A favorite kid-lit blog (brought to my attention last semester by Kerri-Ann) announced the Cybils winner list. The bloggers have spoken, and they love Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.
Now that I have a new post going, I would like to add that I look forward to being more familiar with all the awards given out by ALA and others. I looked at the YALSA page and browsed some of the lists. The Alex awards are a clever idea.
I recently read one of this year's winners, Black Swan Green. And even though it is about a teen, I'm not sure if I would have thought to recommend it to one. But of course, I realize this would be a great novel for a sensitive kid struggling socially at school.
This novel takes place in England in the early 1980s. Like my previous post mentioned, I lived there at the same time. (The time frame is no coincidence. My sister and I are ruminating on writing a screenplay that depicts our childhood during this time, so we are reading various materials that depict this era to help remind us of all those little details one forgets. )
Mitchell's writing is spooky, poetic and just generally lovely. The time frame lends itself to the story, (colored by mentions of popular music and Thatcher's government, ect. ) but anyone could relate to Jason's personal triumphs and failures throughout one year living in Black Swan Green. We have either already gone through it, or we need to know that we will survive it!
It's got a bit of everything. Some passages are funny, but over all, this is no Adrian Mole. The atmosphere is somber and tense most of the time, and very, very internal. Could be particularly good for a kid who gets picked on a lot.
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2 comments:
Thanks so much for writing about the Cybils! We do love Nick and Norah!
Here's one of the things we'll talk about when we read adult books that have won the Alex Award - is a book written for adults that has a teen protagonist always something that teens want to read? Hmmmm?
There are of course different types of readers and that's of course why there are different types of books. A reader of Black Swan Green I think isn't the same reader of Nick and Norah. Or, maybe it's the other way around. A reader of Nick and Norah isn't the same as a reader of Black Swan Green.
Can teen librarians have collections that meet the needs of all of these readers? That's the challenge of course.
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