“When Alice fell down the rabbit hole, she fell slow. She had time to notice things on her way down–Oh, there’s a teacup! There’s a table! So things seemed normal to her while she was falling. Then she bumped down and rolled into Wonderland, and all hell broke loose.”

I love this quote from the opening chapter of What I Saw and How I Lied, not only for its imagery but also for the way it tries to prepare you for the story to come. The narrator, 15 year-old Evie Spooner, is looking back, trying to figure out how her life unraveled in just a few short months. She goes back to the beginning, the day it all started, on a warm day in Queens just after World War II has ended. Joe, the step-father she adores, has returned from the fighting to open appliance stores for a country ready to buy “not only what we needed but what we wanted.” Evie and her gorgeous mother are trying to make home life the picture of perfection for him, with roast beef and mashed potato dinners and everything neat and tidy, though it is a strain living under Joe’s mother’s roof.

Joe comes home from work that day with a wild idea to pack up and drive down to Florida for a vacation…that night. He convinces Evie and her mom with his slick sales skills, and in a few days they find themselves in a half-empty Palm Beach resort during the off-season. There Evie meets Peter, a dashing soldier who makes Evie feel like a woman, her mother light-hearted, and Joe strangely moody. As Evie plots to spend more time with Peter, her mother and step-father’s relationship grows tense, and Joe becomes increasingly erratic. Soon events spin into a downward spiral of passion, blackmail, and secrets, and Evie finds the adults in her life are not what they seem. Evie must choose her own path and make a decision that will control all their destinies.

Author Judy Blundell won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for this suspense-filled, noirish, dramatic novel. Those who love attention to detail will revel in the vivid depictions of post-war America, from the fashion (Revlon’s Fatal Apple lipstick and nail polish and full-skirted evening gowns) to the dialogue (”Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up, baby…it’s not all polka dots and moonbeams, you know.”) Those who love crime dramas and Bogey and Bacall movies will delight in the stylish mystery and suspense. And for those who appreciate album covers as much as albums, check out the cover, which I thought stunning (and an accurate depiction of the story, something becoming more rare in the book world). I loved this book, which brings me to two years in a row where I thought the National Book Award winner was better than the Printz Award winner.

I seem to be reading thematically of late because the book for this post, like the last one, deals with dark, emotionally disturbing subject matter. However, unlike Living Dead Girl with its chilling realism, Tender Morsels uses fantasy and fairy tale to explore issues like abuse and violence.This Printz Award Honor winner by Australian writer Margo Lanagan is a compelling revamping of the fairy tale “Snow White and Rose Red.” The novel begins with a short scene narrated by a vulgar and earthy dwarf in a setting that resembles the Dark Ages of Europe. This is a prologue of sorts and the story line quickly shifts to the story of the mother of Snow White and Rose Red…a dreadful story as Lanagan reveals with great subtlety and drawn out suspense.

Just when you can’t take any more of the cruelty the girls’ mother endures, the tone lightens and she and her daughters find peace and loveliness in a magical “other” world. Snow White and Rose Red grow up, and of course, begin to explore the forbidden, the world which their mother would do anything to protect them from. At this point, the sense of inevitability pervading the novel had me by the throat…that delicious sense you get in a horror movie that something bad is about to happen. But I definitely didn’t foresee the twists and turns the story would take as it spun out and in this way the novel proved its maturity…it is literary and complex and worth the effort. It reminded me a little of reading Toni Morrison or Louise Erdrich.

Though this is based on a fairy tale, the story telling is original and innovative, using fantasy to explore how violence and ugliness exist along side innocence and love. Fairy tale or no, this is a most human story.

From the always funny E. Lockhart comes her latest novel The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. The title character is one of those smart, sassy heroines you often find in YA novels, who are identifiable, and sort of remind you of a cooler version of yourself. Frankie, at age 14, was a gangly, kinda geeky-but-not-a-social-outcast girl attending the private boarding school her father went to. Frankie at 15 is about to return to her private boarding school with a newly developed body and a self-possession that means she knows what she wants and she’s going to go after it. Within no time she’s landed a hot senior boyfriend and is hanging with the coolest group of kids in the school. But deep-down, Frankie worries that Matthew only likes her when she’s not taking the lead or being the center of attention, and she knows he’s keeping a big secret from her. When she can’t get him to share his secret all-male society, she decides she will teach these boys a lesson they won’t soon forget. Of course, in the process, she begins to lose track of herself, and things don’t wind up quite like she’d imagined.

Disreputable is an interesting look at one girl’s desire to be one of the boys without losing her femininity or self-respect. While the plot is less dark and traumatic than John Green’s Looking for Alaska, the common setting of a private boarding school make for a few interesting parallels. Whether you find yourself rooting for Frankie or not, you’ll enjoy the game.

While the book Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox is not a perfect book, it did get me so wrapped up in its world that I was dying to find out what happens in Book Two–Dreamquake. Lucky for me it is already out (the benefit of starting a series of books that is already published) and even better than Book One. Dreamquake picks up with the final scene of Dreamhunter and tells it from an alternative perspective, which both catches up the reader and gives a new angle to the scene. From there the plot picks up speed with Laura and her Sandman on the run for forcing her nightmare on the Dream Opera Crowd, the Dream Regulatory Body building a secret, dangerous project in the Place, and, not to be overshadowed, Rose’s debut into society. Laura and Sandy’s relationship blossoms, though her continued and deepening reliance on her Sandman causes tension with those around her. The pace is fast, the drama high, and once the pieces of the puzzle came together I was left astounded by the author’s imagination and storytelling abilities. Full of suspense, romance, and questions, this installment brings the duet to highly satisfying close.

Each year the American Library Association gives out the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and awards “Honor” status (like an honorable mention) to 3 or 4 other finalists for the award. I often feel conflicted about the books that get chosen and 2008’s selections are no exception. One of the honor books is Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins. It is the story of a demon (that’s right, demon, as in hell) who realizes after centuries on the job tormenting sinners in hell that the Creator isn’t going to notice if he slips away for a vacation. The demon, who is called many things, among which Kiriel is his favorite, jumps into the body of a slacker teenaged boy who is seconds away from dying in an accident. As Kiriel sees it, “the fact that he missed the last two seconds of his life didn’t really matter; I could see exactly what was going to happen.”

Kiriel sets out to experience all he can of life before he is caught and sent back. He revels in the details, the taste of ketchup, the feel of writing with a pencil, the sound of traffic. He wants to test all the 7 deadly sins to find out what the big deal is, and in the space of a couple days realizes why humans get so worked up with jealousy, lust, wrath and the rest.

The book is funny, poignant, and ultimately life-affirming as the demon makes your realize all you take for granted in your own life. So why do I feel conflicted about the book being honored by the Printz committee? Well I agree the book is very good, and asks a lot of interesting questions, but I’m not sure I agree it was one of the top 5 best YA books of the year. Still, I’m glad the book is getting recognition, because it is a fun read and one that will make you count your blessings.