Similarly to last year, I decided to read all of the Carnegie shortlisted books. Clearly this is long overdue as the winner was announced months ago! But still, I hope you find this blog useful, if you want to find the right book for a young person in your life.
This year felt a bit different, with 3 poetry books making it onto the shortlist. My overall summary?... I was less enamoured this year as the shortlist felt like it lacked the variety of last year's. The 3 poetry books felt like they came from similar narrators, so there was less diversity, while some of the others were aimed at a very young audience.
Compared to last year where I raved about some on the list, this year the magic 5 star rating remains elusive. None of this year's books live up to last year's 'The hate u give' or 'After the Fire'. Still, you gain something from everything you read and they all had their own merits. This is my count down of the shortlist - from my least favorite, to the one I would most recommend for the YA reader in your life. Disclaimer though - all of these books have redeeming qualities and its super hard to compare books where some are written for young children whereas some are for an older, more mature, teen audience.
8. The Land of Neverendings - Kate Saunders
What's it about?
Emily felt wide awake - but this had to be a dream. A soft light glowed from the middle of Holly's empty bed. It came from a little tent - striped red and white, not more than knee-height, and with shadows moving about inside it. Never in all her life would Emily forget the strangeness of what she saw next . . .
When Emily's sister Holly dies, she is surprised to find that she misses her toy bear, Bluey, almost as much as Holly. Bluey was Holly's constant companion, and Emily used to make up stories about him and his escapades in the magical (and very silly) world of Smockeroon to entertain her. And the only person who seems to understand Emily's grief is Ruth, her kindly next-door neighbour.
But then very strange things start to happen. Emily dreams of talking toys visiting her bedroom, telling her that they have come from Smockeroon, and have a message for her from Bluey. A terrible black toad, who stinks of sadness, begins to stalk Ruth's house. And when a parade of penguins wearing plastic moustaches marches through their kitchen - well, Emily has to begin to wonder whether this is all a dream after all. But why are the toys here, and what could Bluey possibly be trying to tell her?
Is it any good?
I feel like I should give this book some credit. After all, it's dealing with the issues of death and grief for a very young audience, which is certainly challenging. And clearly I am not the target demographic for this book...
But there are just so many things I can't square away. Despite being for a v. young audience, it was actually quite hard to follow the plot in places. It's very imaginative, and heavily filled with magic and fantasy - but what should either be fun and fantastical in a 'toy-story-esque' way or mind boggling in an 'Alice -in-wonderland' manner, misses the mark on both counts. It's also overly long for a book for this age group and any whimsy that had been built was quickly lost. It didn't make me laugh, nor did I feel any sense of wonder. In short, I really lost patience with it - sorry.
A disappointing ⭐️⭐️
7. The house with chicken legs - Sophie Anderson
What's it about?
All 12-year-old Marinka wants is a friend. A real friend. Not like her house with chicken legs. Sure, the house can play games like tag and hide-and-seek, but Marinka longs for a human companion. Someone she can talk to and share secrets with. But that's tough when your grandmother is a Yaga, a guardian who guides the dead into the afterlife. It's even harder when you live in a house that wanders all over the world . . . carrying you with it.
Even worse, Marinka is being trained to be a Yaga. That means no school, no parties--and no playmates that stick around for more than a day. So when Marinka stumbles across the chance to make a real friend, she breaks all the rules . . . with devastating consequences. Her beloved grandmother mysteriously disappears, and it's up to Marinka to find her--even if it means making a dangerous journey to the afterlife.
With a mix of whimsy, humor, and adventure, this debut novel will wrap itself around your heart and never let go.
Is it any good?
This is a really sweet little book that is delightfully written. I can imagine this being a great book to read with a young child at bedtime; it has just the right amount of peril for a good adventure romp, without being overly scary.
The story promotes a really interesting way to look at the concept of death - not as an end, but as a returning to happy memories - again this might be the type of book you could turn to, in order to help a child dealing with grief. It also broaches the topic of 'destiny' and how its up to everyone to shape their own journey. What a great notion to instill in a young person.
It is whimsical, full of magic, love, adventure and heart. Okay, in parts it is just a little bit twee, but for the most part I'm willing to forgive it that for being a great adventure tale, with a brilliant, young female lead at its core.
For warming me to my very cockles it gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Rebound - Kwame Alexander
What's it about?
It's 1988. Charlie Bell is still mourning his father, and struggling to figure out how he feels for his best (girl) friend, CJ. When he gets into trouble one too many times, he's packed off to stay with his grandparents for the summer. There his cousin Roxie introduces him to a whole new world: basketball. A legend on the courts is born. But can Charlie resist when trouble comes knocking once again?
From the New York Times-bestselling author Kwame Alexander, Rebound is a stunning coming-of-age novel in verse about basketball, family and staying true to yourself.
Is it any good?
So, up steps our first poetry book in the mix. I'll admit freely, I'm not a huge poetry reader, so I was anxious about this year's shortlist, with 3 verse books in the running. However, I really needn't have been.
This barely reads like poetry most of the time (something that might upset the purists out there.), although the structure on the page forces you to slow down, think about the rhythm of the words and take them in fully. It is lyrical though, and it feels like a great half way house between poetry and prose. At one point I caught myself reading the poems out loud unintentionally, to appreciate and experience the sound of them. (My tip is that this is well worth doing as you'll discover things that you may otherwise miss.)
Much like the other books on this list, this book deals with the death of family member. The judges were clearly keen on that as a theme this year! And it deals with it in a really mature and sensitive manner - the character embodying the rage and confusion at having lost his father so young.
However the ending threw me, it's a bizarrely abrupt leap forward in time. I gather that is to tie this up as the prequel to his previous book, The Crossover, but if you haven't read that it will feel really clunky.
A great introduction to contemporary poetry for YA readers ⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. Long way down - Jason Reynolds
What's it about?
AND THEN THERE WERE SHOTS
Everybody
ran,
ducked,
hid, tucked
themselves tight.
Pressed our lips to the
pavement and prayed
the boom, followed by
the buzz of a bullet,
didn't meet us.
After Will's brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don't cry. Don't snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn's gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will's friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he's doing.
Is it any good?
There is something on the news nearly every day about young black men who are involved in street violence, be it guns or knives. With that backdrop, this is a powerful story told in verse about a young man on the pinnacle of making a decision - whether to enact revenge for the murder of his brother, or not.
What this book conveys so well, is how easy it is for individuals like our protagonist to get trapped in cycles of violence. It's not to do with their race but is a systemic issue and and without the opportunities that young people of more fortunate socio-economic backgrounds, that cycle can be near on impossible for them to break. This books strongest feature is that it casts no moral judgement on
The second poetry book in the list, this is such a quick read that the importance and weight of the book might not hit home - it's too easy to fly through this book and not consider the messages at its core. However it is really accessible, and the poetry makes a very difficult subject matter easier to digest.
'A Christmas Carol' meets 'Boys in the hood' - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. Things a Bright Girl Can Do - Sally Nicholls
What's it about?
Through rallies and marches, in polite drawing rooms and freezing prison cells and the poverty-stricken slums of the East End, three courageous young women join the fight for the vote.
Evelyn is seventeen, and though she is rich and clever, she may never be allowed to follow her older brother to university. Enraged that she is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart rather than be educated, she joins the Suffragettes, and vows to pay the ultimate price for women's freedom.
May is fifteen, and already sworn to the cause, though she and her fellow Suffragists refuse violence. When she meets Nell, a girl who's grown up in hardship, she sees a kindred spirit. Together and in love, the two girls start to dream of a world where all kinds of women have their place.
But the fight for freedom will challenge Evelyn, May and Nell more than they ever could believe. As war looms, just how much are they willing to sacrifice?
Is it any good?
If I had a tween or a teen daughter, I would make sure she read this, to get some understanding of how far women's rights have come and the sacrifices that women before them have made to further feminism. Actually scrap that, I'd make any sons I had read it too - if anything its more important that they read it.
This is a fascinating book, looking at many areas of the suffragette movement - some of which I wasn't aware of myself. By mixing real life occurrences with the lives of these fictional characters, the events feel more real to us. And the characters are fantastic.
I love that the author tells this story from a modern perspective - other books may not acknowledge characters that don't fit into stereotypical gender roles (we like to fool ourselves into believing that gender non-conformity is some new phenomenon for the 21st century) The love story between two of the girls helps to explore issues of gender and sexuality at the time and it was brilliant that this relationship develops between two girls of very different social classes.
It did seem a bit remiss that the story makes no reference to black women of the time and the unique challenges they must have faced. It also suffers from a bit of a disappointing, anticlimactic ending, so it just narrowly misses out on 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. Bone Talk - Candy Gourlay
What's it about?
More than a hundred years ago, a boy named Samkad thinks he knows everything about the world. He knows the mountains he lives in. He knows his people. He knows his blood enemy, the Mangili. And he wants to become a man, to be given his own shield, spear and axe to fight with. His best friend, Luki, wants all the same things – but she is a girl, and no girl has ever become a warrior.
But everything changes when a new boy arrives in the village. He calls himself Samkad’s brother, yet he knows nothing of the ways of the mountain. And he brings news of a people called ‘Americans’, who are bringing war and destruction right to his home . . .
Is it any good?
This is a fantastic and skilfully written Young Adult fiction book about life as part of a tribe in the Philippines. Set at the end of the nineteenth century, it looks at a time when American invaders were arriving and turning the native lives upside down.
The story is told from Samkad‘s point of view, at an exciting time in his life. He is just about to become a man and with that, earn all the respect and expectations that come along with it. But something gets in he way of his ceremony and the action unfolds from there.
The story grabbed me from the offset. The friendship between Samkad and Luki is so authentic and I have to admit, she was my favourite character.
Luki rebels againat the tribal expectation of what she should become as a female. She wants more from her life. She wants to be a warrior. This narrative was great, and I really hope young girls read this book and can see the parallels in their own life’s - not to let your society dictate what or who you can be.
There is a lot of violence in this book and although not too gory, it doesn’t shy away from descriptions of death. But I found this really carefully done - you can read YA books where the main characters make huge errors, and yet because fiction allows it, there seem to be no consequences. Gourlay doesn’t allow this and good for her! As in life, if you make a grave mistake, then you have to expect there will be consequences and Samkad certainly learns this to his horror.
I haven’t even begun to touch on my feelings for the American soldiers that force their way in, mocking the tribes’ way of life and exploiting them as soon as they can, with blatant disrespect for the indigenous culture. That this is an accurate portrayal of what has happened to thousands of indigenous tribes, I have no doubt, and it made my soul ache a little.
All in all, this was a great YA fiction read that covers so many important topics, without being at all preachy or condescending. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. A Skinful of Shadows - Angie Thomas
What's it about?
This is the story of a bear-hearted girl . . .
Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide.
Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding.
Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard.
And now there's a spirit inside her.
The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father's rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret.
But as she plans her escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession – or death.
Is it any good?
I have such a lot of love for this book. If you love the 'Northern Lights' trilogy, I would put money on you liking this. This novel manages to blend historical fiction, with the supernatural, but in a way that is seamless and will appeal to adults and YA readers alike. I have so many good things to say it so I'll have to summarise:
1. It has a really strong, young female protagonist - she's clever, funny and has a strong set of morals
2. She is inhabited by the tortured spirit of a murdered circus bear. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it's not. It's magical and told so very cleverly. It's a great metaphor for embracing your identity - even those facets of yourself that you rarely allow to exist and how they all make up who you are as a person.
3. The story has genuine peril in it, it's a properly good adventure romp.
4. Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, our heroine witnesses 2 religious communities that are utterly hateful and scornful of each other. It has so much relevance to life today and Makepeace's confusion at why people can't just be 'decent' to each other, no matter their beliefs shows how ridiculous the world still really is.
5. The characters are incredibly vivid, they nearly walk off the page.
It's haunting and mesmerising and it was a real surprise to me that I fell in love with it as hard as I did. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1. The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
What's it about?
A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Is it any good?
Of the 3 poetry books in the running, this was far and away my favourite. Talk about strong, female characters - Xiomara is one of the best. This book is about a young girl, who because of her developing body, is subjected to all sorts of unwanted attention and objectification. And yet her family and society put the onus and responsibility squarely on her to maintain an image of being wholesome and pure
The way Xiomara expresses her experience as a young woman, learning about her own body and sexuality, whilst dealing with what the world expects of her body and her sexuality - was incredibly powerful. There is so much tension caused by a mother who wants everything for her daughter, but only as long as it conforms to her religious ideals, and how that means setting unrealistic and outdated expectations that she cannot possible live up to. This book so eloquently demonstrates, that young women just can't win. They must be sexy, yet pure. Experienced and yet naive. The part that religion plays in this story particularly exacerbates this pressure on women to be pure and untouched.
This book deals with so many heavy issues in such an incredible way, and everyone who reads it will identify with the themes in some way. The poetry only adds to its power. There are few books that justify the need to be written in verse, rather than prose, but this is definitely one.
There are so many quotes from this book that are going to stay with me for a long time...
“And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On a side note - this is the only time to date that I have agreed with the winner of a book award. If you buy one YA book this year, make it 'The Poet X'.