Fresh Picks for Spring Reading
Joyce Adams Burner, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 4/10/2008
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Surprisingly original characters crop up in this spring’s new young adult novels. In circumstances comic or tragic, facing physical peril or personal crisis, these protagonists speak with refreshingly clear and honest voices, and are sure to enliven class discussions and reading.
“He was way too different. Don’t get me wrong. I like different. I am different. But when different goes too far, it stops being a statement and just becomes weird.” Phoebe is aghast at flamboyant cousin Leonard Pelkey, arriving in pink and green plaid Capris and platform sandals, in James Lecesne’s Absolute Brightness (HarperTeen, 2008). Leonard quickly charms Phoebe’s mom’s beauty salon patrons with his winsome makeover tips, and joins the drama crowd at school, but Phoebe and family only tolerate him. Then Leonard is murdered, and regret takes over as Phoebe wrestles with good, evil, and the ambiguities of her relationship with Leonard’s killer. Lecesne juxtaposes humor and tragedy, asking hard questions about acceptance and homophobia as he skillfully develops multifaceted characters through detail and leisurely pacing.
In Neal Shusterman’s disquieting, futuristic Unwind (S & S, 2007), abortion is illegal, but parents can have their teens “unwound”—harvested for their body parts. Connor’s parents signed his unwind order in frustration with his behavior; Risa is a ward of the state, being unwound due to budget cuts; Lev is a tithe, a tenth child born to his family to be sacrificed back to the greater good. Escaping en route to Harvest Camp, the three join an underground system of fellow fugitives. Taut with tension, Unwind is loaded with complex characters and unsettling moments, occasionally graphic. Delve into its questions probing the pro-life/pro-choice debate about who determines the value of human life and at what point, as well as the impact of free will, religion, and socio-economic affluence.
Joan Bauer’s comic Peeled (Putnam, 2008) finds teen reporter Hildy Biddle hot on the trail of a ghost. When a dead body is discovered in the Ludlow orchard, rumors fly as cryptic signs appear, asking “YOU DIDN’T THINK IT WAS SAFE, DID YOU?” Hildy uncovers the real story behind the haunting—shady real estate developers manipulating the market through fear—as she navigates high school dilemmas and budding romance. Peeled offers a winsome entry into issues of journalistic free speech and the impact of sensationalism in the media, particularly through Polish immigrant Minska, a veteran of the underground press.
Thin, poised, and popular, Jenna conceals the shame of her misfit childhood as fat, lisping, picked-on Jennifer, in Sara Zarr’s Sweethearts (Little, Brown, 2008). Young Jennifer shared this stigma with soul mate and sole friend Cameron, whose father inflicted appalling sexually-charged abuse on the pair. Cameron disappeared from school, Jennifer believing him dead. When Cameron enrolls in Jenna’s high school, she is traumatized and shaken by repressed memories as her carefully maintained persona gives way to destructive behaviors. Zarr weaves realistic characters grappling with human imperfection and the permanent marks left by early experience, touching on eating disorders, identity, popularity, abuse, and triumphant personal courage.
“I climb up onto the top rung of the rail…I shut my eyes, knowing that in a second the pain will be gone forever and I’ll be free.” Jaime Adoff’s The Death of Jayson Porter (Hyperion, 2008) traces the botched suicide attempt of a biracial teen caught between ghetto streets and the privileged academy he attends on scholarship. Tensions build until his best friend dies in a meth-lab explosion, and Jayson gives in to the suicidal thoughts he has entertained for months, jumping from a seventh floor walkway, and surviving with a broken neck, facing months of rehabilitation. A near-poetic quality marks Jayson’s dynamic voice as he struggles with issues of sexuality, abuse, self-esteem, and racial identity.
Teenagers Mumtaz and Jameel are caught between East and West in Suzanne Fisher Staples’s The House of Djinn (Farrar, 2008). Mumtaz’s uneasy home is in Pakistan with extended family, while cousin Jameel and parents live in California, returning to Pakistan each summer. When beloved grandfather and family patriarch Baba dies, Mumtaz and Jameel learn that their marriage has been arranged, Jameel to become the clan’s new head. A treacherous family feud breaks open, and the teens flee to the desert in a gripping story brimming with action, intrigue, and heartfelt devotion. Staples introduces a playful element through the djinn, mischievous spirits, and explores the cultural clash surrounding education and Western influence on young Pakistanis growing into leadership roles.
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