Printz Award Challenge

The Ropemaker

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Look, another book that took me far too long to finish. This is more troubling than the week it took me to read Duma Key because Ropemaker is YA fantasy which should take two days MAX.

I’m not sure if the problem was that it started slowly or if I was just plain tired. But reading one or two chapters a day felt like “enough” until last night when I stayed up far too late just to get it finished.

It wasn’t a bad, slow reading YA fantasy – it just wasn’t great. And that’s too bad because once I realized what Tilja’s “power” was, I thought it was an awesome idea. And that awesome idea spurred some really good moments. I think, if there was a sequel that was focused on what happened next, with Tilja, I’d like it more than I liked The Ropemaker.

Also, I’d really like one of those special hair ties. That would be awesome.

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A Step From Heaven

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

No, I’m not here to suggest that the Evanston area is a step from heaven. It is not. A Step From Heaven is a YA “problem” book that was up for a Printz Award.

We started listening to it on audio during our trip to Tampa last weekend and TW and I finished it up on the way to the airport yesterday.

It is a YA problem book or more to the point, a YA Korean immigrant problem book. The best type of problem book, according to those who nominate books for awards. Problem books – good … Immigrant problem books – better!

Or not.

How depressing. With a happy ending!

Ho hum.

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True Believer

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Queer, Young Adult /

When TW read the CD case for True Believer and told me it was the second in a trilogy I almost said “forget it” – Printz Challenge or no Printz Challenge. I do not like to read books out of order. Ever.

But, I said what the heck and put the first CD in the player.

Right off the bat, it was a little disconcerting because the voice of LaVaughn is the same voice as “Baby Girl” from Upstate. I was afraid it was going to be such a similar book that I’d just be confusing my characters all of the way through. But it wasn’t like that at all.

None of the poor black teens went to jail. None of the poor black teens were having sex that they shouldn’t have been having, though there was Jolly who had already done that – a couple of times. There was also the gay boy storyline, very unusual in a novel about black city teens.

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2 more Printz books down

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I picked up Freewill expecting, I don’t know what… TW read it last week and said she didn’t understand a word. Well. Yea. Weird book. I cannot imagine a teen reading this book and really enjoying it. Pretty disappointed Printz Award nominee, I think. It feels like a book we should all like and one that kids should all like – but we don’t, and they won’t.

Then, because I didn’t know what I was supposed to be reading next, I grabbed Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by 20th Century Art. Quick and easy to read and finish – and it was. I didn’t really expect much from it. It looks like a little kids’ book but it wasn’t. The poetry was interesting and the art was fantastic. And that’s what this is about – poets choosing a work of art and writing poetry inspired by the art. Good stuff.

So – one Printz not so good, another very good and two more scratched off the list. It was a good night for challenges.

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Two more YA and a Printz update

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I accidentally finished two more YA books last night which means two more books from my Printz Award Challenge are complete. Cool. I’m betting 2001 was a tough year to pick the winner. These books were good.

We started listening to The Body of Christopher Creed on audio and got about halfway through it and cassette number four wouldn’t play properly. That was frustrating. The story was really getting going. I kept forgetting to reserve the print version and was pleasantly surprised when I found it on the shelf during our Wednesday trip to the library.

So I picked it up and started in on Chapter 13 and before I knew it, it was 11pm and I’d finished it. It was good. Very good. Loved the characters. Loved the setting. Loved the storyline. Is he dead or is he hiding – building a new life somewhere?

Before that, I read Many Stones which was also good but incredibly depressing. Super short book, very quick read and very depressing. But I said that, right? I guess the murder of your sister when you’re a 16 year old and then facing apartheid can’t really be anything BUT depressing, right?

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Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

I didn’t expect to enjoy Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging but I did. I enjoyed it very much and I laughed out loud a lot. Now that I’m finished, I’m also anxious to know what happened with the Sex God.

I’m so glad that the books on my Printz challenge have been really good, not like a lot of books that make the adult awards short lists (or long lists, for that matter.)

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Kit’s Wilderness

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Kit’s Wilderness written by David Almond (author of the fantastic YA book Skellig) wrote this one and it was good but not quite as good as Skellig.

Creepy but maybe a little too creepy? Or maybe a little too “much”? I’m not sure what it was about Kit’s Wilderness that made it not quite as good as Skellig – but it was something.

I did love Grandpa and Allie and Kit and even John. It wasn’t the characters – it might have been the dream woman and the baby.

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Stuck in Neutral

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

Stuck in Neutral is a YA book from the Printz Awards list from 2001 and I loved it – until the end, but let’s not talk about the end.

I would love to see an entire series about Shawn – he’d be a bit of an anti-hero. All of the things he sees, doesn’t quite understand and wonders about. All of his insights. There are some amazing opportunities for a writer to help teens sort out situations, questions, ideas.

But then there’s that whole ending thing. Is Shawn still available for a series? I don’t know and I don’t like it.

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Monster

2 Comments / 2008, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Young Adult /

Another book from my Printz Award challenge, Monster, was not my favorite book from 2000 but I understand how and why it won the award. It’s a good thing I’m not the one sitting on those award committees.

I was a little afraid I wouldn’t be able to enjoy Monster at all because it was written in the form of a screenplay, because the kid up for murder is into film making, and I really dislike reading screenplays. But the story was compelling enough and I cared about the kid enough to muddle through all of the screenplay-ese. The book reminded me a lot of Upstate, a book TW and I listened to on audio a few months ago. Another young black teen in jail and going to trial for murder, you know the type society tends to label as “monsters”…

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Hard Love

1 Comment / 2008, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Printz Award Challenge, Queer, Young Adult /

More YA! Is this one on the Printz list? Is that why I read it? Or is it some leftover reserve from a GLBT YA group of books I reserved? I’m not sure but I read it and it was pretty amusing. I’m not a huge ‘zine fan but I understand the drive people feel to create them and to read them. Not being a ‘zine person or a teen, I’m not qualified to say Hard Love was an accurate representation of the ‘zine scene but it feels like it.

The book itself, pretty interesting. Nerdy but cute boy from dysfunctional broken gets hooked on ‘zines, writing and reading them, and falls for a lesbian ‘zine writer. She sort of falls for him too but, guess what – she’s still a lesbian! Awesome. Heart break all around but also some growing up and some resolutions to the dysfunction (at least on his part) begin to happen.

Not a fun book, by any means, but not one of those really really depressing YA situation novels either.

(oh! It was a Printz Award Honor Book, cool.)

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