Daniel Half Human: and The Good Nazi.

Citation: Chotjewitz, D, & Orgel, D. (2004). Daniel Half Human: and The Good Nazi. Atheneum Richard Jackson Books.

Annotation: At the rise of Hitler’s regime, Daniel’s life and relationships are threatened by a sudden revelation and Daniel can’t trust even his best friends.

Nomination (Accept or reject): Accept

The horror and unimaginable prejudice inflicted upon the Jewish people is the backdrop for this unexpected journey through relationships, self-revelation and hardship.  The book attempts to answer many of the questions that go through teens’ (and others’) minds - are we defined by our religion? Our heritage? Our genetics? Our friendships? Our family? Our country? When the revelation that Daniel is half-Jewish comes to light, he suddenly devalues himself, as he sees his friends and countrymen devalue Jews throughout his homeland.  However, as he realizes that nothing has changed except his heritage, he soon learns that no one else can see past it.  Instead of being angry and resentful, as many teens would be, Daniel uses the revelation to discover that is better than his friends and the regime he so hoped to join.  His self-discovery and strength against an unimaginable change in circumstance is inspiring for any teen to read.  In addition, the path for friendship between Daniel and Armin echoes that of middle and high school friendships where allegiances change and new paths are forged.  The wonderful story is sandwiched into a historical setting that many teens don’t know enough about and are doomed to repeat it if they can’t understand it.  The pacing of the book changes dramatically, but the reader stays interested throughout the novel, anxious to learn about Daniel’s family’s fate.

Genre: Realistic experience, historical fiction, coming of age.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial.

Citation: Colman, P. (1997). Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).

Annotation:  The comprehensive journey through death, dying and humans’ traditions surrounding the mysterious passing of life.

Nomination (Accept or reject): Reject

While Colman’s book does a great job of providing young adults with a thorough understanding of all things concerning death, the book simply does not resonate with all readers or address a significant development issue for young adults necessary to yield this award.  Though many people lose loved ones, thankfully, not many lose loved ones while they are still a young adult.  As such, this book’s focus on the rituals of death and dying will not resonate with all of the young adult readers.  This book would appeal to a small number of readers only. It is within the expectations for the non-fiction genre the title is placed into.

The organization of the book would benefit from further development – while it briefly talks about the impact of death in a family, it moves quickly into the “nitty-gritty” of body preparation, coffins and cremations, and then focuses back to burials and the implications of death.  The research and accuracy of the facts presented seem accurate, however, without further research on my part, it would be difficult to tell.  The information presented is very thorough and ranges from minutiae to very relevant.  The quantity of the information can be overwhelming for many younger readers, and even some older ones, as each page is laden with text, photos and graphics.  Unless the reader is extremely interested in the subject matter, the length of the book and the text heavy pages could discourage the reader from finishing the book.  The narrative quality of the book is high, the format and language used are appropriate for the audience.  The author does a fine job of connecting the awesome concept of death and dying to realistic examples and situations adolescents and young adults can grasp.

Genre: Nonfiction

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

4.         Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Citation: Rennison, L. (2001). Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. HarperTeen.

Annotation

Georgia is on the verge of becoming a woman navigating her way through high school, the new world of dating and kissing, not to mention her crush, The Sex God.

Nomination (Accept or reject)

Reject

Rennison’s Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging is a beautifully written diary book for young girls experiencing their first crush and navigating the physical side of relationships.  Frankly discussing sex, kissing, petting and other sexual issues that many teens have questions about but are too scared to ask adults, the novel gives young adults a path to follow during this tumultuous time.  However, it’s lack of resonance with all young adults (10-11 year-olds, 16-18 year-olds, boys) and it’s limited character development of all other characters in the book leave the book a little lacking. This book is meant to be the first in a series, but more emphasis could have been made on the other aspects of Georgia’s life, including school, parents and other pertinent, though perhaps less relevant, issues for young adults.  The book is a wonderful, tongue in cheek “dessert” read for many young adults and teens, and while it is not award quality, it is definitely entertaining and great fun. Also, the self-confidence and healthy self-esteem Georgia maintains throughout the book is a great lesson for any teen facing their first crush or experiencing teen angst.

Genre: Realistic experience, humor, coming-of-age

The Spellman Files

Lutz, L. (2007) The Spellman Files, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY

 

Annontation: Isabel Spellman lives and works with her family until one day, she wants out.  Now, all she has to do is get out without it forever hurting her family, herself or her dreams.

 

Nomination: Decline

In Lisa Lutz's Spellman's Files, 23 year-old Isabel struggles to find her own identity seperate from her parents and the family private investigator business.  However, when she struggles to branch out on her own, her parents have a very difficult time letting her go and proceed to spy on their own daughter.  The book has many themes consistent with a YA book, including the search for self-discovery and individual identity, "grown-up" characters (mainly her parents and uncle) who continually fail in Isabel's eyes and are considered inferior to Isabel, as well as the constant strife with a younger sibling.  The strife with the younger sibling vacillates between Isabel struggling to be a role model for her younger sister and her anger towards her younger sister's insistent meddling in her life.  Isabel finds herself drawn between wanting to stay a kid as her parents would prefer, under their roof, working the family business and adhering to the family conformities and having her own life.  The breaking point is when her parents don't agree with her boyfriend choices and begin to follow her, ultimately ruining the relationship, or so she thinks.  Isabel soon comes to the conclusion that she sabatoged the relationship herself with her immature approach to the relationship, and finds that she can really be accepted for who she is and what she (and her family) does.  Though Isabel's age brings a different set of problems that most teens would encounter, the prominent themes of family strife, quest for self-identity and interpersonal relationship problems (and solutions) rings true with any reader.  The immaturity of Isabel's character does mirror that of a teen going off to college, with the same implications of leaving the nest.  I would recommend the book for 11/12 graders, but not any below that age.  For that reason, I decline to nominate for a PRINTZ award, as it doesn't fit the criteria.  It is an excellent "crossover" book, however, and should be recommended to the appropriate age group.

 

Genre: ALEX Award winner

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

8.         Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Citation:  Rowling, J.K., (2003) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hubsta Ltd.

Annotation

Faced with his most difficult year of Hogwarts, Harry must stand up for the truth despite condemnation at every turn and discovers that he must fight for every step if he is to truly triumph over evil.

Nomination

Accept. Though it is only one in a series of books, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is truly a coming-of-age book.  Harry has reached the age of 15 and his faced with cutting his own path through the myriad of life.  Though many of his classmates, teachers, society and peers condemn and shun him for what they believe to be a lie (the return of Lord Voldemort), Harry doesn’t waver and continues to stand up for the truth - a valuable lesson for any age.  His ever-changing hormones and realization of romantic feelings for a classmate will appeal to any teen. When it is apparent that the adults in charge don’t “know it all,” Harry bands with his peers to prepare for what he knows to be inevitable and to protect his friends.  The leadership and support he shows for his classmates sets a great example for positive ways for teens to disagree with adults. When Harry and his friends rush into a situation they are not well-prepared for instead of finding adults, they discover that it doesn’t work out the way they should.  This is also a good lesson for teens that if help is available, they should ask for it.  However, Rowling does this in such a non-patronizing way, that most teens wouldn’t even realize they are learning a lesson.  With action at every turn, true teen-relatable stories and many lessons in friendship, truth, honesty, love, strength, hard-work, determination and courage, this book is one of the best in the series.

Genre: Censored material - fantasy

Flash Fire

4.         Flash Fire

Citation: Cooney, C.B. (1995). Flash Fire. Scholastic, Inc.

Annotation: Trapped on a mountain being consumed by fire without any adults, five children discover they need only trust themselves and each other to make it down alive.

Nomination: Accept.   

Cooney’s Flash Fire is a wonderful adventure novel providing teens readers with a thrilling, realistic story filled with twists and turns.  While Cooney could have easily taken the “easy” way out, she tells the story realistically to her readers and doesn’t sugarcoat the dangers her characters face.  You spend time getting to know each character, and the story is told from their point of view. Surprisingly (though impressively) at the end of the story, two of the characters perish.  Cooney leaves the reader wondering until the last minute if those characters will survive and the reader feels the pain of that loss, just as they would feel in real life.  Cooney is unique in that she could have easily written a way for these characters to survive, but it would have not been realistic to the situation or the danger.  Cooney doesn’t patronize her readers by giving them false hope or a fantastical way of life. Many of the supporting characters of the adults are foolish and oblivious to their children, except for the one that is from the neighborhood and only recently an adult, further appealing to the teen reader and providing additional ways for the reader to relate to the story.

Genre: Adventure

Playing for Keeps

6.         Playing for Keeps

Citation: Nixon, J.L. (2003). Playing for Keeps. Laurel Leaf

Annotation:

When Rose goes on a cruise with her grandmother, she meets her first love in strange circumstances and soon learns that the mysterious young man is in a fight for his life.

Nomination: Accept

Nixon’s Playing for Keeps is the epitome of young adult mystery with its strong teenage characters, the amateur detective of the main character, Rose, and the logical, yet unpredictable, plot twists as the teens race to solve a mystery that can forever change a young man’s life. While Nixon deals with very serious issues of illegal immigration, murder, communism, political gain and greed, she balances it well with teenage embarrassment, first loves and age appropriate humor. The supporting characters provide a unique perspective of Cuban immigrants and the loss they realize after their immigration, while other characters provide perspective of why so many Cubans live in Communism and how it is perpetuated by Castro’s government. The mystery would leave an adult wondering (though an adult reader proficient in mysteries may pick up on Nixon’s clues), providing a good challenge for teens and demonstrating the solution through logic and good observation.

The main character of Rose is a well-developed teen suffering from normal teenage angst of a matchmaking grandmother, difficult family dynamics, a tumultuous relationship with her mother, the difficulty of choosing the “good guy” or the attractive, mysterious stranger and friendships.  The majority of the angst is resolved throughout the book, teaching teens that problems are temporary and solutions are available, lessons that all need to learn. 

Genre: Mystery

The Midwife's Apprentice

5.         The Midwife’s Apprentice

Citation: Cushman, K. (1996). The midwife's apprentice. New York: HarperCollins.

Annotation

Struggling to find food for her empty belly and a safe place to lay her head at night, the midwife’s apprentice soon finds her place in the world by learning to birth babies in medieval England.

Nomination

Although the book is set in medieval England, many of the issues addressed are extremely relevant to teens today and can be inspiring to any age.  The narrator begins her story literally in a pile of poop, without a name or history, and grows to a respected, intelligent, and meaningful part of her world.  This coming of age story follows the narrator, who begins her life simply as “Brat” and appropriates a name for herself after gaining some self-confidence, through her quest for a full belly, a content heart and a place in the world.  She learns to stand up for herself when bullied, develops empathy and love for another when she defends a cat from merciless taunting and takes a small boy under her wing, and finds her voice at a time its needed most.  Alyce, as she asks to be called, also learns that just because she doesn’t know “everything” doesn’t mean she doesn’t know anything, a valuable lesson to anyone of any age.  She learns to keep trying when she fails and to love even when she feels unlovable. 

In addition to these great life lessons, Cushman uses wit and sarcasm to bring humor to the book and stays true to the period in which the book is set while teaching the reader how far medical practices have come.  She deftly deals with bullying, adultery and thievery in language young adults can understand and situations they can relate to.  A great for many lessons, the greatest one of all is to never stop looking for one’s right place in the world.

Genre: Historical fiction

At Her Majesty’s Request:An African Princess in Victorian England

4.         At Her Majesty’s Request:An African Princess in Victorian England

Citation: Myers, D. (1999). At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England. Scholastic.

Annotation

The intriguing, unlikely life journey story of a young African princess rescued by an English sailor from certain death, traveled to England and became a close friend of Queen Victoria. 

Nomination

While the story told is unique and extraordinary, it is, in many ways, confusing to the average reader.  The author affects a patronizing tone that is off-putting to readers and includes many superfluous details where more historical content could have increased the story.  The letters chosen to augment the telling of the princess, Sarah’s, journey portray the child as very ungrateful and entitled while doing little to enhance the story.  The biography genre is meant to inspire those to become better than others or to tell a little-known story; however, this book fails to do either one.  The target age group for this book, grades 4-8, would have a hard time following such a drawn out, detailed story that contains very little for students to empathize with or relate to. 

The young princess does grow into an adult missionary, though she is forced into a loveless marriage and relocated back to her home continent, but not her home country. The author does a good job of explaining the idea of “good marriages” in that time period and the importance of a young girl to marry well.  However, the only novelty this book provides is highlighting the unlikely occurrence of a white monarch taking a young black girl under her wing, further emphasizing the divide between the races.  It was emphasized several times in the book how unusual this practice was and almost seemed as if the author didn’t feel the child deserved it.  The princess did nothing to earn her good fortune, nor did she do anything to repay the kindness shown, so her journey was nothing but a good stroke of luck for her. Overall, readers simply learn about an abnormal practice in a long list of abnormalities that perpetuated the reigns of British monarchs, but no inspirational story exists in this book.    

Genre: Biography

Chris Lynch's "Inexcusable"

Lynch, C. (2005). Inexcusable. Simon & Schuster Children.

Annotation

A senior football player defends his actions on a fateful night between him and his best friend, claiming he's the “good guy” that would never hurt anyone. However, as he recounts the events leading up to that night, he soon discovers his actions were truly inexcusable. 

Nomination

The book uses expert foreshadowing to allude to the narrator’s rape of his female best friend.  The narrator, Keir, professes his innocence of this horrendous act from the beginning, stating he has good character and is a good guy.  This is a classic defense used by the jocks, the good students and the popular ones, all of which Keir is.  His father goes through life with blinders, allowing his baby boy to drink with him, stay up late, skip school and call him by his first name.  His sisters went to college and didn’t look back, leaving their little brother to their father’s misdirected love and the idolatry that his classmates have given him.  Given the free reign he’s given and the lack of parental direction, Keir was used to getting everything he wanted.  While Keir started off as a “nice guy” and did end up as one by taking responsibility for his actions once he realized what he had done, the author demonstrates a teen’s tendency to let his freedom go to his head and it ruined his life.

Telling the story through Keir’s eyes allows the reader to learn the truth as soon as Keir does and to be “on Keir’s side” until the truth is finally revealed in the last two pages of the novel.  The ambiguity leaves the reader interested and elevates the book into a page-turner that many would read in one sitting.  The author ensures the reader is with Keir through his self-discovery journey and places the reader in a classic position of judging yourself against what others say.  While many times young adults are told to judge themselves and to not let others negatively effect their self-image, young adults are also taught the valuable lesson in this book that we should listen to others that point out flaws so we can learn from them.  

Genre: Edgy Fiction

Paul B. Janeczko's Worlds Afire - Verse Novel

Janeczko, P. B. (2004). Worlds afire. Candlewick.

Annotation

In Paul B. Janeczko’s verse novel World’s Afire, many of the victims, survivors and witnesses’ stories of the tragic 1944 circus fire that killed 197 people and injured 500 more are told through compelling verse. 

Nomination

With each poem told in a gut-wrenching, first person style from the victims, survivors and first responders, the readers are transported to the time before, during and after this horrible tragedy through many different eyes.  The verses tell the complete story, piece by piece, until the whole puzzle is complete; yet, each piece is a work of art all its own. 

Broken down so simply, Janeczko’s verse novel helps young adults process a tragedy that many adults would have trouble reading about it in a newspaper without overwhelming them.  Not many stories are told so completely, yet so simplistically, as the one told in Janeczko’s Worlds Afire.

Genre: Verse Novel

Review of "Speak"

1.  Speak

Halse Anderson, Laurie. Speak. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1999.

Annotation

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Speak,” one teenager faces the beginning of high school after a summer’s party goes horribly wrong. Freshman Melinda Sordino is shunned by all for the phone call she made at that party and the subsequent emotional rollercoaster she rides throughout the rest of the year as she struggles to find her place in the abyss of high school. Melinda soon learns that she must have the courage to “Speak” or the unspoken words may  just swallow her forever.

Nomination

Halse’s books talks about a tragedy that most women would have hard time delaing with, and puts it squarely on the shoulders of a teenager entering her first year of high school. She eloquently combines this tragedy, almost downplaying it (as some unknowing teenages may do in an attempt to deal with the it) with the stresses of starting high school as an outcast.  Melinda’s character is such a rich, soulful character - many in her position would be tempted to blame others for her suffering, scream the truth at the top of her lungs to whomever will listen so her classmates will stop punishing her for a misunderstanding or turn violent or harmful in an effort to deal with her overwhelming pain, but she does none of it.  Instead, Melinda does what many victims do and turns the blame and shame onto herself.  As we follow her throughout the year, the reader silently cheers Melinda on - a fly on the wall during her triumphs, her disappointments, and her eventual realization of her strength.  Melinda takes back her life and finally finds her voice to speak the truth, and that is a moving moment that affects teenagers and adults alike.

Halse’s book uses foreshadowing well to keep her readers interested in the story and invested in the character to compel the story forward.  Every teenager has felt the sting of rejection and the pain of not entirely “fitting in” so all can relate.  Most importantly, Halse’s book teaches the lesson that not all is what it seems and never be too quick to judge lest you get it wrong.  While she subtly reminds her readers to be mindful of their judgments, she also inspires them to reach for the inner strength to finally stand up for themselves and find their voice.  This book is hard to read because it reminds us of the cruelty of others, but it’s a must because it also reveals the innate strength in everyone.  Perhaps the most wonderful gift the book gives is the timeless message that truth will be revealed to all who just speak.  As teenagers grow into adults, and adults reading the book remember their teenage years, they will remember this book and remember its invaluable lessons of truth, hope, strength and the importance of communication.

Genre: Realistic experience