A week ago today, reviews of the two contenders for mine and Amber's bracket for the YA Book Battle, hosted by The Shady Glade. For those who missed it,the reviews are here, and the contenders were StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce and Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper.
This was a tough choice, as in my opinion both books were excellent in their own ways. They're from two totally different genres- one is a realistic contemporary narrated by a young girl with cerebral palsy, and one is a fantasy adventure, narrated by a sneak-thief with magical abilities. We did come up with a winner right away though, and that winner is...Out of My Mind!We both felt that Out of My Mind was a story that needed to be told. We don't feel that people with disabilities are represented in YA literature in a significant way. While many of the other reviews I read disagreed on the accuracy of the book, I didn't read any that said this book didn't affect them on some personal level. How we act in school and in life towards those who are different from us is a conversation that needs to be had.
That isn't to say StarCrossed isn't a good book- it is! It's just a book that I would read for a different purpose. It was engaging and entertaining, but didn't challenge my thinking. Out of My Mind challenged my thinking, and that's a good thing to do from time to time.
