New novels involving prejudice

According to Robert Selman, the chair of Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Human Development and Psychology department, “Good children's literature not only raises moral dilemmas, but also generates the feelings that are associated with situations where moral conflict and confusion exists.” He suggests that through reading about social conflict students can vicariously experience the resolution of problem situations. Perhaps this is why the subject of prejudice is seen so frequently in young adult literature. This month I am recommending three new books that involve a variety of problems with prejudice.  Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian focuses on the problems Somalian refugees face when they immigrate to Maine. The main character in Hooked by Liz Fichera is a Native American girl who joins the boys' golf team at her high school. Finally,  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, a 2013 Printz honor book by Benjamin Alire Saenz, examines the friendship between two boys who are coming to terms with their sexuality, as well as their Mexican identity. 

 Out of Nowhere is set in a small town in Maine that has a large Somalian immigrant population, that not everyone is happy about.  Tom Bouchard, the captain of his high school soccer team, to whom race doesn't matter, notices that a Somali boy named Saeed and his friends are amazing soccer players and recruits them for the team.  Not only does he have to convince his teammates to accept the Somalians, he also has to help Saeed to convince his mother to let him play. After a practical joke gone wrong, Tom finds himself with 100 hours of community service and volunteers at a program that helps
Somali kids get their homework done.  There he meets a college girl who makes him think twice about his ditzy girlfriend. As she helps him learn about the Somali customs and the Muslim religion, he becomes more sensitive to their problems.  Then the mayor takes a stand against accepting more refugees from the Somali war zone,and the townspeople begin to take sides. The author fairly portrays both sides of the issue and clearly has done a lot of background research. I was really invested in the characters and would highly recommend this book.

In Hooked  a Native American girl joins the boys' high school golf team and experiences problems with racism, as well as gender bias. Fred (Frederieca) Oday realizes that playing competitive golf will be the easiest part of being on the team.  Ryan Berenger, a spoiled rich boy from the suburbs whose best friend was cut from the team to allow Fred to have a spot, at first is furious, but he can't deny that Fred's golf game is amazing.  As the two strongest players on the team, they are partnered and for the first time in years the team is vying for a spot in the playoffs. As Fred struggles with her teammates' prejudice, as well as her feelings for Ryan which he ultimately reciprocates, she wonders if it is all worth it. Alternating between Fred and Ryan's points of view, the story explores realistic social issues involving gender, class and race.  This is the debut novel of a new series.  The next book Played will involve supporting characters from the book.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe explores a variety of prejudicial issues. Fifteen-year-olds Aristotle and Dante meet in the summer of 1987 when Dante offers to teach Ari how to swim at the local pool. Both loners, they bond over feelings of isolation and issues of Mexican identity.  As they get to know each other better, Dante reveals his homosexual desires.  Although Ari doesn't reject Dante as a friend, he struggles with his own conflicted feelings, and finds himself coming to Dante's defense as he is attacked when he openly acknowledge his homosexuality. Both boys have a wonderful relationship with their parents, although Ari's family is dealing with conflict over his older brother's incarceration. Saenz, who is also a poet, uses sparse language to convey powerful emotions. He challenges the stereotypes about Hispanic males by writing about boys who like poetry, reading and star gazing. This book is a must for any GLBT collection, but will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

  

 

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.

 

Realistic YA Fiction: The Firehorse Girl, The Tragedy Paper, Lovely, Dark and Deep,

I am excited to say I just published the latest revision of What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use.  It includes over 120 new titles from 2012 and is available at lulu.com. You can access it by clicking on the icon in the upper right hand corner of this blog.   Now that I have finished my 2012 reviews, I am ready to jump into reviewing books for 2013.  I have already read ten new titles and would like to recommend three new realistic fiction offerings.  The Firehorse Girl by Kay Honeyman is a riveting tale about Chinese immigration in the early twentieth century. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban chronicles the tale of two boys who attend a private boarding school and struggle with relationships, as well as their senior thesis. Finally, poet Amy McNamara's debut novel Lovely, Dark and Deep lyrically explores the grieving process.
Jade Moon, a 17-year-old Chinese girl born in 1906, the year of The Firehorse, is willful, stubborn and impetuous, all signs of a Firehorse Girl. She agrees to emigrate with her father, after her cousin Sterling Promise proposes a plan to use false "paper son" documents to enter America. After the interminable boat ride, she is detained on Angel Island. She ultimately disguises herself as a boy and escapes to a life of homelessness and involvement with the tong, a Chinese crime syndicate. The author's detailed research of the history of Angel Island and turn-of-the-century San Francisco is evident throughout the story. Filled with danger and suspense, this historical romance is a must read for fans of the genre.
The Tragedy Paper is a story within a story, told from alternating points of view.  On his way to enroll at the prestigious Irving School, Tim Macbeth, a 17-year-old albino, meets Vanessa Sheller, the girlfriend of Irving's King Bee. To his dismay, she befriends him and they begin a clandestine relationship.  As Tim searches for a topic for his tragedy paper, Irving's version of a senior thesis, he records his story and the tragedy that waits him on CDs.  Tim's story is told by Duncan, the new Irving senior, who finds the CDs in his room, which Tim inhabited the year before.  Duncan has his own intrigues and their alternating stories make for a compelling read. 
Lovely, Dark and Deep introduces Wren Wells, after she survives a car accident that killed her boyfriend and retreats to the Maine Woods to live with her artist father, rather than begin college with her best friend. Her self-imposed isolation is threatened when she meets Cal Owens, who has troubles of his own.  Their mutual need for support and the chemistry between them, just may bring Wren to terms with her broken heart and help Cal deal with challenges ahead. Like the Frost poem alluded to in the title, the story is lovely, dark and deep and I would highly recommend it.

  

Young Adult Novel Holiday Gift Ideas

I just finished composing my 2012 list of suggested titles for holiday gift giving and realized that many of them are novels that I have included in my monthly blogs.  I divided the recommended books into the following categories: Dystopian, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery, Paranormal, and Realistic Romance for ease of access.  As I was determining the categories, I realized most of the books for which publishers provide galley copies are fantasy books, so I broke them down into three different types. I tried to focus on stand alone books or the first books in new series, since I assume most readers who are invested in a series are aware when the newest book is published. Many of the books cross over into several areas, so my categorization is rather arbitrary. Romance in one form or another is included in most of the novels.  

However, one of my favorite books of the year, Colin Fischer by Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, is tough to define and certainly is not going to attract readers with its title.The tagline "Solving crime, one facial expression at a time." gives you a clue as to the whimsical nature of Colin Fischer, the loveable character created by the screenwriters of X-Men: First Class and Thor. My guess is this book will be the first in a series of novels starring this modern day Sherlock Holmes. I hope the following short synopsis will intrigue you.
Diagnosed with Asperger’s autism, Colin Fischer has always been out of sync with his classmates. He carries a notebook to record his findings and more importantly to check his cheat sheet on facial expressions, which gives him clues to people’s emotions.  Obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, Colin uses his powers of deduction to try to understand the world around him. When the school bully is accused of bringing a gun to the school cafeteria, Colin decides it is up to him to find out who the real culprit is.


A bare bones list of holiday gift giving ideas follows.  If you would like a printable list which includes a brief synopsis and age level recommendations, please let me know.
Dystopian - Don't Turn Around (Gagnon), Son, (Lowry), Cinder (Meyer), Under the Never Sky (Rossi)
Historical - The Dark Unwinding (Cameron), Enemy Territory (McKay), Dodger (Patchett), Code Name Verity (Wein)
Fantasy - The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Carson), Bitterblue (Cashore), Tempest (Cross), Grave Mercy (LaFevers), Every Day (Levithan)
Mystery - Summer at Forsaken Lake (Biel), Colin Fischer ( Miller and Stentz) Venom (Paul)
Paranormal - The Diviners (Bray), Carnival of Souls (Marr), Black City (Richards), The Raven Boys (Stiefvater) Lucid (Stoltz and Bass)
Realistic Romance - Guitar Notes (Amato), Skinny (Cooner), Graffiti Moon (Crowley), The Fault in Our Stars (Green), Slammed (Hoover), Wanderlove (Hubbard)

Poetic Reflections: Graffiti Moon, Slammed, Love & Leftovers

Three of my latest favorites in young adult novels involve poetry in one form or another.  Graffiti Moon by Australian author Cath Crowley chronicles an monumental evening in the lives of Shadow, a graffiti artist, and his best friend Poet, who scrawls poetic lines over Shadow's wall paintings.  Slammed by Colleen Hoover follows the lives of two young people, coping with death and family responsibilities, who find an outlet in slam poetry. Love and Leftovers is a novel-in-verse by Sarah Tregay, which lyrically paints the familiar story of a teen dealing with divorce.
Graffiti Moon is told in alternating voices by Lucy, a glass artist with a crush on Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city, and Ed, aka Shadow, a dyslexic high school dropout who exposes his tortured soul through his wall paintings,  It's graduation night and Lucy decides she will celebrate by finding Shadow, assuming a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could really connect with.  Instead, Lucy and her best friend Jazz find themselves on an all night search around the city with Ed and Leo, who promise to help them find Shadow and Poet. Lucy is initially extremely uncomfortable because  Ed is the guy she's managed to avoid since she broke his nose on the most awkward date of her life. As Ed escorts her from one art installation to another, they reveal more and more about themselves to each other. Meanwhile Jazz and Leo, aka Poet, connect through his poems which are woven into the story.  To the reader's dismay  Lucy and Jazz take a long time to recognize the truth that's right before their eyes. A judge from the 2011 Prime Minister's Literary Awards says, "This is a heart-stopping romantic adventure, singing with a love of art and language. Poet's free verse contributions are rather like the tense pauses in great music -- a place for readers to hold their breath and wait, skin tingling with anticipation, for the change in pace, pitch and rhythm" 

In Slammed, 18-year-old Layken is devastated when her father dies unexpectedly and Mom moves her and her young brother to Michigan.  But then she meets Will, her 21-year-old neighbor, and they are immediately drawn to each other.  His parents died unexpectedly in a car accident, and he now finds himself  parenting his nine-year-old brother. They feel a kinship through the parallel events in their lives. When fate conspires to keep them apart, the only way they can truly communicate is through the poetry slams that they both love.  The author was inspired by the Avett Brothers whose song lyrics introduce each chapter.  The inclusion of  poetry slams in the story and the poetry the author writes on behalf of the characters performing are a delightfully lyrical and satisfying way to add emotional depth and advance the story. The sequel Point of No Retreat is available and both books have recently been optioned for film.


Love and Leftovers introduces Marcie, whose mother drags her from Idaho to New Hampshire for the summer when Dad leaves her for another man.  She's left behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including Linus, her emo-rocker boyfriend. As summer turns into fall, Marcie realizes they may never return home. Although Marcie misses her group of friends and her boyfriend, she meets JD, a new guy who sweetens her stay.  Feeling guilty about cheating on Linus, but frustrated by her loneliness, Marcie wonders whether love ever lasts. Seven months later, Marcie's mother sends her back to Idaho  to live with her father. Marcy tells Linus about JD, expecting Linus to forgive her, and is shocked when he dumps her. Marcie expresses her pain through her poetry— “there is no three strikes / when it comes to dating. / One heartbreak and that’s it.” Poems, IM conversations, and emo love songs make up this wonderful tale of teenage angst. Ed Goldberg of VOYA says, "Although the words are simple, the themes of Love and Leftovers are not." 

Medical Experimentation: Skinny, Revived and UnWholly

As I was doing book talks at Monarch High School's teen book club today, I realized that medical procedures being performed to enhance or improve teens is a reoccurring theme in many of the new novels I have been reading lately.  In addition to Don't Turn Around which I reviewed in my last blog, three medical experimentation novels, ranging from realistic to science fiction, have impressed me recently. Skinny by Fort Collins author Donna Cooner, involves a teen undergoing bariatric bypass surgery to encourage dramatic weight loss.  Revived by Cat Patrick introduces Daisy, a test subject for a secret government agency. Daisy has died and been revived by a wonder drug five times in fifteen years.  UnWholly by Neal Shusterman is the sequel to Unwind, a novel which introduces the idea of killing troublesome teens and using their body parts for transplants.

At 302 pounds, Ever Davies’ self esteem is non-existent; thanks to the negative self talk provided by Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside her head. Seeking the attention of Jackson, a childhood friend who once kissed her, and hoping to try out for the school musical, Ever resorts to undergoing bariatric bypass surgery to lose weight.  Supported by her best friend Rat, she begins the perilous journey toward the new and improved Ever, only to find that true beauty is more skin deep. The author has gone through the surgery herself and the details of the surgery and recovery process are pitch perfect.  

In Revive we meet Daisy is who is involved with a secret government program that is testing Revive, an experimental drug which can resurrect otherwise healthy accident victims. Each time Daisy is reanimated she must move to a new town to maintain the secret. After Daisy's latest death from a bee sting, she and  the two agents who pose as her parents move to Omaha, Nebraska. The agents strictly monitor Daisy's health, while operating a supercomputing lab in the basement. In Omaha she meets Matt McKean, whose sister is dying from cancer. As she begins to wonder about the moral implications of the government’s program, she uncovers unsavory facts about the origin of the Revive program.
 

UnWholly, the long awaited second book in the Unwind trilogy finds Connor, Risa and Lev urban legends after their escape from the Happy Jack Harvest Camp.  The author continues to explore the topic of outlawing birth control and abortion, but allowing society, which has highly advanced transplant procedures, to find much needed body parts by killing troublesome teens and using their organs for transplants. However, the practice is now being reconsidered by the general populace which is questioning its morality. Connor and Risa run the Graveyard, a safe haven for teens who have escaped being unwound; while Lev becomes the poster boy for a movement to rescue tithes, teens who are offered up for unwinding by religious parents. Even though they are underground, they are still being pursued by the powers that be. The author introduces several new characters, including Starkey, a teen who was storked (left on a doorstep as an infant) and now is inciting fellow storked teens to rebel against Connor's authority in the Graveyard. More interesting is Cam, a Frankenstein-like teen built completely from unwound body parts. He is being touted by the Proactive Citizenry organization as the future of humanity. Although Shusterman provides a Q & A section at the beginning of the book to fill in the back story, I would recommend reading Unwind first.  It is a thought provoking read which immerses reader in a  wildly exciting dystopic future world.

New Fall Titles: Every Day, Don't Turn Around, and Origin

Having attended the Mountain and Plains Independent Book Sellers Trade Show last week, I am very excited about new young adult literature for the fall and have already read three new surefire hits. David Levithan's Every Day, a creative new novel about a teen who wakes up each morning in a different person's body, is one of my favorites this year.  Don't Turn Around, by Michelle Gagnon, is being called Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens. Origin by Jessica Khoury is a sci/fi thriller set in the Amazon rainforest.


In Every Day “A” wakes up each morning in a different person’s body. Learning to adapt, he decides never to get too attached, to avoid being noticed and to never interfere with the person’s life. Until the day he is in Justin’s body and falls in love with his girlfriend Rhiannon.  The following days are spent trying to spend time with her and find a way to be with her day in and day out.  "A" inhabits a wide variety of bodies, including heterosexual, as well as gay, boys and girls from diverse cultures with a variety of problems from obesity to drug addiction.  Yet A's intellectual, compassionate voice dominates, providing a consistent reflection on the events taking place. The author's musings on love, longing and human nature, opined via A's journey, are a thought-provoking catalyst for discussion about the nature of love.

Don't Turn Around introduces Noa and Peter, teenage hackers who are pitted against a corporation that is experimenting on orphaned teens to find a cure for PEMA, a disease that is plaguing the young adult population. Noa, who has been a ward of Child Protective Services since her parents died, wakes up on an operating table in a warehouse, with sutures in her abdomen. After a hair-raising escape, Noa uses her hacking skills to try to find answers, while being relentlessly pursued by those experimenting on her. Meanwhile, Peter finds files in his father's office about the experimentation project and enlists his hacker group, of which Noa is a member, to delve into the subject of those files and then attack the corporation via the Net. When their paths cross, Noa and Peter find themselves running for their lives. Although it is not billed as a series starter, there could be follow-up books to this heart pounding page turner. 

Jessica Khoury's debut novel Origin is a refreshing change from the overabundance of paranormal novels currently in the YA market. 17-year-old Pia, who lives in a secret compound in the Amazon, is invulnerable and immortal, resulting from years of genetic engineering. Pia, whose destiny is to create more immortals, knows nothing of the outside world, until she one day escapes into the rainforest and meets Eio, a mixed race boy from an indigenous tribe, to whom she is immediately drawn.  When a female cloning scientist arrives at the compound and senses the sinister plans of the other scientists, she encourages Pia's rebellion. The resulting chaos makes for a fast-paced adventure filled with intrigue and romance.

Stay tuned for additional suggestions in the near future.