National Book Award winner + Reviews

Well, this librarian fell just short of her goal of reading all 5 National Book Award for Young People's Literature nominees in time for the winner announcement this past Wednesday. However, I was reading the 5th title at the time, so I was very close!

Here's a recap of the nominees:

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (JH AND) is the gripping, gorgeously written story of Isabel, a slave living in New York during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. She wants nothing more than to find freedom for herself and her sister, at whatever cost. Isabel is courageous. Her story is heartbreaking and one that needed to be told. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this book made me reconsider. It's the title I would've chosen to win the award.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (YA LOC). This one had me so captivated that I read it in one sitting. Frankie's a smart and spunky girl who's attending the boarding school her dad attended, and unexpectedly dating one of the most popular guys on campus, who also might be involved in a secret society. Frankie won't let anything get in the way of finding out more about this secret society and subverting it. This book was clever, geniusly plotted, and a fantastic read. It's the first E. Lockhart I've read, so I really need to start reading more of her books.

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (YA THA). This was the one I was still reading when the announcement came to me, via Twitter, about who had won. After reading the first couple pages, I had no idea where this was going, but by about page 50, I was hooked. Have you ever wondered what's going on in the heads of that guy at school - every school has one - who seems to think that he is God's gift to earth? Well, if you have, you will probably love this book. When reading it, I felt like Bright from Everwood was telling me the story. Sutter is exactly that guy, the one who goes through hot girlfriends like there's no tomorrow, who shows up to work buzzed and gets away with it, who's completely the life of the party. He's the guy that everyone likes to hang out with, who has no enemies. Sutter takes you through the last bit of his senior year, as a chance meeting with an ordinary, kind of nerdy girl, sort of changes his life. I finished it last night, and while the ending disappointed me, I still loved it.


The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (J APP). I wish I had nice things to say about this book. Maybe you will get it, but this librarian just could not. It says something when you're halfway through a book and you don't know if one of the characters is a tree, a snake, or a person. Still, if you like reading books about animals -- this one might be for you. I will warn you, some sad stuff happens.


What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell (YA BLU) is the final nominee. This one was short and simple, perhaps a little too simple for my taste. World War II ended a few years ago, and fifteen year old Evie Blundell's stepfather Joe just came back. Now he's taking the family down to Palm Beach, in their off season, and nobody knows quite why. Down in Palm Beach, Evie meets Peter, a glamorous older guy, who turns out to have been one of Joe's army buddies. In a short time, she falls head over heels for him, in the way you'd expect from a noir film from the era, which is to say that there's a sense of foreboding around the corner. There's an accident during a hurricane that changes everything, and forces Evie to take the stand in a case that's on the front page of papers across the country. I liked this book well enough, but wasn't completely blown away, mostly because the writing seemed a little uneven, and the story didn't have the depth I was hoping it would have, once everything was said and done.

So... drumroll time.........

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The winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2008: