Monday, March 8, 2010

Bippity boppity boo!

An update on the books from my fairy godperson at Penguin!

I'm in the middle of Jandy Nelson's brand-new YA novel The Sky is Everywhere. After her exuberant older sister Bailey dies suddenly, shy Lennie can only seem to feel two things: "crazy sad" and boy-crazy. Gram, Uncle Big, and Bailey's boyfriend Toby are devastated as well, and the four of them drift through their small town seeing nothing but Bailey's absence. Lennie's new classmate Joe is an unexpected source of comfort, but Lennie's torn between him and the off-limits Toby. With its just-slightly-larger-than-life hilarious characters, wrenching plot, and exquisite writing (both prose and poetry), I can only manage a few pages at a time before my heart hurts and I have to put it down.... but this is my next staff pick for sure!

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher is the other book I received mysteriously in the mail (in a somewhat When You Reach Me-esque way) from Penguin. While I haven't started it yet -- owing to my glacial pace on The Sky is Everywhere -- Michelle did read and recommend it:
Genre: dystopian, steampunk; for fans of Hunger Games
Suggested reading level: ages 14 and up
Synopsis: In order to make the world “safe,” Incarceron, a vast thinking prison, was created to contain the criminal or mentally ill. Finn, an epileptic prisoner, finds a crystal key to communicate with a girl Outside – but can he escape before Incarceron thinks, and acts, for itself? This British import blends action, philosophy, and mystery.
And it looks like Incarceron will be a movie! It'll be a while, but between The Lightning Thief and Alice in Wonderland out now, the upcoming Legends of the Guardians [of Ga'hoole] adaptation, and the long-awaited Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, our movie adaptation viewing schedule's planned for at least a month or two. :) AND DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, oh my gosh. I can't believe I forgot with our life-sized Wimpy Kid in his director's chair right in front of me.

No comments: