Wonder Struck

by Brian Selznick

JFic Selz

Wonderstruck is the followup to the Caldecott winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret which is probably the wordiest book to ever the award. Both use a series of prose and pictures to tell a story. They both take place in the past and both deal with orphans. They are both amazing books from start to finish. It took me around two hours to finish them each and I would say it was better than going to the movies.

It is 1977 in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, and Ben Wilson is a young boy who has lost his mother. He now lives with his well-meaning aunt and uncle who are struggling financially, sharing a room with a resentful and bullying cousin, Robby, and wishing for the one thing that he can never have. Robby, partially deaf, has grown up in the sheltered world created by his mom, a single mother and librarian who fed his fascination with outer space and covered their fridge with her favorite quotations, and she isn't coming back.

Interspersed with Ben's story is that of a young girl, told only in pictures. Her story begins enigmatically- a small girl sitting at a desk, surrounded by models of skyscrapers which appear to be made after the view from her window of the 1927 New York City skyline. Why does she write a note with the words "Help Me" on it? Is she a prisoner in this room where she must have spent so many painstaking hours creating the models around her? Why does she seem fixated on a famous actress, enough so to climb down the tree outside her window to sneak off to see one of her silent films at the movie theater?

The two stories are expertly interwoven and when they collide it definitely pulled at my heart strings. Brian Selznick I am sure will be put on the short list again this year for the Caldecott award along with a whole mess of other awards and honors.

The pages of pictures out number the pages of text by taking up 460 of the 608 pages. The pictures themselves have a cinematic tone by using angles and zooming in and out through the pictures. This gives an effect of focusing in on the character and creating a sense of movement and scope. All of the pictures are black and white and done in either pencil or charcoal with a cross-hatching style.

I would highly recommend either of his books. The Invention of Hugo Cabret will be coming out to theatres as Hugo in November.

Monster

by Walter Dean Myers
YAFic Myer

Monster is one of the more popular young adult of the last decade after winning the Michael L Printz Award and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor book. It is as well known for its realistic subject matter as its unconventional format. The book is split up into sections of part screenplay and part diary all written by the main character Steve Harmon.

Steve Harmon is a young African American teenager who has grown up in Harlem and now finds himself on trial for the charge felony murder. To help himself understand how he got to be in this situation he decides to write a screenplay about all that goes on as it really happened. After the beginning introduction introduces this, the credits roll and the rest of the book is in the form of an actual screenplay with cuts and cues and everything. I didn't find this all that difficult to read as I mostly skimmed over it and just concentrated on who was speaking and what was being said. Diary like voice overs are interspersed in the screenplay of Steve speaking about what his inward feelings and thoughts.

Other than the format of the book, which I didn't find that strange, the other strange thing is that Steve Harmon didn't actually kill anyone. He may or may not have been involved in a robbery that resulted in the death of the owner of the store they were robbing. Steve's alleged part in this robbery was that of a lookout. He allegedly went into the store to see if any cops or other people were in it that would give the actual two robbers any trouble. Once I learned this it changed my perspective of the book from how a young man feels to be on trial for murder to how a young man can make the kind of decisions to end up in this situation. This becomes more unclear as the story goes on since Steve is the one writing the screenplay and as the trial develops Steve starts rationalizing his part in the robbery to the point of not having actually been there at all.

The book is a fast read and you are genuinely invested in the verdict by the end. With a strong message of how the simplest of decisions can snowball into drastic repercussions and how they having a lasting effect on you and those around you.

Locke & Key

Written by Joe Hill

Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

YAFic Hill

Locke & Key is a horror comic released by IDW in monthly issues and bound together in trade hardbacks. There are currently three volumes out now with the fourth being planned for July. There is suppose to be a total of six volumes by the end. The story evolves around the Locke family who have moved back to the family estate, Keyhouse, after a horrible tragedy befalls them. Keyhouse, on Lovecraft Island, is not a normal house. There are many keys to be found within the estate and each key has a specific special power, but since this is a horror comic there is also a sinister "spirit" trying to get the keys especially one key in particular to unleash the big bad that the house has captured. That is the initial setup, but there is more that I just wouldn't want to spoil.

I had tried getting into this series a few times because I had heard several times how great it is, but my first attempts weren't successful. Neither the art not the story telling really grabbed me. I would highly recommend choosing to atleast start out reading this series with the first trade Welcome to Lovecraft. Reading several issues in one go helps you get a feel for the story's pacing.

I may not be totally in love with the artwork here but I do really dig the use of perspective. A comic book will move the eye as it should which Gabriel Rodriguez does but he also moves your eye to the reveals. Throughout the series the reader is more aware of everything that is going on than the characters which is done by the careful dialouge of Joe Hill's and the small tellings that are included in the panels without sacrificing the pacing of the story. I hope you can check out all the volumes out together or put them on hold because this one addictive story that will have you sweating to get a hold of the next one.

2011 Michael L. Printz Award

The 2011 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellance in Young Adult Literature was given to Paolo Bacigalupi for his novel Ship Breaker.

It is a fast-paced postapocalyptic adventure set on the American Gulf Coast. Nailer works light crew; his dirty, dangerous job is to crawl deep into the wrecks of the ancient oil tankers that line the beach, scavenging copper wire and turning it over to his crew boss. After a brutal hurricane passes over, Nailer and his friend Pima stumble upon the wreck of a luxurious clipper ship. It's filled with valuable goods—a "Lucky Strike" that could make them rich, if only they can find a safe way to cash it in. Amid the wreckage, a girl barely clings to life. If they help her, she tells them, she can show them a world of privilege that they have never known. But can they trust her? And if so, can they keep the girl safe from Nailer's drug-addicted father?

The 2011 Printz Honor Books were Stolen by Lucy Christopher, Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick, and Nothing by Janne Teller.

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.

2011 Newbery Medal Winner

The 2011 Newbery Medal was awarded to Clare Vanderpool for her debut novel Moon Over Manifest.

It is the story of 12-year-old Abilene, who has spent her life riding the rails, that was sent away by her father to stay with Pastor Shady Howard in Manifest, Missouri, a town he left years earlier; but over the summer she pieces together his story. In 1936, Manifest is a town worn down by sadness, drought, and the Depression, but it is more welcoming to newcomers than it was in 1918, when it was a conglomeration of coal-mining immigrants who were kept apart by habit, company practice, and prejudice. Abilene quickly finds friends and uncovers a local mystery. Their summerlong “spy hunt” reveals deep-seated secrets and helps restore residents’ faith in the bright future once promised on the town’s sign.

The 2011 Newbery Honor Books were Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.