VOYA Perfect Ten

What is a VOYA perfect ten?   A book that exhibits the prestigious Perfect Ten rating—a 5Q for literary quality and a 5P for teen appeal.

 

Brown, Jennifer. Hate List. Little, Brown & Company, 2009.

Ages: 13 – 18

Summary: It’s sixteen- year- old Valerie’s first day back at school after the shooting the previous Spring.  The shooter vas Valerie’s boyfriend and as she returns to school she must deal with the aftermath of his actions and her part in them.

Personal Reaction:  What a powerful book!  The reader is given a firsthand look at how tragedy affects everyone involved and even those on the outskirts.  No one goes away unscathed.  The reader can’t help but grow as they watch the adults and teens involved work through their feelings as they come to an acceptance of how the tragedy fits into their lives.

Evaluation:

·         appealing to both boys and girls

·         realistic fiction

·         protagonist is very courageous

·         gives the reader something to think about

·         gives the reader an idea about how their actions affect their parents

·         older readers will get the most from the book, but younger readers would also benefit

Alex Award Winner

A brief history on the Alex Award: given annually to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults.

Bender, Aimee. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. New York, Doubleday. 2010.

Alex Award

Summary: On the eve of her ninth birthday, Rose Edelstein takes a bite of her mother’s lemon cake and discovers she can taste her mother’s emotions.  Only George, her older brother’s best friend takes her seriously when she mentions this fact.

Reaction:  While the book was not a chore to read, I still feel rather ambivalent about the book.  Once Rose became a teenager, I thought the book might have more appeal to a teen audience.  I would recommend the book to eleventh and twelfth graders.

Evaluation:

• Would appeal to girls, not boys
• A book about emotions
• Storyline about brother is a bit of a stretch
• Partial love story
• Protagonist matures as story develops

Margaret A. Edwards winner

Woodson, Jacqueline.  If You Come Softly.  New York: Speak, 1998. 181 pages.
On their first day at Percy,  sophomores Miah and Ellie meet by literally bumping into each other.  Miah is the son of a famous filmmaker and a writer.  Ellie is the daughter of a doctor.  They come from two different worlds, one upper class and black, the other upper middle class and white.  While they are falling deeply in love they try to come to grips with the prejudices of both their worlds.
This book is a very quick read.  It grabs you in the beginning and holds on tightly to the reader until the end.  Written from the character's viewpoints in alternating chapters, I found myself falling in love with both Miah and Ellie.  While I saw the end coming, I was amazed at how powerfully it effected me.

What's next?

Next assignment is to read:

• one Teen Top Ten winner
• one VOYA perfect 10
• an Alex Award winner
• a MAE (Margaret Edwards) winner.

John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things is my selection for the Alex Award.  I have chosen Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls for the Teen Top Ten winner,  Jacqueline Woodson's If You Come Softly is my MAE selection.  Francisco Storks  Marcelo in the Real World will be my read for VOYA perfect 10.

The assignment following this is to read a challenged book.  I am thinking about The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

After that I need to read two Margaret Edwards award winners and a realistic fiction book.  I would love to have recommendations for these.

Printz winners

Our first assignment is to read two Printz winners or honor books.  I picked The Monstrumologist and Punkzilla.

 The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2010. 454 pages.

The year is 1888.  Twelve year old Will Henry has been taken in by Dr. Pellinore Warthrop upon the death of his parents.  Dr. Warthrop's speciality is monstrumology, the study of monsters. Will and Dr. Warthrop are pursuing a monster of literature, the Anthropophagi.  Mentioned in Othello, Anthropophagi are tall monsters with no head.  Their eyes are located in their shoulders, their mouth is in their abdomen and their brain is below their mouth.  Join Will and Dr. Warthrop as they pursue both the monster and the reason for their appearance far from their native land of Africa.

A great book for boys.  Full of gore and fast paced adventure.  I was drawn into the story and kept interested until the last page.  Some people might have trouble with what is expected of twelve year old Will, but this is before child labor laws and I don't think it would be unusual for someone like Will to fall off the grid.   I was rather sad to see it end, but it turns out it is the first book in Rick Yancey's new series.

The book trailer can be found here.

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009.  244 pages.

Fourteen year old Jamie, aka Punkzilla, is on his way across the country to get to his older brother before he dies from cancer.  Sent to Buckner Military Academy by his parents because of his drinking and pot smoking, Jamie does not fit in.  After going AWOL, he ends up in Portland, Oregon.  Writing to his brother as he tries to get to Memphis, the reader experiences what he has been through since leaving Portland. What happens to Punkzilla as he makes his way to see his brother?  Will he get there in time?

The first few pages of the book had me wondering if I would finish it.  The sex and animal cruelty seemed gratuitous.  Shortly, though, I was pulled into Punkzilla's world and found myself starting to care about him.  It was rather like a horror movie when you find yourself yelling at the actors "don't go there!"  The ending left me feeling a bit empty, for I wanted to know what was next for Jamie.  A great book for troubled boys.

The Challenge

This semester I am taking a course in young adult literature.  I will be reading a minimum of twenty-five books this semester.  Below is a guideline to use when deciding what to read.  As I finish each week's assignment, I will let you know what I read and how I liked the books.

• ·         A book written by six of the Margaret A. Edwards winners. This includes S.E. Hinton.

• ·         Three winners or honor winners of the Michael Printz Book Award

• ·         An Alex Award winner

• ·         A recent YALSA Quick Pick for Young Adults

• ·         A young adult book that has been the target of censors

• ·         A young adult book from each of the following genres: realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery/suspense, horror/supernatural, adventure, nonfiction, biography, historical fiction, poetry and short stories. The required class text, Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation 2^nd edition, will help to define genres and provide lists of suggested books.

• ·         Two nonfiction books that are winners or honor winners of the new YALSA nonfiction award

• ·         Two books celebrating diversity

• ·         Two graphic novels

• ·         A Teen’s Top Ten (TTT) choice

• ·         A recent VOYA perfect ten

The only required book is The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.