Ponderings of a Bibliophile

Title: Challenger Deep Author: Neal Shusterman Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction Age Group: Young Adult Challenger Deep is about fifteen-year-old Caden Bosch and his descent into mental illness. Half the time, Caden thinks he's on a ship headed to the deepest point of the ocean, Challenger Deep (hence the title). For the other half, he lives the life of a normal teenager. But when reality and fiction start to blur, and Caden begins to hear voices, he's emitted to a mental hospital and begins the fight for sanity. For the first fourth or so of the book, I was like, "What the heck is happening?" It kept switching from Caden at school to Caden on the ship to Caden at home but acting strangely, and I found it hard to keep up with. Then his mental illness got worse, and the book got more intriguing. I started noticing parallels between real life and his fantasy. It kept getting better from there (the story, not his mental health), and I came to the conclusion that it d...

  Title: Inside Out & Back Again Author: Thanhha Lai Genre: Historical Fiction Age Group: Middle Grade Inside Out & Back Again is a novel-in-verse about a young Vietnamese girl whose life is torn apart by the Vietnam War. Forced to leave her home, Ha, her mother, and her brothers are taken to the US, where the family struggles to survive in the brand new setting. I'll admit, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. Despite being only ten years old, Ha is a sympathetic protagonist and wonderful narrator. She always tells it like it is, and as a result there's some great humor in here! I'd recommend this book to people who like historical fiction and free-verse poetry.