteriously dies.  Now Lucie is the symbolic "Golden Thread in the Dark," whose boyfriend Ethan Stryker, son of a prominent Light City politician, is accused of passing information to Dark City rebels.  When she attempts to save him, help comes from an unexpected source; Ethan has an illegal doppelganger, who can take the blame.  Filled with action and political intrigue, the book keeps the reader in suspense, never knowing who to trust.

The Shadow Queen imagines Snow White as Princess Lorelai, a magician with emerging powers, and Prince Kol as a shape-shifting dragon.  When the story begins, Lorelai is in hiding, working on strengthening her magic and planning revenge on Queen Irina, who killed her father and stole the throne of Ravenspire.  Meanwhile, Prince Kol has recently inherited the throne of Eldr, when his parents and older brother are killed, and is trying to save his kingdom from an ogre invasion.  He decides to travel to Ravenspire to request Queen Irina's help, but along the way he meets Lorelai, who saves his life.  When he finally enlists Irina's magical assistance, he is disturbed to find out the Princess, whose heart she demands in exchange is Lorelai.  Ultimately, he defies Irina and works with Lorelai to defeat the evil queen, and in doing so falls in love with the strong, selfless princess. I was charmed by this action packed tale of romance and revenge.

The first book in a new fantasy series, Into the Dim introduces Hope Walton, a 16-year-old whose mother supposedly dies on a trip to India.  When Hope is sent to Scotland to visit her aunt, she finds out her mother is actually part of a group of time-travelers known as Viators and she is stuck in London 1154.  Taylor, who discovers she also has the ability to time travel, goes with her friends Collum and Phoebe back to the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine to rescue her mother.  They are also looking for the Nonius Stone which contains special powers and predictably are thwarted by another time traveling family looking for the stone.  This series blends the historical and fantastical in a real page turner whose sequel will be out Spring 2017.

The new WWII historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys Salt to the Sea tells the tale of three young refugees fleeing to the ill-fated Wilhem Gustoff, a German military ship evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers at the end of WWII.  Florian, an art restorer with a secret, Emilia, a pregnant Polish girl, and Joana, a Lithuanian nurse, (Lina's cousin in Between Shades of Gray) are bound together in their flight through the Prussian countryside. Told in alternating points of view, a fourth narrator, Alfred, a low-ranking Nazi stationed aboard the ship, provides an additional perspective.  As their individual back stories are revealed amidst the atrocities of war, the refugees begin to trust each other with their lives. The author's note, including her research and sources as well as maps, adds to the authenticity of this haunting look at a little known tragedy.

Colorado Blue Spruce Award 2013

Last week I  presented a workshop at the 2013 CCIRA conference announcing the winner of the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award for 2013 and the nominees for 2014. The first book in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero, is this year's winner. This new series introduces three of the demigods mentioned in the prophecy in the Percy Jackson series, which says 7 demigods will bear arms at the Doors of Death.  Their nemesis is Gaea who aims to defeat the Olympians and take over the world. A list of the  2014 nominees and book talks for each are available on the Blue Spruce website at http://www.coloradobluespruceaward.org.  In addition to promoting the new nominees, I was also excited to announce that the Blue Spruce Award won an honorable mention for the Intellectual Freedom Award from the NCTE. It was commended for providing young readers an opportunity to communicate about books without adult censorship and promoting books that might not have otherwise come to the attention of young readers. Over half the books that have won the award during the last 27 years have been challenged by one entity or another.

Although I have read many of the nominees, one book that I was prompted to read through its nomination is I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan, who is a film writer and director. This book, which is a riveting combination of the romance and survival genres, introduces Emily Bell who believes in destiny. When she is forced to sing "I'll Be There" as a church solo, despite her mediocre voice, she decides its fate because during her humiliation she locks eyes with Sam Border who is sitting in the back of the church. At first sight, they are connected. Sam and his little brother, Riddle have spent their entire lives being constantly uprooted by their mentally unstable father. Sam takes solace in attending random churches, where for a few moments he can escape his life. When he falls for Emily and she introduces him to her family, everything changes. As Sam and Riddle are welcomed into the Bells' lives, they witness the warmth and protection of a family for the first time. Then tragedy strikes, and they are once again on the run with their evil father.  When they escape from him, they're left fighting for survival in the desolate wilderness, and wondering if they'll ever get back to the family they have learned to love.

Ruta Sepetys, acclaimed author of Between Shades of Gray, has a new book out called Out of the Easy, about a prostitute's daughter in 1950s New Orleans, who is trying to escape from her mother's fate and attend college. 17-year-old Josie Moraine dreams of going to Smith College, but then a mysterious death in the French Quarter derails her plans.  Working in a book store owned by the father of her best friend Patrick, Josie meets Forrest Hearne, a wealthy man from Tennessee who turns up dead soon thereafter.  Josie is sure her mother and her gangster boyfriend are somehow involved. She turns to Willie Woodley, the madam of Conti Street, for advice on avoiding getting embroiled in the investigation and escaping to the East Coast. Although Willie has sincere affection for Josie, she has other plans for her future. No matter how hard Josie tries to get away from the Big Easy, the clandestine world of New Orleans throws up road blocks at every turn.

Finally, the 2013 Alex Awards (adult books with special appeal to teens) include Where'd You Go Bernadette: A Novel by Maria Semple and The Round House, the National Book Award winner by Louise Erdrich. While reading both of these books, I thought about the possible appeal for young adult readers. In the first book Bernadette Fox, a revolutionary architect, disappears and her teenage daughter Bee follows her to Antarctica in hopes of finding her mother, whom everyone else assumes is dead.  In The Round House the rape of a Native American woman is seen through the eyes of her 13-year-old son, who is also trying to get to the bottom of what happened to his mother.  I can recommend both of these books for mature readers.