Mock Printz 2026 discussion

The winner our March Mock Printz reading poll has received three starred reviews so far. How does Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle stand up to the Printz criteria?

My Printz group is younger, so unfortunately I can't include this book (lots of sex talk and more), and I'm very disappointed by this. It is such a great read and would make for great discussion. It mixes a B movie end of the world story, an adolescent love triangle, and a thematic look at our history as people and why that is important seamlessly into an amazing read. I wonder about the style, especially when Smith has the story "flash" to different characters and what they are all doing at certain important moments in time. I think it helps support his theme of time and history and its importance, but did it interrupt the story too much? It didn't bother me much, I was too caught up in the awesomeness of it all!

I'm still trying to formulate my thoughts on this one. I found certain elements of the book to be repellent - repeated mention of boners, semen, shit, etc that just don't really appeal to me as a reader. The gore of the giant mantises eating the townspeople didn't really appeal to me either, although several of them definitely deserved it.

But the book definitely has appeal. I was invested in the characters, and had to keep reading to find out what happened to them. The overarching themes were beautifully woven into and reinforced in the story - history matters and is bound to repeat itself; once certain things are out in the open (secrets, love, unstoppable giant man-killing bugs), they have to be dealt with and acknowledged.

In the end, I could not stop reading the book. I'm not sure that many kids in my school population would enjoy this, but I could see this being a contender during awards time.

What to say about this book? As a librarian?

On the one hand, I was an Unstoppable Reader. On the other, I am not a teenage boy - or a 20/30-something young man, who is probably the intended audience for this book, whatever Andrew Smith says - and after a certain point, the constant references to shit, semen, hard-ons, porn, and masturbation were just plain off-putting. (And since Smith is not a subtle writer and hammers his points home again and again and again, this really is a problem with the book.)

But once again (I read Winger), Mr. Smith has created a character I care about. The realistically-conflicted Austin (about the only realistic thing about this book...) doesn't know how to handle his warm feelings toward his male best friend when at the same time he harbors more than warm feelings toward his long-time girl friend. (He shows his feelings toward the former and tells about his feelings toward the latter, which I as a reader found significant.)

Austin feels pressured to make a choice between them, which would somehow define him. The author does a masterful job of expressing the ambivalence that adolescents feel as they move from the social comfort of their gender group to establish emotional connections with the other gender. (Is this a matter of love, or just growing up?)

The sci-fi context for this central theme is ridiculously entertaining, though I did wonder if the cultural references would be more confusing than amusing for younger readers.

So should I put this in our library's adult fiction collection or our young adult collection? Again, on the one hand, the primary focus of this book is the coming of age (hah!) of a number of teenagers. On the other hand, the sex lives of an awful lot of adult characters are described very explicitly (as opposed to the more gently-handled teen characters).

Is this a Printz contender? Well, after seeing the variety of books which won Printz recognition this past January, this is as likely to get the nod as anything else.

(And we can always look forward to the movie! With the removal of some of the extraneous adult characters, this should be a hoot!)

Welcome to Boner Chat with Austin Szerba!

I absolutely loved this book. The narrative style was fantastic, though it got a bit tiresome to read so many simple declarative sentences after a while.

I am writing declarative sentences. I do this for emphasis. I am a graduate of Saint Louis University. My thoughts are very important. You can tell because I use so many, many declarative sentences.

The only problem I had with the conflict was that I never really understood why Austin loved Shann so much in the first place. She's got awesome boobs, bro, I know. You described them in several declarative sentences. Is she smart? Is she funny? Is she a caring person, and her inner warmth is contagious? I still have no idea.

I am almost done reading this, but am compelled to comment. We are reading GJ for my Kids Lit for Adults Book Club at the library. Yes, it belongs in the Teen section and is for sure for older teens...but as the parent of a HS junior, this is an accurate portrayal of a teen boy, this is how they think, what they think about, and how they talk. I think teens will love the book, and I was shocked at how much I did. A contender for sure.

My 15-year old son loved this book. His review: "It's weird and makes no sense and is TOTALLY AWESOME!" So there you have it- target audience, nailed. Me? I totally didn't get it. But don't tell my son.

For me this is this year's only 'real' Printz contender so far. There are so many reasons (none in the least that I absolutely love the pants off of this book ;-) ), and some have already been mentioned, but if I had to give the prime reason, it would be the boldness with which Smith goes places (in terms of genre, for instance) that very few contemporary YA authors dare to go and completely pulls it off too: this is a book that challenges expectations, challenges genre, challenges boundaries,... that's why it's "my" Printz.

Mary wrote: "What to say about this book? As a librarian?

And....this just won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Fiction (!)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor.... They are making a movie!

The first time I read this book, I got about halfway through. I found it insufferable. I'm going to reread it mainly because it's a printz honoree and also because I believe in giving books second chances.