Review 9 The Dragons of Babel

Swanwick, Michael. The Dragons of Babel. New York: Tor, 2008. Print.

Citation:

            War has come to Will’s small town and when a Dragon crashes into his village his life will never be the same.  After becoming the Dragons’s lieutenant Will knows that he will never be the same and after that he will not be able to stay.  As Will makes his way to Babel he encounter a menagerie of fantasy characters and animals.  Once in Babel he become part of a con operation but this con will have a lasting impact on Will and his future.

Justification for Nomination:

Where to begin?  This book goes beyond Steampunk and Fantasy, it has elements of both as well as gritty city drama, noir, and war.  The world that exists in The Dragons of Babel has both human and fantasy characters interacting in a setting that weaves modern world and fantasy world seamlessly.  The reader should be cautioned that this mix will be a tad confusing at first but do not be discouraged; read on.  It will be worth it.  The Dragon in the beginning is actually a sentient machine (just the first clue in how amazingly unique this world is) and it gets into the mind of young Will and is forever with him.  The city of Babel itself is like New York if New York had elves running its high society and frogs running its seeder saloons.  The Dragons of Babel is not an easy read, but it is definitely worth the read.  

I would recommend this to readers who have a love of challenge and an ability to enjoy crossed genre.  Michael Swanwick must be a student of the Fantasy genre.  His book is filled with references to mainstream and obscure fantasy stories and characters.  To call this book merely a Fantasy/Sci Fi tail is to do it a disservice.  The story has con men and corrupt government officials, a coming of age element, weird and sometimes graphic fantasy/horror elements that blend together to create a world that cannot be adequately described in a simple sentence.

The Dragons of Babel  won the Alex award and should be considered for a Printz because of its creativity and grand storytelling.  If you do not like fantasy a lot just wait, the next couple of chapters may unfold like a classic noir style story or a gritty urban story.  That is what really makes The Dragons of Babel work.  It works because it gels so many different genres into a comprehensive whole that is readable and enjoyable even when it is challenging the reader.

 Genre:
 

Fantasy/Sci Fi, Alex award winner*

*with elements of many other genres woven in.

Review 8 The Giver

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell for Young Readers, 1994. Print.

Citation:

The Giver tells the story of Jonas who lives in the Community.  In the Community “sameness” is the operating principle.  All members know what they are to do and not to do.  There are no real choices for them to make.  When Jonas comes of age (12) he receives his job assignment for life.  However Jonas is chosen to be The Receiver for his community.  This is a strange new thing for Jonas and what he is about to learn in his job as Receiver in training will open his eyes to the truth about the Community.  Jonas will learn that what seems perfect on the surface comes at a very steep price. 

Justification for Nomination:

The Giver is a well written book and at 180 pages it is not a hard book to get through.  Lois Lowry has packed a lot into those pages.  The story of the community unfolds at first as a happy and peaceful (if not a tad dull) place to live.  As the reader learn more about the Community through the eyes of Jonas the reader comes to realize what a soulless place the community is.  After I finished reading The Giver I found myself thinking more and more about it.  It has what all great books have and that is the power to stay with you.  The Giver is constantly being challenged for banning.  I am not sure why.  I do not think I will ever understand why.  While the Community is the end point of conformity and groupthink (I think George Orwell would have loved this book) and seems to be the apex of social control the book is hardly an advocate for this lifestyle.  Likewise the objections to the depictions and concepts of euthanasia are not advocated, in fact , I think this book speaks strongly for individualism and freedom of thought and deed,  I can think of no book I have read that argues and discusses these ideas in such an accessible way.  No young reader who reads this book is going to turn into a soulless state controlled pawn or want to live that way.  The Giver forces the reader to think about all the things taken for granted; freedom of thought and deed, memories both good and bad, and the right to exist in the manner that the individual sees fit.  The Giver deserves to be nominated for a Printz award because it is a story that will take little time to read but will stay with the reader for a long time.  

Genre:

Sci-Fi (Dystopian), Coming of Age       

Review 7 24 Girls in 7 Days

Bradley, Alex. 24 Girls in 7 Days. New York: Dutton, 2005. Print.

Citation: 

Jack Grammer is a senior in High School and is not exactly what you would call smooth with the ladies.  As Prom approaches it is obvious that Jack will never be able to ask out anyone on his own so his best friends Percy and Natalie create an online personal ad for him.  Unexpectedly the ad creates a slew of responses: it appears that a lot of young women would like to go to prom with Jack.  The problem becomes how to choose just one.  Jack  now has seven day to date twenty four girls and pick one for the prom.  As if that was not hard enough jack is falling for the mysterious FancyPants who is not part of the prom contest but seems to know Jack and to be really concerned for him.  Prom is fast approaching and time is running out who will Jack choose and who is really the right one for him? 

Justification for Nomination:

24 Girls in 7 Days deserves a nomination for a Printz award not because of its plot, which is creative but not that new or exciting.  What it deserves a nomination for is how well it author Alex Bradley writes characters.  Jack, the main character, is written as shy and unsure but with wit and humor and a good idea of who he is, or at least who he thinks he is as the moment.  The other main characters are drawn equally well with back stories that really make them real.  Percy and Natalie who are Jack’s best friends have as much going for them as characters as Jack does.  The only characters that lack dimension are the stock girl stereotypes that Jack has to date in his quest for a prom date.  That shallowness and two dimensionality work because the girls are not that important other than to serve as a foil for Jack and his quest.  Each girl does in turn teach Jack something about human nature as well as Jack’s own nature.  Bradley’s gift for dialogue really helps to make his characters authentic and relatable to the YA reader.  I really like the idea of a love story turned on its ear and told from the perspective of a boy.  Jack is sensitive as well as confused and it is his sensitivity that leads him to a truth about himself and his quest for a prom date that give the book a very satisfactory and ultimately realistic ending. The answer to the question “who is FancyPants?” worked on so many levels and really helped to show how much Jack had grown as a person during his quest and shows how well Bradley paid attention to character development.  The scene where we learn who Fancy Pants is is both a heady reveal and a touching and tender moment.    

 In one scene Jack has to ask his best friend if she can teach him how to kiss, what follows is an awkward and all too real exchange that made me uncomfortable for the both of them and immediately reminded me of how I was with my female friends when I was Jack’s age.  The sexual tension between to friends of the opposite sex was so realistically written that I had to keep reading the book to see where it went.  This kept me up well past my bedtime which in my book is the sign of a good book.   While the plot is somewhat typical of a teen love story the characters and their dialogue make 24 Girls in 7 Days a real treat to read and a book at least worthy of a nomination.  Who says that all winners of a prestigious book award have to be about heavy and somber topics?    

     

Genre:

Romance, Love Story.

Review 6 The Circle of Blood

 

 Ferguson, Alane. The Circle of Blood: a Forensic Mystery. New York: Viking, 2008. Print.

Annotation:

Cameryn Mahoney is like most high school teenagers except that she works as an assistant for her father who is the county coroner.  She has just recently met her mother and is trying to figure out how her mother fits into her not so ordinary life when a murder case implicates her mother and Cameryn must now use her forensic and investigative knowledge to clear her mother’s name and find the real killers before her mother is found guilty of a crime Cameryn is fairly certain she did not commit.

Justification for Nomination:

I will have to admit openly that after the first chapter of The Circle of Blood I was ready to write it off as a good book, worth reading but not a Printz award nominee.  As I finished the book I realized that my hasty judgment was wrong – very wrong.  Alane Ferguson has written a book that is filled with great mystery and gritty realism.  The research she did into how the forensic work is done shows strongly in the scenes involving crime scene investigation and autopsy.  What really makes The Circle of Blood work however is her main character: Cameryn Mahoney.  Cameryn’s story is improbable but not implausible and it is made all the more plausible and believable because Cameryn is a fully developed character.  She is a young woman who has a goal and a dream: to be a forensic investigator but  she is still a young woman who has to deal with her emotions and the strangeness of having  a long lost parent suddenly return to her life.  Cameryn must assist her father with his coroner duties and still go to High School herself.  In between crime scenes Caneryn must deal with all the normal things High School girls have to deal with.  Without such a brilliantly complex yet believable character The Circle of Blood would just be another whodunit with no charm or relatablility.  Because of my reaction to this book I will seek out and read the books that came before it and cannot wait to read the book that will follow this one (The Circle of Blood ends with a great and really creepy cliffhanger).YA readers and adults will enjoy getting to know Cameryn Mahoney and will really become engrossed in the mysteries she finds herself entangled in.  The Circle of Blood is a sleeper hit in my reading this summer and goes to prove that you cannot judge a book by its cover – or at least its first chapter.

Genre:

Mystery/Thriller