Happy Teens Who Love to Read

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Mock Printz Winner 2013

After delaying the meeting twice due to weather, the Eva Perry Mock Printz Book Club met for their final decision on what books published in 2012 would be the Mock Printz winners. After much lively discussion, we had our final vote.

The winner is Railsea by China Mieville

Things cited about this books were its fantastic, unique setting, and the gorgeous writing of Mieville.  People also loved how, despite the fact that the setting is archaic and foreign, Mieville puts you right in the middle, so that you are experiencing things as the characters might.  The people in this world don’t know what we know about trains and helicopters, etc.  Mieville also creates new words in the English language, which is what will happen in the future, when this books is set.

We selected two Honor books:  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein and The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp.

For Code Name Verity, the group loved the characters in this book, two very different girls with a strong bond of friendship.  We also liked how the narrator was unreliable, and we didn’t know what the truth was until the very end of the book, and maybe we never will know the full truth about Verity.  The theme was carried through the book in all sorts of ways you didn’t realize.

Children and the Wolves was probably the most controversial book in the club.  The content is horrific.  There isn’t a hero, and whether or not Wiggins is even a sympathetic narrator was up for debate.  The writing was condensed.  At times, there was even discussion of “is there a theme?” and if that matters for a book.  It was hotly debated.  In the end, what we could all agree on, was that this book was unique and we know that Printz is famous for giving edgy books a shot.

What a year.  What were your picks, and are you ready to hear the official winners tomorrow?

Eva Perry Mock Printz Shortlist 2012

Last night, we started taking nominations for the Printz Award.  Here is the list of nominees so far.
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

The List by Siobhan Vivian

Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand

Railsea by China Mieville

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Zoe Letting Go by Nora Price

We will be taking more nominations next meeting, but this is the list so far.  I can’t wait to see how the club will narrow it down.  There are some great nominees this year.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne Valente

September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows – and their magic – to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back. Fans of Valente’s bestselling, first Fairyland book will revel in the lush setting, characters, and language of September’s journey, all brought to life by fine artist Ana Juan. Readers will also welcome back good friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. But in Fairyland Below, even the best of friends aren’t always what they seem. . . .

Feiwel and Friends

Find at WCPL

Visit with Jasper Fforde, October 2012

Jasper Fforde meets Printz Club (from left to right): Heather, Ellen, Lindsey (me), Danny, and Karen.

Several of our Printz Club members received the opportunity to meet privately with Jasper Fforde before a book signing at Quail Ridge Books and Music on October 22, 2012.  Right before his public speaking event, he met with club members to answer questions about writing, his books, and some of his inspirations.  For this year, Fforde is the author of The Last Dragonslayer, one of the books in consideration for the Mock Printz Award. 

A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

When Helen Cartwright’s home is burned down with her family still inside it, she escapes with nothing but a suitcase and a vow to find out who’s responsible. Launched into an underground London, where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil, Helen learns that she is one of a select few charged with a responsibility she has unknowingly been trained her whole life to accept.  In her newfound role, Helen finds herself torn between one of her heroic protectors and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who nearly destroyed her. Now, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel.

Dial Books for Young Readers

Find it at WCPL.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life–a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

Henry Holt

Find it at WCPL

Railsea by China Mieville

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory. But no matter how spectacular it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than traveling the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-coloured mole she’s been chasing since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it’s a welcome distraction. But what Sham finds in the derelict-a series of pictures hinting at something, somewhere, that should be impossible-leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

Del Rey/Ballentine Books

Find it at WCPL

Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould

When 16-year-old Laura della Scala learns that her older sister, Beatrice, has drowned, she is given no time to grieve. Instead, Laura’s father removes her from the convent where he forcibly sent her years earlier and orders her to marry Beatrice’s fiancé, a repulsive old merchant named Vincenzo. Panicked, Laura betrays a powerful man to earn her way into the Segreta, a shadowy society of women who deal in only one currency—secrets. The Segreta seems like the answer to Laura’s prayers. The day after she joins their ranks, Vincenzo is publicly humiliated and conveniently exiled. Soon, however, Laura begins to suspect that her sister’s death was not a tragic accident but a cold-blooded murder—one that might involve the Segreta and the women she has come to trust.

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die. In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man–a bioengineered war beast named Tool–who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible. This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi’s highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.

Little, Brown