Wessel Ebersohn writes thrillers that illuminate the society and culture of South Africa. The October Killings is his first book based in the new, post-apartheid South Africa.
The October Killings also marks the first appearance of character Abigail Bukula, who will be central to a continuing series of novels. Her partner in this novel, Yudel Gordon, prison psychologist, was the principal character in a series of previous novels, beginning with A Lonely Place to Die (Pantheon, 1979).
While this is an adult thriller with adult characters, its teen appeal lies in its global setting and the fact that the book’s events originate in Abigail’s teen years.
EBERSOHN, Wessel. The October Killings: A Novel. 336p. Minotaur. 2011. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-312-65595-2. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–Wessel Ebersohn wrote political fiction in South Africa in the 1980s that was frequently banned by the government and eventually lead to a self-imposed exile. He has returned to writing with The October Killings, a sharp and provocative mystery set in the modern post-Apartheid era. Abigail Bukula heads the gender desk of the South African Department of Justice. With an impressive title but little autonomy, she finds that the daily bureaucratic frustrations are approaching the breaking point. Then Leon Lourens comes to her in desperation. She last saw him 20 years ago when they were teenagers and she was living with her parents, African National Congress activists. He was a member of a team of white soldiers sent to invade her home. When things went horribly wrong, Leon defied orders and saved her life. Now the soldiers making up that team are being murdered one-by-one in identical fashion each year on the anniversary of the raid. Leon is one of only two left alive, with the target date just five days away. Complex ideas and characters are made relatable through a taught and suspenseful plot. Teens will be absorbed by the underlying message that there are no easy answers to many political dilemmas, even when the motive is simply to do the right thing. No previous knowledge of South Africa is necessary to appreciate the drama, but readers may be inspired to move on to a deeper exploration of its past and present through the writings of J.M. Coetzee.–Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee high School, Fairfax County, VA
Known as the “female Jackie Robinson,” Toni Stone played baseball from 1932 to 1954, defying both racial and gender barriers. She didn’t just play, she played with and as one of the best.
For teens, this will hit home as not only a sports story, but also as the story of a young girl who was determined to find a way to do what she loved above all else.
ACKMANN, Martha. Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone. 274p. photos. bibliog. index. notes. Lawrence Hill. 2010. Tr $29.95. ISBN 978-1-55652-796-8. LC 2010007019.
Adult/High School–In Cooperstown, she is but a footnote: the first woman to play in the Negro League. Ackmann wanted to know more about Stone, who had a dream as a child, and as a teenager, and as a young woman–to play baseball. And that meant not just being out there on the field, but also being the best ballplayer her physical abilities and mental toughness would allow. Ackmann presents the remarkable story of Stone’s considerable talent and unwavering determination in this fully researched, thoughtfully rendered, unflinchingly honest biography. “Tomboy Stone” realized early on that the only way to play ball at the level she was capable of playing was to get out there with the boys. She would have to ask the guys to give her a chance time and time again. She got her chance and she made the best of it. In the face of repeated prejudice against her race and against her gender, she put on her glove and took the field. She worked harder than anyone to get better, earning the respect of many of her fellow ballplayers. Some would never accept her, but there was sufficient acceptance for her to enjoy (and suffer through) a career of some two decades of playing baseball. With 16 pages of black-and-white photos, Curveball is highly recommended for all collections.–Robert Saunderson, formerly at Berkeley Public Library, CA
YA author and editor David Levithan published his first adult novel last month.
David’s books generally appeal to both teens and adults, and certainly the same will be true of The Lover’s Dictionary. In this case, the need for categorization feels overly… fussy. But there it is — this is his first adult book with teen appeal!
David is among the most popular authors with the teens in my library. His books are rarely on the shelves. However, I am a little behind, and only processed this one yesterday. Anyone have teen reactions to this book yet?
LEVITHAN, David. The Lover’s Dictionary: A Novel. 224p. Farrar. 2011. Tr $18. ISBN 978-0-374-19368-3. LC 2010014392.
Adult/High School– Less than 200 entries comprise The Lover’s Dictonary, a lexicon whose definitions tell the story of a young New York couple fitfully navigating their way into–and eventually out of–their relationship. From Abberant to Zenith, each word seems arbitrary enough to have been selected by an open page and a pointed finger. Yet each one of them sparks a random reflection or recollection that together, and out of sequence, powerfully revisit the events and emotional spectrum of a relationship that spans several years. The result is as captivating and jarring as a screen-saver that haphazardly scrolls old photos–and memories. Not all of them are pretty, or happy or even good, but together they tell a more complete, if not ever finished, story. Levithan portrays the foibles of a lover’s anxiety and insecurity with the knowing humor and deftness of Woody Allen as he manages to retain the vulnerability and tenderness that have marked his YA novels. The issues in the relationship: alcoholism, commitment, moving in and living together, distinguish it from a teen novel. Yet teens, especially his fans, will be drawn to its insights into relationship, love and self-doubt. They will also find that the dictionary format of the book cleverly expands and improves upon the prose-poem novels that are popular with some teens.–John Sexton, formerly of Westchester Library System, NY
Gothic mysteries from Jane Eyre to Rebeccato Diane Setterfield’s Alex Award-winning The Thirteenth Tale are popular with teen readers who enjoy mystery, suspense, romance, and a touch of horror or the supernatural.
One of my favorites, which also has teen appeal, is John Harwood’s The Ghost Writer (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). It is a layered, spooky ghost story about a boy who discovers his mother’s secret past. And Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart is an all-time favorite of one of my student bookgroup members. I really must add it to my pile!
Today’s review highlights Kate Morton, who has recently made a name for herself in the genre.
MORTON, Kate. The Distant Hours. 560p. Atria. 2010. Tr $26. ISBN 978-1-4391-5278-2. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–In 1992, Edie Burchill’s life is on the downturn. She’s just broken up with her (first and only) longtime boyfriend and her relationship with her parents, never easy, is so bad that she can’t even tell them. So when a long-lost letter arrives and her typically reserved mother dissolves into pained sobs, Edie immerses herself in the mystery. And what a mystery: during WWII, Edie’s mother was evacuated to Milderhurst Castle along with the Blythe sisters, including beautiful, mesmerizing Juniper. This is a fat, fireside gothic that weaves between Edie’s story as she researches the Blythes and the story of Edie’s mother and the sisters during the war. The tales intertwine and echo one another (Edie and the sisters are haunted by overlapping family secrets and by the children’s book written by the sisters’ father), and revelations are parsed out slowly, building to an intense climax when all secrets are finally laid out and laid to rest. Morton is known for exactly this kind of cross-generational English gothic, leavened with the merest hint of romance, and her growing popularity (already considerable in her native Australia) is deserved. The Distant Hours takes too long to get going (although once it does, it’s addictive, especially the 1940s scenes), but teens who liked Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006)–and didn’t mind the pacing of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian (Little, Brown, 2005)–should enjoy this book and will be delighted to know about Morton’s earlier (and shorter!) titles: The House at Riverton (2008) and The Forgotten Garden (2009, both Atria).–Karen Silverman, LREI, Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, New York City
Long-time favorite Alice Hoffman has a new book out today. Like The Probable Future (Doubleday, 2003) and Blackbird House (Doubleday, 2004), The Red Garden is a group of interconnected stories, this time set in rural Massachusetts from colonial times to the present.
Many teens have already discovered Alice Hoffman through her YA titles, Green Angel (Scholastic, 2003) and Green Witch (Scholastic, 2010), and Incantation (Little, Brown, 2006). The Red Garden is not a bad place to begin, and may well start a run on her older adult titles from Practical Magic (Putnam, 1995) to Here on Earth (Putnam, 1997). The Probable Future might be the most popular, about sisters who develop magical gifts when they turn 13.
HOFFMAN, Alice. The Red Garden. 288p. Crown. 2011. Tr $25. ISBN 978-0-307-39387-6. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–High in the Berkshire Mountains, a group of 18th-century settlers puts down tentative roots and forms a community that comes to be called Blackwell, Massachusetts. The humans are far outnumbered by bears on land and eels in the river, and yet they persevere through one brutal winter after another. One of the original settlers, Hallie Brady, develops a deep bond with a bear cub that continues to visit her even as it grows to adulthood. During one such visit, an alarmed neighbor misunderstands its intentions and shoots it. The patch of soil where the bear dies turns a “peculiar red,” a mystery that baffles Hallie’s descendents for the next two centuries. The stories of these descendents flow in subsequent chapters as easily as an eel through water. Strangers come to town and leave behind seeds of folklore: John Chapman plants a tree; a gypsy man leaves his collie; a girl in blue haunts the riverside. Each chapter unveils a new generation, reshaping the memories of the past into new myths for the future. Many of the narrators are teens with the same yearnings and conflicting emotions teens experience today. Should they follow their heartfelt instincts or keep them hidden from the world? Readers who love Alice Hoffman’s young adult novels will have no problem slipping into the spell of The Red Garden, and fans of linked short stories will appreciate the intricate patterns woven by the generations of Blackwell storytellers.–Diane Colson, New Port Richey Library, FL
Back in late October when I first read Little Princes by Conor Grennan, I raved about it here briefly. Now that it is finally available (tomorrow is the official release day!), I want to add that this inspiring book should be in every school and public library. I do not say that often or lightly.
I recently had a chance to meet Conor at ALA Midwinter, and to interview him for an upcoming issue of the SLJ Teen newsletter (look out for it on February 16th). I urge anyone who has the opportunity to bring an author into a school, public, or academic library to consider pursuing Conor as a speaker.
Not only is Conor personable, well-spoken, and funny, his message is the importance of getting involved, of “just showing up.” He encourages young people to volunteer their time even if they worry that they lack the necessary skills for the project at hand.
Take a look at the wonderful website devoted to the non-profit that Conor created, Next Generation Nepal. I especially enjoy the page where he explains why he wrote the book.
GRENNAN, Conor. Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. 304p. HarperCollins/Morrow. 2011. Tr $0. ISBN 978-0-06-193005-8. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–Twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan began a year long trip around the world with three months of volunteer work in a Nepalese orphanage to justify the extravagance. As his friends had mentioned and he himself realized as he stood on the doorstep, he had absolutely no skills for the job, but he became deeply committed to reconnecting trafficked children with their families of origin. His account of no comforts, dull food, and a tangle of children are both hilarious and poignant. This is an action packed, breath-holding adventure of the heart and soul as Grennan negotiated steep mountain trails and bureaucracy while founding a non-profit organization and falling in love with an equally committed and passionate woman. His intelligence and humility shine through, and insights into the culture and the difference one person can make are evident. Grennan is able to poke fun at himself while his uncanny inner drive to see and act clearly is obvious. While comparisons to Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea (Penguin, 2007) are inevitable, this book is more accessible and possesses more immediate teen appeal.–Amy Cheney, Alameda County Library, Juvenile Hall, CA
It is 1592, and zombies have overtaken London. Who better to stop the undead than Shakespeare?
And oh yes, Shakespeare is himself a vampire because, really, how could anyone write so many great works in one lifetime?
HANDELAND, Lori. Shakespeare Undead. 320p. St. Martin’s/Griffin. 2010. Tr $13.99. ISBN 978-0-312-64152-8. LC 2010014437.
Adult/High School–Sure, this is a trashy romance in which William Shakespeare is a vampire and his leading lady is a zombie hunter. It’s also a densely layered piece of postmodern pop art through which Handeland argues for reclaiming Shakespeare as a popular artist, placing the Bard on an artistic continuum with The Wizard of Oz, The Sixth Sense, and Twilight. At the same time she parodies such different sources as Shakespeare in Love, Will in the World, and anti-Stratfordian tracts, showing that thinking that Shakespeare’s poems and plays offer direct access to the poet’s personal life is as ridiculous as believing that Shakespeare was a zombie-hunting vampire. Her own narrative, which manages to offer teens an interesting mystery, a romance that would put Edward and Bella to shame, and a healthy helping of zombie gore, preempts any criticism of its own superfluity by offering up Shakespeare’s plays (specifically Two Gentlemen of Verona) as prototypical examples of potboiler plots teeming with subtextual power. Perhaps most surprisingly, though the attempts at the language are horrendous, Handeland does a creditable enough job of portraying Elizabethan England that the novel would work as curriculum support in a history course as well as it would in an English class. This is a novel likely to be unjustly overlooked, that in fact offers something for just about everyone.–Mark Flowers, John F. Kennedy Library, Solano County, CA
I have been looking forward to introducing Jo Walton’s Among Others. It is a glorious book, and not only because it is a celebration of books and readers and libraries and librarians.
The dedication: “This is for all of the libraries in the world, and the librarians who sit there day after day lending books to people.”
It is hard not to swoon.
There are several specific teen readers to whom I cannot wait to hand this book. It will appeal primarily to science fiction and fantasy readers, but it will also appeal to others who simply love to read. That feeling permeates the book, and the fantasy elements will not put off readers who might usually scoff at them. First, the entire book is the journal of a 15-year-old girl, Mori, and her voice is true. Second, the author does a good job of parsing out the revelations, of making the reader yearn to know exactly what happened to Mori’s sister, to encounter her mother, to learn more about the nature of the fairies, to gradually question the intentions of Mori’s three spinster aunts.
Among Others has plenty of teen appeal and librarian appeal. It is flush with wonderful quotes, such as “Libraries really are wonderful. They’re better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.”
And why is Mori so excited about books? Because she has a really hard life, and she feels safe with them. Books allow her to explore the world without being hurt by it. Books are her refuge, her instruction manual, and her joy.
Publishers Weekly printed a brief interview with Walton in the November 29, 2010 issue. I was intrigued by the implication that the author used parts of her own autobiography within the story, as well as her answer to the question of whether Among Others might be considered YA.
WALTON, Jo. Among Others. 304p. Tor. 2011. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-7653-2153-4. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–At the beginning of this mesmerizing fantasy novel, Mori is recovering from the confrontation with her mother that killed her twin sister. Relatives ship her off to England, away from her Welsh village, hidden from her mother, to the father she has never met. In journal entries, Mori writes about being sent to boarding school where no one speaks to her, Saturday trips to a nearby village library, and missing home, her sister, and the fairies, whose advice she needs now more than ever. She writes about the books she is reading, how they compare to others, and the authors she loves. Her only escape is through books, especially science fiction and fantasy. She knows that her mother will find her eventually. In late November, desperate, she casts a spell for protection. The very next day she learns about a Tuesday evening science-fiction bookclub at the town library, where she makes friends and meets a beautiful boy who shares her interests. Did her magic cause them to appear, or were they there all along? Mori’s writing is matter-of-fact, even as she flashes back to the horrible events of the past and prepares for the inevitable final encounter. This is fantasy firmly grounded in reality. Magic does not dominate, but its potential is always lurking. The fairies are not wispy and sweet, or full of good intentions. Mori feels apart from the world and wonders if she will ever have a normal life, a feeling many teens will recognize. For anyone who loves reading, who needs books as much as air to breathe, this book is a gift. For young science fiction fans, Among Others will be a revelation.–Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
If you know mature teens who are true mystery fans, a few of the other best novel nominees might be good suggestions. In fact, most of them involve teens, though they do not have teen appeal to the extent that they were reviewed here. (We read all except Queen of Patpong).
Faithful Place is about two teenagers who planned to run away together, but the girl never showed. 22 years later her skeleton is found near the designated meeting place and the boy, now man, investigates her murder. Caught follows the parents of a missing 17-year-old and the other adults trying to find her, and Lippman’s I’d Know You Anywhere is about a 38-year-old woman who is contacted by the man who abducted her when she was 15. I have written about Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter here before. (It was one of my personal favorites of 2010.)
The Edgars also have a Young Adult category, which includes a nomination for the very popular, 2011 Printz Honor-winning Please Ignore Vera Dietz.
Today’s book review is of a suspenseful, coming-of-age thriller. Beautiful Malice was published for the YA market in some countries, but in the U.S. it was published for adults.
JAMES, Rebecca. Beautiful Malice. 260p. Bantam. 2010. Tr $25. ISBN 978-0553808056. LC number unavailable.
Adult/High School–When this debut novel opens, the ending is known. Katherine has a secret: she is a young mother, and her close friend is dead. The narrative focuses on three time periods in her life–flashbacks to when something horrible happened to her sister, the aftermath of that tragedy when Katherine tries to move on with her life and meets Alice, and the present, when Katherine is raising her five-year-old daughter. Most of the story focuses on Katherine’s relationship with Alice, who is the kind of girl everyone wants to be around–vivacious, interesting, and self-possessed beyond her years. Soon though, it is clear that Alice is not all she appears to be as her actions progress from testy, to cruel, to disturbed. When she is 17, Katherine discovers she’s pregnant, and while everything falls too smoothly into place with her boyfriend and parents, it triggers a dangerous situation in which the one she loves the most will pay the consequences. Jodi Picoult fans able to ignore some unlikely coincidences will be entertained by the fast pace of this psychological sketch. With hip characters and a punchy plot, this Australian import will easily find a YA audience in the United States as well.–Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee High School, Fairfax County, VA
This list offers several choices not found on either the Alex Awards list, or our own Best Adult Books 4 Teens list. These three lists are usually quite different. I assume that to be a function of the vast numbers of adult books published each year.
And also a difference in criteria. Booklist chooses “the year’s best personal reading for teenagers among adult books published in 2010.” Appeal does not seem to be as central here as for the Alex Awards.
The only title on all three lists is The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant.
Books that appeared on two lists: Girl in Translation
The House of Tomorrow
The Outside Boy
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Room
If we include the vetted nomination list for the Alex Award, there are additional overlaps. The following books are then on two lists: City of Veils
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Lean on Pete
Skippy Dies
Star Island
Not one nonfiction title appears on more than one list.
As far as I know, these are the only places that examine adult books for teens. Does anyone know of others?
Angela Carstensen is Head Librarian and an Upper School Librarian at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City. Angela served on the Alex Awards committee for four years, chairing the 2008 committee, and chaired the first YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adult committee in 2009. Recently, she edited Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Titles and Programs for a New Generation (ALA Editions, 2011). Contact her via Twitter @AngeReads.
