So, now that the Youth Media Awards have been announced by the American Library Association, we can officially start complaining about our favorite books that didn’t quite make the cut.
There were so many great contenders for all of the awards this year, and I sure don’t envy the decisions that faced the various committees. Of course, I’m bummed that the Printz committee passed on Chime by Franny Billingsley (even for an Honor award!), and I was also rooting for the non-fiction biography Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming to fly away triumphantly with the Newbery medal.
Over the past week, as everyone made their predictions about who should win what, there arose arguments about whether or not Brian Selznick (author of the Caldecott Medal-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret) and his novel Wonderstruck should even be considered for the Newbery Medal. Some argued that a novel that contained just about as many pictures as it does words should not be in the running, while others didn’t really think something that technical mattered, as long as the story was brilliant.
Breanna Shapiro, our newly elected Teen Advisory Board president, is probably someone who would land in that second camp. Read her review below.
~ Rachel Labriola-Cuzzo, Youth Services Assistant
Wonderstruck: A Review by Breanna Shapiro
Wonderstruck is a novel told in both words and pictures. The script is the story of a boy after his mom dies finding out who his dad is. But the pictures are about a girl wanting to be with her mom in New York. The thing is that they are both deaf. Switching back and forth you come to understand both of their stories. And you find how the boy and girl relate together. This book kept me reading on and I didn’t want to put it down!
Go to the library today and pick up Brian Selznick’s new book Wonderstruck in the junior fiction section, call number J Fic Selznick, B.
FIVE STARS.
