Award-Winning Books

HISTORICAL FICTION – YOUNG ADULT
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom, by Margarita Engle [US]
Henry Holt, 2008 ISBN: 987 0 80508674 4 160 pages
The story of Cuba’s painful wars of liberation from Spain is told in a series of poems, spoken by an array of characters. Part 1 sees “La Bruja,” the child witch/healer forced into work for slave catchers, one of whom, “Lt. Death,” reappears as her antagonist through the story. Part 2 is an exchange of descriptions, spoken by Rosa, who has evolved from herbalist to freedom fighter, and her husband, Jose, who joins her fight to heal the rebel slaves and evade capture. In Part 3, husband and wife question the apparent hopelessness of the ongoing struggle. Part 4 tells the bitter story of the reconcentration camps, where country people suffer and starve in Imperial Spain’s desperate attempt to contain the Cuban uprising. Rosa continues to hide, and cure, and train an apprentice, Silvia, a camp escapee. Finally, in Part 5, the invading US troops run the Spanish down, and a new, “free” Cuba is born.
A beautiful evocation of the beauty and horror of this time and place.

What I Saw and How I Lied, by Judy Blundell [US]
Scholastic Press, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-439-90346-2 280 pages
Protagonist Evie (Evelyn ) is a 16-year-old coming of age in Queens, NY, in the years soon after WW2. The family home is crowded with Evie, her gorgeous mother, Beverley, her mother’s husband, Joe, an ex-serviceman, and Joe’s bitter mother, Grandma Glad. A family vacation to Palm Beach, Florida, opens up a new world of glamourous strangers, hotel life, and awakening romance. As hurricane season looms, Joe’s business dealings with a fellow guest, coupled with the family’s developing intimacy with Peter, a mysterious young man from Joe’s past, build to a tragic climax. Evie finds herself at the crucial centre of a painful lesson about life, love, loyalty and death.
Parts of the story are especially vivid and encourage readers to dig into the gathering mystery. Evie, although not a particularly developed character, is an observant narrator, and many of her reactions are strikingly authentic: the desire to wear her mother’s dresses, to be noticed by the man she adores, to deflate the tension between her parents. To an attentive reader, elements of the actual tragedy and its outcome seem predictable, but at the end of the novel, Evie offers readers an interesting twist, if not a satisfying conclusion. A subplot dealing with racial discrimination and anti-Semitism is woven skilfully into the main story, and offers Evie additional opportunities for self-identification and cultural empathy.

CONTEMPORARY FICTION – YOUNG ADULT
Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet, by Joanne Proulx [CAN]
Penguin Canada, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-14-305358-3 356 pages
Protagonist Luke is a 16-year-old boy killing time in a small industrial Midwestern town, hanging with his stoner friends, and listening to music. One day, out of the blue, he foresees the imminent death of a friend, the first evidence of a strange gift of channelling the last moments of the dying. Grappling with the pain and power of his “gift,” and dodging its seizure by opportunists in the media and local fundamentalist Christian church, Luke pushes himself to the brink of despair and isolation from friends and family, until a series of epiphanic moments allows him to break through the barriers he has constructed, and realize a new empathy with those around him.
In telling his story, Luke spares no detail, including descriptions of chronic drug use, frequent swearing, rhapsodies on his favourite music, and vivid depictions of sexual response, making the novel’s content unsuitable for some. Luke presents as a credible teenager dealing – or failing to deal – with an incredible situation, and his helplessness is empathy-building. This is a long novel, with several subplots about friendship, family, and awakening love, but the author ties together all strands in a satisfying and timely conclusion.

Deadline, by Chris Crutcher [US]
Harper Teen, 2007. ISBN: 978-006085091-3 316 pages
18-year-old Ben learns that he has a terminal disease, leaving him one year to live out his dreams to join the football team, date his dream girl, challenge his teachers, and make this his best year ever.
Lots of football detail here, but Ben’s story compels, especially as he learns to question his initial decision to keep his dark secret. The relationship with Dallas, the love interest, is particularly bittersweet, and the book testifies to Ben’s journey to a greater self-knowledge and empathy with others.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart [US]
Hyperion Books for Children, 2008. ISBN: 978-078683818-9 342 pages
Protagonist Frankie is a 15-year-old New Yorker sent to a prestigious New England prep school. Despite being “girlfriended” by Matthew, the most popular senior boy on campus, Frankie soon longs to be taken more seriously, and to join the boys in the fun they have – and the power they wield – as members of a longstanding secret society, the Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds. Using her brains and her charms, Frankie enters into direct competition with Alphadog, the King Bassett, and turns the school upside down.
The novel is written in an informal style which combines omniscient narration with “documentary evidence” such as copies of emails and notes, and the tongue-in-cheek tone is intrusive at times. Frankie is appealing, and credible, and at its heart, the book is a humourous school story, offering the kinds of pranks and authority challenges, assignment details, quests for popularity, etc., that will be familiar to many teen readers. The recurrent theme of word-play and the use of less-common vocabulary words is laboured at times, and may discourage some readers.

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah [AUS?]
Scholastic, Inc., 2009 (2005) ISBN: 978-0-439-92233-3 360 pages
Amal, aged 17(?) is an Australian girl whose parents, medical professionals, are immigrants from Palestine and devout Muslims. Amal decides to brave identity politics and the attention of her peers and neighbours by wearing hijab, and learns much about herself and her values in the process.
The story is very long, and includes a number of subplots about friends, neighbours, boys, school rivalries, and the like. At times, Amal seems to be a very stereotyped teen girl, but her story and voice are realistic.

The God of Animals, by Aryn Kyle [US]
Scribner, 2007 ISBN: 978-1-41653325-2 305 pages
Love, death, and horses dominate the coming of age of Alice (12?) on a ranch in Montana’s desert country. Issues of family loyalty, self-knowledge, and empathy play out against a growing sense of inevitable destruction/dissolution, as Alice struggles to see the purpose of her young life. The desert setting is finally drawn, and strongly influences the mood of the text, which features a number of “tableaux” scenes which are particularly evocative. The story, told by Alice in the first person, features good examples of conflict – characters against the environment, characters against other characters, characters against themselves. The text is long, and dense, and the actions of the plot may move too slowly to engage less mature readers.

The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci [CAN]
DC Comics, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-4012-1115-8 Unpaged (graphic)
Jane is a 16?-year-old survivor of an air attack on her city – strong echoes of 9-11 – who has moved with her family to suburbia. Having no vent for her artistic talents and individuality, Jane forms a group of “anti-friends” who orchestrate acts of guerrilla art. The resultant feeling of community solidarity surprises Jane, and together with a new love interest, delivers Jane from her feelings of impotence and emptiness.
The graphic format of the novel is very readable, and quite text-rich. The subplot of Jane’s devotion to the hospitalized fellow survivor whom she has rescued allows opportunities for her to explain her feelings directly to readers. The coincidences which abound in the story do not detract from the main ideas. One gay male character is presented in a manner which is sympathetic, but somewhat stereotyped. It’s “girl power” of a very directed type.

The Pull of the Ocean, by Jean-Claude Mourlevat [FR]
Laurel-Leaf (Random), 2006 ISBN: 978-0-385-73666-4 190 pages
In this modern rewriting of Charles Perrault’s “Tom Thumb,” a midget boy steers his six brothers ever westward to the France’s Atlantic coast, in a short-lived effort at escaping their uncaring, abusive parents.
The story is told in a patchwork of bystander accounts, which gives the novel a documentary tone. The ending is ambiguous, and indeed, the transparent simplicity of the story leads to a variety of interpretations. The limited detail and lack of plot / character development may make this a less-than-engaging work for some readers.

This Side of the Sky, by Marie-Francine Hebert [Can]
Red Deer Press, 2006 ISBN: 0-88995-369-4 124 pages
Mona is a tween girl living in rural Quebec, with a special charge: keep her mentally delayed younger sister out of trouble. Young Angelique imagines herself as a bird, and climbs trees to spy on the neighbours, a habit which leads the girls to witness child abuse. Crisis follows, as their young black friend is falsely accused of the crime, and the children must figure out how to tell the truth.
The novel, translated from French, makes spare and understated use of language, and character and plot development is minimal. Angelique’s winsome way of twisting expressions wears at times, but the action of the story is easy to follow. It is hard to imagine the novel maintaining the interest of all readers.

Zen and the Art of Faking It, by Jordan Sonnenblick [US]
Scholastic, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-439-83707-1 264 pages
San Lee is a Grade 8 newcomer to a Pennsylvania middle school, desperate to carve himself a new identity in the wake of his family’s poverty and disgrace, the result of his jailbird father’s lies and deceptions. Through a series of chance meetings, San finds that his outsider status can bring him recognition – and maybe even a new girlfriend – if he can keep convincing his peers that he is a Zen Master. As the rumours grow, San finds himself taking on a whole new role as mentor, coach, and social activist, and ultimately, he must decide on the point at which he can risk “coming clean.”
San is quite an appealing character, and his sense of humour livens up many interactions. At heart, this is a simple school story about peer acceptance, but there are a few enriching elements. Adult characters, especially, are given some complexity, and many readers will identify with San’s dilemma: if I’m honest, will they still like me?

FANTASY -- YOUNG ADULT
The Alchemyst: the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, by Michael Scott [US?]
Delacorte Press, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-385-73600-8 366 pages
Sophie and Josh Newman are 16-year-old twins growing up in San Francisco, who accidentally stumble into an ages-old magical battle between forces of good and evil. As their own mystical powers unfold, they are drawn into a world of Ancient Powers, demigods, and immortal sorcerers, and must steel themselves to take their places in the battle to save humanity from forces they have only begun to understand.
Constant dramatic action and violence holds readers’ attention to the characters’ journey, and mitigates some of the “New Age” mysticism that dominates the text. Readers interested in mythology will relish the allusions that crop up, and the characters of Flamel and Dee, both historical people, may pique extension activities. Overall, this is a long and detailed story, which reads, at times, like a screenplay.

Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow [US]
Harper Perennial, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-06-143024-4 308 pages
Southern California has been over-run by competing gangs of vicious were-dogs, who are spreading terror and carnage as they take over local criminal activity. Only Anthony, a dog-catcher, and Peabody, a policeman, can help find the way to contain the escalating violence, as the complicated, multi-voiced story unwinds toward a bloodbath in the desert.
Lots of horror-movie violence here, and sexual content is extremely suggestive – not the book for every reader. Ugly, sinister characters proliferate: Mr. Venable, the effeminate criminal who holds the key to the secret of the gangs; Sasha, the ruthless and bloodthirsty “bitch” of one of the gangs; and Barron, the self-serving Judas figure who visits destruction on all. The free verse style of the writing is rich, and taut with meaning, but the narrative thrust is clear, and the story dramatic enough to focus attention.

SCIENCE FICTION
The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex [US]
Disney/Hyperion Books, 2007 ISBN:978-078684901-7 427 pages
In this novel, set in 2013, 13-year –old Philadelphia resident Gratuity Tucci finds herself the unwitting saviour of planet Earth, now captured by alien invaders who have exiled the human population to Arizona. Along with J-Lo, the benign alien she has unwillingly befriended, and her cat, Pig, Gratuity journeys across America in a flying car, trying to locate her abducted mother.
The story is long, detailed, and slightly complex as Gratuity recounts her story in the form of essays for future readers – time and tense changes may confuse some readers. Ongoing social parody and some genuinely funny moments capture interest, and vivid pictures and graphic novel forms are interspersed thoughout. Gratuity is a strong, smart, capable girl character, and should appeal to readers of both genders. An unusual sample of science fiction grounded in realistic elements of setting and character.