Nerds Heart YA: Rowan the Strange vs. Last Night I Sang to the Monster

It’s the semi final round of the Nerds Heart YA competition! In this bracket, we have:

Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn vs. Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.  Both books were very good, which isn’t surprising, since they’ve made it this far in the competition.  Both books feature teen boys in mental institutions, but after that similarity, they are very, very different books.

Rowan the Strange is set in England during WWII.  Rowan is 13 years old, and having an increasingly hard time dealing with the voices in his head– voices that lead him to break his sister’s fingers when she won’t stop playing the piano when he asks.    His family takes him to a hospital that says they can help, using the very latest techniques.  Rowan and another teen, Dorothea, become early test cases for electroshock therapy.  The treatment has some of the expected effects, but the results also offer some surprises.

Last Night I Sang To the Monster is a contemporary novel.  Zach is 18 and in rehab.  He doesn’t know what led to his stay there, and he really, really doesn’t want to remember.  He’s bright and very articulate.  The book is first person, and at times goes into stream of consciousness as he wrestles with his past and present.  His therapy doesn’t get any more experimental than Breathwork, but the effects on him are explosive.

Advancing to the next round is Last Night I Sang to the Monster.

Both books are worthy of advancing, and an argument could be made either way.

Both books feature strong characters, although I’d give Last Night the edge here– both for the main character and the supporting characters.

The books are aimed at different age groups– I’ll suggest Rowan to my 12 year old daughter, but Last Night will wait a few years.

I think Rowan probably has a wider audience, and not just due to the wider age range.  I think most readers will be able to appreciate it, and I can see several reasons that people would reject Last Night.  It has much more of an edge to it, with graphic descriptions of past incidents, in Zach’s life as well as others he’s living with.

This edginess is probably what gave Last Night such an impact, and that’s what my decision comes down to.  I was in tears many times during my reading of Last Night, and even the more intense scenes of Rowan didn’t have that impact on me.  Both books have haunted me since reading them, but Last Night I Sang to the Monster isn’t letting up.

I’m not sure I would have picked up either of these books if it wasn’t for judging this competition, and I’m very glad I did. I’ll be looking at more of the nominated books, and not just the ones that immediately call to me.

Please consider buying both books (or getting them from your library).   Read them.  Review them.  Spread the word!

Last Night I Sang to the Monster will be going up against Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee. Go to Bart’s Bookshelf to find out why!

Lenore from Presenting Lenore is tasked with making the final decision on September 3, and I don’t envy her at all!

 

Friday 56: Nerds Heart YA

Here I am again, with the Friday 56 from Storytime With Tonya and Friends .

I’m cheating a little this week. When I reached for my closest book, it was (as usual) the book I’m currently reading– Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn.

I’m reading this for the Nerds Heart YA competition, which is an effort to get “more visibility for fantastic, under represented books”. I was selected as a backup judge when one was needed at the last minute. I’m reading the aforementioned book as well as Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. These books have both survived two matchups to date, and I have to pick just one to continue to the final round!

I’m going to include both books in this week’s post.

The rules are:

• Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section Tonya’s blog.
• Post a link along with your post back to Tonya’s blog.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

From Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn:

Rowan blinked. Had he imagined it? All those people back there climbing ladders, carrying baskets, pulling fruit from the trees, but with their gas masks on? They had looked terrible with their faces all covered like that; terrible and strange, like aliens come down from another planet to plunder the garden of England.

From Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

So, when he takes me home, he says to me, we’re just sitting in his car, and he says to me, “Listen, Zach, have you ever kissed anybody?”

And then I see where we’re going with this, but I want to play it cool because, well, I liked Sam, and I didn’t want to freak out because I freak out way too much and really it’s no big deal that the guy wants to kiss me because, well, it wasn’t as if he was scary or anything. But I have to say I started to feel really anxious and I wasn’t about to kiss him. I mean, the guy was good looking and smart and he had these serious green eyes and he was all the things most guys want to be and all of that and I knew a lot of girls that would have really like to kiss the guy, but I, well, that just was not going to happen.

I have to say that both quotes are representative of their books stylistically, but misleading as far as the primary focus of each book. I guess that’s part of the fun of Friday 56, puzzling out where the red herrings are.

Let me know what you think of these quotes, and if you have one of your own, point me to it (and don’t forget to head back to Tonya’s Place).  And don’t forget to come back here on August 20 to see which book advances to the next round!