Medina, M. (2016). Burn Baby Burn. Candlewick Press. ISBN: 978-0-7636-7467-0
Plot Summary
Nora is almost 18 and almost free of her chaotic family. It’s 1977 and New York CIty is a mess. Following a freezing winter comes a boiling heat wave and a serial killer who favors brunettes and couples in cars. Nora is a senior in high school and is just finishing up the school year. She longs to turn 18 and move out on her own to escape her brother who becomes more and more violent by the day. Her mother always makes excuses for him and struggles to keep food on the table and rent paid. When fires start erupting all over the city Nora begins to see an even darker side to her brother. Nora faces her brother, a heatwave, and the threat of a serial killer everyday when all she wants to do is dance with her best friend Kathleen and be free.
Analysis
This novel gives an accurate depiction of life as a teenager in Brooklyn in 1977. The author captures the moment in history and allows the reader to be transported into that time and place. “Numerous references to New York’s budget crisis, arson wave, and “Son of Sam” newspaper stories deliberately ground the story in a real time and place, while an ample sprinkling of seventies disco and funk song references creates a brighter soundtrack for the dreams and romance of teenage girls, hinting at a hopeful future for Nora.” —The Horn Book (starred review). Medina also includes aspects of Nora’s life that readers can relate to. The unknown after graduating from high school, teenage love, and friendships. She also gives a voice to domestic violence through the character of Hector, Nora’s brother. Hector is not only abusive to Nora but to her mother as well. Her mother often makes excuses for Hector and wants Nora to as well. Nora is surrounded by the feminist movement all around her and struggles to decide what is right for her life. “Her feelings are believably complicated...While Nora’s milieu may be different, contemporary readers will respond to her doubt about the world’s and her own possibilities, and they’ll be glad to see her bravely moving forward nonetheless.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.
Reviews
Historical fiction is sometimes a hard sell for contemporary teens; however, Medina’s novel entices readers by developing realistic characters and a strong plot framed by the turbulence of 1977 in NYC. At its heart, this is a novel about growing up. Nora struggles to find her identity outside of her family and make choices that will impact her future. There is a strong theme of feminism and redefining a woman’s role during that time in history. Nora’s outlook on relationships and life in general is frank but refreshingly honest...this novel is a strong choice for its message, characters, and historical perspective. —VOYA
Rooted firmly in historical events, Medina's latest offers up a uniquely authentic slice-of-life experience set against a hazy, hot, and dangerous NYC backdrop. Rocky and Donna Summer and the thumping beats of disco, as well as other references from the time, capture the era, while break-ins, fires, shootings, and the infamous blackout bring a harrowing sense of danger and intensity . . . An important story of one of New York City's most dangerous times. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Kirkus Prize Finalist
American Library Association Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults SelectionSchool Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Other books by Meg Medina include: The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind and Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.
Donnelly, J. (2010). Revolution. Random House Children’s Books. ISBN: 978–385-73763-0.
Plot Summary
Andi has had a traumatic last few years following the sudden death of her younger brother. Her life is a mess, she is failing out of school and she is having to care for her mother who is struggling with her grief. Andi herself has developed a dangerous drug habit to cope with her brother’s death. Then her estranged father swoops in and takes her to Paris with him on a work trip in order to give Andi’s mother time to recover in a mental hospital. While in Paris Andi discovers a secret diary hidden in an old guitar of her fathers friend, a French scholar. Her father is an award winning scientist who is working on identifying an old heart believed to be the dauphin of France. After finding the diary, Andi starts to read it and discovers many similarities between herself and the owner of the diary Alex, who is telling her story from the 18th century during the time of the French Revolution. Andi becomes more and more invested in the diary and its owner as she reads ghosts seem to be coming right out from the pages into her already chaotic life.
Analysis
This beautifully written story compares the lives of two girls the same age but in two different centuries. Andi and Alex have similar personalities and want to help the little boys in their lives. In this story the reader goes back and forth between contemporary and historical to see each girl try to make sense of the crumbling world around them. “This beautiful and complicated story effortlessly blends history, romance, music and tragedy into a must-read about two girls who connect across centuries.” -Justine Magazine. This story includes struggling with grief and drug abuse. The author shows Andi trying to use the drugs to push away her grief instead of dealing with it head on. This leads Andi into a downward spiral and the lines between reality and fiction are blurred. The author also includes many musical references with the storyline of Andi’s school research project on a composer from the eighteenth century. “While teens may search in vain for the music of the apparently fictional Malherbeau, many will have their interest piqued by the connections Donnelly makes between classical musicians and modern artists from Led Zeppelin to Radiohead.” -School Library Journal, Starred. This novel has everything that a teen could ask for romance, music, history, and the realistic problems teens today must deal with.
Reviews
"Before the book is done ... we'll have taken a long strange trip of our own in Andi's company: back and forth between present-tense Andi and past-tense Alexandrine, between contemporary Paris and the filthy, terrorized streets of Robespierre's day, and deep into the clammy, bone-filled catacombs that underlie the city and where, in this ... memorable novel, past and present connect in a frightening, disorienting fashion." -The Wall Street Journal
[STAR] “Andi Alpers, a 17-year-old music lover, is about to be expelled from her elite private school. Despite her brilliance, she has not been able to focus on anything except music since the death of her younger brother, which pushed the difficulties in her family to the breaking point. She resists accompanying her work-obsessed father to Paris, especially after he places her mentally fragile mother in a hospital, but once there works in earnest on her senior thesis about an 18th-century French musician. But when she finds the 200-year-old diary of another teen, Alexandrine Paradis, she is plunged into the chaos of the French Revolution. Soon, Alex’s life and struggles become as real and as painful for Andi as her own troubled life. Printz Honor winner Donnelly combines compelling historical fiction with a frank contemporary story. Andi is brilliantly realized, complete and complex. The novel is rich with detail, and both the Brooklyn and Paris settings provide important grounding for the haunting and beautifully told story.” -Kirkus Reviews, Starred
Winner 2011- Young Adult Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book
ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
Other books by Jennifer Donnelly include: The Tea Rose, Stepsister, and A Northern Light.
Sepetys, R. (2011). Between Shades of Gray. Philomel Books. ISBN: 978-0-399-25412-3
Plot Summary
This book is about a girl named Lina who one night is taken with her mother and brother from their home in Lithuania by Soviet police. Lina’s father was taken from their family and is sent to a prison camp in Siberia. Lina is a strong girl and fights to keep what is left of her family together while living in a Siberian work camp. Here she meets a boy and forms strong friendships with the people around her. She is a talented artist and starts to document the atrocities that she encounters through her drawings. Through her secret drawings Lina tries to communicate with her father. Lina is in the fight for her and her family's lives.
Analysis
This novel focuses on WWII and Russia’s invasion of Lithuania. Included in the book are two maps depicting the journey that Lina and her family went on in order to get to the prison camps. Lina’s story gives a voice to the forgotten children of war and shows what it is like to grow up fighting for your life. “Between Shades of Gray is a story of astonishing force. I feel grateful for a writer like Ruta Sepetys who bravely tells the hard story of what happens to the innocent when world leaders and their minions choose hate and oppression. Beautiful and unforgettable.”--Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Newbery Honor–winning author of Hitler Youth. This novel also sheds some light on the atrocities that Stalin inflicted on his people and the countries that he invaded. Many historical facts were weaved into this story to give the reader a small picture of what life was like in the work camps. “Stalin deported and murdered millions, but he could not destroy the seeds of memory, compassion, and art that they left behind. From those seeds, Ruta Septeys has crafted a brilliant story of love and survival that will keep their memory alive for generations to come.”--Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Speak and Wintergirls. This book is a must read for any student learning about WWII or war and its effects. This book gives the reader empathy for the trials innocent people who are stuck in the middle of a war zone must go through.
Reviews
“In terrifying detail, Ruta Sepetys re-creates World War II coming of age all too timely today. Between Shades of Gray is a document long overdue.”--Richard Peck, Newbery Award–winning author of A Year Down Yonder
“Beautifully written and researched, it captures the devastation of war while celebrating the will to survive.”--Family Circle
“An engrossing and poignant story of the fortitude of the human spirit in a dark time in Lithuanian history.”--Associated Press
New York Times Notable Book
A Carnegie Medal nominee
A William C. Morris Award finalist
Other books by Ruta Sepetys include: I Must Betray You, Out of the Easy, and The Fountains of Silence.
