Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Michael L. Printz 2011 Award Winner

Age Range:  Young Adult

This was a wonderful, fast-moving, science fiction novel.  The entire book is action packed and you want to root for Nailer, the main character, the entire book.  The book is set in the future, on the Gulf Coast.  Cities like New Orleans have been destroyed by category 6 hurricanes.  Many people are left to make their living by scavenging old oil tankers for any copper or parts they can find--they are ship breakers.  Nailer works on the light crew and scavenges for copper.  After a horrible hurricane, Nailer and Pima find a ship that has been destroyed.  They think they have made a great scavenge, when they find Nita, a young-very rich girl that has survived the storm.  Nailer decides to keep her alive.  To escape Nailer's horrible father and his crew, they flee to Orleans by train hopping.  Nita tries to make it back to her people and is on the constant look-out for her own ships.  The ending is even more action-packed than the beginning of the book.  I loved the way things turn out for Nailer and his real family.

Ship Breaker has the elements of metafiction because of how the book is set in a futuristic society.  It makes the reader question if this is where the world is headed.  Will children in our future end up like Nailer and Pima? 

Here is a video from the author, Paolo Bacigalupi, where he talks about this book.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Age Range:  Grades 5-8

Countdown is the first of a trilogy based on the 1960's.  This documentary novel, features what people of the 1960's dealt with and their feelings during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The main character, Franny is 11 years old and lives with her parents, older sister, younger brother, and her Uncle Otts.  The book begins with Franny's class being at recess and hearing sirens for an air-raid.  All of the children have to duck and cover.  The feelings and fear of the students and teachers can be easily felt.  Franny just wants to be a normal 11 year old, but lives in constant fear that she is going to die and the world is going to end.  Her Uncle Otts, is a war veteran, and continues to deal with the stress of having been at war.  He tries to dig a bomb shelter in their front yard and then collapses suddenly.  Franny has to find her way through issues with her old best friend, Margie and attempt to live a normal life with her family when the world is full of chaos.

Metafiction is present in the book by the way the author brings in real life photos from the 1960's, advertisements, songs, and speeches.  These things are woven through the book and help better explain what Franny and her family are experiencing.  This novel will give students a real glance into what life was like in the 1960's. 

Here is a book trailer that I found on Book Trailers For All (http://booktrailersforall.com/) made by Sandy Noles.