High School Pick: Blink & Caution

Blink & Caution
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press
2011
342 pages

Gritty and provocative story-telling by master Tim Wynne-Jones bring this novel to the top of the high school must-read list.

Two street kids are about to be wrapped up in something that is big--really big---think shake the government to its foundations and topple big money corporations--big.

Blink just wanted a hot breakfast; he wasn't counting on the fateful events he is about to witness. He's learned that if he has the attitude and walks like he belongs somewhere, the doorman and the desk clerk generally ignore him. That's how he gets in the elevator at the ritzy Plaza Regent and takes it up to the sixteenth floor. Blink knows rich people get room service, and that they put their leftovers on the trays outside the rooms. He is always happy to find leftover pork chops or coffee still hot in the thermos. Just as he's celebrating his good fortune, a door opens and Blink hides near the ice machine. He sees several men exit the room wearing plastic gloves; Blink knows enough to know this isn't normal. He watches as they ditch a cell phone and throw a wallet into the room. They throw the room key card over their shoulders.

Blink can't help it; he has to investigate. When he does, he sees that a crime has been commited, but he can't tell what has happened really. He only knows he is now the owner of a sweet Blackberry and six hundred dollars richer.

Caution lives with a drug dealer since leaving her home. Her story is uncomfortable and edgy. She has had enough rough abuse and lies, so she steals the dealer's stash and is on the run from some really, really bad people. Caution has learned to be a loner--if only to save herself.

What happens when two young lives cross? Will Blink and Caution be able to team up and save themselves? Will each trust the other?

Readers will love both slightly damaged characters; both Blink and Caution are complex and hurt individuals.

Highly recommended grade 9-up. Language, violence, drug, gritty details.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Pick

Outside Beauty

by Cynthia Kadohata

Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008.

265 pages

Shelby and her sisters lead fascinating lives. Lives full of adventure and danger. Their mother Helen uses her beauty and feminine wiles to attract and trap men. Sometimes men get jealous, and when they do,Helen is forced to flee in the night with her girls. The girls idolize their beautiful mother--she is perfect, she is fun, she is an enigma. As Helen ages, her beauty begins to fade and she begins to unravel. Shelby's family history is a bit muddled--each sister has a different father--fathers who are never around. The girls know very little of their fathers until Helen has an accident and the girls are separated and taken away by each of the fathers.

Shelby is lonely and cannot communicate with each sister. They make a plan to be together forever. Can they ever be together? Will their mother be okay?

The author won the Newbery Medal for her earlier novel Kira-Kira.

Recommended grades 6-10.

YA Hot Pick

Candor

by Pam Bachorz

Egmont, 2009.

249 pages

The messages are everywhere. Broadcast day and night, even when you are sleeping. The messages control your mind, all your thoughts are not your own. Oscar Bank's father created Candor, a "perfect" town in Florida. He sells homes to people who wish to create their perfect lives with their perfect children. Even the parents are fed subliminal messages to control behaviors. You want to lose weight? Quit smoking? Get rid of all your bad habits? Just put your name on the waiting list for a house in Candor.

Oscar's father has actually invented a new addiction: aural addiction, the addiction to listening. If you decide not to listen to the tapes, or cd's or music, you start to go through a form of withdrawal: migraine headaches and even suicide attempts can follow.

Oscar is strong. He fights the messages. He learns to listen to his own Oscar-made messages that override Candor's messages. He never lets on that he helps kids escape town. When there is a run-away, he is never found. Oscar is building quite a bank account--the kids pay him to help them escape Candor.

His one faltering step, a girl named Nia, is threatening to topple Oscar's enterprise. This book is highly original. This novel sparkles! Kids who like dystopian fiction or a strong male protagonist are sure to like this one.

Highly recommended for YA collections. Grade 7-up.

High School Pick

Num8ers
by Rachel Ward
Chicken House/Scholastic, 2010.
325 pages.

In this gritty debut novel, Ward leads readers into the underbelly of the London slums. These are the mean streets, and the author doesn't sugar coat anything. Jem is 15 and being raised in foster care. When she was 8, Jem discovered her mother's lifeless body, a needle nearby. Since then, Jem has avoided people. She doesn't want to get close to anyone because one thing she knows for sure--all people die. Her mother's death is not the worst thing that has ever happened to Jem. The living nightmare that is her every waking hour happens when Jem looks at a person's face and sees a number--the number of their death date.

Jem soon finds a friend in loner Spider. A dysfunctional childhood causes Spider to seek out trouble, and he usually finds it. When Jem and Spider have to flee London, they are forced into terrible perils. Teen readers will like Jem and root for Spider. This novel is not a "feel good" read. It is gritty and grimy and ugly. Ward paints London in harsh colors--not the pretty, well-maintained streets with a "bobby" on every corner, but a dark London with alleys full of trash and drug dealers and creeps. Readers who like a story that is compelling and rough will probably like this novel.


Some sex, though not graphic, langauge, adult situations. Recommended for YA collections grade 8 and up.