Special for Sundays #1- That Favorite Book

My cousin, Emily, blogs over at In Which Ems Reviews Books and she and a friend have started a weekly Sunday feature. I have been a bit absent so far this year (my apologies) but when I saw her post today- the first post of the new feature and saw the topic, I decided this was something I had to take part in. I mean, I never miss an opportunity to talk up my favorite books and today's topic is to pick a favorite and talk about why it's special to you.

Any guesses as to which book I'm going to pick? :)

So there's this book... It's kind of a big deal to me. I talk about it all the time, and it's gotten to the point that if I send certain people a tweet saying- Ask them- they all know which book I'm talking about.

I decided several years ago that I was going to read all the books on the Newbery award list, and when I learned about the Printz award, and it is to YA what the Newbery is to MG, I decided I would read all of those too. And I read a brilliantly funny/witty/hysterical/intelligent Honor winner from 2009 called The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. And let me tell you, I loved that book. It remains one of the smartest funny books I've ever read. But, that is not the book I'm going to talk about today. Because after I finished that book, I wondered why it didn't win the actual award. So I sought out the winner of the Award that year, wondering if I was going to be disappointed that this was the book that ultimately won.

But friends. Do you know what book won the Printz Award in 2009? DO YOU?!

I'll give you a hint... It's this one:

 

This book wrecked me. It tore me to pieces, pulled apart my heart and pulverized my soul. And then it put me back together again, different, but better. I am never at a loss for words, but I never feel like I can truly articulate what this book did to me. It just... consumed me. I was so incredibly captivated and involved with this book, these characters and their lives.

I've felt sad before, finishing a book and knowing that my time with the characters was over for now, and I've actively wished that some of the people in the book were real. But not even with Harry Potter do I remember being so overwhelmingly devastated that these people weren't real because I just felt them that much.

I have never come across a writer with an ability like Marchetta's before. Something about her writing just hits me, in that perfect way. I tend to get overly dramatic when I talk about Marchetta, specifically when referencing this book and I saw things like- Melina Marchetta owns my soul. And when I'm reading one of her books, she does.

I tell you what- Never have I read anything like this book. It causes me genuine physical pain when I hear that someone didn't like this book. Physical pain. (and I'll be honest and admit that the secret, shameful place inside of me wonders about their mental stability... But only for a minute). 

I don't think I will ever run out of positive things to say about this book, but I need an ending point somewhere, so let me also just add this (because I still make giddy/squeaky noises every time I think about it)

After Just Contemporary month, when I emailed Melina (*dies*) I got a surprise package in the mail. From Australia. And I opened it to find this:

I cried.