Los Angeles Times Book Prizes April 28, 2009

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IS:

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Mau thought he was paddling his dugout canoe home to his small island to be greeted by the elders eager to celebrate his “passage into manhood.” But a tidal wave ravages his island, located somewhere in the South Pacific, and Mau returns home only to find dead bodies, his entire family gone. But wait – he is caught off guard when ”trousergirl” Daphne (an English girl), whose ship was deposited on the island by the wave, suddenly appears before him. Then a pregnant woman, and next a woman with a baby. Still others make their way to the island, and Mau has to help, because if he doesn’t, who else will?

 

Imagine desperate Mau wrangling milk from a mother pig to feed a human baby. And “demon boy” Mau wrestling with the gods, and barely escaping a shark attack. The survivors reinvent civilization, exploring language, religion, and science as they struggle to survive. Deeply philosophical and laugh-out-loud funny, the inimitable Terry Pratchett has crafted an original, masterful tale, reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies, and with all the nail-biting tension of The Hunger Games and Lost. (Christie, The Loft)

 

 …AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER FOR THE ART SEIDENBAUM AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION IS:    

Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris

Click here for a review of Finding Nouf.