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  The Katrine Harries Award for Children’s Book Illustrations: 2008-2014                                             The award winners are: Joan Rankin for Just Sisi (Human & Rousseau) for the period 2008 – 2009; Maja Sereda for Haasmoles (LAPA) for the period 2010 – 2011; and Johan Strauss for In die Land van Pamperlang (Human & Rousseau) for the period 2012 – 2013. The Katrine Harries

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IBBY SA, the South African national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), an international body with 74 national sections around the world, selected the following books to be presented at the IBBY World Congress in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2016 as having made a special contribution to recent South African literature for children and young people: Author:

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A group of SCBWI members attended the IBBY Conference from 31st August to 2nd September. Two members gave presentations. Hazel Cuthbertson's talk was entitled: Are we there yet? – The importance of sketchbooks in the journey from idea to final publication for some South African children’s book illustrators. Hazel used the work of Rico Schacherl, Joan Rankin and Themba Mabaso to illustrate her

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Sweethearts by Sara Zarr is the story of a girl, Jennifer "Jenna" Harris, who once had a friend named Cameron Quick. They were both outcasts in elementary school-- Jennifer the fat girl, Cameron the weird boy. Then, suddenly Cameron moves away-- and Jennifer hears that he has died. Years later, Jennifer has become Jenna, a thin, popular, well-adjusted teen. She has never forgotten Cameron Quick, though, and imagine her suprise when he shows up out of the blue one day. Together, they must confront their past and their present-- and find some way to settle the "unfinished business" (as Jenna's mother calls it) between them.

As delectable as the cover looks, Sweethearts didn't quite satisfy me. There wasn't enough substance-- not much really happened. Scenes from Jenna's present life were interspersed with scenes from her past, including a particularly trumatic one that the book centers around. But, I mean... I feel callous saying this, but it just didn't seem trumatic enough. When you finally find out what happened to Jenna, it's sort of... anticlimactic. I told a librarian friend of mine this, and she said, "Yes, but that's how life is." She has a point-- life isn't always climactic. But life isn't always interesting, either.

Sweethearts is a very psycological book (there really isn't much in the way of plot). I like some books like this (Speak, for instance), but it can drag on after a while. Sweehearts didn't drag too much, but it didn't grab me and pull me in, either. It's very well-written, and makes me want to read Zarr's first book, Story of a Girl (which was nominated for the National Book Award). But Sweethearts just... wasn't my cup of tea. Or plate of cookies. Or something.

I give Sweethearts three out of five daggers.




Eating heart-shaped cookies, vaguely disappointed, and yours,

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Please join me in welcoming Sara Zarr to Big A little a! Recently I reviewed Sara's new YA novel, Sweethearts, and loved it. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, put it on top of your TBR list. You won't be disappointed.

Because I've interviewed Sara twice before--once here and once at The Edge of the Forest (on occasion of her first novel, Story of a Girl, being shortlisted for the National Book Award), this interview concerns Sweethearts almost exclusively.

Kelly: Jennifer Harris was the exiled child in elementary school—the chubby grade-schooler some children shunned and others tormented. By high school she acquires a step father, a new svelte figure, and a crowd of friends at an entirely new school. What I really appreciated about Sweethearts was how you showed how difficult this transformation was for Jennifer (now Jenna) not in a physical sense, but emotionally. Jenna still struggles with her inner Jennifer. Her transformation was not an easy fix. Did you have a model when constructing Jenna's story? Or, an anti-model?

Kelly: In addition to having a complex heroine, Sweethearts features a complex set of friends. Sure, Jenna's part of the cool crowd now, but your cool crowd is not homogeneous. Even the self-centered boyfriend is basically a good kid who needs to grow up a little. Were you consciously working against clichés when writing Sweethearts?

Kelly: Speaking of working against clichés, can I just butt in here and mention that Alan is quite possibly the best stepfather character I've run across in any children's book. He's wonderfully real and kind.

Kelly: Sweethearts is the tale of Jenna and her reunion with the one child who was kind to her in elementary school—Cameron Quick. When Jenna is nine, Cameron leaves without saying goodbye. In fact, Jenna hears at school that Cameron died. So, when Cameron shows up again when Jenna is in high school, her whole world turns upside down. What inspired you to imagine this dramatic scenario?

Kelly: Cameron Quick's home was and is not a happy one. His father is abusive and, in fact, Cameron and Jenna share one encounter with Cameron's dad that stays with them forever. This event is psychological abuse at its most horrifying. But, while the event itself is terrible, ultimately Jenna and Cameron deal with the past and this event in healthy, mature ways. Did you do a lot of research into psychological abuse when writing Sweethearts?

Kelly: Do you think Jenna will grow up to be an English teacher, as she tells Cameron she may when they discuss their futures?

Kelly: Okay, Sara. You've done it. As you know, I loved Story of a Girl. But, I have to say that I liked Sweethearts even more. It's a fantastic novel, populated by complex characters with complex decisions to make. I'll admit it. I'm impressed. So, tell me: What do we have to look forward to next?

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Sara Zarr's newest book, Sweethearts, is the story of how we can be marked by a person or experience and carry that forward in our lives. Also, how that experience defines us, shapes us, and continues to impact us long after we think it should be over.

It's part of the teen experience to reinvent ourselves, try on different clothes, personalities and friends. Or a time to morph into something we've never been before.

Jenna Vaughn, happy, smiling, confident, popular high school senior works very hard to project an image she has constructed for herself. What no one knows is that long ago, she was Jennifer Harris, a young girl who was as different from Jenna Vaughn as is possible to imagine. Poor, hungry, a misfit. Although she has created and lived with this new image of herself for some time, she still has to work hard at pretending that it is her real self. It is not who she feels inside. She still mourns the loss of her childhood friend Cameron. He, more than any other person in her life, including her mother, defines how she views herself. A good part of the story is how Jenna reconciles her past and present selves, and prepares herself for the future.

The catalyst for this? A young man named Cameron Quick which is a stellar name for a character. To describe Cameron and Jennifer as "childhood sweethearts" as much of the book promotion does demeans the depth and character of their relationship. As children, Cameron and Jennifer both lived in unpleasant circumstances and were the social outcasts at their elementary school. However, beyond having this in common, they had a complex and deep connection. They were each other's only friend, two halves of one person - focused on each other to the exclusion of anyone else. In fact, it comes as a surprise to both Jenna and the reader that she was unaware that Cameron had any brothers and sisters even though there were around when she knew him in elementary school.

As a teen, Jenna still mourns the loss of Cameron who she has been led to believe is dead. She always carries with her that sense that he was the very first person to see and accept who she really was. She believes that if her new friends knew about her past, they would see her differently. So, she expends a lot of energy in projecting the right image. Even with a popular boyfriend, a circle of close friends, good grades, great clothes, and a lovely home Jenna feels herself losing her grip when Cameron reappears in her life.

Cameron and Jenna navigate their reacquaintance and the emergence of the truth of what was really happening in Cameron's home with such affirmation of their deep connection that it affects Jenna's perceptions and opinions about her carefully constructed life. The realizations that each make about themselves and the different paths their lives have taken help them both reach conclusions about the kind of people they have become, where they should be headed and what they should be paying attention to.

Zarr writes in a compelling way about the interior life of teens. Jenna is a very self-reflective narrator and perceptive critic of those around her. Jenna and Cameron are struggling with issues that belie their years and should make every adult rethink their assumptions that being young is some sort of shield against the emotional riptides of life. The profound loss of Cameron shapes Jenna's life. His cherished memories of her lead Cameron to find and reconnect with her when he is old enough to leave his home. For him, his friend Jennifer has literally been the light in his continuing darkness.

The story's ending is in keeping with the many layered emotional landscape that the author has drawn for us. Sweethearts is difficult to read at times. It is painful to see children treated cruelly and having to live and relive those experiences. Sweethearts is not a light and frothy book, but in the end, it is a hopeful story and well worth reading.

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I recently had the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader copy of Sweethearts and interview the author, Sara Zarr. Her first novel, Story of a Girl , was a 2007 National Book Award Finalist, and I predict her second novel, Sweethearts, will win even more. It's truly amazing...See my review here.

A special thanks to Sara for so thoughtfully answering my questions:
The Well-Read Child (TWRC): In Story of a Girl, Deanna is an outcast at school, and in Sweethearts, Jenna and Cameron were both school outcasts when they were younger, all for different reasons. Why have you chosen to make your main characters unpopular kids who've faced some very tough situations in life? Are you basing these characters on people you've known in your own life?

Sara Zarr (SZ): The older I get and the more conversations I have with people about the experience of adolescence, the more I realize that virtually everyone feels like an outcast at some point in their childhood or teen years---even the kids we look at from the outside and identify as popular or as fitting in. I definitely felt that way, even though I didn’t personally experience any prolonged or extreme ostracizing. That feeling, whether or not it’s based in reality, seems so universal…almost biologically innate. I’m interested in exploring that feeling, so my stories tend to externalize it to make it more concrete. From the concrete I can delve into the more abstract and emotional parts of it. So to answer the latter part of your question: yes and no. I based those feelings of isolation on my own experience and what I’ve observed in others, but neither Jenna/Jennifer nor Deanna were based on anyone real.

TWRC: How did the idea for Sweethearts come to you?
SZ: I did have a little boyfriend in grade school---Mark---who left a ring and note in my lunch bag one day. Years later, when I was an adult, he found me online and we got back in touch via email. Considering how young we were when we knew each other, I found (and find) it strange and mysterious that we still share a meaningful connection. It got me thinking about that inexplicable kind of bonding that can happen between some children, and I wondered if Mark and I had gone to the same junior high and high school if that bond would have held---if we still would have been friends, if we would have dated, and just how strong that loyalty would really be in the face of the normal changes friendships go through between childhood and adolescence, but we never had because we lost touch between second grade and age thirty. So the book started by exploring that “what if” and going from there.

TWRC: As I was reading Sweethearts, I felt that I was peering into Jenna's soul and actually feeling what she was feeling. I felt a lump in the pit of my stomach as she relived that terrifying day at Cameron's house, and I could actually feel her anger and confusion and heartache when Cameron came back. As you were writing the book, how did you manage to so successfully convey her thoughts and feelings?

SZ: First of all, thanks, because that’s a great compliment! Every writer hopes to draw readers into the character’s world and let them experience the emotions, too. Second, I have no idea how I did it. It’s just something that happened in the process of rewriting and rewriting, and my editor kept pushing, saying that for the bond to be believable the reader really, really had to feel it with Jenna or else the whole story wouldn’t work. So there was a lot at stake if I didn’t get it right!

TWRC: What is your favorite scene in Sweethearts?
SZ: I have a few, but the one that jumps to mind (maybe because it’s cold and snowy right now) is the scene with Jenna and Cameron on the porch in the early morning hours after a snowfall. I grew up in San Francisco where there was no snow, and even though I’ve lived in Utah seven years now I still think those first few snowfalls of the season are so magical and romantic. I wanted to set the book during the transition from fall to winter just so I could have a snow scene!

TWRC: Do you identify with any of the characters in the book?
SZ: Oh, definitely. There’s a lot of me in Jenna. I used food throughout my childhood and young adulthood the way she does, and I’ve always wanted to explore that in a story without making it a story about an eating disorder. And I’ve been the fat kid, and have lost weight, and experienced that dissonance of carrying around the fat emotions in a different body. Having grown up in a household with alcoholism, I also identify with her feelings of needing to be in control and feeling like something bad could happen at any second.

TWRC: What do you hope your readers get out of Sweethearts?
SZ: The most important thing is that they have a great and hopefully satisfying reading experience.

TWRC: Why do you write young adult books? Have you ever thought about writing for other age groups?
SZ: I don’t know, really. When ideas for stories come into my head, they’re always about teenagers. Even when an idea for a story with adults comes to mind, I immediately start thinking how to tell it with teen characters. It’s kind of a mystery. I do hope to have a long career during which I can try a lot of different things, so we’ll see.

TWRC: Where do you write?
SZ: Wherever…the couch, at a desktop computer, home, my office. I don’t tend to need a particular setting as long as I’m comfortable and clear-headed.

TWRC: What other books or authors have influenced you the most?
SZ: My favorite authors when I got into YA were Robert Cormier, Madeleine L’Engle, M.E. Kerr, Brock Cole, Han Nolan. I also love Anne Tyler and Jonathan Franzen and Nathanael West. I’d love to write a novel someday that is as heartbreaking and funny as something of Anne Tyler’s. I think I have heartbreaking down, but I’d like to be able to have more of that kind of “aren’t we humans stupidly funny?” humor that Tyler does so well, because that’s more true to my core personality. My books might leave people with the impression that I am carrying around a big old load of angst all the time, but the truth is I love to laugh and am fairly easy going.

TWRC: What can we look forward to seeing from you next?
SZ: I’ve got an essay in an anthology on body image coming out this fall. It’s called Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? and in my essay I explore some of the stuff I mentioned about my relationship with food and body. And I’m working on a third book for Little, Brown but it’s too soon to talk about that yet---don’t want to jinx myself!

Thanks so much Sara for taking the time to talk about Sweethearts.

Other stops on the tour:
(I'll be updating throughout the week, so let me know if I've missed you!)
February 1: Shelf Elf


Other blog reviews:
A Patchwork of Books
Big A little a
Bildungsroman
Booktopia
Bookami
Bookshop Girl
Charlotte's Library
Jen Robinson’s Book Page
Kate Messner
Kids Lit
Teen book review
The Page Flipper
Young Adult (&Kids) Book Central
Shelf Elf

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Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl (review here) was one of my favorite Young Adult novels of 2007. Now Zarr is back with her second book, Sweethearts (out February 1), and it is even better than her first.

Now that we're working with a second novel, we can talk about what's so wonderful about Zarr's writing: straightforward prose, emotional honesty, and fully drawn characters make Zarr's Young Adult novels stand out from the pack.

Sweethearts begins with the following premise: What if your childhood best friend--in fact, your only friend--disappears without saying goodbye. Shortly thereafter you hear a rumor at school that he--Cameron Quick--has died, a rumor your own mother confirms. Jennifer Harris suffers from her best friend's disappearance so much that by high school she has turned herself into an entirely different person.

True, other changes in Jennifer's life have contributed to her metamorphosis. She acquires a kind stepfather named Alan, switches schools, and gets her eating habits under control. In addition, her mother--who was so busy finishing nursing school and working at a diner when Jennifer was in elementary school--is now gainfully employed in a professional career and working semi-regular hours. Life is good for the now teenage Jenna. She's updated her name, is popular and thin, and even has a cute boyfriend.

And then Cameron Quick walks back into her life.

Cameron's reappearance causes Jenna to reexamine her current life and her past. Are her new friends as real and true as Cameron was? Do they accept her for who she really is? Why did Cameron leave and why is he back? Does he remember what happened with his father on Jenna's 9th birthday?

Sweethearts is about confronting your past and learning from it. Jenna, Cameron, Jenna's mother and stepfather, and some of Jenna's new friends are complex characters who make difficult and honest decisions. Sweethearts isn't a novel that operates on YA cliches--you won't know ahead of time how Jenna will come to terms with her past, present, and future. You won't be able to guess how her friends will behave and react to Jenna's situation. Even Jenna's parents are drawn with a finely-tipped brush, acting as people, not stereotypes, do.

Sweethearts is Young Adult fiction at its very best. Zarr has crafted an original and compelling story enhanced by unflinching emotional honesty and characters worth your time and care.

Don't miss Sweethearts.
-----------------------
Other blog reviews:

The Page Flipper
Bildungsroman
Jen Robinson's Book Page
The Well-Read Child
Young Adult (&Kids) Book Central
Bookshop Girl
Kate Messner
Charlotte's Library
Teen Book Review
Bookami
A Patchwork of Books
Kids Lit
Booktopia

If I've missed your review, please let me know.
------------------------------------
Sara's on a blog tour at the moment and will stop by here next week. I'll have a roundup of the interviews for you at that time.

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Funny things happen sometimes.  A few weeks ago, I received an email asking if I'd like to review Sara Zarr's new book SWEETHEARTS.  Sure!  I loved STORY OF A GIRL, and well, there's the whole pink cookie on the cover thing.  I loved the book and jumped at the chance to host a stop on Sara's blog tour.  We emailed back and forth a few times but needed to wrap things up before last weekend because Sara and I were both going to be traveling.  When all was said and done, I sent Sara a link to my blog so she'd be able to see today's interview.  She emailed back.  Turns out we were headed out of town for the same writing retreat, so we could have done the interview in person.  I got to spend a little time with Sara at the retreat, and she's just the kind, funny, down-to-earth person I had imagined.  I love it when that happens. 

I teach 7th grade English Language Arts, and I was reading SWEETHEARTS during independent reading time with my kids one day.  One of my students stopped by my desk at the end of the period.  "Are you going to finish that today?  And can I borrow it?"  Becky devoured the book in a couple days and was excited to hear that Sara would be stopping by my blog.  She handed me a list of questions the next day, so this interview is our joint effort!

Welcome, Sara!  First, let’s talk about the new book.  What was the inspiration for this story, the spark that made you want to write about Jenna and Cameron?

I knew this boy in grade school, Mark. Like Cameron, he left a ring and a note in my lunch one day, and I remember sitting in the back of my friend’s mom’s car and discovering it and thinking, wow, there’s this person who likes me and thinks about me. Our relationship wasn’t like Cameron and Jenna’s, but for me it was like I carried around this secret---that someone cared about me and was on my side, and that meant a lot and stayed with me my whole life. Mark got back in touch when we were adults, and I started playing around with the “what if we’d known each other in high school?” question. The story went from there.


Often, authors will say that characters are made up of bits and pieces of people they know or people they’ve been.  Where did Jenna and Cameron come from?

Cameron was definitely inspired by Mark, though the details about his life and his family are a total fabrication. I didn’t know him between the ages of 8 and 30, so I had to imagine him as a teenager. Jennifer, before she became Jenna, draws some on my own life. I stole and used food the way she does, and I was one of the “poor kids” who always wore hand-me-downs and got the subsidized milk, though I was not as much of an outsider as Jennifer. Jenna as a teen is a lot different than I was; I do relate to her fear of being found out for who she really is, but I think everyone feels that deep down to some extent.


SWEETHEARTS seems like a perfect title for this book.  Did you know while you were writing what the title would be, or did you play around with different titles along the way? (And if you did, would you share some of them?)

The title actually came early on and I never had any other ideas. I remember emailing my agent and asking, “What do you think of SWEETHEARTS as a title?” He was lukewarm at first (he may deny it now, but I have the email evidence!). I always thought it was perfect, myself. I’ve never had a title come so easily.


I can’t imagine anyone has looked at SWEETHEARTS without commenting on the cover (and getting hungry!).  Is that what you envisioned for a cover when you wrote the book, or were you surprised?

I was completely surprised. I didn’t have any idea what to expect---I’m terrible with design stuff. When I first saw it, I thought it was so literal…a sweet heart. The more I looked at it---the bite out of the cookie, the crumbs, the starkness of the background and the childlike font of the title---the more I appreciated the genius of designer Alison Impey. It’s actually kind of a masterpiece!


Becky wants to know if there’s going to be another story about Jenna and Cameron (and when Molly finishes, she’s going to want to know, too).  Any plans for a sequel, or do you feel like their journey is over for now?

I have no plans for a sequel, though I’m always delighted when readers ask that question because it means the characters live on in their minds. People have also asked for a sequel to my first book, so maybe I should figure out a way for Deanna, Jenna, Cameron, Jason and Tommy to all meet up in some epic vampire fantasy…


Writers often talk about the pressure of a second book and wanting it to be better than the first.  Since your first novel, STORY OF A GIRL, was a National Book Award Finalist, do you feel like that created extra pressure for you?

Absolutely. Thankfully, SWEETHEARTS was done well ahead of the National Book Award stuff, but even before that I was suffering from a major case of Second Book Psychosis. It really wasn’t based in reality, just a crazy mental battle. Honestly, there was one day that involved me curled in a ball on the kitchen floor, crying and praying and figuring out how to break the news to my agent that everyone would soon discover that I was a total fraud.

Were there any parts of writing SWEETHEARTS that were a real struggle for you?

As you can imagine, it was hard to write the scenes in Cameron’s childhood home, with his dad. It made me sick to my stomach, literally. And I’ve read books in which so much worse happens to the characters…I don’t know how those authors do it. It was hard to balance making the situation menacing enough to be scarring, but still get them out before anything worse happened.


You recently sold your next two novels.  What can you tell us about those?

Not much! All I can say right now about the one I’m working on is that it involves a pastor’s daughter. I grew up in church and have always wanted to explore church life more directly in a novel. It’s too soon to talk about much else.


When and where do you most often like to write?

Whenever and wherever. My work habits aren’t anything to brag about--it’s always a struggle to get going. Every day I’m afraid. Every day I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. So I avoid it. Time and location don’t matter to me much, as long as I do the work.


Do you have a favorite revision strategy?

Get editorial letter. Cry. Rage. Cry. Complain. Freak out. Wonder how I’ve fooled so many for so long. Cry some more. When that stage is over, I like to have a printout of the manuscript and start a new Word document rather than edit on screen and cut and paste. Even if I end up typing the same pages over and over, there’s something about the physical act of typing that helps.


And last but not least... In honor of that delicious cover, what’s your favorite kind of cookie?

A big, soft, homemade chocolate chip cookie with no nuts.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Sara! 

SWEETHEARTS has an official February 1st release date but has already started showing up in bookstores.  Just look for that pink cookie on the cover.

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Young Adult Pick of the Week:

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English

Nine year olds Jennifer and Cameron are the outcasts at their school. Jennifer is overweight, shy, and withdrawn, and Cameron, who comes from an abusive home is just well—different. Both are endlessly teased, and they somehow find each other and form a deep connection. Until one day Cameron doesn’t show up at school, and the teacher says he moved. To say Jennifer is hurt because he didn’t say goodbye is an understatement. She’s crushed and just doesn't understand. Then one day the bullies at recess tell her that Cameron died. When her own mother doesn’t tell her differently, Jennifer is devastated and decides that the only way she can survive is to bury the person she is with him.

Eight years later, Jennifer is now Jenna, and she’s completely reinvented herself. She’s in great shape, goes to a different school, and has lots of friends, including a boyfriend Ethan, the handsomest boy in school. Externally, she seems happy and seems to have the perfect life. Internally, she struggles to keep “Jennifer” inside and is haunted by a terrifying experience that occurred at Cameron’s house on her ninth birthday. On her seventeenth birthday, she discovers that Cameron did not die and that he’s in her town. Memories and suppressed feelings come flooding back as she struggles to cope with this news.

Has their connection remained strong after all these years? Why didn’t he try to contact her before? Why didn’t her mother tell her the truth? What exactly happened at Cameron’s house so many years ago? Do Jenna and Cameron still have such a strong connection after all these years? Will Jenna leave Ethan for Cameron? Can she keep Jennifer inside? Sara Zarr’s second novel Sweethearts answers all these questions through a profound and gut-wrenching story.

Zarr does an exceptional job of drawing you in and make you FEEL Jenna’s emotions. As I was reading, I felt a lump in the pitt of my stomach as Jenna relived the horrifying day at Cameron’s house. I felt anger, confusion, heartache, and fear as Jenna struggles with Cameron’s return and all of the emotions that come flooding in with it.

From the very first chapter I was hooked as I read the following passage:

“Other memories stick, no matter how much you wish they wouldn’t. They’re like a song you hate but can’t ever get completely out of your head, and this song becomes the background noise of your entire life, snippets of lyrics, and lines of music floating up and then receding, a crazy kind of tide that never stops.” (p. 5, Advanced Reader Copy).

In addition to resounding passages like this one, Zarr is careful not to make Jenna “too adult.” She expertly reminds us that Jenna is seventeen through carefully crafted scenarios that take us inside the head of a teenager. Jenna grapples with friendships, her weight and self-image, boyfriends, the pressure to have sex, the pressure to drink—things that many young adults can identify with.

It’s evident that Sara Zarr poured her heart and soul into this book, and I can’t even remember the last time I read a book that resonated with me as much as Sweethearts did. If you liked Story of a Girl,you will love Sweethearts.

Note: Sweethearts goes on sale February 1, 2008. I got the exciting opportunity to interview Sara Zarr about this book, so look for this interview on February 4^th as I take part in the Sweethearts blog tour.

Sara Zarr is also going on a mini-tour to promote Sweethearts. If you live near San Francisco, Salt Lake City, or Phoenix/Tempe, visit her blog for dates and locations!

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Jennifer Harris used to be that poor, chubby kid who sat alone in the cafeteria. Well, almost alone. There was Cameron Quick, another social outcast. Another kid living in poverty and living on the fringe of third grade society. He was her only friend and the only person who ever understood Jennifer Harris. And then he disappeared.

Years pass. Jennifer gets a new stepfather, a new house, a new school, a new name, a new life. She reinvents herself as Jenna Vaughn. Jenna Vaughn is one of the pretty, thin popular girls. She has friends and a hot boyfriend. But she also has a secret – a dark memory that ties her forever to Cameron Quick and to the old Jennifer Harris, who never really left. SWEETHEARTS is the story of Cameron’s return to Jennifer’s life and what happens when her two worlds meet.

As a National Book Award Finalist, Sara Zarr has a lot riding on this next novel, scheduled for release in February 2008. There will be inevitable comparisons to STORY OF A GIRL. Can this second book live up to that standard? Truth be told, I liked SWEETHEARTS even better. The characters in this novel absolutely shine, from the insecure third grade Jennifer and the third grade Cameron whose generosity and fierce loyalty made me want him for a friend, to the high school version of these kids, still haunted by their grade school selves. The minor characters shine, too. One of my favorites was Jenna’s stepfather, whose quiet support helps Jenna and her mother rebuild what was broken so many years ago.

Some character-driven novels sacrifice pace and tension, but that’s not the case with SWEETHEARTS. From the very first chapter, readers sense there’s a story from Jennifer’s childhood that’s not being told in its entirety. Zarr reveals that story in bits and pieces, snippets of memory and elegantly woven flashbacks throughout the book. All the while, the parts of the story left unspoken create powerful tension.

I read SWEETHEARTS in just a few sittings. When I was away from the book, I spent half my time thinking about the characters and hoping things would go well for them. They grow on you like that. Sara Zarr has written another fantastic novel –- one that celebrates the power of childhood friendships, loyalty, and inner strength. Like STORY OF A GIRL, Zarr's new release is loaded with realistic characters, hope, and heart. The fabulous cookie cover art delivers on its promise – SWEETHEARTS an absolutely delicious read. 

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At the SCBWI meeting held on Tuesday 20 November 2007 at UNISA Penny Hochfeld discussed the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Awards.

Exclusive Books, in association with IBBY S.A., has taken on the sponsorship of the award for the best original children's picture book or illustrated children's story book published in South Africa.

For the EXCLUSIVE BOOKS IBBY SA AWARD for 2007, they invited submissions of books published between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2007. Fifty-six entries were received and evaluated by the jury.

The jury consisted of various people associated with publishing of children’s books as well as experts in Fine Art and book illustration. Other members comprised the Chairperson of IBBY SA, the IBBY SA Executive member responsible for the awards portfolio, and members co-opted from the areas of design, public and school libraries, academic librarianship, and book-selection for children.

The rules require that the award is for a picture book or illustrated children’s story book adjudged the best in the period of adjudication. The writer and illustrator must be South Africans, whether living in South Africa or not; or non-South Africans living and working in South Africa. The book must be an original work written in any of the official South African languages and it must have been published in South Africa.
Importantly, the award is given to a book that is recognisably South African in character.

The shortlist of five titles was published some weeks before the final award was announced. The award was announced at an Exclusive Books event on 11 September in Johannesburg.

Robin Malan announced that the Exclusive Books IBBY SA Award was awarded jointly to:

The Cool Nguni (written by Maryanne Bester, illustrated by Shayle Bester, published by Jacana Media) to award and reward adventurousness and a quirky sense of fun in the jaunty image projected through both text and illustrations.

Fynbosfeetjies (written by Antjie Krog, illustrated by Fiona Moodie, published by Umuzi) to award and reward professional excellence and artistry in both the writing and the illustration of the funky fairies.

Ouma Ruby’s Secret (written by Chris van Wyk, illustrated by Anneliese Voigt-Peters, published by Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan) for the humanity and the homespun South African authenticity of both text and illustrations.

UTshepo mde / Tall enough (written by Mhlobo Jadezweni, illustrated by Hannah Morris, published by Electric Book Works) for the magic of its story and the sophistication of its illustrations.

Zanzibar Road (written and illustrated by Niki Daly, published in English by Pan Macmillan and in Afrikaans by LAPA Uitgewers) for the professionalism and experience of the writer and illustrator as much as for the fun he has and gives young readers.

Excerpt from presentation by Robin Malan (Chairman of IBBY SA) at Awards Event held on 11 September 2007.

The award will be made every second year, from 2007 onwards. Exclusive Books and IBBY SA hope that this new Award will encourage the publication of wonderful new South African children's books, as it rewards talented authors and illustrators.

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IBBY SA has announced that the following books have been selected as IBBY SA’s Honour List to be presented at the IBBY World Congress in Copenhagen in 2008 as having made a significant contribution to recent South African literature for children and young people:

Author: Afrikaans
Jaco Jacobs: Suurlemoen (LAPA Uit-gewers, Pretoria, 2006)
Jaco Jacobs het hier daarin geslaag om op oortuigende wyse ’n regte, egte tiener-verhaal te vertel. Die sestienjarige Tiaan Fourie, saam met sy ‘partner in crime’, die baskitaarspeler en moeillkheidmaker Zane le Roux, word aangemoedig om hulle band vir die Rumoer-kompetisie in te skryf deur die musiekonderwyser. Hulle kry uiteindelik toe ’n vocalist en ’n drummer. Jaco Jacobs het ’n lewendige, vermaaklike en genuine jeugverhaal geskep met genoeg opwinding en humor en ’n sterk spanningselement om jong lesers te vermaak. Die karakters is werklik tieners; die styl lig, gemaklik en onderhoudend. Jaco Jacobs word geluk gewens met ’n oortuigende leesbare en toeganklike jeugverhaal.

Author: isiXhosa
Mhlobo Jadezweni: UTshepo mde / Tall enough (Electric Book Works, Cape Town, 2006)
Tshepo is a boy who wishes he was as tall as a beautiful tree. He plants himself in the ground, waters himself, and magically grows into one. But, as a tree, he soon comes to realise why it’s good to be a little boy, at least for now. Told in isiXhosa, and accompanied by an English translation, this book is about the worries of growing up and belonging. The story is funny, poignant and surprising, and fuses the mythical and the domestic in a quintessentially African fairytale. (from the publisher’s information sheet)

Author: English
K Sello Duiker: The Hidden Star (Umuzi Books Random House, Cape Town, 2006) (posthumously)
K Sello Duiker’s last novel, edited after his death by publisher Annari van der Merwe as a tribute to her friend and author, is something of a milestone for South African literature for young people. Eleven-year-old Nolitye takes upon herself the quest to bring together again the separated pieces of a magic stone that will both reveal and heal. So, yes, this is a fantasy story every bit as much as any in the great classic tradition, but the achievement lies in this fantasy being embedded in a uniquely South African reality: every taste, sound, sight and smell in the novel smacks of South Africa, and, specifically, of Phola township in Gauteng. Its authenticity is unassailable. We are the poorer for the loss of a talent such as Sello’s; but South African literature for young people is undeniably the richer for the survival of The Hidden Star.

Translator:
Russell H Kaschula: Emthonjeni trans-lated into isiXhosa from his own English Take Me to the River (New Africa Books, Cape Town, 2006)
Professor Kaschula has earned the respect of isiXhosa-speakers in the academic world; and he now adds to the small but growing body of stories in isiXhosa for young teenagers. Chance and the recent history of South Africa make the young black boy Zama and the young coloured boy Pieter next-door neighbours. But they make their friendship themselves. And it is the kind of friendship that proves it can withstand a number of severe tests and challenges. The author is unafraid of tackling social issues that are potentially controversial – and even divisive. He skilfully harnesses them to serve his theme of individual human bonds bringing and keeping people together.


Illustrator:
Anneliese Voigt-Peters: Ouma Ruby’s Secret by Chris van Wyk (Giraffe Books Pan Macmillan,Johannesburg, 2006)
This story is taken from Chris van Wyk’s memoir about growing up in Riverlea in Johannesburg, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. He has rewritten, for a young audience, a story about his beloved grandmother Ruby. One day he meets his Ouma in town and she buys him two books. For her birthday two weeks later, he writes a letter which he wants her to read out. She makes the excuse that she does not have her glasses with her. His mother takes him aside and quietly tells him that Ouma Ruby cannot read. This gentle, very real story is sensitively illustrated in fine watercolours by Anneliese Voigt-Peters. Her images capture the essence of the neighbourhood and houses and the extended family inhabiting the boy’s world. A book to be treasured as a fine example of how an illustrator who knows her material and the environment in which the story takes place can produce illustrations typically South African in a quiet reassuring manner. She is highly applauded for this little gem of a book.

Taken from Lona Gericke's article in the IBBY SA Newsletter No 45, October 2007.

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Exclusive Books will be presenting the IBBY award on 11 September 2007.

They have decided to sponsor this award to:
- nurture a love of reading in children from an early age,
- recognise the best South African children’s story-book writers and illustrators
- recognize local writing talent and illustrating, and
- encourage more South African authors and publishers to develop this important genre of literature in South Africa.

The nominated books are:
FYNBOS FEETJIES by Antjie Krog and Fiona Moodie (Random House)
OUMA RUBY'S SECRET by Chris van Wyk and Anneliese Voigt-Peters (PanMacmillan)
TALL ENOUGH by Mhlobo Jadezweni and Hannah Morris (Vuvu)
THE COOL NGUNI by Maryanne and Shayle Bester(Jacana)
ZANZIBAR ROAD by Niki Daly (PanMacmillan)

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