The Princely Printz Books

I have been scheduling blog postings for March, but I wanted to make sure this one got out right away. This year's Printz winner and honor books are just so terrific. Of course, since their winning title was also our winning title (I chaired Morris this year), that was a wonderful confluence. I had not had the chance to read all of the Printz Honor books as I was reading mostly debut novels this past year. So, right after the awards were announced, I pulled the ones I had not read and placed them in the toppling TBR stack (at the tippy top). Wow. I might have missed some of these gems were it not for the incredibly smart folks on the Printz Committee.




JASPER JONES by Craig Silvey (Knopf 2011)is really the story of Charlie. One night, Jasper Jones, the town outcast, comes to charlie's window and asks him for help. Charlie follows Jasper to a clearing where there is a girl hanging from a rope. She has been beaten, and Jasper knows the town will suspect him as the murderer since he was seeing Laura, the daughter of an important man in Charlie's town. Jasper enlists Charlie's aid in removing Laura from the tree and submerging her in the depths of the water in the glade. Now Charlie and Jasper must set about to make the true perpetrator confess to his misdeed. Over the course of a summer, Charlie will come face to face with quite a few monsters, some within the walls of his own house. Silvey's language is lyrical even in the most brutal circumstances. It deserves a slow and measured read and re-reading as well. Bravo Printz Committee for letting us meet Jasper and Charlie. <105>