Reading on Topic: Seven Orphaned Novels

Am I the only one who has noticed the publishing industry's interest in orphans? Over the last couple of years there's been an upswing in books with the word orphan in the title and in books that feature orphans as the main characters. I'm not sure what this means, but it's a trend that caught my attention.

Today's Reading On Topic covers seven books I've shelved under the general category of orphans. They range from creepy to thoughtful to light-hearted, so I'm sure there's a title that's just right for you. They all look great to me.

A Little Bit Scary

Sophie Hannah, The Orphan Choir (Picador; ISBN: 9781250063755; 2015) Life in the city becomes unbearable for Louise Beeston after her young son leaves for boarding school and joins a famous boys' choir. It's not only that she misses her son but that she can no longer bear the noise of her neighbor's music and of the workmen who are sandblasting her house. After talking her husband into relocating to the country, Louise is distressed to discover she cannot outrun the ghostly choir that, apparently, only she can hear. As she begins a downward spiral, Louise tries to uncover the secret meanings behind the music. Recommendation: Perfectly spooky for readers who love psychological suspense.

Catherine Jinx How to Catch a Bogle (Harcourt Children's; ISBN: 9780544087088; 2013) Ten-year-old Birdie loves her job with Alfred the Bogle catcher, especially because she knows how bad it can be for an orphan in Victorian London. Birdie and Alfred's services are required whenever a village child goes missing. But when the number of disappearances gets out of hand, the pair relies on friends to help them figure out what is happening. Quirky characters, plenty of action, and a surprising dilemma for Birdie perk up this fun start to a promising middle grade trilogy. Recommendation: Perfect for anyone who likes a engaging mix of mystery, fantasy, and folklore seasoned with a little creep factor. Don't miss the book trailer.

Friends and Family

Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train (William Morrow; ISBN: 9780061950728, 2013) In modern times, Molly, a troubled Native American teen, meets ninety-something Vivian when fulfilling a community service obligation. Eventually bonding over their shared orphan status, Vivian opens up to Molly about her experiences after being sent to the Midwest on a orphan train in the 1920s. Alternating between early-twentieth-century Minnesota and contemporary Maine, Kline takes readers on an emotional journey of survival, forgiveness, and self-acceptance. Recommendation: For readers who like stories of overcoming hardship, female friendships, and historical fiction. Based on a real policy for placing orphans in family homes.

Patry Francis, The Orphans of Race Point (Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780061950728; 2014) From a childhood friendship that was forged over a tragedy, Gus and Hallie's feelings blossom into love, only to be shattered around the time they graduate high school. Decades later, Gus finds himself once again caught up in violence, and Hallie is drawn back into his life, hoping to prove his innocence and recapture the closeness they once felt. This emotionally deep saga follows the two motherless children over almost thirty years and explores family, friendship, domestic violence, parenthood, and redemption. Recommendation: For readers looking for a heartfelt story of friendship, love, and loyalty.

Cathleen Schine, Fin & Lady (Sarah Crichton; ISBN: 9780374154905, 2013) When eleven-year-old Fin is orphaned, he is uprooted from his mother's dairy farm to live with his much older, flighty half-sister, Lady, in Greenwich Village. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, practical Fin and the free-spirited Lady must learn to negotiate life both on their own terms and as a team. Schine brilliantly captures the inner thoughts of the young boy, from his initial adaptation to city life to his maturing reactions to Lady's sometimes questionable choices. Recommendation: For fans of family stories, coming-of-age tales, and the sociopolitical atmosphere of the 1960s.

Maybe Not So Orphaned

Jamie Ford, Songs of Willow Frost (Ballantine; ISBN: 9780345522023; 2013) Twelve-year-old William Eng has been at a Seattle orphanage for almost half his life, but after a rare trip to the movie theater he is convinced that the star of the film is really is presumed-dead mother. Accompanied by a friend, the boy scours the city in an attempt to discover the true story of the actress Willow Frost. More than a tale of a young orphan searching for family, this novel explores Depression Era economic hardships, the plight of Chinese-American women in the 1920s, family, religion, and friendship. Recommendation: For readers who love historical fiction, family stories, and emotional journeys.

Paulette Jiles, Lighthouse Island (William Morrow; ISBN: 9780062232502; 2013) We all know the future of the world looks dark, but for orphans like Nadia, life is particularly hard. Remembering her parents' parting words before they abandoned her years ago, Nadia is convinced there is a haven from the overcrowded, drought-ridden existence that passes for normal. When she sees a chance to escape government control, she leaves the city for the uncharted wilderness to chase her dreams and find her parents. Nadia's journey is fraught with danger as well as unexpected alliances. But can reality ever match our expectations? Recommendation: This tale of desperate hope is perfect for lovers of adult dystopian fiction.

Which one would you read first?

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Series Review: The Life As We Knew It Books by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Last week I got a surprise book in the mail: the fourth installment in Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It series. Before I sat down to devour the new novel, I decided re-read the entire series via audiobooks. Then I realized I had never written about these books for Beth Fish Reads.

For those of you who haven't yet read the series, here's the basic premise. On a beautiful spring evening, people around the world were gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event. A meteor was going to hit the moon, and the impact would be visible from earth. What no one predicted, though, was that the moon would be bumped into a smaller orbit.

The change in the moon's gravitational pull was felt immediately: satellites were knocked out of commission, the tides rose tremendously, islands were submerged, and coastal areas were devastated. Later, volcanic eruptions filled the atmosphere with ash, creating an endless gloom and destroying crops. As food and electricity became scarce, disease and death became common.

The first book in the series, Life As We Knew It, is told through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Miranda Evans, who records daily events in her journal. Through her, we learn how a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania is affected by the natural disaster. Miranda and her brothers' chances for survival depend on hard work, sacrifice, and their mother's smart early preparations.

Like the earlier book, The Dead & the Gone covers the first year after the meteor strike. But Alex Morales, whose parents never returned home that first night, tells a very different story. Hiding out in their basement superintendent's apartment in the Upper West Side of New York, the Morales children must find a way to make the most of their very limited resources. Sheltered by their parents and their strict Catholic upbringing, Alex and his younger sisters have a rough awakening to the ways of the city streets.

This World We Live In continues Miranda's journals and returns us to Pennsylvania, but it also unites the story lines of the first two novels. As the environment continues to deteriorate, making it harder to obtain food and and water, the Evans family will have to make some difficult decisions about their future.

The final book, The Shade of the Moon, will be released August 13. It begins two and a half years after the last installment ends and focuses on Miranda's younger brother, Jon, and his life in what is known as a protected city. The Evans and Morales families have faced many horrors and are no Pollyannas, but they try to maintain some hope for the future and for humanity.

The Life As We Knew It series remains one of my favorite young adult dystopian series. Not only do I love Pfeffer's characters but I find the premise, and the rapidly deteriorating environment, to be scary and gripping. The books make me think about how or if I could cope in similar circumstances. What I love about the series in general is how real it all seems. First, there is no zombie virus or eerie genetic mutations, so the threats and challenges are easy to imagine. Second, we see the changes as they occur, not decades later when governments and politicians have become unrecognizable.

I was also fascinated by the different living situations Pfeffer explores. Miranda's family is upper middle class, educated, and living in a small community. Alex's family, however, is relatively poor and just barely making it in the big city. Thanks to equal parts luck and tragedy, Jon finds himself in a guarded community in which electricity, water, and food are plentiful but where even the smallest mistake is seen as grounds for eviction.

In all three places, the rules of survival are different and require different types of intelligence, cunning, and strength. There is no one right way to guarantee survival, and ethics and morals take on completely new dimensions. What would you do to stay alive? How would you keep your family fed?

Susan Beth Pfeffer's series will doubly keep you up at night: first because you'll find it difficult to stop reading the books and second because you'll be haunted by how you'd survive in the aftermath of a global natural disaster. Don't be surprised if you start hoarding canned goods.

A note on the audiobook productions: Life As We Knew It and This World We Live In (both from Listening Library) are narrated by Emily Bauer. Bauer is terrific at projecting Miranda's thoughts and emotions. I love how she is equally at home with Miranda as moody and argumentative at the start of the books and with the teen as hardened and strong as the story progresses. The Dead & the Gone (Listening Library) is read by Robertson Dean. Dean also does a great job conveying both Alex's uncertainties as he suddenly becomes the head of the household and his inner dilemmas as he weighs his principles against the need to protect his sisters. I don't yet know who will be the narrator for The Shade of the Moon.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Harcourt Children's Books, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013
Life As We Knew It (ISBN-13: 9780152058265), The Dead & the Gone (ISBN-13: 9780152063115), This World We Live In (ISBN-13: 9780547248042), The Shade of the Moon (ISBN-13: 9780547813370)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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