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Take it from someone who has to choose just one young-adult book to review every other week: There's an incredible amount of interesting stuff being published for younger readers these days. The following is a selection of exciting fiction and nonfiction that has come out this fall, from award winners and finalists to illustrated classics. Hardbound and beautifully designed, these books stand up to being judged by their covers - and any one of them would make a thoughtful gift.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume 1: The Pox Party'' by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick, $17.99). M.T. Anderson won the National Book Award this year withOctavian,'' an unusual exploration of a segment of American history that probably didn't make it into your high school textbook. Octavian has been raised by his mother, an African princess, and a group of rationalist philosophers who go by numbers instead of names. He starts out life relatively unaware of the tumult of Revolutionary Boston, but the outside world encroaches on his personal sphere - as it tends to - and Octavian is faced with the realities of slavery, war, and personal betrayal.
A Christmas Memory'' by Truman Capote (Knopf, $17.95). In 1956, Truman Capote, already famous forOther Voices, Other Rooms,'' published a surprisingly winsome memoir of the Christmas he was 7 - and of the quirky elderly woman who was his closest friend.
Together they gather pecans for fruitcake in a dilapidated baby carriage, pal around with their terrier, Queenie, and avoid the "other people" who inhabit their house and frequently make them both cry.
This 50th-anniversary publication includes a CD of the story read by Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm and features sweet watercolors by Beth Peck. (Queenie is in every single picture.) This is a wonderful story, wonderfully told.
Looking for Bapu'' by Anjali Banerjee (Wendy Lamb, $15.95). Banerjee's ebullient first novel,Maya Running,'' took young readers back to an olden time that ended before their memories began: the 1970s. It also gently and realistically dealt with the issue of being an ethnic minority in a sea of whiteness. In ``Looking for Bapu,'' Banerjee tells the story of a young boy's relationship with his grandfather, once again blending spiritual awareness, a sense of humor, and the details of her characters' Indian heritage in a way that's both sophisticated and very likable.
``Beka Cooper Terrier'' by Tamora Pierce (Random House, $18.95). Stories of Tamora Pierce fandom rival those of rock stars. Pierce is credited with pretty much inventing the girl-positive fantasy novel in the early '80s, when her wildly popular Alanna stories debuted.
She's been casting teenage girls as smart, fierce warriors ever since - and collecting legions of devoted fans along the way. This is the first book in her new Tortall Series, which is set 200 years before Alanna was born and stars Beka Cooper, a girl who avenges murdered children by finding their killers. A surefire hit with fantasy readers.
Sold'' by Patricia McCormick (Hyperion, $15.99). A National Book Award finalist,Sold'' plumbs the contemporary crisis of human trafficking for eye-opening, fact-based fiction. Former investigative reporter McCormick researched the selling of young women and girls in Nepal and India through extensive interviews, and by traveling the same journey that many thousands of girls make unwillingly each year from their tiny home villages to Calcutta brothels.
The result is this novel, told in spare but captivating vignettes, about 13-year-old Lakshmi, who endures, and overcomes, the nightmare of forced prostitution.
London Calling'' by Edward Bloor (Knopf, $16.95). This beautiful-looking book by Edward Bloor is set in present-day America, but deals with the chaotic London Blitz of 1940. A piece of World War II history that may be less known to young readers than to their parents or grandparents, the Blitz is nonetheless a suitable backdrop to the life of a miserable Catholic school kid named Martin. In the story's beginning, he's preoccupied with the difficulties of seventh grade, but he soon gets a wider perspective when his dreams are visited by a British boy who acts as his time-travel guide to war-torn England. Bloor is the author of the critically acclaimed young adult novelTangerine.''
A Dog for Life'' by L.S. Matthews; (Delacorte, $14.95). John and his brother Tom can talk to their dog, Mouse, telepathically. This is a good thing. Then Tom gets a "diagnosis" from the doctor, who says that dogs carry germs and that Mouse has to go. This is not a good thing. The novel, which takes place in the down-to-earth English North, chronicles John's fight to keep dog and boy together. Although it's recommended for ages 10 and up, this lovely novel by the author of the Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year,Fish,'' is told in a bright, charming first-person that will appeal to adults and kids alike.
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(c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
