My Mock Printz 2011 List

Unfortunately, I was unable to plan a mock Printz group for my library, but here’s my list:

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith (2010)

It was easy enough for me to keep my mind off things as long as we were out in the music and diversions of Blackpool, but as soon as the door shut us inside that quiet room, Jack felt panic setting in. I was scared about undressing in front of the girls, and that maybe I was driving Nickie away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I knew Connor expected me to give the glasses to him. I worried, too, if Seth was going to start making noises. And I tried, unsuccessfully, to shut out those images that flashed from the other side of the Marbury lens: Griffin running in fear, crying for my help, and seeing Freddie Horvath was there, like he was waiting for me, hunting (p 242).

The above quote is representative of The Marbury Lens. Notice the point of view shift. The multiple story lines. The fearful, anxious tone. The attempt to survive and the despair.

This novel shifts setting as abruptly as it shifts point of view. Once our main character is established, the story divides unceremoniously and while some threads overlap, it creates a dream-like quality; you know where you are and who is there but you don’t understand how you know and aren’t entirely sure what’s going on – you just know the tone.

It’s as if Smith were taking his cues from David Lynch a la Mulholland Drive.

First, the introduction. Jack is sixteen, living with his grandparents in California, and best friends with Connor. The two have been friends their whole lives. They’re about to take a trip to London over the summer to scout out a boys boarding school. Then, Jack is kidnapped by a doctor named Freddie Horvath, almost raped and escapes, narrowly.

Wanting to forget it all, he heads to London on schedule. Connor will follow. While there, he meets Henry, a mysterious man who leaves a pair of glasses for him. When he looks inside the glasses Jack enters Marbury, a world at war where Jack and two youngsters are on the run from wild, raucous cannibals, lead by a sinister version of Connor.

In Marbury Jack meets Seth, a ghost with a haunting past. As Seth helps Jack, his story becomes Jack’s. And so Seth crosses over into our world.

When Jack returns to London, there are gaps in his memory, time missing. He met a beautiful girl with whom he is falling in love but can’t remember how or where they met. Connor arrives and also enters Marbury, though his experience is vastly different from Jack’s.

What is real? Marbury or London? What happens to Jack when he leaves one world for another? Smith keeps the reader guessing.

All these stories, jumbled make up The Marbury Lens. When I finished, I was reminded strongly of The Usual Suspects. Verbal, played by Kevin Spacey, is being questioned by the police. He weaves a compelling story where everything fits neatly together until the end, when we learn of his ruse. He has fabricated most of his story from miscellaneous items surrounding him, so concealing his identity and his crimes. Jack seemed to be acting the same way, and yet, at times… not.

All the while, a part of him is screaming for help! You haven’t gotten away from anything, Jack. Fuck you, Jack. Freddie Horvath did something to my brain.

It is an examination of how trauma affects the mind and body, guilt, embarrassment, blame, friendship, abandonment and the horrors humans are capable of committing.

This isn’t a book I can nail down and say “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it.” It’s more like, “What did I just read?” It’s intense, a lot depressing and a little bit hopeful. It’s realistic, paranormal, and dystopian. I wouldn’t call it a perfect novel… my attention wavered half-way through… after all, it was difficult to sit through Mulholland Drive. It is a very good novel. I’m glad I read it all but I’m going to read something uplifting next!

Now, there were some crazy comments made on Jawas Read, Too! pertaining to the numerous occurrences Connor mentions homosexuality in joking or in passing.  I won’t comment on any of that. Suffice to say I found Connor a realistic and endearing character. His friendship with Jack was complicated and wonderful. It’s what held me when my attention wavered.

PS: I do love the cover but I thought the book trailer was rather lame, so I’m not linking to it. Also, I’d really like to introduce Freddie Horvath to Dexter.

Another review: Wandering Librarian

The Ring of Solomon: A Bartimaeus Novel by Jonathan Stroud (2010)

Not twenty-four hours after devouring the old magician and departing his tower with a burp and a smile, I’d been summoned back to another tower farther along the city wall. Before I could so much as open my mouth to protest, I’d been raddled with a Spasm, Whirled, Pressed, Flipped, and Stretched, and finally given a good hard Strippling for my trouble. You might think after all that I’d have been given a moment to pass a few acerbic remarks, but no. An instant later I found myself packed off on the first of many degrading missions, all specifically designed to break my carefree spirit (p 49-50).

Bartimaeus is a joy to read about. His cunning, his wit, his subterfuge – no matter how small a rebellion – and his unique ability to empathize with certain humans causes the reader to marvel at his insolence (which is great), respect his wisdom (which has the benefit of many years experience) and revel in his triumphs (of which there are a few). If I didn’t know any better, I would say Stroud is a djinni. He knows his character well and writes with fluid elegance. Definitely one to consider for a Mock Printz.

The Ring of Solomon has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for Children.

For a comprehensive rundown of the plot for those who read the Bartimaeus Trilogy and those who didn’t, head to A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.

All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab (2010)

Carly wasn’t just my girlfriend; she was my best friend. She changed my life. The shy, anxious, and lonely boy I used to be had grown confident because of her; I began to see value in myself because she saw value in me, and if all I had to do was ignore who she was becoming, well, that was something I was willing to do (p 126).

Neily is a boy lost. Dumped by his girlfriend and first love, Carly, in a very public way, he needs closure. Carly opted for Adam Murray, the pinnacle of Brighton Day School’s rich and brilliant student body, and his fast and loose friends. A year later, Neily finds Carly murdered. There is a trial and a conviction. A man is in jail. The only problem is that Audrey, Carly’s cousin and best friend, is convinced it’s the wrong person – and not just because that person is her father.

Audrey and Neily make an unlikely pair, but the two set out to learn what really happened to Carly.

This is a brilliant book. It sucked me in immediately. In retrospect there was a lot of information to plow through, a lot of characters, and a lot of relationships. But it was clearly and cleverly revealed so I never felt overloaded with its complexity. A strong contender for a Printz!

Read other reviews: A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, Bewitched Bookworms, Lucid Conspiracy, and The Compulsive Reader

The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey (2010)

I want to show you something. There is no name for it; it has no human symbol. It is old and its memory is long. It knew the world before we named it.
It knows everything. It knows me and it knows you.
And I will show it to you.
I will show you (p 4-5).

Will Henry once again narrates a thrilling tale abound with monsters, those that hunt us and those we harbor. Hard on the heels of Will Henry’s encounter with the Anthropophagi, an attractive woman requests the doctor’s aid in recovering her missing husband, John. It is clear from this first interview there is a history between the Dr. Warthrop and this siren, Muriel, whose call the doctor cannot ignore, though he denies her at first.

The real story is that of Warthrop, Muriel, and John. It unfolds against a backdrop of horror, as John returns a changed man.

It has a dozen names in a dozen lands, and it is older than the hills, Will Henry. It feeds, and the more it feeds, the hungrier it becomes. It starves even as it gorges. It is the hunger that cannot be satisfied. In the Algonquin tongue its name literally means ‘the one who devours mankind’ (p 53-54).

The Curse of the Wendigo is every bit as impressive as its predecessor, a Printz honor award winner. The characterization is so impressive. Add to that the chilling but realistic style of storytelling acting metaphorically to raise questions about the darker side of humanity and it is a gripping saga whose final installment I eagerly anticipate reading.

Discussion Questions

1. What is Will Henry refering to when he writes “God’s temple” on page 4? Why do you think he chose this turn of phrase?
2. On page 148, what is Will Henry saying about his service with the doctor? What do you make of this?
3. The Monstrumologist comments that “routine is a kind of death” (p 274). Do you agree? Does this apply to Will Henry?
4. Why do you think Will Henry is so committed to the Monstrumologist? How do other characters define their relationship? How does he characterize his relationship?
5. What is the curse of the Wendigo? Is it an actual monster, as Von Helrung asserts, or do you subscribe to Dr. Pellinore Warthop’s explanations? How do you explain John’s behavior? Why do you think Yancy leaves room for ambiguity?

Definitions:

culvert (prologue xvii), metronomic, discordant, offal (p 4), despotic (p 5), colloquium (p 6), scintilla  (p 7), tripe, disquisition (p 8), ceresin (p 13), profundity (p 15), sobriquet (p 22), obsequious (p 28), fecund (p 35), philocome (p 39), recalcitrance (p 41), convivial (p 49), umbrage (p 73), deputation (p 82), trammeled (p 106), rapacious (p 122), animus (p 127), suppurating (p 147), tonsured (p 152), contagion (p 185), sycophant (p 187), obsequiousness, malodorous (p 192), dolorous (p 194, 342), lugubriously (p 211), punctilious, quaintrelle, truncheon (p 212), inchoate (p 247), patina, archeronian (p 248), terminus (p 276), alacrity (p 232), proboscis (p 315), malefic (p 316), allegiant (p 340), presaged (p 367), tenebrous (p 401)

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)

Nailer clambered through a service duct, tugging at copper wire and yanking it free. Ancient asbestos fibers and mouse grit puffed up around hum as the wire tore loose. He scrambled deeper into the duct, jerking more wire from its aluminum staples. the staples pinged about the cramped metal passage like coins offered to the Scavenge God, and Nailer felt after them eagerly, hunting for their dull gleam and collecting them in a leather bag he kept at his waist. He yanked again at the wiring. A meter’s worth of precious copper tore loose in his hands and dust clouds enveloped him (p 1).

In the ship breaking yards along the Gulf Coast, crews work tirelessly to strip grounded oil tankers of copper wiring and other valuable materials. It’s a thankless, bleak, and dangerous task. Nailer is small enough for Light Crew, those assigned to dive into the tight spaces on a ship to plunder. Conditions are horrible and accidents are frequent. That’s why crews swear blood oaths. So you know someone has your back and you have someone else’s back.

Yet everyone’s looking for a Lucky Strike, a get-rich-quick scavenge that will free them of their drudge life. Nailer and his crew leader and friend, Pima, come across just such a Lucky Strike when a fancy clipper ship wrecks along the coast after a city killer storm rolls through. In their attempt to scavenge the light materials before Heavy Crew workers sliding on crystal arrive to take their find, Nailer and Pima find a beautiful young girl trapped in the wreckage. She obviously swank but she’s alive.

Nailer is faced with a life-changing decision. Does he save the girl and hope for a reward or leave her for dead (the smart thing to do)?

Paolo Bacigalupi has created a fascinating post-oil era dystopia where humanity has paid for their crimes against nature. Cities along the Gulf have been destroyed and buried by category 6 hurricanes called city killers. The few extremely wealthy have usurped power and administer through cruelty. Science has created genetically enhanced “half-men” whose DNA is a combination of animal and human, making them loyal and vicious.

It is in this jungle that Nailer has learned to survive. Though his father beats him and his crew mate betrays him, he begins to change. Instead of sinking in the quagmire of self-interest and brutality that surrounds him, he begins to see through them, to empathize and to detach.

This was not an easy read. It felt a bit like reading a Philip K. Dick book where you are discovering this complex world and how it came to be throughout the work. There is no convenient introduction and explanitory dialog. A fantastic read but it took me a while to plow through it. It’s intense.

Read an interview with the author.

Matched by Ally Condie (November 30, 2010)

I sort and sort and sort until there is no data left for me. Everything is clear on my screen. I am the one who makes it go blank (p 33).

Cassia has just turned seventeen and, like every seventeen year old in the Society, she is nervous about her Matching. As in Lowry’s Newbery-winner The Giver couples are based on compatibility. Algorithms based on personal habits, interests and genetics are used to determine your life mate and optimize healthy offspring. Cancer, colorblindness and other genetic faults have been eradicated thanks to the Society.

But when Cassie’s name is called, the screen is blank. When she is finally matched with her best friend, Xander, she is releaved. Until her datapod shows someone else as her Match, the enigmatic Ky.

There are hints of other dystopian works here, shadows of Logan’s Run (starring Michael York) with a termination date (albeit much later in the Society) to dispose of the aging. Equilibrium (starring Christian Bale) also forbade “artifacts” that challenged the Authority and controlled it’s population using pills. Food is strictly monitored in the Society, more so than in Lowry’s The Giver. There is a watchfulness reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984.

Though these and other comparisons exist, Matched is a solid, comprehensive read, if often circuitous and wordy in driving home it’s points. Condie should rely more on her (sometimes) elegant passages to convey feeling rather than reinforcing them with drab, explanatory sentences after an exchange made them apparent for all but the dimmest readers.

Take, for example, the quote above and another on page 88,

I always enjoy those few seconds in the theatre before a showing, when all is dark and I am waiting. I always feel a drop in my stomach-wondering if, when the lights of the showing come on, I might find myself completely alone. Or wondering if the lights won’t come up at all. I feel like I can’t be sure; not in that first moment. I don’t know why I like it.

Reading into this even a little, we see that the Society maintains it’s hold over citizens by keeping them preoccupied with the mundane, though Cassie has an inherent curiosity that needs only a little push. (Enter Ky.) But Condie explains this, redundantly, later. So, like many other teen novels so close to excellence, this could be trimmed by about a third.

There appears to be a war going on outside the Providence, of which we have limited knowledge. It seams clear that a sequel will take us there.

There are a few weaknesses in the plot. Cassia’s situation is, in many ways, the result of a Society experiment carried out by one Official for kicks and giggles. Just for fun. As an aside. There is no urgency or malice here, the way there is in many other dystopian novels, like Caragh O’Brien’s Birthmarked.

But perhaps this is its strength. The Society appears so much less malicious than other dystopian governments that action seems foolish. Cassia only sees the cracks when the Society shows them to her. Even her family members, especially her grandfather and father, who see the faults and question, do not act but as pacified.

With so much of their lives controlled, is seems incongruous that so many of the interactions between Ky and Cassia go unwatched. I was expecting a more formidable ending. Then again, I wasn’t expecting a series. But, as Ky and later Cassie observe, the Society seems to be cracking.

Read other reviews: Persnickety Snark, The Compulsive Reader, Kirkus (starred review)

Mistwood by Leah Cypess (2010)

She looked like a deer poised for flight, her slim body taut in an incongruous gown, her face sharp and still. Then she turned and was gone, and Rokan dropped back into his pillow, limp with relief. She was going to do it. She was going to watch over him. Best of all, his biggest worry had just ceased to exist. She didn’t remember what happened last time, the real reason she had fled to her woods (p 61).

Isabel is the Shifter, a thing of fog and mist living in her wood. She can shift into a cat, a wolf, an eagle or turn her skin to stone. But when the King calls on her, she must answer. She is bound to protect the throne, an impulse she cannot ignore.

So, when Rokan approaches her, she could evade him but doesn’t. He ties a bracelet around her wrist to bind her and ensure her aid, for her last assignment did not end well.

Mistwood is full of political intrigue, conniving characters and usurpers. Isabel, with little memory of her life outside the woods, recalls information intermittently as needed. But will it be soon enough? Who is trying to kill Prince Rokan and why? More importantly for Isabel, why can she not shift within the castle walls? What happened to her ten years ago that she retreated to her woods wounded and crying?

This is a good read that will keep you on the edge of your seat and awake well past your bedtime. The action begins immediately and the reader is putting the pieces together with Isabel.

The book’s flaw is that it is so focused on the unraveling mysteries, that it fails in two other important areas.

First, it fails to adequately develop the romance between Isabel and Rokan. I applaud subtlety but this was practically muted and I didn’t quite feel Isabel’s decision at the end was justified, especially considering the second failure.

Cypess does not expound upon the larger political scene. There are vague hints about what is happening outside the King’s castle but not enough to fairly say one man would rule better than the other. We have only Rokan’s opinion that Kaer (the rightful King) would have failed the kingdom.

So, in terms of quality, I would rank it below books like Graceling or Fire by Kristin Cashore but above books like Gone by Michael Grant or Need by Carrie Jones.

Cypess is a first-time author so a William C. Morris Debut Author nod may be in her future.

The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt (2010)

Jake Kincaid was known as the dowser. With a forked branch, he’d made his way from the Arkansas Territory to Missouri, stopping at farms to find water for new wells. His plan was to raise enough money so he could do what he wanted and never pick up a branch again. But the dowsing was a gift. ANd a gift might be abandoned, but it will always be there, waiting to be claimed (p 1).

Magical Realism as a literary genre is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastical elements in otherwise realistic novels.

The Water Seeker has several elements of magical realism. The most obvious is dowsing. In occultism, dowsing is the use of a forked piece of wood to detect such hidden resources as water, minerals and other treasures.

Jake inherited the ability to dowse for water from his father but turned to trapping to make a living instead. Seemingly resentful of his gift, he dowses for wells only when need be, as folks they settle west into North America during the early 1800s. Unbeknownst to him, Jake passes on this gift to Amos, his only son.

There are also magical elements surrounding Amos’s mother, Delilah, who dies in childbirth. Birds are ever-present around Amos, as they were for Delilah, appear in many pivotal scenes:

• Delilah has just given birth to Amos, with her mother as nursemaid.

“Tell Jake I done my best. Don’t let the baby forget me.”
With that, she took her last breath. The cabin and the world outside the window grew silent. And every bird at Bittersweet Creek flew away (p 9).

• Amos tries to swim and almost drowns.

Amos flapped his arms and kicked his feet. Somehow he managed to reach above again. He looked into the sun. Black dots circled in the sky. Just as he realized th dots were crows, he sank again (p 82).

• When Eliza dies on the Oregon trail, a group of sparrows land nearby.

“Amos felt the need to strike something, and he sat up and swung at them. ‘Get out of here!’ (p 191)”

• There are many more. The wise owl hoots when Amos learns the truth of Rebecca’s death (p 231). His Indian friends are Sparrow Hawk and Blue Owl.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow (September 2010)

Plain Kate was thinking of witches. How in bad times people were more eager to buy her objarke, but also more likely inclined to take a step back, to crook their fingers at her when they thought she wasn’t looking, or when they were sure she was. How they wanted the witchcraft to protect them, but how they looked too for a witch to blame. It didn’t matter that there was no magic in her blade, people saw it there. They saw witchcraft in her skill, witch marks in her mismatched eyes, her bad luck, her long shadow (p 19-20).

This is a review of an advance reader copy received at ALA Annual from the publisher, Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Plain Kate is a carver’s daughter. As such, Kate had a carving knife “before most children might be given a spoon” (p 1). When her father dies, Kate is left with little but her talent and her ucommon looks which makes her an easy target in a witch hunt.

When a stranger comes into town offering Kate an attractive trade, her world changes. Linay is a true witch and will grant her heart’s desire… in exchange for her shadow, for he knows “a lady who lacks one” (p 24).

Without a shadow Kate flees her home and takes up with the Roamers, a band of nomads who will accept Kate if she can successfully contribute to their group. Through her wanderings, Kate learns of Linay’s plans for her shadow and the story of a true witch woman wrongfully burned.

A coworker of mine (and children’s book author) brought this title to my attention, saying it was getting a lot of buzz for its language. The opening chapters are, indeed, poetic and smooth. But I found the writing inconsistant. While I read eagerly at the start, I finished languidly.

Kate’s closest companion during the story is a talking cat, whose personality is a delight. But in terms of fantasy, I felt little connection to the world Bow created. Nothing like I feel when I read Kristen Cashore or Garth Nix or Neil Gaiman.

Like Abby the Librarian mentions, it seems a lot happens to Kate, rather than because of her. The cover is attractive (the final book will include embossing and matte film lanination) and so I hope it will go out. I would reccommend it but doesn’t seem like a contender to me. I’m eager to read what others think. Will it be on Mock Printz 2011 lists? Will it be shortlisted for the William C. Morris Debut Author award?

Read more reviews: The Zen Leaf, Chick Loves Lit

* UPDATED AUGUST 30, 2010 *

Here are some snipits from our mock Newbery group discussion:

• We all had some trouble with the ending. What exactly was going on there? It didn’t seem clear.
• Some disagreement about Kate. Is she a wet noodle or is she strong. Some argued that she struck out on her own (a big decision for a lone women in that setting), found a place for herself to live and ultimately joined up wtih the traders to escape death. Others say she was swept along and didn’t seem active.
• The intensity and peril of Kate’s situation was in complete contrast to the lyrical, poetic language that set a mellow pace.Some loved this. I found it harder to enjoy.
• Why does Kate drop the knife at the end of the book? The knife metaphors are so important in the story… a knife can cut both ways – friend/foe (regarding the Roamers and Linay).
• This will appeal to Hunger Games fans.
• (p 305) The songs is a beautiful metaphor for story and how it changes over time… how story changes when it chages hands.
• Loved the concept of magic as an exchange of gifts and how a witch cannot lie.