#38 - 39

#38 Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

12-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, a.k.a. Locomotion, is living with a foster family after losing his parents in a tragic event. His sister Lili is living with a different family. He writes letters to her to keep in touch and help them both remember their past memories. Lonnie is happy with his foster mom, but still aches for his sister and parents. The letters help him deal with the gap he feels in his life.

I shared this immediately with my students, reading to them the opening poem "Imagine Peace" where Lonnie compares peace to soft flannel sheets and the good full feeling you have after eating a great dinner. Give me a beautiful poem and I'm done for. All through the book, Locomotion tries to understand peace and how, even in the midst of the Vietnam war and hurt and anger, peace can be found.

Jacqueline Woodson has once again written a touching novel about growing up and learning to deal with whatever life throws at you. But even more than that, her writing (done all in the form of letters and poems) is so lyrically beautiful, you can't help but read slowly just to enjoy the words.

#39 Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Book one Ship Breaker series)

Recent winner of the Michael L. Printz Award

Hunger Games fans...never fear! Peeta and Katniss may be done, but Nailer and Nita are just beginning! Collins fans will be thrilled reading this new dystopian series. Picture a future North America where oil production has ruined the landscape, cities including New Orleans are completely underwater, the Arctic has lost most of its wildlife, and old tanker ships are being broken down for their metal parts. Nailer is a teenage boy on light crew whose job it is to fit into the old ductwork of the ships and strip out the copper wiring to make his daily quota and hopefully live another day.

A huge storm, a city killer, sweeps through the area, leaving Nailer and his friend Pima homeless. As they try to make their way back to their jobs, they find a clipper ship. Onboard the ship, they find more wealth than they could ever imagine. They also find a rich girl, a swank, who somehow lived through the storm. Nailer has to decide whether to kill the girl and take the riches he's found to buy his freedom from light crew or save her and help her find her way home and hopefully a better life for himself.

This was a great, fast-paced, adventurous novel I can't wait to get into the hands of my kids. They will devour this book and its futuristic implications. This would be a great book to read in a literature circle and do some deep talking about oil consumption and the environmental issues associated with it. Certainly a strong message about taking care of our Earth and each other. I will be eagerly awaiting the next in the series.

According to Bacigalupi's website, his other books really delve into important social issues. I'll be looking him up at my local library. It's great when students read, but even more exciting when they're reading high quality books with strong implications for the future. Love it!