There's so much happening in the world of Young Adult books! Some people may classify a few of these books as MG rather than YA, but again, I put forth the usual disclaimer - associating an age with a reading level is impossible.Many of these books are crucial - they deal with ideas and issues that need to be addressed. Yet, when I read, the "issue" cannot ever be all-important. I cannot love a book simply because it is important. And that's why, even though I read books that are arguably more "important", my favourites remain ones that wring my heart.Boy 87Fourteen-year-old Shif is put into prison for something he has not even done yet. It is when he goes to jail that he discovers others who have been imprisoned for the kind of "something" which is actually nothing at all. Also, it is in Shif that every prisoner's hopes are vested, for Shif is young and can run away: his … [Read more...]
Boy 87
Boy 87 came frighteningly close to becoming too much for me as a reader. As I read on, there was one stage where I was filled with a sickening sense of dread. I remembered Chalkline, which I could not finish reading because it was so well told that the story was overwhelmingly traumatic for me - more than I could take. And then I also remembered The Bone Sparrow, a wonderful tale of war and hope.Boy 87 fits somewhere between the two. At the stage when I was not sure if I could read on, I quickly skimmed through a few of the concluding pages. Was Shif going to be betrayed? Was something terrible going to happen?I never do this. But the dread was so sickening that I knew I would not be able to read it if things grew more traumatic.Boy 87 is about 14-year-old Shif, who is put into prison - not for something he does but for something he is going to do. … [Read more...]