Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Only those who listen to the audiobook version of this tale get the benefit of hearing the author discuss how carefully she researched the setting for this uncommonly rich novel. The sea folk of this story are nothing like the benign character from the Disney movie. Although the name Syrenka is attached to Polish folklore, this Syrenka of this tale is a mermaid of the immortal variety who gives up her immortality in order to be with the man she loves.  Syrenka’s story is told parallel to the story of Hester Goodwin, a beautiful young woman who has sworn off love entirely out of fear. The women in her family die shortly after giving birth to daughters, and while Hester loves and respects her stepmother, she does not want to leave her own daughter motherless. A series of unusual encounters with a minister, a childhood friend named Linnie, and a mysterious man named Ezra set Hester on the trail of a mystery that is a tapestry of tangled threads. The town of Plymouth, Massachusetts provides the history that spans from the 1600s to the 1800s to the present, and the curse that only Hester can lift. Ancient lore and magic permeate this incredible story, and like those ancient tales, rape and violence are a part of the telling. The intertwining of plot lines as well as the careful rendering of the dialects take what is quantitatively not such difficult text (7.0 GE/780L) a qualitatively much more complex story. This is a sophisticated story that can easily cross the barriers of YA fiction into adult reading. The book, in both print and audio formats, is a work of art, and is one that I will be nominating to YALSA for best fiction and audiobook.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

This is a completely delightful story that takes folklore, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes, turns them every which way from Sunday, sprinkles a little humor, and turns it into something highly entertaining with some subtle—and not-so-subtle—suggestions about how to live life well. It’s foundation is the nursery rhyme about Monday’s child and goes throughout the week with descriptions of the progeny born on each day of the week. Our story picks up with the musings Sunday, the last and youngest daughter of  Jack and Seven Woodcutters. With so many siblings and extended family living with them, Sunday frequently feels left out, and so she writes. Papa Woodcutter warns her often, however that words are very powerful. In her experiments, she has found that this is true because many times what she writes and the stories she tells come to pass. Her life changes dramatically when she meets a frog at the wishing well. Grumble seems wise beyond his years and is willing to listen to her writings. While stuck in his frog form, Grumble, or the cursed prince Rumbold, has found himself in quite a dilemma. He is very taken with Sunday, but her family has been at odds with his for years—going back to when Jack Junior, the eldest child of the group, found himself enchanted while in the prince’s service. The family had not heard from him again, and his talents and high spirits are sorely missed by his parents. What makes Enchanted unique and delightful is its utterly witty use of language. Pithy pieces of wisdom are sprinkled among sardonic observations of human foible and triumph in a homespun fairy tale so down-to-earth that its wisdom is embraced. The rhythm and cadence makes this story a great candidate for a read-aloud, and the audio version of this book is so well narrated that I found myself chuckling out loud—often. Alex Flinn has done an elegant job of reworking fairy tales, and this book easily finds a place of honor next to A Kiss in Time or Franny Billingsley’s Chime.

Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas

Hold onto your lunches kiddos, anyone reading Quarantine is in for a stomach-churning, page-turning ride. Following in the steps of Alexander Gordon Smith’s Furnace and Michael Grant’s Gone series, Lex Thomas is a dynamic duo that pumped out an adrenaline-junky’s dream. David never wanted to be a leader. In fact, he is reeling from the betrayal of his girlfriend and one of his football player brothers-in-arms. When their school is suddenly locked down—with locked down defined as being fully encased in a bubble from which they cannot escape—the kids trapped inside begin to develop their own code. Anyone entering the school is immediately infected, and anyone over the age of 18 dies of the virus that is running rampant in the school. Some of the students are carriers, and the only way a student can exit the school alive is if he or she tests negative for the virus on his or her eighteenth birthday. Lockers become coffins, and the new facility falls into rapid decay. Violence rules as various cliques develop and create their own system of barter. The Varsity, a gang made up of jocks, quickly becomes the muscle. Alliances are made between groups: the Nerds, the Geeks, the Sluts, the Skaters, the Freaks, and the Pretty Ones. David is just interested in keeping his brother, Will, alive. Will’s seizures make both him and David vulnerable as lawlessness sets in. Eventually David becomes the protector of a group of students who refused to align with any of the groups, and they become the Loners. Time is not David’s friend, and as the girl Will fell for at summer camp begins to develop feelings for David, a new kind of rivalry develops between the brothers. The tension created by David’s insistent loyalty and Will’s increasing jealousy adds another element to the tenuousness of their world. Like Smith’s series, violence permeates the story. The authors skillfully ratchet up the stakes for David, and readers are constantly left to wonder if he will survive and remain heroic or whether he will succumb to the pressures of the violent society around him. This will be a story that will grab readers—primarily male readers—and keep them riveted until the end. The story is an interesting commentary on the high school scene, and the gross caricatures of the cliques may or may not be lost on the readers. Readers who liked Variants by Wells will find many similarities in this story—minus the androids. It’s sure to be popular among reluctant readers because of its vivid imagery and fast pace.

Every Day by David Levithan

Readers don’t encounter books  like this one every day, and that is what makes this book by David Levithan stand out. The main character is genderless because who (s)he is depends upon the body that (s)he inhabits. This constant change doesn’t bother “A” very much until (s)he meets Rhiannon. Something about her intrigues A so much that (s)he seeks out future encounters with Rhiannon—sometimes to the detriment of the bodies that (s)he inhabits for the day. As Rhiannon becomes fascinated with A, they look for opportunities to meet and develop the relationship—in spite of the challenges. A must dodge the attacks of a  young man (s)he inhabited for a day as the youth is convinced that A is a demon and must be exorcised.  A’s transient nature causes him/her to look at objects and people very differently, and provides Levithan with opportunities to not-so-subtly suggest truths about love, existence, and material possessions.  The detail Levithan brings to this work creates an utterly plausible impossibility. Each character becomes a mini story in his or her own right creating a depth that is remarkable. I have read other works by Levithan, but this is by far my favorite for the philosophical questions it raises. Although written at a 7.0 GE/650L, the concepts are both timely and appealing to the young adults who will pick up this title. As with many books dealing with the issue of love and intimacy, this book has some pretty frank—but not graphic—sexual content. This is a book I will be recommending for YALSA’s best fiction list and an audiobook that is also award worthy.