National Book Awards 2011 - Young People's Fiction

 This year there are SIX finalist in the Young People's Literature Division of the National Book Awards:

Chime by Franny Billingsley - which we read and discussed in the Goodreads Mock Printz Group.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai - we read and are discussing in our SJCPL Mock Newbery book club tomorrow and I mentioned it.

Shine by Lauren Myracle - which we read and discussed in the Goodreads Mock Printz Group and I mentioned it.

 Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt - one of my top choices in the SJCPL Mock Newbery book club.

Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin - Johnathan Hunt mentions this on the Heavy Medal: Mock Newbery blog as a Newbery contender but I haven't read it yet.

My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson - this one comes to me out of left field! Last year Dark Water by Laura McNeal took me by surprise and I ended up reading it for Nerds Heart YA and LOVED it.  Will have to pick this one up soon too!

The winners will be announced Wednesday, November 16, 2011 so that gives us one month to get our read on!

Which ones do you still need to read?

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Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai - Review

Inside Out and Back Again
Thanhha Lai
HarperCollins Children's
2/2011

Ha and her family are forced to move from Saigon to Alabama.  They not only leave behind their life experiences and their belongings but also Ha's father who was captured by the military.  They haven't seen nor heard from him in years and are afraid that, if he is alive, he will never be able to find them in America.

In Saigon the family is mostly happy but very poor.

Yam and manioc
taste lovely
blended with rice,
she says, and smiles,
as if I don't know
how the poor 
fill their children's bellies.

And the high cost of everything without any additional money coming in combined with the encroaching war is what convinces the mom that leaving is their best bet.  Their father's military connections land them a coveted spot on a naval ship. All is not well in America.  The family is ostracized and Ha is bullied at school.

Things will get better,
just you wait.


I don't believe her
but it feels good
that someone knows.

The brothers and the mom look for work and try to support themselves, not wanting to depend on the American who "sponsored" them, especially since he didn't really want a family.  Throughout the parts in Alabama, we also listen in as Ha learns English with all of it's confusing rules.  This helps to lighten the story somewhat.

Historical fiction works well as a verse novel.  The spareness of the prose makes the images seem more stark and heartfelt. The story takes place over one year, opening and closing with Tet, the lunar new year.  Ha's wishes on both these days help to solidify the changes we see happening to her over the course of the novel.

Possible Pairs
All The Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg
Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle
The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez

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