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...]
Just Henry
Have you read Goodnight Mister Tom? If you haven't, you must. I can't quite believe that I never wrote about the book. It's a classic, one that touched something deep inside me, the way only classics can.I remember the first time I read the book - I borrowed it from the library, and read and read and read and read ... And the last page was missing. I don't need to write about how frustrating that was.Then I read it for the second time and sobbed over it all over again, but finished it. Ah. It's one of those books. I see it on the shelf and it fills me up just thinking about it.So, of course, when I saw another book by Michelle Magorian at the library, I had to borrow it. I was a little daunted by how thick it was - I haven't read a 700-page book since Harry Potter. But I borrowed it and started reading it.And just like Goodnight Mister Tom, I read and read … [Read more...]