Author: Emma Donoghue
Published: 2010, Little, Brown and Company
336 pages
Jack has lived all five years of his life in "Room" with Ma. He knows the four walls of Room and all the furniture inside and nothing else. The only glimpse he gets of the outside world comes from the TV he is allowed to watch for an hour a day, but Ma tells him that most of the things he sees on the TV (other children, ice cream, potato chips) are just pretend. And sometimes at night, while Jack is hiding in Wardrobe, he gets a whiff of fresh air when Old Nick types in the code that opens Door and enters Room.
When Old Nick is in Room, Ma is not herself, but Jack busies himself by counting the number of times Bed creaks as he lies in Wardrobe. On the mornings after Old Nick's visits, sometimes Ma has spots on her neck and a hoarse voice, but they go right along with their day as usual. One day Jack's world is turned upside-down when Ma reveals that she has been lying to him for his whole life, and that the things he sees on TV actually do exist outside of Room.
I don't want to give too much away, because this is a book I feel many of you might actually go out and read yourselves, but I will say that the reason Jack and Ma are in Room is far too dark for innocent Jack to comprehend. Writing from his perspective, Donoghue has done a great job of keeping the reader in the dark but still intrigued. If you still aren't convinced, watch this creepy video from Amazon.
Another thing I'll say about this book is that I think the characters are extremely well developed. Jack's character is a bit contradictory at times, in that sometimes he cannot understand a simple concept or word and other times he is making extremely mature observations and conclusions. But besides those minor slip-ups, Jack is a good character. Sometimes he hates Ma, and sometimes he loves her. He's a good kid, but not too good. Ma is another one who's totally believable. She's not a saint -- sometimes she loses her patience with Jack, sometimes she stays in Bed for an entire day -- but she's still likable. Donoghue proves that characters can have flaws and still be likable, and I wish other authors would follow her lead.
This book won an Alex Award, which doesn't actually mean that much in the literary world, but it's another one of those lists I recommended for finding good books. I also recommend not reading any of the reviews unless you want to know the ending, which I know most of you will probably do anyway. One person I know for sure will do this is my own Ma, who, somewhere in a basement, is sitting at a computer and clicking "Add to Cart" on her Amazon account right this minute. And I also know that as soon as my Ma gets her copy in the mail, she will proceed right to the last page to see how it ends. So much for keeping it mysterious!
I decided to put an end to my "week-long series of posts" because I noticed my page views decreased dramatically. I guess it was just too much Julie in one week. That's fine, though, and because I want to produce a blog that you actually want to read, I will avoid giving so many negative reviews in a row and I am going to add a "recommended" tag to all the books I liked, to make it easier for you to find a bunch of them at once.
Now I want to move on to what this post is actually about: the ALA 2011 Youth Media Award Winners, announced earlier this week. Most of the books featured on this blog are young adult or "YA" books, which means the intended age group is about 12-18 years old. The reason I'm so interested in these books is because they have experienced a surge in popularity among all age groups in recent years (think Twilight and Harry Potter), and I think that means there is something special about them that really strikes a chord with many people. I also read many books intended for a slightly younger audience, although I have not blogged about many of them because I think they have a more limited audience.
Based on my interest in these two types of books, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the two ALA awards I am most interested in are the John Newbery Medal and the Michael L. Printz Award. So here are the winners and honorees of my two favorite ALA awards:
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| 2011 Newbery Winner |
Newbery Winner "for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature": Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool
Newbery Honors: 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; One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
I just want to quickly mention how relieved I am that The Dreamer was not awarded the Newbery or even a Newbery Honor. It was awarded, however, the Pura Belpré Award for "honoring a Latino writer whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience."
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| 2011 Printz Winner |
Printz Winner "for excellence in literature written for young adults": Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Printz Honors: Stolen by Lucy Christopher; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King; Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick; Nothing by Janne Teller
I realize it's very "librarian" of me to push award-winners, but there really is something to the award process and if you're looking for something good to read and don't have time to browse, these lists are usually a pretty safe place to start. Another great list that may be a little less prestigious but may be more interesting for my readers, is the list of Alex Awards "for the best 10 adult books that appeal to teen audiences."
Take a closer look at some of these lists and I guarantee you will find at least a couple books that interest you. I'm most excited to read Ship Breaker and Nothing, but you can probably expect to see most, if not all, of these books on here eventually.
