Review: Dark Water

Dark Water
Laura McNeal
2010; Knopf; ISBN 978-0-375-84973-2 (hardcover)

Summary: Life in the southern California town of Fallbrook should be like living in a paradise.  But for Pearl, it's not so great.  Her parents have recently divorced, and Pearl and her mother live in the ramshackle guest house on her uncle's avocado ranch.  She's growing distant from her best friend, while her friend and cousin Robby is distancing himself from her.  Then she meets Amiel, a migrant worker who doesn't talk but juggles and mimes to express himself.  He captures Pearl's attention, making her chase him even as he tries to keep her at arms' length.  When a wildfire sweeps through Fallbrook, Pearl will choose Amiel over safety--with devastating consequences. 

This National Book Award finalist showcases the development of one young woman.  Pearl is confused and uncertain due to the changes in her life.  Falling for Amiel leads Pearl to bad decisions, as she does anything to attract his attention.  Laura McNeal presents in a sympathetic manner a young woman grappling with her life and making choices that others wouldn't make.  Other characters like Pearl's mother, her uncle, and Amiel are equally well-drawn in this thoughtful novel.  With its sense of foreboding, Dark Water keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens.

National Book Awards

The National Book Awards were announced on Wednesday night. Many congratulations to the winners and finalists! Find out more at the awards' website.

The winner in the Young People's Literature category was Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, written by Phillip Hoose. I reviewed this earlier in the year, and I'm so pleased that it won!

Thoughts: The National Book Awards

This post also appeared at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy.

I'm a bit late to the party in talking about the nominees for the National Book Award, but here's some thoughts I had in looking over the 2008 nominees for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Does buzz work against a book?

There's been a lot of discussion around The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks when awards are talked about, and I think few people were surprised when it was one of the five nominees. But will that work against it? I can remember several cases where there was pre-award buzz around a book that ended up not winning the big prize. Just when it comes to the Printz Award, for example, I had heard mention of Saving Francesca, Octavian Nothing Vol. 1 The Pox Party, The Book Thief, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as a winner. None of these books won the Printz; two were shut out entirely, not even meriting an honor award. Yet in the same breath, it's not that these books went completely unrecognized. Both The Book Thief and Octavian Nothing merited Printz Honor Awards; Octavian Nothing and Absolutely True Diary were the National Book Award winners in their respective years. It's perhaps too soon to tell if buzz will hurt Frankie Landau-Banks, but I think just getting recognized as a nominee is a validation of the importance of this book.

The esteemed members of the panel

I didn't realize this, but the National Book Award is determined by a panel of authors from the same field. Not just any authors, either--these are major players in the field. The 2008 panel is headed by Daniel Handler, with Holly Black, Angela Johnson, Carolyn Mackler, and Cynthia Voigt. That's some panel! In the past few years, the National Book Award panels have included such authors as Elizabeth Partridge, Pete Hautman, Scott Westerfeld, Linda Sue Park and Patricia McKissack. It's very gratifying to know that not only is this award granted by an author's peers, but that authors are giving back by serving on panels such as these.

Interesting facts

--Apparently, publishers have to submit books for consideration for the National Book Award. While my friends and I have jokingly called the ALA Youth Awards press conference "the Oscars", it could be that the National Book Award's announcement deserves that nickname more.
--In 2008, submissions for Young's People Literature just edged out Fiction as the second-most submitted work. Nonfiction is the big winner in this category.
--I'm very envious of those who live close to New York City and can attend the National Book Award Teen Press Conference. What a wonderful way to publicize and celebrate the National Book Award--not to mention the fact that this event is just for teens!

Thoughts: Juggling Work and Life

You may have wondered at the relative drop-off in posts here at Librarian by Day. I had managed to get up to a good, consistent schedule of two-three posts a week, and then, bam, two weeks where I barely managed to get one post up. What gives?

It's a combination of two factors: one is Teen Read Week and all that involves. I had a major program last Saturday night: a Twilight Prom that was held after-hours at my branch. That involved a lot of resources; then, no sooner had I finished that program, I have tonight's program, a teen coffeehouse, to prep for. Programming, as we all know, is a big part of the job for any teen librarian, and with my schedule all over the place, I found that my time for reading got cut into drastically.

The second factor? I'm going on vacation tomorrow! It's my first vacation in several years, and while I am sad that it's only for about five days, I am excited that tomorrow night, I'll be flying to England. I'll be sightseeing, enjoying some theatre productions, and meeting up with various friends. I'm hoping to cram a lot of relaxation into this trip, and try not to think about my job while I'm gone. After all, a vacation is supposed to be time away. If I don't embrace that, what a waste of the time and the money!

There was a recent thread on YALSA-BK, asking how people manage, on top of their regular jobs, to read blogs and participate in social networking and use Twitter. As many people said, it's a balancing act, but it's not one that has to stay at a consistent balance. Some weeks, I'll pay more attention to one or two things; the next week, my priorities shift and I'm focusing on other tasks. Right now, my job and my real life has taken more precedence over reading and my blog. Once I come back from my vacation, I'll be able to adjust and get back to reading and blogging.

I have a few books that I'm halfway through, like Nora Raleigh Baskin's All We Know of Love. There's a planned post where I compare and contrast the female heroines of two YA novels. And I definitely want to comment on the National Book Award nominees. I'm even hoping to take a break from talking about books and discuss the Twilight Prom that I held at my library. So I'm not out of things to say: I'm just lacking the time to say them. I hope that once I'm back to posting more regularly, you'll be reading!