Printz Award Books

The Printz Award is given by the American Library Association to outstanding books written for teens.

Title: Going Bovine

Author: Libba Bray

Awards:

Genre: fantasy, humor

Author Info: Libba Bray is the author of the popular Gemma Doyle Series, Going Bovine, Beauty Queens and The Diviners. Libba has a gay Presbyterian minister for a father and a high school teacher for a mother. Libba Bray was in a terrible car accident when she was 18 and lost her eye, and now has a glass eye. Libba has a web page, a blog, and of course a Twitter and Facebook account. She currently lives in New York with her husband and son.

Plot Summary:16 year old slacker Cameron finds out that he has contracted mad cow disease and is going to die, which he isn't too thrilled to find out. But then a combat wearing punk angel Dulcie shows up and tells Cameron that he can save himself and the world by finding Dr. X. So Cameron and his video game loving dwarf friend Bonzo set off on an adventure across the country to save the world. During their travels they pick up a talking yard gnome. One begins to wonder if Cameron's crazy journey is just hallucination induced by his illness or if he really is on a road trip to save the world.

Critical Review: The plot is absurd and filled with strange and quirky characters and absolutely insane scenarios, but Libba Bray has a way of making it work. It's funny, adventure filled and at times quite tragic as the reader starts to discover that Cameron's crazy adventure is just all part of his brain's hallucinations as the mad cow disease takes over and Cameron begins to die. Only Libba Bray could write something so tragic seem so lighthearted and fun.

Reader's Annotation: Shortly after Cameron gets the news that he is dying a combat wearing punk angel named Dulcie appears telling him that he can save himself by going on a crazy journey to find Dr. X. So Cameron and his video gaming dwarf friend Bonzo set off on a crazy adventure across the US and pick up a talking yard gnome along the way. But can Cameron truly save himself or is this all part of disease induce dream.

Book Talk Ideas: A book talk can't go wrong with a talking yard gnome, which would make for a great hook in the book talk.

Curriculum Ties: n/a

Reading Level/Interest: High School

Possible Challenges: There is some sexual scenes that some parents might find offensive, especially for younger teens.

Title: Ship Breaker

Author: Paolo Bacigalupi

Publishing Info: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010

ISBN: 0316056219

Other books in the series: Drowned Cities

Awards: National Book Award Finalist, Printz Award, Locus Award

Author Info: Paolo Bacigalupi is a fantasy,sci-fi and short story writer. His debut novel Windup Girl was name of the Time's Top Ten Books of the year in 2009. He has one countless other awards for his works. Ship Breaker was his YA debut and was received with great success. Paolo now lives in Colorado with his wife and son.

Plot Summary: Nailer is a young boy who lives in the gulf coast which has been flooded by the rising waters. To make money Nailer scavenges tanker ships for copper wiring and other raw goods. It's a long, tireless and dangerous job but it's how Nailer survives. Everyone in Nailer's village is looking for a "lucky strike" that find that will set them up for life and get them out of their job working on tanker crews. Then one day after a storm Nailer's "lucky strike" happens. An expensive and beautiful Clipper ship is shipwrecked on shore and Nailer is the first to find it. The bought could be scavenged for more wealth than he could possible ever make in a year of tanker scavenge. But it turns out there is something far more valuable on the ship, a young rich girl. He know has two choices save the girl and risk his life or pillage the ship for all it's wealth and the the girl to her fate.

Critical Review: Ship Breaker is a gritty , faced paced dystopia novel filled with violence, bleak surrounding but colorful well developed characters. Nailer's grueling life of stripping tanker ships is nothing compared to the struggles he goes through to save himself and Nita, the rich girl from the boat from her tribes who want her dad and Nailer's drug addicted violent father who wants to exploit the girl for her wealth. At times the violence was almost too much, but it really helps tell the story of the how people lived and survived in the story. Without all the grit the story would seem to clean, too happy and the story line wouldn't feel the same, it wouldn't have that grim and desperate feeling.

Reader's Annotation: Nailer is forced to scavenge tankers and risk his life everyday in small dark holes while dreaming of a better life. Then one day his dream comes to him in the form of a crashed clipper ship, but the treasures on the ship go beyond gold, oh no the treasure Nailer finds is something far more valuable.

Possible Challenges: The story contains some very graphic violent scenes. There is also drugs and alcohol abuse in the story which some find offensive.

Why include this book? 

Title: American Born Chinese

Author: Gene Luen Yank

Awards: Printz Award, National Book Award Nominee, ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults.

Author Info: Gene Luen Yank started drawing comics in 1996 and received the Xeric Grant for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. His graphic novel American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to ever be nominated for a National Book Award. Gene Luen Yank has won countless awards for his work and continues to write and draw. He also teaches computer science at a Catholic high school in California. 

Plot Summary: The comic has 3 story lines, one of a monkey king who wants to take work his way up to the gods, Jin Wang who moves to a new neighborhood and is the only Chinese-American student and Chin-kee who is the embodiment of Chinese stereotypes and is ruining his cousins life by embarrassing him at school. While the stories seem unrelated they are far more related then believed at the beginning.

Critical Review: I enjoyed how the three separate story lines came together in the end and create one cohesive story built upon the three story lines. The artwork is also wonderful with bright bold drawings.

Reading Annotation: An action filled modern Fable the story includes three separate story lines that culminate to create a unique twist ending.

Book Talking Ideas: The story centers around trying to fit in and stereotypes, those would be good themes to focus on for the book talk.

Curriculum Ties: N/A  

Reading Level/Interest Level: Middle school/High school

Possible Challenges: The story contains racial stereotypes about the Chinese community which some may find offensive.

Title: Looking for Alaska

Author: John Green

Publication info: Speak, 2006

ISBN: 0142402516

Genre: realistic fiction

Author Info: John Green is an award winning and New York Times best selling author. He is runs several successful Youtube channels including the Vlogbrothers. The Vlogborthers is a videoblog between him and his younger brother Hank Green that they started back in 2007. It has lead to the development of the Nerdfighters, a group that celebrates all things nerdy and try to decrease world suck through charitable donations and activism. John also has an educational youtube channel called Crash Course that produces short educational videos on history. John is married with a son and is an extremely interactive author with his fans. He communicates with them through Twitter, Youtube, and his tumbler account. John tours the world talking about his books and his various side projects. Before John's career took off as a write he worked for the magazine Booklist. It was there that he started working on his debut novel and became friends with Irene Cooper, who John credits for his writing success. John's debut novel won him a Printz Award and critical acclaim. Since then John has released 7 books, 2 of those were collaborations with other authors. His most recent book has named by many critics as the best novel of 2012.

Awards: Printz Honor, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, ALA's Top Ten Books for Young Adults, Booklist Editor's Choice, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

Plot Summary: The story exists in two parts: before and after. The before is the story of Miles, who lacks friends and anything very exciting except for his obsession with people's last words. He enrolls in a boarding school in Alabama where he meets Alaska Young. Alaska is beautiful, quirky and unbalanced and Miles falls for her. The before story focuses on how Miles who has never had an exciting life is sudden drawn into the crazy and always exciting world of Alaska. Though Alaska's self-destructive is bound to catch up with her and when it does Miles is left to deal with the after.

Critical Review: Looking For Alaska counts downs to an event that you aren't aware of while reading and this countdown stirs interest, what could possible be the after, what is the before? The reader finally discovers that the book is based on the before and after of Alaska's death. The tragedy that rocks Miles world also rocks the reader. Despite Alaska's faults and her destructive behavior she is an enjoyable character. 

Reader's Annotation: When Miles meets Alaska he finds himself attracted to her despite her obvious unstable mental state and destructive pattern. Alaska is the type of girl who drags you into her crazy world and you find yourself not wanting to leave, or at least that's how Miles felt. But when Alaska's destructive behavior reaches it's tipping point will Miles be dragged down with her?

Curriculum Ties: Some schools have used Looking For Alaska as part of their high school English class required reading.

Reading Level/Interest Level: high school

Challenge Issues: there is drinking, smoking, foul language and sex

Why include this book? The book has received critical praise and John Green is known for not speaking down to teens and writing smart, witty and honest books centered around the lives of teens.