Jellicoe Road

Its kind of hard to read anything after this book....it is so compelling, and will make you see patterns in your own life that may have unintended links to the past. Seventeen-year-old Taylor Markham is the most unwilling and unwelcome leader of her Australian boarding school's deadly serious teen wars, which have been going on for decades and involve hostage taking and territory disputes with rival groups in town and the nearby military school. Taylor's past abandonment at age 11 by her disturbed and neglectful mother turns out to be deeply and strangely connected to a group of her "enemies," and also to Hannah, her sometimes rescuer and enigmatic "house mother." This book, first published in Australia, won the 2009 Printz award for excellence in young adult literature. It's been criticized for being too confusing initially and making the reader wait too long for the pieces of the story to come together. Do you agree? Do you think the Printz award committee made a good choice? Who was your favorite character?