chanda’s secrets- allan stratton

in a fictional african country, people are dropping dead right left and center. one was chanda’s step-father. then her best friends’ parents. then her little sister. then her NEW step-father. but the families always cover up the truth, saying cancer or tuberculosis, when they actually mean AIDS. now chanda’s mom is sick, but if chanda tells the truth she won’t be able to get help for her.

certainly a heart-wrenching and gripping tale, one which sheds much-needed light on why AIDS is spreading so rampantly in some areas of the world…so forgive me if i say that chanda is a little…boring? she mentions wanting to get a scholarship to college so she can grow up and be an important career-person, but mostly she runs around taking care of everyone and being a brave little toaster and eventually has to neglect her schoolwork. and does she complain? noooo. i like my heroines a little more disobedient and lively. but still…read this if you’re in the mood for a weepie funk.

the white darkness- geraldine mccaughrean

“I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now—which is ridiculous, since he’s been dead for ninety years.” So begins The White Darkness, this year’s recipient of the Michael L. Printz award.

Titus Oates, who joined Robert Falcon Scott’s exploration of Antarctica, has indeed been dead for ninety years, and he met his end on that very exploration. Fourteen-year-old Sym, a dork at school because of her hearing aids and obsession with the south pole, has been hearing his voice in her head (but not in an Avril way) for a couple years now. He is likely her best friend.

Sym’s adventure begins when a weekend trip to Paris with her Uncle Victor, the man responsible for Sym’s obsession with “the ice,” turns into a surprise holiday tour of the south pole. The generosity! But then everyone gets the runs, and there’s an explosion, and some mysterious Scandinavian hotties are plotting and scheming with Uncle Victor. Then the emergency phones don’t work. Then all the other tourists mysteriously fall asleep. Sym doesn’t get in on the plan until it is too late to stop Crazy Uncle V. She, Victor, and the hottes are already in perilous danger.

I love YA books that are adventuresome and have smart girls as main characters. The White Darkness is only a little funny- Sym is one odd duckie- but definitely stark and eerie in a good way.