must reads 2006

2006 Newbery Award

• Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins. "Writing in a wry, omniscient third-person narrative voice, Perkins deftly captures the tentativeness and incompleteness of adolescence," said Award Committee Chair Barbara Barstow. "In 38 brief chapters, this poetic, postmodern novel experiments with a variety of styles: haiku, song lyrics, question-and-answer dialogue and split-screen scenarios. With seeming yet deliberate randomness, Perkins writes an orderly, innovative, and risk-taking book in which nothing happens and everything happens."
  
• Whittington by Alan Armstrong. In Whittington, Armstrong creates a glorious barnyard fantasy that seamlessly weaves together three tales: Whittington the cat'’s arrival on Bernie'’s farm, his retelling of the traditional legend of his 14th-century namesake, and one boy'’s struggle to learn to read. These three tales unite the disparate citizens of the barn community in a celebration of oral and written language, the support of friends, the healing power of humor and the triumph of life.
  
• Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Bartoletti. How could the Holocaust have happened? Bartoletti delivers a chilling answer by exploring Hitler'’s rise to power through the first-hand experiences of young followers whose adolescent zeal he so successfully exploited and the more extraordinary few who risked certain death in resisting. The meticulously researched volume traces the Hitler Youth movement from the time it formally gathered strength in the early 1930s through the defeat of the Third Reich. The grace and clarity of the writing make Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler'’s Shadow a powerful addition to Holocaust literature for children.
  
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. Miri and the other young women of her rocky highland village are forced to leave their close-knit community when the prince must choose a bride in The Princess Academy. Like the miri flower, which sprouts from the cracks in the linder rock, Miri soon becomes the strong, resilient and courageous leader of the academy. The book is a fresh approach to the traditional princess story with unexpected plot twists and great emotional resonance.
  
• Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson. "And the children leaned in./And listened real hard." Jacqueline Woodson's magnificent poem Show Way tells the story of slavery, emancipation, and triumph for each generation of her maternal ancestors. She pays tribute to the creative women who guided their "tall and straight-boned" daughters to courage, self-sufficiency, and freedom. Whether with quilts or stories, poems or songs, these women discovered and shared the strength to carry on. "There's a road, girl./There's a road."

2006 Printz Award

• Looking for Alaska by John Green. Tired of his boring existence, 16-year-old Miles 'Pudge' Halter heads off to seek his 'Great Perhaps' at an Alabama boarding school, where newfound freedom, guilty pleasures, and an enigmatic girl named Alaska hurl him into life. First-time author John Green writes with intimacy, humor and insight about a world where intense friendship can lead to devastating loss.
  
• Black Juice by Margo Lanagan. Between the covers of Black Juice lies a challenging and lyrical short story collection where mad clowns, dragon angels, sad elephants and dancing gypsies reside. Incorporating elements of science fiction, fantasy and horror, each story transports readers to richly realized worlds that defy definition.
  
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. In I Am the Messenger, an unknown presence sends an aimless young cab driver on a series of life-altering missions that raise questions about the way life--and stories--are structured.
  
• John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth, a Photographic Biography by Elizabeth Partridge. Quintessential rebel John Lennon comes alive in John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth with words that sing, as well as striking photographs, some never before published. Together they help readers imagine the man whose talent and passion transformed a generation.
  
• A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson. A tragic story is at the heart of A Wreath for Emmett Till, a heroic crown of sonnets. Each sonnet serves as a powerful tribute to a young life lost to the violence of America's racial history.