Friday Flashback: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Books don't have to be new to be deserving of a review! On Fridays I flashback to some of my favorite books of all-time.

Looking for Alaska by John Green



Wanting more out of his friendless, uneventful adolescence, Miles has gone off to boarding school to seek (in Rabelais' reputed last words) the "Great Perhaps." In his first months of school he finds his life turning around.  Despite incurring the wrath of the "weekday warriors," he's found his first real friends, discovered the vices of cigarettes and alcohol, acquired a girlfriend, turned pranks and become hopelessly and helplessly enamored with the beautiful, troubled Alaska Young.  In one night, his relationship with Alaska seems to evolve into something more and comes to an abrupt end.  Miles is forced to wrestle with his guilt, and acknowledge the superficiality of his relationship with Alaska as he seeks to understand what happened.  

The genius of this novel (for me) is threefold: the shockingly realistic behavior and deeply witty and intelligent language exhibited by the teenaged characters, the structure of the novel that signals a countdown to some defining moment (that presumably has to do with Alaska, whose name is featured in the title), echoes of the classics (A Separate Peace, Dead Poets Society, etc.) but with a distinct new voice and fresh perspective on boarding school life.  I also really enjoyed Miles' particular quirk of memorizing famous last words.  Is it any wonder that Green's debut novel earned him a Printz Award, attracted legions of "nerdfighter" followers and established Green as the go-to author for literary fiction for young adults?  I think not.

We read this book for our faculty book club at school.  It was interesting to see the division among the faculty of those who were absolutely horrified by the seeming absence of adults and the irresponsible behavior of Miles, Alaska and their friends, and those who felt that the novel spoke to their younger, naive selves.  I think that by the end of the meeting, after talking through the novel and assuring the naysayers that John Green was really a good guy and that his audience tends to be more mature teens who aspire to do good works and be good people, that almost everyone came around to enjoy the book.  A bunch of attendees even went on to read The Fault in Our Stars (which everyone unanimously preferred).  I also taught them about DFTBA.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Friday Flashback: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Books don't have to be new to be deserving of a review! On Fridays I flashback to some of my favorite books of all-time.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak




The first time Death saw Liesel Meminger, he was taking the soul of her younger brother.  Germany in the late 1930s was a rather busy time for Death, but he couldn't help but be drawn to Liesel; even if he wasn't going to take her just yet.  As he continues to observe Liesel, he watches her, impoverished and illiterate, steal The Gravedigger's Handbook from the cemetery at her brother's burial.  Her family gone, Liesel is taken in by a family living in the outskirts of Munich.  Here Death continues his observations as Liesel continues her thieving, stealing books with the assistance of her friend Rudy.  But it's not all thievery.  With the help of her foster father and a Jewish man that the family are hiding in the basement, Liesel learns to read and express herself through the power of words.  As Nazi rule rages on, she also learns about the depths of human cruelty and the amazing sacrifices and small kindnesses that have the power to change a person's life.

Astounding.  Years after reading this novel I still can't get it out of my head.  The unexpected and ingenious choice of Death - the Grim Reaper - as the narrator of a tale of love and life in the face of hatred and death is masterful.  Zusak's characters are memorable for both the bigness of their hearts and willingness to be a ray of hope to others and also in their flaws.  It is worth every one of its 576 pages.  Never before (or since) have I read a story about the horrors of the Holocaust that so fully captured the fears and struggles of Jews and Germans alike.  Read. This. Book.

Recommended for: Teens and adults alike.  Yes, it's long.  Yes, you'll cry.  Yes, you'll laugh.  Do not delay.
 
The Book Thief was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Honor book.


The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

And the Winner of the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award is...

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

with honors going to...

Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Nothing by Janne Teller

Click here to learn more about the Michael  L. Printz Award.

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

It's Banned Books Week!

Celebrate by reading something that someone else thinks you shouldn't!  Check out of one ALA's Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 or select something more timelessly controversial from this list of Banned and/or Challenged Classics.  Most of these (if not all) should be available for you to checkout (without judgement) form your local public library.

In honor of Banned Books Week, I'll be reading the Michael L. Printz honor book, The Earth, My Butt & Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler.


The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

And the (Youth Media Awards) Winners are...

Margaret A. Edwards Award: Jim Murphy

William C. Morris Award: Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

Michael L. Printz Award: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Honors:

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973 by John Barnes

Robert F. Siberg: Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

Honors:

The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose

Randolph Caldecott Medal: The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Honors:

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

John Newbery Medal: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Honors:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

Big surprises all around! Of course, I'd only read about 5 (4 of them being nonfiction titles) of the winners, so clearly I wasn't going to be successful in any attempt at predictions, and am glad I didn't try.

Congratulations to all the winners!

And now, to get moving on reading the medal and honor books...

The LibrariYAn is an Amazon Associate. If you click from links on this blog to Amazon and buy something (anything!), I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

I Read 99 books, but Jellicoe Road Ain't One

Go figure. I read non-stop for over a month in an effort to ensure that I've read all of the likely Printz contenders, and I haven't read three of the five books that actually medaled/honored. What are the odds? Below I justify my actions and react...

Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta: Our entire library system has only two copies in its twenty-something libraries. This book wasn't even on ANY of the mock Printz lists I reviewed. Every single review I read for this book started with that quote about how long it took her father to die, and how she knows, because she counted. And those reasons - particularly the last one - are why I didn't read this book, even though the reviews were gushing. Now I wait patiently for my copy to become available.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson: Phew, that's a long title! But I hadn't read the first, so how could I read the second? And I had so many books to read that I couldn't read them both. Of course, since my next self-imposed reading challenge is to read all the Printz medal/honor books I'll be getting around to both before too long.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart: I loved this book. I hoped it would honor. It did. Yay!

Nation, by Terry Pratchett: I knew this was going to get an honor from all the buzz out there, but I hadn't read it yet, so it wasn't on my list. My hold finally came in yesterday, and this is up next on my reading list.

Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan: I was in such a rush to put my Printz Predictions together that I totally forgot how much I enjoyed this book and thought it had some Printz potential. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the kind of book that would get an honor - unique, somewhat inaccessible to teens, yet immensely engaging and enjoyable to adults. If I'd remembered, I'd have put this on my list and removed Graceling (not because I didn't love it, but because it wasn't as strong a contender as Tender Morsels).

But really, I'm kind bummed Paper Towns didn't get the threepeat for John Green and Christina Meldrum's Madapple didn't get either the Morris Award or anything Printzly. Even though it was my personal favorite for the year, I didn't think Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games was likely to win anything, and what do you know, it didn't.

I'm excited to read the actual winners and congratulate the authors for their contributions to the field of YA literature.

One Last Post Before I Head to DC!

I've spent the past month reading as many "Printz Potentials" as possible before the January 26th announcement of medal and honor winners, and while I haven't gotten to all of the titles on my list, I did manage to put a decent dent in it, and I'm proud of my efforts. I'm headed to DC tomorrow morning for the inauguration of our 44th president (and not to brag, but yeah, I've got a ticket for an actual seat!), and I've packed a couple more titles in my suitcase that I hope I'll be able to polish off before the big announce.

All in all, it looks like the only titles I won't get a chance to read are M.T. Anderson's second installment of Octavian Nothing, Terry Pratchett's Nation, Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied and one or two others that are presently slipping my mind. I think that's pretty good for having condensed an entire year's worth of reading into a few short weeks. Of course, if any of those that I haven't read win, I'll still need to go and read them as part of my upcoming (and spontaneously named) Printz Project. Alas.

Anyway, I'll post on the 25th (probably) about my final predictions on what will medal/honor. Until then, I'm not sure I'll be getting in too many posts, but of course I'll do my best. So, if I don't post in the meantime, look for me on tv during the inauguration. I'll have on a hot pink snow hat and black down coat.*

*If anyone claims me in the midst of millions of people, I will conclude you have either a) amazing eagle eyes or, more likely b) a compulsion to lie.

Down with OPP? Yeah You Know M(adappl)e!

Alternate Titles: "Mad About: Madapple," "Crazy For: Madapple"

What's this OPP that I speak of? Surely not the OPP of which Naughty By Nature sang about. Rather, the OPP to which I refer is Outstanding Printz Potential. And author Christina Meldrum's debut novel Madapple has just that. (The author also has a very pretty website.)

Wowzers. What an engrossing read. Take your average novel about familial relationships and add to it complex themes of theology, botany, visual/surface interpretations vs. what lies beneath, dashes of Danish and legal proceedings, a heaping spoonful of teen pregnancy, and a story that unravels as it bounces back between past and present, slowly revealing the disturbing, suspenseful story, and you've got Madapple. It sound bizarre. It is bizarre. But it is also amazing. It goes beyond anything I've ever experienced in YA literature.

This book deserves at minimum a Printz honor, if not the medal. And probably the Morris Award, for which it has been shortlisted as well.

I know that I don't have the talent to give this book the review it deserves, so I'll now pass you off to some more experienced hands:

Carlie at Librarilly Blonde (who agrees on the Printz front)

School Library Journal

Publisher's Weekly (scroll down a bit)

To close, because the showing just the cover doesn't do justice to the breathtaking eerieness, dark beauty and amazing encapsulation of the novel that is the whole jacket...

Making Up For Lost Time

As a graduate student I tried to stay on top of the latest and greatest in YA fiction, but alas between papers, projects and reading for school, I just could not keep up. Enter: completion of classes and present lack of full time job. There's nothing like a lack of employment to give you the time you need to catch up on your reading.

I want to be a top notch librarian and someday maybe serve on an award committee, but with so many books to read, where does one start? Coupling my desire to get up to speed with my quest to give YA lit the respect it deserves I figured I would start with the likely contenders for the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award. For those not in the know, the award is given by YALSA to recognize "the best book written for young adults, based solely on literary merit" published in the previous year (2008), and final selections for this year's award will be made at ALA's Mid-Winter Conference, coming up in just a few short weeks.

Borrowing a page from Betsy Bird's blog, A Fuse #8 Production, where she recently compiled and tallied up mock Newbery and Caldecott medal shortlists and final picks created by libraries and other groups across the country, I decided to use a similar method to guide my personal reading list. I perused lists from blogger BookEnvy, the Allen County Public Library, GoodReads, and BCCLS, and established the following list (alpha by author):

Octavian Nothing: Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson (need to read the first one tho)
The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper
My Most Excellent Year: a Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Madapple by Christina Meldrum
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Skim by Miriko Tamaki
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
Good Enough by Paula Yoo
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Before anyone goes getting all excited about some notable titles left off this list, I should note that I've already read the following:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Paper Towns by John Green
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

To be sure, it is quite a long list, and I've probably left off titles that should be there, but I see it as a jumping off point to start the process of knowledgability. After I get through these, I'm thinking I'll turn to previous Printz medal and honor books, one year at a time. Thankfully, I've already read a bunch of the older books, so it shouldn't be too overwhelming.

What I'm Reading...

Carlie over at Librarilly Blonde had an interesting post/rant the other day about an article in the Washington Post that, perhaps unintentionally, derided young adult literature as something to be "graduated" from, so that readers can move on to "nonfiction with no holds barred and fiction that draws on the full resources of the language in portraying complex human relationships." Needless to say, she didn't take too kindly to these words, and neither do I - especially since he listed Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None," which I read in middle school as one of those books for him. If that made him feel adult, I wonder where a YA novel like John Green's Looking for Alaska would fit into this scheme.

As a librarian, I'm often asked what I'm reading by friends, family and library patrons. I'll give them the title, author and then a quick booktalk/plot summary, piquing their interest - until I conclude with "it's a YA novel" at which point their enthusiasm quickly wanes. I remind them that Harry Potter is a children's book and that Twilight was written for a teen audience (this last title used strategically and only when I think it will work in my favor, as for some, it it the death knell of any argument). I attempt to lure them in with lines like "You know, Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is actually really popular among adult bookclubs and is published in several markets as an adult, not a YA title," but to no avail.

People who have never read any YA really just don't seem to like it. I bet I could trick them into reading it, but it shouldn't have to be that way. All I'm saying is to give it a chance...

P.S. And if you're wondering what I'm reading now, it's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart, a favorite for the Michael L. Printz Award, highly recommended to me by those people who actually read YA lit.