Although I had a very busy week, I managed to finish three Alex Award winners. I didn’t love them all.
My least favorite was Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle.
This sad and dark novel tells the story of Sean Phillips who lives in isolation due to a disfiguring injury He runs a role plying game from his small apartment in Southern California. As the story unfolds we find out about the trial Sean faces following the death and serious injury of two player. This pulls us back to the moment of his own self-inflicted injury.
Yesterday, I finished Bingo’s Run by James A. Levine.
Bingo Mwolo is small for his age and the greatest drug runner in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya. When he witnesses a murder, he is hidden in an orphanage, where he discovers that life after drug running has just as many scams and tricksters as life in the slums.
My favorite Challenge book this week was Define “Normal” by Julie Anne Peters. about two girls–a “punk” and a “priss”–who find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program and discover that they have some surprising things in common.
All three of these had contemporary settings. I think my next read needs to be historical or fantastic.
booksandbassets 