For Hunger Games fans

Incarceron
By Catherine Fisher
Dial, 442 pages
$17.99, ages 12 and up

Teens, kids and adults are biding their time and biting their fingernails waiting until the end of August for Mockingjay, the third and final Hunger Games book, a gripping series that's inspired nationwide buzz, a movie in the making and the creation of fan Web sites à la Harry Potter

Here's something to read during the wait: Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher, which has just been published this year in the U.S. but has been a sensation in Britain since 2007 where it was named the children's book of the year by the London Times.

Fisher's book is every bit as good, with all the excitement, intensity, adventure and complexity that makes a top-notch science fiction-fantasy novel. And the story is remarkable in its originality.

Incarceron is the name given to a vast self-contained prison of the future. It is so huge that it contains forests, seas and cities populated by warring factions. Half of the citizenry of this future time lives within this prison.

The other half of the population lives outside in a bucolic revisioning of the 18^th century. By decree, every detail must be accurate to the era, down to the last sweetmeat and thatched roof, even if some of those details are created by computer backdrops and the genetic aging of oak trees.

The story weaves back and forth between two protagonists. Young Finn is a prisoner of Incarceron, who has no memories except for a couple of fleeting pictures. He is sure that he came from outside, even though the prison was sealed long before any of its current inhabitants were born.

Claudia, a young woman of privilege, is the daughter of the warden of Incarceron. She has been promised in marriage to the Queen's son, Caspar, a foolish oaf who she doesn't love – or even like. She did like his half-brother, Giles, whom she met as a child. He would have been her betrothed if he hadn't been killed in a riding accident. Or was it really an accident?

Claudia and Finn's stories continue on parallel paths with connections that gradually become apparent. The most powerful one is a crystal key. They each come into possession of identical copies of the keys, which contain complicated circuitry and have powers they can only begin to imagine.

Finn is convinced will help him escape from Incarceron. He leaves the Civicry, the thieving, murderous people he lives with in his wing of the prison, accompanied by ragtag group of fellow prisoners. Their plan is escape. Their hopes rest on the key, Finn, who claims to have seen the stars, and the legendary tales of Sapphique, the only other prisoner believed to have escaped Incarceron.

As the tale winds on, Claudia and Finn's fates move closer, and excitement and intrigue build.
Fisher has created wonderful, complex characters and a fascinating futuristic fantasy world with much to discuss and think about. As in Lois Lowry's The Giver, we must consider the dark side of utopia. Finn is in the literal prison, but isn't Claudia – engaged to a boy she despises and living in a facade – in one, too?

As in the Hunger Games books, this ends with a stunning twist and a cliffhanger. But good news for those crafty enough to use Amazon.uk: The sequel, Sappique, is available in England.

-Rebecca Young

Newbery and Caldecott Medals

I picked the right book to listen to on my iPod over the weekend.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, is the 2010 Newbery Medal winner.
It's a terrific book and not only because it pays homage to one of my childhood favorites: A Wrinkle in Time. It's written from the point-of-view of a 12-year-old girl in 1970s Manhattan and involves mysterious notes that appear to come from the future, her mom's impending appearance on the $20,000 Pyramid, shifting friendships and a seemingly impossible tangle of plot threads. But it does get untangled. The conclusion is harrowing, thrilling and moving.

Unlike some other years, it's a Newbery book that will be easy to get kids to read.
Here's a quote from the Newbery committee Chair Katie O'Dell:

"When You Reach Me’ is an exceptionally conceived and finely crafted work of fiction that will engage and satisfy readers for years to come.”

The Caldecott Medal went to The Lion and the Mouse, the gorgeous book, by Jerry Pinkney. It was a choice that was one of the least surprising of many in recent years of Caldecott medals.

This is what Caldecott committee chair Rita Auerbach had to say:

“Pinkney’s stunning watercolors add new dimensions to an ancient tale in a book which is sure to become a beloved classic."

All the World, by Marla Frazee, and Red Sings From the Treetops: A Year in Colors, by Joyce Sidman, both also exquisite, were named Caldecott Honor books.
Here's a press release from the American Library Association that tells more about this year's Newbery, Caldecott and the selection process.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award went to Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes. There were four Geisel Honor books: I spy Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold; Little Mouse Gets Ready, by Jeff Smith; Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends, by Wong Herbert Yee; and Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day, by Kate McMullan.

Newbery Honor books are: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip M. Hoose; The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jaqueline Kelly; Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, by Rodman Philbrick.

For these authors and illustrators, winning a Caldecott or Newbery (or many other of the awards announced this morning) is as good as a Golden Globe or Oscar. It means their books get those shiny gold or silver stickers on the cover and now will probably NEVER go out of print.

Here's a link to a list of all the winners of the awards announced this morning.