2010 Newbery & Other ALA Awards

So, you heard that the 2010 ALA Awards have been announced?

Newbery goes to Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool -- a title that was one of the nominees for Cybils Middle Grade Fiction, but sadly neither Ashley nor I could get a hold of it.  I bet it will be easier to find now!

Printz (a.k.a. the YA Newbery) goes to Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi -- I happened to have it checked out from the library when the announcement was made, so I jumped right on that.  I have to say it is not my favorite book of the year. It lends itself handily to comparison with The Hunger Games, but for me was not as enjoyable. And I don't really call the Hunger Games enjoyable. Ship Breaker had an engaging plot and provided lots of food for thought, but the violence in it was more personal than the Hunger Games violence (which was about my limit) and had the added disadvantage (in my opinion) of plenty of swearing. What is family? What would you do for freedom? What does killing a person do to you? How much does your heritage affect your ultimate self?  These are interesting questions, but I prefer to ponder them without graphic violence and crude language.

Nation

Nation by Terry Pratchett has many things to recommend it.  First, it's by Terry Pratchett.  Second, it's a Printz Honor book (the little-bit-older version of the Newbery). Third, Jacob liked it (so, you know, it's not just me).  Fourth, it (on Playaway, read by Stephen Briggs) kept me awake in the middle of the night while I was driving through Kansas.  Hmm, I suppose it may have saved my life.

It's about Mau, an islander boy from the Pelagic Ocean.   And it's about Daphne, a city-bred girl who gets shipwrecked on Mau's island. It's about a wave that destroys the Nation, about the refugees that follow, and about all of the silly and interesting things that can happen when cultures collide.

This one is probably more serious than the other Pratchett titles I've read.  Still, its steeped in humor.  Daphne was my favorite character, but all of them seem like they could be real.  The plot clips along nicely, too.  Go ahead and give it a shot. 

Smattering of News

I would be a total book-blogging slacker if I didn't mention that the ALA awards (Newbery, Caldecott, Printz) were announced the other day.  I figure many of you have already heard, but just in case you haven't...

Newbery went to: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Caldecott: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Printz: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

None of these have been reviewed here on Everead yet (drat!), but when they are we'll let you know!

Full list of winners and honors.

------

One other little piece of news:  March 16th, 2010, will see the release of Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1.  The first book will be published in two volumes, and will be a "black-and-white graphic novel with color interspersed throughout."

Rash of Reviews

Okay, so I read a book a while ago, and started a little post about it. But I didn't get time to finish the post before I read another book. So I started a little post about that book. But I didn't get time to finish the post before I read another book. So I . . . you get the picture. And now all of these little posts have become like little itchy bumps on my arm! And I just have to scratch them before I can do anything else!

So. A rash of reviews:

A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson. Oh, I do want to own this book. The minute I finished it I knew I wanted it in my collection. It is a delicious romance that is hilarious and poignant. I found it much more comparable to Twilight than books advertised with the phrase "If you liked Twilight..." See, I'm a sucker more for the clean romance than the vampires. Now, the romance goes more from Twilight through to Breaking Dawn all in the course of one book. So... there is no actual bodice ripping per se, but married me likes it better than single me would have. And, okay, this book is so funny! It's got little wordplays and comic disasters and oh, it is so much fun. My mother will love it. I made Aislin read it. Any thoughts, dear?

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It is so controversial. Either you love it or you hate it. There is so much swearing! Just like everyone says there is. And there is some other pretty distasteful stuff too. But I really wanted to read it and form my own opinion of it. The verdict: lukewarm. I guess I'm one of the few fence-sitters. Holden has a very authentic voice. I saw so much of him in so many different people I know. It is hard to believe he is a fictional character. And hard to believe the people he describes are fictional as well. And hey, the events seem really real, too. Now, I'm glad that my life has very few similarities to Holden's. But it was very interesting to look into his life. And also very interesting, afterward, to watch the commentary about the book by (my favorite youtubing author) John Green. Part 1. Part 2.

Skellig by David Almond. I think David Almond has a thing for birds. He wrote one of my all time favorite books of this last year: My Dad's a Birdman. This one, Skellig, came first, though and categorized as YA fiction. In fact it won the Printz award (like the Newbery for YA). And it was really good, so I can see why. It's pretty poetical and symbolic, yet totally literal enough that you'd get a lot of good stuff (including a pretty gripping story) out of it even if you didn't care about what all those birds flying around mean. I learned a bit more about Arthur Itis in this book than I would've guessed. Umm... what else? It was really good. Okay next scab...
The Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Totally cute. And original. Yet very comfortable. This is a retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. Which is pretty cool, since I'm not super familiar with the tale, so I was able to be surprised a bit along the way. And our hero! Oh! He is so sweet. And talented. There are two types of talented heroes: the type that can inexplicably do everything really well (read: Edward, Rom, etc.) and those that have some really awesome skills that they use to get the job done. Like the totally awesome knitting-gardening-soldier who is our hero.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. The name says it all. It's a book about the secret wildlife preserve for fabled creatures. Creatures that Kendra and Seth didn't even know existed until they went to visit their grandparents. This is a fun adventure. And I've heard the next books in the series just get better and better. Which I'm okay with, because I was sort of wanting to kick some of the people in this one sometimes. It all turned out for the best, though. And, hey! They're making it into a movie eventually.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

I just jumped on the Frankie lovin' bandwagon! The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart has been getting lots of love. It just won a Cybils award in the YA fiction category, it was a Printz Honor book, and has many more accolades. Also John Green has said it was good for a long time.

Set in the present day (a wax sealed envelope might lead you to believe otherwise) this is the story of how Frankie proves that she (yes, she; the name Frankie might lead you to believe otherwise) is a very powerful woman. You see, Frankie's family underestimates her. Yes, she is gorgeous, yes she is young. But she is also smart and capable.

I related very well to Frankie (gorgeous, young, smart, capable -- what can I say?) the main difference between us being that my parents never called me Bunny Rabbit.

And don't let me forget to mention there is some delicious romance in this book. Because it would be dishonest of me to say that I didn't bite my lip wondering what would happen with that crush from afar.

But what makes the book so good is that goes further than all these little plot elements (romance, proving you're smart) and delves into the human psyche. Oh, also, the panopticon is awesome.

Okay, read it now so we can talk about it! First 17 pages here.