With Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, & Raven (HarperCollins, March 2013), it seems Lauren Oliver anticipated this reader response. Published simultaneously with Requiem, the third book in the Delirium series, Delirium Stories revisits the world of Delirium with a focus on the internal experience of three secondary characters: Hana, Annabel, and Raven.

All three have stories inextricably linked to Lena’s, allowing the reader additional insight into some of the situations in Delirium and Pandemonium while also adding more flesh to the world. Hana, Lena’s best friend from Portland, tells of her seventeenth summer and her flirtation with danger, boys, and amor deliria nervosa — that most dangerous of all diseases, love. The story of Annabel, Lena’s mother, jumps between her youth and the early days of the cure and her present moment, imprisoned in Portland’s Ward Six. And Raven, the tale of the leader of the uncureds Lena finds in the Wilds, explains her beginnings and tells a part of Lena’s story from a very different point of view.

The three voices are much the same — first person, feminine, introspective, and emotional — but their accounts are interesting and they allow the reader to revel in the world of Delirium for a little while longer. This book is lovely but best enjoyed as a companion to the series. An excerpt from Requiem, a list of romantic literature banned in the world of Delirium, and a personality quiz are appended.

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The White Bicycle (published in November 2012 by Canada’s Red Deer Press) is the final book in Beverley Brenna’s trilogy centered on Taylor Simon, a teenager from Saskatchewan with Asperger’s syndrome. Here she’s nineteen and in the south of France, babysitting for a boy with cerebral palsy, forming some unlikely friendships, coping with her controlling mother, and working toward independence. Taylor — her voice, her personality — has a lot in common with Christopher in Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Ted in Siobhan Dowd’s London Eye Mystery: distinctive, honest, unemotional yet deeply moving, and even (inadvertently) funny.

But note that Taylor is a female character with Asperger’s — and that alone would probably be enough to take note of this book. There aren’t that many. And yet this book is much less about living with Asperger’s and much more about living, period. It’s a coming-of-age novel, not an Asperger’s novel; it’s a novel about Taylor, not a novel about a girl with Asperger’s. (I trust I’ve hammered home that point thoroughly enough.)

Take nineteen-year-old Taylor’s friendship with ninety-five-year-old Adelaide. Taylor has Asperger’s; Adelaide has dementia. Yet their friendship is true, rewarding for them both, and, for the reader, poignant to the max. And on the admiring-the-writing side, the scenes between the two of them are as carefully and intricately choreographed as a dance.

Take Taylor’s insights into life. I’d call it wisdom, but that makes the novel seem too weighty. “I decide not to think about my trip to Cassis just now. Sometimes, it’s better to not think about things all of the time when you can think about them only some of the time and be calmer.” “It is common for very old people to die. Her daughter said that it was to be expected. But I did not expect it.”

Brenna’s ability to let readers see the world through Taylor’s eyes is extraordinary.

And Taylor herself is an extraordinary character.  I hope readers find this book. Meanwhile, I’ll be looking to read the first two books in the Wild Orchid trilogy. Thanks again, Printz committee.

Read the Horn Book’s reviews of this year’s other Printz picks here.

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Jenny, an adventurer who travels between the real world and other magical kingdoms completing a slew of dangerous, diplomatic missions on behalf of The Committee, finds herself in the Land of Tales (the place of origin for all fairy tales), which is slowly being drained of magic by a witch named Ilda. In order to lift Ilda’s curse, Jenny must complete three impossible tasks. Not only does the magical future of the realm depend on Jenny’s success, but she soon realizes that the fate of her missing parents may be at stake as well.

With the help of her real-world sidekicks Trish and Melissa, Jenny manages to complete two of the three tasks. But her first real failure leaves her disillusioned with her magical destiny, banished from the Land of Tales, and hopeless about ever finding her parents.

Jenny’s tween foibles and humorous nonchalance regarding the fantastical elements of her life make her equal parts relatable and likeable. The joking tone and thoughtful fairy tale play make this a fresh middle-grade read.

Book three pubs this November.

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Reminiscent of Ogden Nash’s, Lawson’s poetry combines deft wordplay with unexpected (often humorous) rhymes and a devotion to showcasing the rhythmic potential of the English language. But as always, Lawson’s signature focus on word sounds takes center stage. With masterful brevity, the majority of the poems stand alone as single quatrain stanzas, however, even the briefest poems contain a mouthful.

Octopus
An octopus spots an illusory obstacle, unfurls a tentacle,
Chops with a Popsicle. Obstinate octopus! Awkward, impractical.
(Popsicle chopping is slow and suboptimal
when the illusion you’re chopping is optical.)

Through surreal imagery and disruption of expectations, Lawson constructs a bizarre world where anything commonplace gets flipped on its head.

Little Red Riding Wolf
The little dog growled,
the dish divorced the spoon,
when Little Red Riding Wolf
howled at the moon.

That dreamlike quality is enhanced by Mexican-Candadian artist Alec Dempster’s 32 full-page paper-cuts. Highly influenced by Mexican graphic art and surrealism, each illustration printed on the antique paper gives this book an overall classic and multicultural feel. It’s beautiful from start to finish.

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In Origami X, Nick Robinson and Paul Harrison offer spy origami, plus tips and techniques for sleuthing and writing secret messages inside spy technology–themed folded shapes. Origami XOXO by Robinson and Susan Behar contains many of the same techniques for secret sharing and encoding (mirror writing, “invisible ink”), but with pink paper, cute cartoon animals, and an emphasis on friendship instead. Read together, these books will have you wondering, “Where are the girl spies?” and “Why can’t boys build friendships through passing notes?” The division between the two books may incite jealousy rather than friendship: the X origami projects are much more action-oriented and in some cases even capable of flight (e.g., ninja star, spy plane), while most XOXO origami can do no more than sit quietly (e.g., cupcake, flower).

Why the need for two very separate books? I feel there is no such need. These books should be one, so everyone can share the projects and the patterned paper. Why not mix an Origami X  lightning-patterned paper with the Origami XOXO “Beautiful Butterfly” instructions, and deem the new creation a gender-neutral falcon? Merging these two books would make for a more creative and enjoyable craft session.

And be wary of the perforated paper — it’s not exactly square, which may be a bummer for the origami perfectionist.

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–F4I [fan for illustrator]
(Boston)

I saw you from across the Paresky Center at the 2011 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards ceremony. You were accepting your honor for illustrating Pecan Pie Baby. Charmed by your watercolors, your accent, and your admission that you can’t draw bicycles, I was too shy to ask you to sign my book. Now I wish I had.

Sophie Blackall’s Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found (Workman, August 2011) has been out for over a year, but I just recently checked it out from my library. I’m so glad I did. This illustrated compilation of Craigslist’s famous — perhaps infamous? — “Missed Connections” personals ads began life as a blog. Blackall writes,

Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I’m trying to pin a few of them down.

Fascinated by the ads, Blackall began depicting the brief stories they told and posting the artwork and text pairs online.

The listings which prompt Blackall’s paintings are “the simple ones with peculiar details; lyrical ones with striking imagery; misspelled ones that are often unintentionally hilarious; and tender, surprisingly moving ones.” All of these are represented in the collection with illustrations ranging from the literal to the fantastic. Sometimes Blackall’s interpretation of the ads is so literal it is fantastic, as in the misspelled ad linked above and in this one posted by a self-described “half Asian girl”:

“Help with Luggage – W4M – 23″

Blackall’s warm watercolor and Chinese ink paintings capture the Missed Connections postings in all their hopeful, romantic, slightly creepy glory. A few of my favorites:

“Girl with the Golden Swan Bike”- M4W – 28

“Floral Print Jacket on the L – M4W – 26″

Love this concept? There’s plenty more where that came from. Not all of the illustrations made it into the book, so check out the blog for additional images. Blackall did a special edition painting based on a contest entry for Boston.com’s Love Letters column, and another for Time Out New York. NYC’s subway system commissioned an Arts for Transit train poster from her (as well as one from fellow BGHB fave R. Gregory Christie). And prints of many Missed Connections illustrations are available for sale in Blackall’s Etsy shop. Who knows? Maybe you’ll recognize yourself — or the one that got away — in one of them.

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Blocky shapes tell Scott’s story, with blue, green, and orange hues guiding the reader through his past and present.

flashback: Scott discusses his impending move with a buddy

Scott’s portrayal as a bit of a fish out of water in Japan is realistic, as he’s never been exposed to Japanese culture — much less sumo wrestling — before; details about sumo customs come from his coach. Scott soon welcomes the routine of his newfound sport (and a blossoming romance with the coach’s daughter). The novel is a short but poignant read about taking risks and getting used to something different.

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A German agent with his own violent agenda assaults Weiss and unleashes the virus onboard. Within hours the massive ship is infested with zombies, which the crew attempts to quarantine from the rest of the passengers. Then the Titanic collides with an iceberg, and all hell really breaks loose.

Be warned: this is no campy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies–style mash-up but a serious, gory horror story. History buffs will appreciate details about the Titanic’s construction and the appearance of historical figures like Captain E. J. Smith (portrayed as a man of honor and a badass), designer Thomas Andrews, “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, and White Star Line manager J. Bruce Ismay. But with all the bloody zombie action, zombie fans are the real intended audience here. This quick, creepy read is perfect for Halloween.

Read more about the Titanic here; more zombies are here.

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Big name YA authors address their teenage versions on a breadth of topics, in a range of tones and formats: Dave Roman creates a comic strip; Robin Benway compiles a funny list of “9 Things You Need to Know” (e.g. “You need to let your bangs grow out. I’m serious.”); Kekla Magoon relates her biracial heritage and bisexuality to her teenage need for fitting in; Ellen Hopkins summarizes the differences between her then-skewed self-perception and reality; and Sara Zarr asks herself “What is a friend?” Both a browsable compilation and a readable page-turner, this book has an audience with everyone — adults will laugh, relate, and mourn their own adolescent confusion; teens will find much to learn about themselves, their peers, and what being older and wiser is all about. And it will almost certainly inspire everybody to follow suit and draft a letter of their own.

Pick up a copy on October 30 and head to the blog in the meantime.

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