Interestingly, Jasper Jones is the first book by an Australian author that I have read.  The funny part is, I had no idea Craig Silvey was from Australia.  As I cracked the book open, I noticed that some of the words  were odd.  And the dialect of the characters didn’t look phonetically like anything from the U.S.  So finding out he was Australian made a lot of sense.  Once I established the language bit, I appreciated the story and the setting.  The only exception was […]

Destiny is one of those themes that seems to be present in quite a few of young adult novels.  How it’s handled in A.S. King’s Please Ignore Vera Dietz was different from what I’ve read before.  Even though there was quite a bit of swearing and some sexual deviancy, I’d still recommend this book for mature readers that are high school age. The story is told in flashbacks and from different characters adding their commentary to the main plot points.  The principal character is Vera.  […]

This book continues my march through the Printz Award winners.  Just as I was considering switching to another list, I read my way to Code Name Verity and it’s reinvigorated my commitment to reading the Printz winners. The story is set in the WWII era and is told through letters written by a Nazi prisoner who was on a secret mission for the British.  Through flashbacks we learn how she arrived there and who the other characters are that we will meet later in the […]

The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais is the latest book club pick, due mostly because of the movie that just came out.  I’m always a little hesitant to read a book just because there’s a movie about it.  Especially since no one in my book club has seen it.  But it’s not a long book and it’s about cooking and the clash of cultures in Europe, so I figured there was going to be something I’d like.  And I was right. The book is […]

In Darkness by Nick Lake won the Printz award in 2013.  Since I’ve been on a kick to read through the Printz award winners and nominees this one was at the top of the list.  The book’s subject is Haiti. Both the Haiti of Toussaint l’Overture and of the 2010 earthquake.  Lake is from England so I was curious how a writer from England was going to handle a former-French colony in the Caribbean.  Overall, I think he did a good job.  But the connection […]

I’ve been on a quest to read more current young adult literature to augment the classic literature I hand out in class.  Basically, I need to find more modern and contemporary pieces that I can recommend that are outside of the typical “classic literature” cannon.  So I turned to reading my way through the Printz awards.  Many of the well-known young adult authors got their starts from the promotion of this award and I haven’t read a book from this list that I didn’t like. […]