The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

I completed the YALSA Morris Finalist Challenge! The final book I read was

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
written by Stephanie Oakes

The polygamous Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust. And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too. Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it's clear that Minnow knows something -- but she's not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of -- if she's willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past. Description provided by publisher

Like Conviction, the last Morris Award finalist I read, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly also explores the main character's beliefs. But unlike the main character in Conviction, Minnow doesn't seem to be struggling with her faith. It seems pretty clear that Minnow doesn't buy into the Kevinian cult's beliefs and her struggles are how to live within a secluded community where women are kept illiterate and only valued for childbearing and rearing. Her only contact outside the cult is Jude, a boy who lives in the woods with his father and is almost as ignorant of the real world as Minnow is. After a horrific encounter with the Prophet, Minnow runs off and eventually ends up in a juvenile detention center. There she learns how to have faith in herself. 

This book is based on the Brothers Grimm's fariy tale,The Handless Maiden.

Conviction- Book Four of the YALSA Morris Challenge

I'm on track to finish the five books in the YALSA Morris Challenge by the January 11 deadline. This week I read

Conviction 
written by Kelly Loy Gilbert
A small-town boy questions everything he holds to be true when his father is accused of murder. Description provided by the publisher

Braden is a sixteen-year-old whose life has been marked by abandonment. Braden's mom dumped him off at his dad's when he was just a baby, his older brother Trey bailed when Braden was seven, and now his dad Mart has been arrested for the murder of a policeman and is in jail awaiting trial. Braden always believed if he did the right things God would take care of him but now he wonders if God is testing him. Even baseball, the game he's played all his life is letting him down.

In Conviction, Gilbert explores these relationships. Braden had always been able to rationalize his overbearing dad's actions and emotions. Mart has been the only constant in Braden's life and the son both loved and feared his father. Braden also holds out hope that someday Trey and Mart will reconcile. Recent events also cause him to question his relationship with God. Braden grapples with who or what to put his faith in. As he struggles with issues of family, faith, and redemption, Braden learns that life isn't black and white. 

YALSA Morris Challenge Update

I'm finally home after spending a week visiting relatives in the Northeast. I brought two of the books for the Morris Challenge,  Because You'll Never Meet Me and The Weight of Feathers, with me on my trip. These books will not be discussed in detail here because I'm still trying to catch up at home and work after being away for a week but I wanted to at least post the publishers' descriptions.

Because You'll Never Meet Me

written by Leah Thomas

Ollie, who has seizures when near electricity, lives in a backwoods cabin with his mother and rarely sees other people, and Moritz, born with no eyes and a heart defect that requires a pacemaker, is bullied at his high school, but when a physician who knows both suggests they begin corresponding, they form a strong bond that may get them through dark times. Description provided by the publisher

   

The Weight Of Feathers
written by Anna-Marie McLemore

For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows-the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find. 

Lace Palpma may be new to her family's show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean eath, and she's been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it's a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace's life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees. Description provided by the publisher

Both stories involve secrets from the past that now affect the lives of the main characters.  While they are very different books- Because You'll Never Meet Me is an epistolary novel that is sometimes borders on science fiction and The Weight of Feathers is a novel steeped in magical realism, I thought they paired well together.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

 This is the first book that I read for the Morris Challenge and I fell in love with Simon, the book’s main character. Simon is a gay teen who isn’t struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, it’s just a part of who he is. Up until now it’s been a very secret part, not because he is afraid that his parents and friends will disapprove but instead because he doesn’t want them to make a big deal about it.

Unfortunately Simon forgot to log out of his email account on one of the school computers.  Simon’s classmate, Martin reads the email, discovers his secret, and now is blackmailing him. Martin wants Simon to fix him up with a certain girl or else.  Not only Simon will be outed but so will the guy with whom Simon’s been carrying on an email relationship. Simon is pushed out of his comfort zone in so many ways and begins to realize that change isn’t always a bad thing.

Albertalli writes about friendship, family relationships, and burgeoning teen romance in a voice that is believable and one that all teens- straight or gay- can relate to.

I’m off to a good start for the challenge. I’m about to begin my second book- Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas. 

The YALSA 2016 Morris Challenge

I have so many books in my TBR pile and I've been having trouble deciding on the next book to pick up and read during this busy holiday season. Last night I was online catching up on my blog reading and came across the 2016 Morris Challenge on YALSA's The Hub. According to YALSA, "The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first awarded in 2009, honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature. The award's namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults."

All of the challenge guidelines can be found here. To complete the challenge I must read all five 2016 Morris finalists before Monday, January 11, 2016. The books are:

Because You'll Never Meet Me written by Leah Thomas

Conviction written by Kelly Loy Gilbert

 The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly written by Stephanie Oakes

The Weight of Feathers written by Anna-Marie McLemore

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda written Becky Albertalli
I started the book this morning and I'm enjoying it so far. I like the protagonist's voice. Simon is a sixteen-year-old guy who happens to be gay. He hasn't come out yet to his family and friends but he doesn't think that it will be a big deal to them when he does. Simon explains that he isn't ready yet because there have been a lot of changes in his life over the last few years and he's tired of redefining himself and having others redefine him. Simon states, "All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again." This sounds like something most teens, gay or straight, can relate to.

Middle School Visits and Ryan Dean West

Last week the teen department supervisor and I visited one of the local middle school to booktalk some of the titles in our YA collection. We did five booktalking sessions with two eighth grade classes attending each time. We chose "safe" books (see 9/23/15 post) for the talks because we weren't sure what the school librarian and the English teachers considered appropriate for their students. 

The booktalks went well and most of these books have since been checked out from our collection. But while my supervisor was speaking, I noticed an eighth grade guy surreptitiously reading Winger by Andrew Smith. He looked up and saw me watching him. I think he thought he was about about to be busted but instead I gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, "Great book." He looked surprised, smiled, and shook his head in agreement. As his class was getting ready to go back to their room, he came over to me and told me that Winger is the best book he ever read and he's glad that his English teacher recommended it to him. I told him that I was reading Stand Off, the sequel to Winger. He was excited to learn that there was a sequel and hoped that his teacher would add it to their classroom library.

I wish I could have booktalked Winger or Stand Off. Smith writes about bullying, sexuality, loss, and friendship in a way that will ring true with teens. In Stand Off he even tackles the subject of sexual consent without sounding preachy. The main character, Ryan Dean West is incredibly likable and believable. He is funny without being obnoxious. Ryan Dean is also incredibly horny (which in my limited experience seems to be a normal state for most young teen boys) and rates everything on the Ryan Dean Scale of Hotness. For example, he rates the school therapist "a piping hot five out of five bowls of Ethiopian Doro Wat." This is the type of book I would have loved a librarian to recommend to my son when he was thirteen or fourteen but I'm not sure that all parents would feel that way. 

So here's my question. When I visit the schools do I include some books like Winger that might offend some parents or do I continue to play it safe? The English teacher that set up our visit said that she is fine with books that might be a little "edgy" and even has some in her classroom library. The school librarian seems to feel differently and told us she blacks out some language in the school library books. How do you choose your books for school visits?

Zero Day

Zero Day
Jan Gangsei
Disney-Hyperion (January 12, 2016)
368 pages.

Description (provided by publisher)

Eight years ago, Addie Webster was the victim of the most notorious kidnapping of the decade. Addie vanished-and her high-profile parents were forced to move on.

Mark Webster is now president of the United States, fighting to keep the oval office after a tumultuous first term. Then the unthinkable happens: the president's daughter resurfaces. Addie is brought back into her family's fold, but who is this sixteen-year-old girl with a quiet, burning intelligence now living in the White House? There are those in the president's political circle who find her timely return suspicious.

When a national security advisor approaches Darrow Fergusson, Addie's childhood best friend and the son of the president's chief of staff, he doesn't know what to think. How could the girl he's missed for all these years be a threat to national security? Still, at the risk of having his own secrets exposed, Darrow agrees to spy on Addie.

He soon realizes that his old friend is much more than the traumatized victim of a sick political fringe group. Addie has come home with a mission...but will she choose to complete it?

My Thoughts:

I am a big fan of television shows like 24 and Homeland where I suspend all belief, fasten my seat belt and hang on for the ride. I read the description of Zero Day on Net Galley and was intrigued so I requested an e-galley copy. Just before I received the copy I read a Kirkus review of this novel. Kirkus called it a "thriller that didn't thrill and suggested that you "skip it."  Because of this I almost passed on Zero Day but I'm glad I ignored the review. I found Zero Day fast-paced and thrilling enough to recommend to my 14- and 15-year-old teens who are tired of dystopian novels but still want excitement and suspenseful reads. I think this will appeal to those teens who enjoyed Ally Carter's All Fall Down and Maggie Hall's The Conspiracy of Us.

My only complaint was with the development of some of the minor characters, especially Addie's sister Elinor. I don't know if Zero Day is part of a series, but if so maybe we'll learn more about these characters in a later novel. If Addie's adventure continues in another novel, I plan on taking that ride too.