I attended ALA in June. While there, I picked up a dozen or so ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies). I just got around to reading one that I was very excited about when I picked it up back during the summer. Boy21 by Mathew Quick is the story of two boys who have both faced tragedies and become friends. I really enjoyed Quick’s first book Sorta Like a Rock Star, so I was excited to read this one. Plus basketball was involved. I always enjoy a good story in which basketball plays a role! (I think of Paul Volponi’s Black and White. . . Loved it!) Boy21 was an interesting story, a gritty urban drama which included a romance, interracial friendship, the Irish mob, high school, and basketball. I hope the book will find an audience with older teens when it is released in March 2012. Other favorite ARCS this year:
- Legend by Marie Lu (read it before it was released, loved it, and have since passed it on to two teens who have liked it very much!)
- Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes ( A great middle grade read, a verse novel, so it reads quickly. I enjoyed it very much. )
- The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch (A good dystopian read)
