Predictions turn into reality

The winner of the Michael L. Printz award for 2009 is:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Printz Honors go to:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume II, Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

(I was 3 for5 in my predictions--not too shabby. Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is a pretty big deal as well. It won the Newbery Award!)

Book Review - Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

It's finally here, ::gulp::, the very last Princess Diaries book. Picking up nearly two years after the last one, the final book in the series starts with Mia Thermopolis's (Princess of Genovia's) last day few weeks of school, leading up to the prom. Readers will recall that in book nine, Mia started dating JP, formerly known as the guy who picks the corn out of his cafeteria chili, and became depressed over her break-up with Michael (her best friend's brother, and her boyfriend of more than a year).

A lot has happened in two years, the biggest thing being that Mia has penned a romance novel. She's been getting rejections left and right for her book, having sent it out under a pen name to ensure no one's picking up publishing rights based on her being famous. Meanwhile, she's been accepted to every college she applied to, even though she bombed the math part of the SAT.

But there are bigger crises in Mia's life, largely that she's lying about everything. No one except her family knows she was accepted to all these colleges; she told everyone at school that she only got into the University of Genovia. And she also told everyone that her senior project was on the history of Genovian olive oil pressing, circa 1254-1650 -- not a romance novel! The biggest lie she's told, it turns out, is one she told herself. If she really loved JP, how could she be losing sleep over Michael's reappearance. If she really loved JP, then why does the smell of Michael's neck send her into a tizzy?

The final book will surely please Princess Diaries fans. It has some twists and turns I didn't see coming, plus those laugh-out-loud moments you've grown so used to having Mia Thermopolis provide.

* * * *
Four stars

Recommended to: the vast Meg Cabot and Princess Diaries fanbase

Printz buzz...

We're just two days away from the announcement of the Michael L. Printz award winner and honor books for 2009. To be eligible, the books must have been published in 2008. Clearly, this is exciting for some people. Imagine being woken up at the crack of dawn to find out that your book won one of the biggest awards for teen literature! It's almost as exciting as getting that phone call the morning the Oscar nominations are released and finding out you're nominated. This is also, of course, exciting for librarians but especially readers. I maybe dreamed last night about my short-list for who I thought would win the Printz award.... and maybe I shouldn't have shared that.

Anyway, there is one winner and up to four honor books (non-fiction is eligible too). Here's who I think has a really good chance of winning (i.e. my predictions). In recent years, the Printz committees have gotten pretty darn excited over Australian and British authors. (Unlike the Newbury award, for children's fiction, you don't have to be an American to win the Printz.) Last year's winner The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean came as a pretty big surprise to, well, everyone. So, I'm trying to think of what would be unexpected in preparing my predictions. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan has a good shot - it's below the radar popularity-wise, but has been getting tons of critical acclaim. The London Eye Mystery, a posthumous release by Siobhan Dowd, came out earlier this year. It's on the younger end of the age spectrum, but it's definitely one that could make it as an Honor. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was very well-received, and Neil Gaiman's due for a big award. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins made a lot of short lists, but some people don't think it is original enough -- it was certainly hugely popular. The first part of Octavian Nothing was a Printz honor a few years ago when I attended the awards ceremony, and the second volume has been met with resounding acclaim. Can M.T. Anderson do it again? Could he take home the big kahuna? Then there's the books that were nominated for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Last year, there were no overlaps between the award, but I've got a hunch there could be this year. I was not the only one uber-impressed with E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and think E. Lockhart could definitely be getting that early morning phone call. Then there's John Green, whose only two books have been Printz winners and honors. Talk about a winning streak. His third book Paper Towns was also met with acclaim, but some didn't think it was as strong as his earlier books. Could he be in the mix? And Cory Doctorow had a huge hit this summer with Little Brother, a prescient sci-fi/nerd read that got a lot of people talking. But some didn't think it was well-written enough (I disagree!). Then there's Terry Pratchett's latest offering Nation that's been popping up on best of 2008 lists. GAAAAH! So many books to choose from. Who will the Printz committee choose?!?!

Alas. My predictions:

Winner:

Margo Lanagan, Tender Morsels


Honor books:

M.T. Anderson, Octavian Nothing: Volume 2, Kingdom on the Waves
Cory Doctorow, Little Brother
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Terry Pratchett, Nation

Check back here on Monday for an announcement of the winners, or tune into the live broadcast of the winners at 7:45 AM Mountain Time, 8:45 AM Central Time.

Got a prediction? Share it in the comment section!

Book Review - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is kind of embarrassing for this librarian to admit, but this was her first time reading anything by Neil Gaiman. He's most well known for his landmark graphic novel series The Sandman and his book Coraline has been made into a feature film that should be out very soon. The Graveyard Book has been getting accolades all over the place, so I figured I'd better check it out. The story behind the book is that Neil Gaiman wrote one of the chapters as a short story, and his daughter liked it so much and wanted to learn more about what happened before and after that he wrote the whole book.

***

A baby is alone in his room. The man Jack enters his house, killing both parents and his sister. The baby slips out, walks down the street alone, and into a graveyard, peopled by the dead from a year ago to hundreds of years ago. The people of the graveyard take in the baby, name him Nobody -- Bod for short -- and raise him. But as Nobody gets older, he starts wanting to venture outside the bounds of the graveyard. He's the only living person he interacts with on a daily basis, and he's curious. But the man Jack is still out there, and he's still looking for Bod...

The Graveyard Book is a spellbinding story, beautifully illustrated (illustrations at the beginning of each chapter) by Dave McKean, and filled with endearing characters of all ages, both dead and alive. Neil Gaiman fans have probably already read this one, but it's never too late to become a Neil Gaiman fan, as I learned reading this book.

**** 1/2
(Four and a half stars)

Recommended for: Neil Gaiman fans, those who like to read about the undead, readers of all ages looking for a fantastic, gripping, at times action-filled story

Here's the trailer for the book (Neil Gaiman is the speaker):

Book Review - "someday this pain will be useful to you" by Peter Cameron

It's hard to talk about James Sveck (the main character in someday this pain will be useful to you without comparing him to Holden Caulfield, the original intelligent, quippy, observant, but most markedly disillusioned and angsty teenager. Phew! Okay, now that that's out of the way, I have to say that this books really impressed me. I wasn't surprised to find out that Peter Cameron has written several acclaimed adult books -- the writing is really outstanding -- but I was surprised by how spot-on he captured New York and New Yorkers. Having known a lot of New Yorkers, I felt like I knew James. The thing is, on the outside James' life is not hard. He's just graduated from Stuyvesant, practically the best public school in the United States, and he's headed off to Brown in the fall. But on the inside, well, the real problem for James is that he's all stuck in his inside. He's a loner and he's been trying to surround himself with all these arguments for why he needs to be a loner, why it's actually a good thing. He thinks the purity of a thought is gone the moment you try to put it into words and share it with someone else, which is to say, he likes to keep his thoughts to himself. So, you have to wonder, how is a character like James going to lead you through an interesting story, given that he's a loner and he keeps his mouth shut a lot?

Well, here's how. Something happened to James when he went to a high school civics retreat in D.C. This event is alluded to in every way possible before you (the reader) finally find out what happens, in one of James's therapy sessions. It makes you reconsider James, this quietly cocky upper-class New Yorker, and see him for what he really is. I don't want to tell you what's really going on with James, but I will admit this. I read the book in one day, really two sit-down intense reading sessions. This is a book that will make you chuckle, but it will also make you think, think and empathize, and try to understand someone who may be very different from you, or maybe not.

* * * * *
Five stars
Recommended for: high-schoolers who like John Green's books, especially those headed off for college, readers looking for a quiet, thoughtful story that's also on the brief side at just over 200 pages

New contest for teen writers

Regardless of whether you're already a fan of author Sonya Sones, if you're a writer (especially of poetry), you should check out this unique contest she's running.


Gotham Writers' Workshop has teamed with Sonya Sones, Simon & Schuster, and Teen Ink to offer the What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know Writing Contest.

Here's what you have to do to enter:

1. Read What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones.
2. When you get to the last poem, write a continuation of the story, but write this part of the saga from Sophie's point of view (sort of a What My Boyfriend Doesn't Know). Tell us what happens next. Keep it short, but sweet - no more than ten pages of 1,000 words. And make sure to write it in the same style as What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, in a series of poems.
3. If you’re looking for some writing tips that might help you win the contest; check out the Writers Only page on Sonya’s website!

The prize:

A free six-week online writing class from Gotham Writers' Workshop and Teen Ink. Sonya Sones will also post the winning entry on her website. Ten runners-up will receive a year's subscription to Teen Ink. The winner and the runners-up will also recieve a personalized copy of What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know signed by the author.

You can enter the contest online, so click here.

Good luck!

Book Review - Bliss by Lauren Myracle

You know what name you really wouldn't want to have? Bliss In The Morning Dew. Yeah, that's one heck of a hippie name, but then again Bliss, the title character of Lauren Myracle's newest book Bliss, did spend most of her life on a commune. It's the late 1960s, but Atlanta's no San Francisco, so Bliss is completely out of place when her parents send her to live with her Grandma and begin school at an uppity prep school. It doesn't help that on her first day at aforementioned new school, Bliss hears voices in her head. Is it the voice of a girl, Liliana, that fell to her death at the school, years ago?

Bliss is different than the other Myracle books you're used to - ttyl, ttfn, etc. - but that's not a bad thing. This thriller definitely treads on the creepy at times, particularly as Bliss befriends school loser Sandy, and visits an elderly woman in a nursing home who was close to Liliana. Fast-paced and intriguing, this is one that will be hard to put down. Those interested in learning more about counter-culture and how the culture clashes of the 1960s were experienced in the Deep South should also check it out!

* * * 1/2
(Three and a half stars)
Recommended to: fans of Lauren Myracle, those who can rabidly consume a good thriller, history buffs