What it’s about: The story of the Titanic, from before it sails to after it founders, from the point of view of people who were there.

Why it’s Printz-Worthy: Beautifully organized so that the facts fall into place without distracting from the narrative arc. Compelling characters, with a particular emphasis on young people. Fluidly written so that a fairly long book reads very quickly. Lots of helpful tables (now that errors in one have been corrected from the first edition) and well-selected photographs. This is a solid piece of scholarship that seems to be making the case for the Titanic’s value as an interesting narrative subject and a historically significant event to Titanic-skeptics.

Description: The world of Team Human has the same fascination with vampires as our own, but the vampires are real. Mel, however, is not a fan, and thinks her best friend’s obsession with vampires is ridiculous. Then a vampire decides to start attending her high school, and she meets a human boy who was raised by a vampire family, and begins to realize that life is a lot more complicated than she had thought.

Criteria:

Voice: Each author has a distinctive voice in her own right, but they have managed to create a new, unique voice that has a bit of each and feels unified and compelling.

Setting: The world is fully-realized and believable. There is a lot of vampire history and background that is explained when necessary but not annoyingly info-dumped.

Characters: The best part! I really grew to know and care about the characters. Mel is flawed in a realistic way, but still extremely likeable, and she manages to grow believable throughout the novel.

Theme: This book is about growing to understand other people and their motivations, even when those people are in opposition–and the execution of that theme is subtle and well-done.

That doesn’t really explain why the book is so great, but I really like both authors and found that I liked their collaboration even better than their individual works.

TITLE: The Drowned Cities
AUTHOR: Paolo Bacigalupi

SYNOPSIS: Climate change has turned what used to be Washington D.C. into a drowned city constantly fought over by rival militias mostly consisting of child/teenage soldiers. Mahlia and Mouse are orphans just trying to keep their heads down and survive until they encounter Tool – a killing machine on the run from the militia currently in charge.

CRITERIA:
Setting: Utterly and frighteningly believable – Bacigalupi paints a future that seems possible and is based in logically brainstorming how people would react to cataclysmic climate change partly based on how people have reacted throughout history. The concept of miliatias populated almost entirely by teens would be far less horrifying if it hadn’t happened before and wasn’t currently happening in some places.
Characters: Mahlia isn’t always likable but she is a fully realized person whose actions are driven by the motivations Bacigalupi builds from her past. In Mouse/Ghost and Ocho, Bacigalupi shows clearly how teens get brought into and caught up in the militia life – an important addition for the richness of the themes explored here. Tool is an amazing accomplishment; he doesn’t think like a human and isn’t motivated by the same things humans would be.
Theme: This is the biggest strength here. Bacigalupi uses his speculative world to explore real human issues that face the world now. Sarah mentions several of these in her post: What does it mean to be human? How do humans come to commit atrocities and still consider themselves human? What is survival worth? What is power worth? Is it better to stick to your morals if it means you die or better to bend so that you can live to fight another day? What and who are the casualties of war? Bacigalupi explores all of this while telling a rip-roaringly good war/survival story that doesn’t flag or slow down one bit under the burden.

I keep coming back to two words: amazing and horrifying. Bacigalupi does them both – I don’t like horrifying war stories, but I would read this again for the setting, the characters and theme. The Drowned Cities deserves a seat at the Printz Discussion table.

The title pretty much sums it up: Greg Gaines begrudgingly befriends Rachel, who has leukemia, and is Greg’s only friend besides Earl, his foul-mouthed, movie-making partner. EARL deserves to be in the Printz conversation for a few reasons, but most importantly is voice. Andrews has a great ear for dialogue and toes the fine line between quirky/clever and twee/obnoxious. On top of that, the writing is highly stylized, yet packed with character development, all of which creates this familiar story–dying girl helps boy come of age–told in a fresh way. Overall, the story just rang true, the characters are authentic, and the plot development is flawed, but I still bought into it.

What it’s about: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.

Why it should win: It’s rare that a nonfiction book can best novels at their own game, but this one does so. Plot, character, setting, style, and theme are excellent here–and, then, there’s the degree of difficulty: it’s all true.

Jen, I’m afraid the evidence is mounting that you were right not to spend your nomination on an ineligible book.

I don’t have a copy of the catalog that had SAILOR TWAIN but we at Adult Books 4 Teens reviewed it, so I can only assume it was listed as adult, since that’s our primary criterion for review.