Today I have more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series, where I’m asking YA & kidlit librarians as well as book bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. Read on to see which book columnist and reviewer Colleen Mondor wants to share… 

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Guest post by Colleen Mondor

My son has nurtured a borderline obsession with the Revolutionary War for several years now (he is eleven) and because of that I am constantly on the alert for unusual books that will pique his ever-growing interest. Timothy Decker’s For Liberty: The Story of the Boston Massacre covers one of the most commonly known aspects of the revolutionary period. There are few Americans who can not recount the events on the street corner in Boston that led to the deaths of five colonists, the trial of British redcoats and the infamous engraving by Paul Revere. The Boston Massacre is one of the key steps on the road to war and while a traditional subject for historians of the period, it is not one that you would expect to receive a unique treatment in a book for children. That is why Decker’s book is so outstanding and one that I just can’t recommend enough.

For Liberty is certainly a picture book—Decker’s evocative pencil drawings fill the pages from nearly corner to corner. But when you refer to a title as a “picture book,” readers immediately fall back on favorite images from the books of their childhood and relegate a title to that category—something to be read to the youngest of children. In the case of For Liberty this likely means readers of a much older age have missed something significant and that is truly a shame.

In the opening pages, Decker lays out the facts leading up to the confrontation, explaining why the colonists were angry with their government and why British soldiers had come to walk the streets of Boston. “By March 5, 1770,” he writes, “it was dangerous to be a soldier in Boston.” He names the specific soldiers involved, and how they came together in the presence of a mob on King Street. The pictures show the anger of the men and boys who were tired of the military presence in their lives and they show the growing uncertainty of the soldiers, no longer certain the civilians would go home. Finally a shot is fired, which “surprised everyone.” The British Captain Preston was struck by a club as he turned to investigate the shot and as he fell all control was lost. More shots were fired and Decker shows Crispus Attucks, the first man to die in the Revolution, struck by a bullet. Preston restored order but the damage was done and in a bare overhead shot, Decker shows the fallen men, spread over the square. The Boston Massacre was over.

In the final pages, For Liberty becomes even more intense. The soldiers were taken into custody, lawyers were hired to prosecute them and John Adams, future president, was chosen to lead the defense. Captain Preston was found innocent, as no one could state he had ordered his troops to fire. In the trial for the soldiers, John Adams was eloquent and determined and Decker uses his words in the text, allowing history to speak far deeper than any modern writer could. He closes with a stirring profile of John Adams who “knew that liberty was precious and required wise, vigilant and reasonable citizens to protect it, even, at times, from the ignorance of one’s own countrymen.” Decker thus reveals John Adams, the president situated between two of Mt Rushmore’s great men, as one of our greatest founding fathers. He made the case before we were America, that the word of law would matter; that power would not usurp truth. He was one of our better angels and in this understated, classy and powerful book, he is given the respect he so richly deserves. For Liberty is not the Boston Massacre story you learned in school, it is far better and utterly unforgettable. Timothy Decker has really done something special with this one and readers, of any age, who come across it are luckier for the experience.

Have you read and loved this book? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! 

• Add For Liberty to your shelf on Goodreads
• For Liberty on Indiebound

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Colleen Mondor is the author of The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska. She is also the longtime YA columnist for Bookslut and a reviewer for Booklist.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things
• YA librarian Angie Manfredi recommends Rats Saw God
  
• YA librarian Abby Johnson recommends the top five books she read this year: The Berlin Boxing Club; Blizzard of Glass; Dogtag Summer; Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have; and A Girl Named Faithful Plum 
• Book blogger Kari Olson from A Good Addiction recommends books including Freefall, I Swear, Like Mandarin, and more
• Book blogger Wendy Darling from The Midnight Garden recommends Ultraviolet, A Certain Slant of Light, and The Reapers Are the Angels
• Book blogger Nicole from WORD for Teens recommends The Lost Years of Merlin
• Librarian and children’s literature professor Laura Lutz from Pinot and Prose recommends New York City novels Kiki Strike, Better Nate Than Ever, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, The Night Tourist, Suite Scarlett, and Undertown
• Book blogger and children’s literature MFA student Mackenzi Lee recommends Millions

Today I have more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series, where I’m asking YA & kidlit librarians as well as book bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. Read on to see which title blogger and children’s literature MFA student Mackenzi Lee wants to share… 

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Guest post by Mackenzi Lee

I don’t know if you can count a book that has been made into a movie¹ as being “Beyond the Buzz,” but Millions has been one of my standard recommendations for years, and I’ve never encountered anyone who has met my enthusiastic adoration with a similarly vigorous “I love that book!”

So here we go. One more step in my life-long quest to make the world appreciate the genius of this quiet little novel.

Millions is the story of two brothers—worldly, real-estate-savvy Anthony and pious Damian, the narrator, who, at ten years old, strives to emulate the lives of the saints. In the wake of their mother’s death, the two boys and their dad are trying to start over—new city, new school, new house. And one September morning, in the backyard of that new house, the two boys find a bag containing one million pounds².

With only seventeen days before Europe switches to the Euro and the money becomes worthless, the brothers can’t agree on how to spend it. Anthony wants to buy what our narrator deems “worldly goods,” while Damian wants to give the money to the poor in order to become more saint-like himself. However, the boys quickly discover that there are dangerous men looking for the lost money, and they will stop at nothing to get it back—even if it means taking out Anthony and Damian in the process.

There is no way for me to make a concise list detailing what I love about this book. I love Britishness of it. I love Damian’s voice. I love that I now have a vast and almost useless³ knowledge of the lives of saints because of this book. I love that I laugh every time I read it⁴. I love that I cry every time I read it. But mostly, I love that what is on the surface a heist story about two kids irresponsibly spending a lot of money, is really about how people move on in the wake of a tragedy. I love that this is not a novel about grief, and yet the theme is subtly and deftly implanted on every page of the novel.

I have read this book dozens of times—growing up, it was my family’s go-to audio book for road trips⁵. I have since reread it on my own, and even done papers for school on it. I am amazed by how each time I read this book, I feel like I get another layer of it. What I at first thought was simply a feel-good novel has become a feel-everything novel. This is a book for anyone who has ever lost someone they loved. For anyone who has ever wanted to be better. For anyone who has ever been bullied because they were being themselves. For anyone who has been misunderstood. For anyone who has lived without excellence and known they could be better.

But mostly, Millions is for anyone who loves that magical, transportive power of magnificent books. It is a quirky and delightful novel that I will keep reading again and again. Before I die, I will probably read it a million times⁶.

1. Albeit only a mildly successfully one.
2. As in British money, because that is where this book takes place. Not as in “one million pounds of…” and then I forgot to include the last word, leaving you in suspense.
3. Though I did once dominate the “saints” category of play-at-home Jeopardy. So not totally useless, I guess.
4. In what other novel do you find a fourth-grade boy who receives visitations from chain-smoking saints?
5. Side note—the audio book is extraordinary. Highly recommended.
6. Ahhhh!! Bad pun, bad pun! Sorry guys, last lines are hard!

Have you read and loved this book? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! 

• Add Millions to your shelf on Goodreads
• Millions on Indiebound

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Mackenzi Lee is currently earning an MFA in writing for children and young adults at Simmons College, meaning that someday she hopes to pay back her student loans on the lucrative salary of a young adult author. She loves sweater weather, diet coke, and Shakespeare. On a perfect day, she can be found enjoying all three. She blogs at mackenzilee.wordpress.com, sometimes about books, sometimes about Boston, and sometimes about Benedict Cumberbatch.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things
• YA librarian Angie Manfredi recommends Rats Saw God
  
• YA librarian Abby Johnson recommends the top five books she read this year: The Berlin Boxing Club; Blizzard of Glass; Dogtag Summer; Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have; and A Girl Named Faithful Plum 
• Book blogger Kari Olson from A Good Addiction recommends books including Freefall, I Swear, Like Mandarin, and more
• Book blogger Wendy Darling from The Midnight Garden recommends Ultraviolet, A Certain Slant of Light, and The Reapers Are the Angels
• Book blogger Nicole from WORD for Teens recommends The Lost Years of Merlin
• Librarian and children’s literature professor Laura Lutz from Pinot and Prose recommends New York City novels Kiki Strike, Better Nate Than Ever, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, The Night Tourist, Suite Scarlett, and Undertown

Welcome to the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series, where I’m asking YA & kidlit librarians as well as book bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. Read on to see what titles blogger Nicole from WORD for Teens wants to share with us today… 

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Guest post by Nicole

I was staring at my shelves for a good half hour in an attempt to find the proper book to write this post about. What book do I think is overlooked?

There were the ones that were known in the blogging community but seemed hidden from everybody else, like Lisa Mantchev’s beautiful Theatre Illuminata series.

Then there were the ones that sell well, but nobody I talk to seems to have read them despite how much I adore them, like L.A. Meyer’s hilarious historical Bloody Jack series.

But at least people knew about both of those. They hadn’t been overlooked too badly. So I sat and I thought and I browsed my bookcase, and I sat and I thought and I looked at my books some more. And then I realized I was overlooking the most overlooked books on my shelf: The Lost Years of Merlin series by T. A. Barron.

I’ve never been able to figure out why so few people have read this series. The writing is absolutely breathtaking; the characters are fabulous and all of them are memorable; the world, the world, the world! is amazing. Fincayara was the number one on my top ten most vivid fictional settings.

Maybe it’s because T.A. Barron doesn’t have much of an online presence—he’s not on Twitter and doesn’t update his Facebook or his blog that often. I had the chance to meet him when I was younger and he’s an absolute sweetheart, and when I played his games on his website he sent me signed posters of the maps of Fincayara. (He’s awesome.)

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a high fantasy Arthurian legend retelling. Or it didn’t have a big marketing push. Or the fact that the series is quite a few years old at this point, with two spin-off series attached to it.

But regardless of why it hasn’t been read, it should be read. The Lost Years of Merlin starts off with a young boy named Emrys—and anybody who knows anything about Arthurian legend knows that Emrys will grow up to be the infamous sorcerer Merlin. The young boy has to deal with a whole slew of issues, from not knowing who his father is to not fitting in his town, before he ends up on the lost isle of Fincayara. Fincyara, the world-between-worlds, is currently under the thumb of a ruler who Rhita Gawr, an evil god, has converted to his side. Emrys, with the help of a few friends and the blessings of the god Dagda (yay, Celtic mythology!) needs to help bring Fincayara back to order.

And is the lost-boy-saves-the-world plot a bit of a stereotype for the fantasy genre? Of course! But it’s so well done here, and I don’t know why people are avoiding it, especially you fantasy lovers. I see you sitting there at your computer, reading this, going, Hmm, maybe I should pick it up. Well, put down your Mercedes Lackey and your Christopher Paolini or whatever it is you’re favoring at the moment and go give Barron’s books a try.

Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Have you read and loved this series? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! 

• Add The Lost Years of Merlin #1 to your shelf on Goodreads

• The Lost Years of Merlin #1 on Indiebound

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Nicole blogs over at WORD for Teens. She has blonde hair and a love of dragons. The rest changes without notice. For stalkage purposes, you can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things
• YA librarian Angie Manfredi recommends Rats Saw God
  
• YA librarian Abby Johnson recommends the top five books she read this year: The Berlin Boxing Club; Blizzard of Glass; Dogtag Summer; Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have; and A Girl Named Faithful Plum 
• Book blogger Kari Olson from A Good Addiction recommends books including Freefall, I Swear, Like Mandarin, and more
• Book blogger Wendy Darling from The Midnight Garden recommends Ultraviolet, A Certain Slant of Light, and The Reapers Are the Angels

Welcome to the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series, where I’m asking YA & kidlit librarians as well as book bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. Read on to see what titles blogger Kari Olson from A Good Addiction wants to share with us today…

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Guest post by Kari Olson

When I heard Nova was doing this series, I jumped on it. I love recommending books, and I oftentimes do feel like much of what I fall in love with are things not many other people are reading, much less have heard about. While there are a ton of books I’ve liked, even loved, the ones I really push on people are the ones that have changed me. The ones that have made me step back and think about things, that have challenged my way of thinking and pushed me beyond my comfort zone.

I’m a big fan of lists, and while I want everyone to read these books, I don’t want to give away the bigger elements of them, or explain how I saw the characters grow and change. I want people to go into it as innocently as I did, for the full impact. So here’s my top picks of books I think deserve more reads, with the highlights of what made me fall head over heels for them.

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Freefall was a favorite of 2010, and is still a favorite of mine. I adore Seth, and kind of claim to be his biggest fan. But what got me with this book is how almost normal it is. Yes, Seth is dealing with losing his best friend, but more than anything, he is just trying to figure life out. From his family situation, to his past with girls, to Rosetta, the girl who is really giving him reason to want to change, there is just something so endearing about him and what he goes through.

I Swear by Lane Davis

Honestly, this is one of the best bullying books I’ve read. I loved the characters, I hated them. I felt so much with this one. And couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. This isn’t a book where everyone walks away happy, nor is it one that will necessarily leave the reader completely happy, but oh, man, the journey is so worth it and this one will definitely challenge you.

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

This is the other book that sits in the best bullying books category. This one is so intense, and gritty, and definitely not for everyone. It’s truly gutting at times. But it is honestly one of the single most powerful and impacting books I have ever read—a book split in perspective between two boys who completely stand out as narrators.

Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard

Apart from the stunning writing, what got me with this book was how intense the relationship is between Grace and Mandarin. What also got me was how it took me about two days after I finished to realize… there’s no romance in this one. Yeah, Mandarin has guys. But there isn’t a love interest, for her or Grace. Because there doesn’t need to be one. Grace experiences so much, goes through so much, without a boy needing to drive it.

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

This one kind of broke me, had me sobbing, and left me thinking about it for weeks. The voice is absolutely perfect in this one, and especially the way Chase changes not only during the book, but from one summer to the next, both just growing up and because of what’s going on.

Compromised by Heidi Ayarbe

Whenever you drive by homeless people, even teens, on the street, what is your thought? Drugs? Laziness? Neither of those is the case for Maya, or the allies she finds along the way. This book is not an easy or light read. There is nothing held back in this one, and Maya is such a great character, torn between anger and love, courage and fear. Even better, the changes Maya and the others go through isn’t just because they have to grow up fast living on the streets, but because they still have what led them there to contend with.

Take Me There by Carolee Dean

This is another book that is impossible to explain why I like it without giving away spoilers. The ending is one of the single most impacting, memorable ones I’ve ever read. The story has a drive and push to it that kept me gripped, and even over two years later, I still remember a ton of scenes and specifics of this book. With a light romantic element mixed into bigger family and friend elements, this one has just enough easy moments to relieve you in all the rest of what’s going on.

Have you read and loved these books? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! 

• Add Compromised to your shelf on Goodreads
• Compromised on Indiebound

• Add Freefall to your shelf on Goodreads
• Freefall on Indiebound 

• Add Invincible Summer to your shelf on Goodreads
• Invincible Summer on Indiebound

• Add I Swear to your shelf on Goodreads
• I Swear on Indiebound

• Add Leverage to your shelf on Goodreads
• Leverage on Indiebound

• Add Like Mandarin to your shelf on Goodreads
• Like Mandarin on Indiebound

• Add Take Me There to your shelf on Goodreads
• Take Me There on Indiebound

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Kari Olson is a YA writer represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Larsen Pomada, and has been fangirling about books at A Good Addiction since 2009. She also reviews at Bookalicious.org and Brazen Reads, and formerly The {Teen} Book Scene. She’s the owner of a stubborn beagle/basset mix named Toby, and is a fan of all things boys, abs, and coffee. She lives in Texas and works in medicine.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things
• YA librarian Angie Manfredi recommends Rats Saw God
  
• YA librarian Abby Johnson recommends the top five books she read this year: The Berlin Boxing Club; Blizzard of Glass; Dogtag Summer; Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have; and A Girl Named Faithful Plum 

Welcome to a new series here on distraction no. 99 called Beyond the (Latest) Buzz. I’ve asked YA & kidlit librarians and bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. And I asked them specifically because, of all readers in the know, librarians and book bloggers are some of the most passionate readers we have in this industry, they read a TON more books than I do, and maybe, if I asked nicely, they’d be eager to recommend some beloved books with us here? They were—and they did.

Read on to see what books Abby the Librarian wants to share with us today…

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Guest post by Abby Johnson

Sometimes good books go unnoticed, but as bloggers we have the right—nay, the responsibility!—to give awesome books the push they deserve. Today, I’ve got my top five books I’ve read this year that did not get the buzz they deserve! If you’re looking for a great read, I hope one of these books will strike your fancy.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow (HarperTeen, 2011)

What’s it about? Karl Stern, a fourteen-year-old Jewish boy, takes boxing lessons to fend off attacks from the Hitler Youth boys at his school, but as violence against the Jews escalates, Karl must use his skills to protect his family.

Why should you pick it up? Have you ever felt like someone didn’t like you because of their idea of you? You’ll totally see eye-to-eye with Karl. He doesn’t even really feel Jewish. His family’s not religious, he never did anything to those guys, but they hate him just the same. Plus, the oppression of Nazi Germany is palpable and it builds and builds as things get worse. And also: World War II! Sports!

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2011)

What’s it about? Halifax was never the same after the 1917 explosion of the Mont-Blanc, the largest man-made explosion EVER until the 1945 detonation of the atomic bomb.

Why should you pick it up? Sally M. Walker manages to put the reader right there, getting to know families and people going about their business in Halifax when the ship exploded. There’s been a lot of talk about the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this year and if that’s something that interests you, I think you’ll be fascinated by the little-known story of this massive maritime disaster, too.

Dogtag Summer by Elizabeth Partridge (Bloomsbury USA, 2011)

What’s it about? Tracy, a half-Vietnamese girl who was rescued from war-torn Vietnam and adopted when she was seven, struggles to find her place and to piece together memories of her childhood.

Why should you pick it up? This is a coming of age story made even more poignant by the lush California scenery and the historical detail of the Vietnam war time period. Not only is Tracy dealing with the impending first day of junior high and buying her first bra, she’s trying to figure out why her veteran dad won’t talk about the war and why her parents seem to hate her best friend’s family. It’s like Judy Blume but with a half-Vietnamese girl.

Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have by Allen Zadoff (Egmont USA, 2009)

What’s it about? When Andy, a 300-pound sophomore geek, meets new girl April, he goes out for the football team to impress her, and ends up changing everything.

Why should you pick it up? Andy’s story of reinvention shows the importance of being who you really want to be and not letting anyone stop you. Plus, it’s funny. Plus, it has little short chapters and a totally readable style. You’ll like Andy and you’ll root for him all the way through. Oh and: football!

A Girl Named Faithful Plum: A True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream by Richard Bernstein (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2011)

What’s it about? This is the true story of Zhongmei Lei, a girl who left her home and family at the tender age of eleven to audition for the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy and, despite prejudice from the teachers and other students, would not let anything keep her from her dream of becoming a dancer.

Why should you pick it up? Okay, to get to the auditions, Zhongmei had to take a train for over 1,000 miles. At the auditions, the teachers would select 12 girls and 12 boys. From ALL OF CHINA. Zhongmei’s a girl with determination, is what I’m saying. And her story is inspirational. If you’re the type to watch So You Think You Can Dance or if you dig performance stories like Bunheads by Sophie Flack or Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer, this is a book for you.

And there you have it! Five books that have flown relatively under the radar. Each of these books has less than 1,000 reviews on GoodReads (comparatively, The Hunger Games has over 1 million reviews on GoodReads). So pick one up today!

Have you read and loved these books? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! 

• Add The Berlin Boxing Club to your shelf on Goodreads
• The Berlin Boxing Club on Indiebound

• Add Blizzard of Glass to your shelf on Goodreads
• Blizzard of Glass on Indiebound

• Add Dogtag Summer to your shelf on Goodreads
• Dogtag Summer on Indiebound

• Add Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have to your shelf on Goodreads
• Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have on Indiebound

• Add A Girl Named Faithful Plum to your shelf on Goodreads
• A Girl Named Faithful Plum on Indiebound

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Abby Johnson is a children’s librarian in Southern Indiana. You can find her on the web at abbythelibrarian.com.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things
• YA librarian Angie Manfredi recommends Rats Saw God (Giveaway open until December 26!)

Welcome to a new series here on distraction no. 99 called Beyond the (Latest) Buzz. I’ve asked YA & kidlit librarians and bloggers to share books they think deserve more attention. And I asked them specifically because, of all readers in the know, librarians and book bloggers are some of the most passionate readers we have in this industry, they read a TON more books than I do, and maybe, if I asked nicely, they’d be eager to recommend some beloved books with us here? They were—and they did.

Read on to see what book YA librarian Angie Manfredi of Fat Girl, Reading wants to share with us today…

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Guest post by Angie Manfredi

“Call me Ishamel.”

“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

“It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

I love first lines.  When they are well-crafted they become declarations of the greatness that is to come; single line memories you keep of the moment you were about to fall in love.

For me, the first line in young adult literature that I can never forget comes from a novel published in 1996.  To me, it’s just as perfect and unforgettable as anything from Austen or Orwell. It goes like this:

“Though I tried to clear my head of the effects of the fat, resiny doobie I’d polished off an hour before, things were still fuzzy as I stumbled into senior counselor Jeff DeMouy’s office.”

Do you recognize that first line?  I am guessing you don’t—even though the book was named to YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults list and was enthusiastically blurbed by the likes of Paul Zindel, Chris Lynch, and Chris Crutcher.

You probably don’t recognize that wonderful first line because it’s from an author who only wrote four YA novels and one middle-grade novel before leaving the field to work full-time in television production. More than that, though, you probably don’t recognize that line because it’s from an author who wrote in an era when there was no social media as we know it today, no YA lit world thriving online, and authors who wrote for teens had to hope that maybe the Newbery committee would think their work skewed young enough because there was no such thing as the Printz Award.

I don’t know what would have happened if that first line was a first line that came into the young adult literature world today—but I know what happens when I read it to my teens, teens who weren’t even born when it was first written. They want to check the book out. They want to read that guy’s story.

They love the first line of Rob Thomas’s Rats Saw God and, all these years later, so do I.

Rats Saw God is two stories at once: the story of Steve York’s senior year in San Diego where he’s the kind of student who shows up stoned to his counseling meetings about how he’s ever going to graduate and the story of Steve York’s sophomore and junior years in Houston where he’s a National Merit scholar who has many friends. Of course, the real story in Rats Saw God is everything that got Steve from one place to another and, moreover, where he’s going to go next.

One of the things I like best about Rats Saw God is how Thomas creates a real sense of time passing. In showing how far sophomore-year Steve has traveled to become senior-year Steve, Thomas accurately captures something easily relatable to teenager readers: the huge changes that can happen in their lives over the years that make up high school. This also gives Steve a really meaningful character arc: as readers you are really with him as he goes from the junior who loves English class, his girlfriend, and his life full of intellectual challenges to the senior who is blurring the edges of his life to dull the pain of his losses. Steve changes, grows, and, yeah, loses and you are with him through it all, through the believable passage of time in his life.

In Steve, Thomas has created the kind of narrator I still hear librarians beg for: a smart, believable teenage boy with a sharp voice and a real heart. Steve plans pranks with his friends, lusts after girls, and struggles with his relationship with his famous and domineering father. He’s kin to young adult heroes like Pudge Halter, Cullen Witter, and Cameron Smith. His story is the story of how teenagers deal with huge disillusionments, adults that let you down in the worst ways, and crushing heartbreak without letting all of it swallow up who they are.

Steve isn’t the same person at the end of his high school career—but there’s something brilliantly, hopefully resilient about the person he ends up as and the path he takes. And it’s that change that sticks with the reader; that has stuck with me, just like that first line, from the first time I read Rats Saw God.

I often think about if Rob Thomas would still be writing young adult novels if Rats Saw God had been published today, in the community that gives young adult literature so much love and attention and, yeah, sales. I think about the novels he might have written—maybe one about a tough-talking teenage sleuth determined to solve the mystery of her best friend’s murder. I’d love to read that one. But then, maybe I’m just lucky I had a chance to watch it. Yes, the Rob Thomas who wrote Rats Saw God in 1996 is the same Rob Thomas who created Veronica Mars in 2004. And I was as lucky to know Veronica Mars as I was to know Steve York.

So Rob Thomas doesn’t write young adult novels anymore. He’s still active in the field of television production, and the creative world is better because Rob Thomas is still out there writing but, damn, I miss his voice in young adult literature. I miss books as incisive, unflinching, and daring as Rats Saw God and Slave Day. I miss his humor, his fearlessness in dealing with contemporary social issues, and the strong, clear, cleverness of his prose.

I miss Rob Thomas.

But I still have Steve York. I will never forget him.

You have a chance to discover him for yourself. And from the moment you open Rats Saw God and read on from that perfect first line, you’ll never forget him either.

(Rats Saw God is the only one of Rob Thomas’s books still in print. I want to buy you a copy in my never-ending quest to keep it in print.  Leave a comment on this blog or fill out this entry form to be entered in a random drawing to win a copy. US residents only, please.)

…GIVEAWAY WINNER ANNOUNCED:

One winner was chosen from between the entry form and the comments, and it’s…  Dahlia Adler!

Congrats, Dahla! I will email for your mailing address soon. Thank you to everyone who entered, and thank you to Angie for giving away this book to one lucky reader! —Nova

Have you read and loved this book? Chime in and tell us what you think in the comments! And read on for a chance to enter the giveaway to win the book of your choice from this great list…

• Add Rats Saw God to your shelf on Goodreads
• Rats Saw God on Indiebound

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Angie Manfredi blogs sporadically at www.fatgirlreading.com and tweets incessantly @misskubelik. She is the Head of Youth Services for the Los Alamos County Library System in Los Alamos, NM, an active member of YALSA, and would happily run away with Logan Echolls.

Want more in the Beyond the (Latest) Buzz series?

Here are the posts in the series so far:

• YA/middle-school librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan recommends Better Than Running at Night and Every Time a Rainbow Dies
• YA librarian Kelly Jensen recommends a whole host of books including Sorta Like a Rock Star, First Day on Earth, Frost, and more
• Youth services librarian Liz Burns recommends The President’s Daughter, Flora Segunda, and All Unquiet Things