another Printz winner

Since I had focused so much on debut novels this past year while serving as chair of the 2012 Morris Committee, I made a pledge to read some of the award books I wanted to read but could not. With every title, my respect for the 2012 Printz Committee grows (not that I did not already LOVE them for selecting WHERE THINGS COME BACK as their winner). So, now we come to THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic 2011). I had read LINGER and SHIVER but was not prepared at all for this story. Sean is the 4 time winner of the Scorpio races; Puck is the first girl to enter the races. They seem an unlikely pair for an alliance. After all, the Scorpio races end in bloodshed. For the horses are not the usual variety: they are the man-eating capaill uisce, horses that come from the turbulent waters surrounding the town of Thisby. These horses would as soon kill a rider as carry them to victory. Why then do Sean and Puck wish to enter this race? Stiefvater keeps readers at the corners of their seats in a narrative that races, much like the capaill uisce, headlong into danger. <118>