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NZ Post Children's Book Awards
Mar. 29th, 2009 09:01 pmWithout actually intending to I realised I'd read 4 of the 5 nominees for this years' NZ Post Children's Book Awards in the YA section. I have already complained bitterly about Brian Falkner's The Tomorrow Code earlier , and was therefore obviously thrilled to see it show up on the list. Anyway, of the other three, I actually like Maurice Gee's Gool best - Salt (which I didn't like) won last year, though, and I think Kate De Goldi's The 10pm Question is actually the most likely winner, unless the final book (which is a prehistorical adventure, first in a series) turns out to be unexpectedly brilliant. Kate De Goldi's also stands out for being the only non-genre. I could go on for a long time about my opinions on the current surge in YA publishing, but basically I am less excited by all this YA fantasy/sf that's coming out than might be expected, because I think the number of truly excellent books hasn't really changed and I just have to wade through a lot more trilogies that ran out of plot in book two or interesting ideas that weren't fully developed (I am very happy to argue about this and would love to be convinced otherwise).
As I said, I liked Maurice Gee's sequel better than the first one, Salt - it’s set in the same world, but follows the next generation, with Xantee, Hari and Pearl’s daughter, as the central character. A strange creature (the gool of the title) attacks Hari and is killing him slowly; to stop it, Xantee, her brother Lo, Duro (another refugee) and Sal & Mond, two cousins from a nomadic tribe, try to track down the source of the gools and destroy them. Inevitably they end up returning to Belong, the city their parents left, and resolving the conflicts set up years earlier.
( Maurice Gee, Gool (spoilers). )
Kate De Goldi, The 10pm question. Frankie is an anxious 12 year old with a moderately complex family life that is, currently, held in balance by the questions he doesn’t ask. The arrival of Sydney, a new girl at his school, disrupts everything.
( Kate de Goldi, The 10pm question. )
Fleur Beale, Juno of Taris. In the future a sealed community that prizes conformity lives on an island somewhere in the Pacific. Juno, eleven at the start of the book and surprisingly similar to a very articulate contemporary standard teenager in her views and desires, questions these restrictions and ultimately rebels against them.
( Fleur Beale, Juno of Taris. )
Poking round on the net for reviews brought me to an odd piece that compares Juno to “Jude” in Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians. Firstly, it’s Judy, and secondly Judy is someone who’s very much part of her society, even as she tries to fight the parts of it (primarily relating to ladylike behaviour) that she resents; she also suffers a lot more for doing so, as one of her chief characteristics is a willingness to accept responsibility for her actions. Now, of course, I have remembered that I need to read Ethel Turner's Cub sequels, written during the first world war and aimed at getting Australians over there to fight, which is problematic in entirely new ways but also very interesting in a way that Juno wasn't.
As I said, I liked Maurice Gee's sequel better than the first one, Salt - it’s set in the same world, but follows the next generation, with Xantee, Hari and Pearl’s daughter, as the central character. A strange creature (the gool of the title) attacks Hari and is killing him slowly; to stop it, Xantee, her brother Lo, Duro (another refugee) and Sal & Mond, two cousins from a nomadic tribe, try to track down the source of the gools and destroy them. Inevitably they end up returning to Belong, the city their parents left, and resolving the conflicts set up years earlier.
( Maurice Gee, Gool (spoilers). )
Kate De Goldi, The 10pm question. Frankie is an anxious 12 year old with a moderately complex family life that is, currently, held in balance by the questions he doesn’t ask. The arrival of Sydney, a new girl at his school, disrupts everything.
( Kate de Goldi, The 10pm question. )
Fleur Beale, Juno of Taris. In the future a sealed community that prizes conformity lives on an island somewhere in the Pacific. Juno, eleven at the start of the book and surprisingly similar to a very articulate contemporary standard teenager in her views and desires, questions these restrictions and ultimately rebels against them.
( Fleur Beale, Juno of Taris. )
Poking round on the net for reviews brought me to an odd piece that compares Juno to “Jude” in Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians. Firstly, it’s Judy, and secondly Judy is someone who’s very much part of her society, even as she tries to fight the parts of it (primarily relating to ladylike behaviour) that she resents; she also suffers a lot more for doing so, as one of her chief characteristics is a willingness to accept responsibility for her actions. Now, of course, I have remembered that I need to read Ethel Turner's Cub sequels, written during the first world war and aimed at getting Australians over there to fight, which is problematic in entirely new ways but also very interesting in a way that Juno wasn't.
