Mock Printz 2026 discussion

John Corey Whaley won the 2012 Printz Award for his debut, Where Things Come Back. Will 2017 be the year he wins it a second time? What are your thoughts about his latest, Highly Illogical Behavior?

I loved it and thought it very readable. I liked that the characters were all complicated but likable. I would absolutely recommend it to teens. Not sure it will get a Printz nod, but I am glad I read it.

I feel like I should love this book. The humor is sometimes genuinely funny, the majors characters are well-developed, and it never descends into hokeyness.

While it has some tropes, like the attractive nerds (the most overused character type in contemporary YA), it mostly subverts them. And yet, that didn't feel particularly special, because it's been so popular to subvert "contemporary YA issue books", in the same slightly hopeful. ambiguous way that it now feels like a trope itself.

Whaley, like so many other authors of "issue books", has a tendency to over-explain the main character's illness, making things feel didactic. If it was an obscure illness, this would be acceptable. But agoraphobia is predicated on anxiety -- a feeling that's universal. Teens are smart enough to extrapolate the bits and pieces you give them.

Despite what I said, I'm happy I read this book. It was an enjoyable read. I don't think it's deserving of any Printz recognition, but if a person wanted to learn about agoraphobia while being entertained, I would definitely recommend this.

I thought it was just ok - a little bland to me.

I loved his first two books, and I loved this one! But I think that I loved the first two SO much that this one wasn't a WOW for me, but it was still great! Review is here: http://revingsblog.blogspot.com/2016/...

I'm pretty neutral on this book. I liked the way that agoraphobia isn't considered crazy and how the friendship develops between the three main characters. But I also think that everything happens too easily. If a person won't go outside their house for three years I doubt that the first step outside would be as easy as it was. that said, I enjoyed reading but don't think it is Printz-worthy.

Solomon hasn't left his house in three years. Lisa is applying to a top notch med-school and feels if she can earn Sol's trust and get him to leave his house then she can wow the admissions department and get a scholarship. Turns out she and Sol become genuine pals. He opens up to her and eventually to her boyfriend Clark as well. Trust and loyalties take center stage as they work through some challenges. (Lisa)"The world is big and scary and unforgiving. But we can survive out here. Solomon Reed did. I held his hands and we counted to ten and it was beautiful. He was an astronaut without a suit, but he was still breathing."

I honestly loved this book. The characters were incredibly well-developed, the story was fun, and the nerd culture references were pretty great without being too pandering.

My tiny quibble: stories where ambitious teenage girls are put in their place make me a little uncomfortable. Yes! What Lisa does is dangerous and potentially harmful. I would just like there to have been less dumping on her in the end. But maybe I'm just overly sensitive to that, and that's why it's only a tiny quibble.

Is it Printz-worthy? I'm not sure. It's well-written and it has some unique storytelling. Maybe Honor? It certainly has gone to less deserving titles, so who can say.

I loved the characters in this book, they were well-written and pretty authentic throughout the book, even the supporting characters. The story line was very good, maybe a bit predictable at the end (the foreshadowing of something happening to his grandmother was a little too obvious). I enjoyed the alternating voice format, but that is not very distinguished in and of itself.

Is it a good realistic fiction title about some serious issues - definitely. Is it Printz-worthy - not so sure about that.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Whaley is not the most exciting stylist, so it took a while to get into the book. The straight-arrow protagonists were initially less interesting than the various supporting characters. But soon Sol's slow but substantive progress became more compelling, as did Lisa's looming comeuppance, and Clark's mysterious reticence.

This was a book of small but certain pleasures. Not sure whether this is a Printz contender, but it is my favorite of Whaley's three books.